5 Toyota MR2 for 1 Miata?

Miata Is Always The Answer


Man Trades In Entire Collection of First-Gen Toyota MR2s For a New Miata

That's one way to go about liquidating a stash of classics.


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As far as weird trade-in stories go, this has got to be one of the strangest. Earlier this week, Coad Toyota of Cape Girardeau, Missouri took in a total of five first-generation MR2s of varying specs and mileage from a single owner at once. Talk about unexpected.

Japanese Nostalgic Car spoke with Ben Brotherton, the sales manager at Coad Toyota, to get the details behind this unusual trade-in. According to him, the cars were owned by a retired employee from the dealership building up the collection with the goal of owning one first-gen MR2 (otherwise known as the AW11) from each year of production. The specs for the cars traded in are as follows:

• A 1985 fixed-roof sunroof car painted in yellow with over 207,000 miles on the clock. It sports aftermarket wheels, and was originally painted silver. According to Japanese Nostalgic Car, it's the only car out of this collection that's been modified from stock.
  
• A 1986 fixed-roof car with no sunroof painted in red, with around 140,000 miles on the odometer. It was apparently the owner's favorite out of the bunch, with regular visits to car shows and other events.
  
• A 1987 targa model painted in white sporting just 80,500 miles. It sports the OEM three-spoke wheels and an automatic transmission.
  
• A 1988 targa model also painted in white, and also equipped with an automatic transmission. This one sports phone dial wheels and a factory supercharged engine—the only car here that's not naturally aspirated. It has just 78,500 miles on the odometer.
  
• A 1989 targa model painted in a lovely shade of sky blue, equipped with the five-speed manual transmission. This is the cleanest, lowest-mileage car of the bunch, with just 28,000 miles on the clock.

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Japanese Nostalgic Car followed up with the dealer, and just two days after they announced the cars would be sold off, all but the yellow example have already been scooped up (sorry prospective AW11 owners). Brotherton says the former owner replaced his collection with a single 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata with 10,000 miles on the clock.

This probably isn't the way we'd sell off a collection of MR2s, but it's cool to see cars like this have been preserved. We hope he enjoys his new MX-5.

Would you trade in this bunch of MR2s for a new-ish MX-5 Miata?



source: https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cul...tion-trade-in/

I'd keep the supercharged one but other than that I would try to be smart and let someone else take the hit on depreciation on an ND for a few years first then do the trade i guess.

A MK4 Miata I'd do it yeah :lol:

I want the 2nd gen MR2 that came after this body style. Much sleeker looking than this version.

Am I the only one who thinks that's a bad deal? SW20 indeed looks so damn sexy but it is a fat lady compared to the AW11.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Phatmiata

I want the 2nd gen MR2 that came after this body style. Much sleeker looking than this version.

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Agreed. My cousin has a Mk2 MR2 in red. Against a 1.6 NA it really closes the gap down to the drivers..

:lol:

I loved this body style. The 4AGZE motor was a bad ass motor. Had one in my AE92. Had always thought about going back to building anoter 4AG.

I'm pretty sure that the guy could have put them up on BAT and gotten more than the cost of a new Miata out of 'em...

And he got a 3-year old example.

probably did not want to deal with all the tire kickers or hassle of online auctions, but the stealership will surely give you pennys on the dollar for your trades, especially ones this old.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Phatmiata

probably did not want to deal with all the tire kickers or hassle of online auctions, but the stealership will surely give you pennys on the dollar for your trades, especially ones this old.

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Most car guys know this though. As Randy says, he probably couldn't be bothered putting the time it'd take to advertise 5 cars at the same time. Phone calls would get very confusing very quickly too as you could easily mix up who's asked about what model. Tyre kickers and teenagers would be a put off too. A dealer would have no issue with a customer trading 5 cars in for one out - that's six sales, it keeps them in business, even if they just transfer or stock-swap with other dealerships too.

Kudos to the guy in the OP. I hope he traded them in just ahead of the road tax running out, that'd be an awesome final giggle :lol:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HarryB

Am I the only one who thinks that's a bad deal? SW20 indeed looks so damn sexy but it is a fat lady compared to the AW11.

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I thought similarly. With the known issues of the '16, and the condition of some of the cars, yeah...bad deal.

Man...... AW11's with mileage as low as some of the ones he had.. Wow

Wonder how much he still had to come out of pocket as I don't see your average dealership taking five 25+ yr old cars as a "even steven" for a $25k+ car...:cry:

In the UK I cannot see this being a good deal taking some classic MR2s and MX5s to a dealer to exchange for something newer.

I have 3x SW20 MR2s but mine are either Rev3 or Rev4 turbo a Rev3 converted V6. Totally different animals to a MX5 but lots of positives but in a different manner. The turbo makes it quite an occasion to drive while the sound of a V6 singing behind you is equally quite special.

It isn't a good deal here either but dealerships are pretty much going to give you the least amount of money for a car. In my experience in the last few years, dealerships only want to give you what they could buy that car at AUCTION, which is ridiculous.