Toyota's iconic MR2 lived a loved life in both the series one AW11 and series two SW20 guises. With everything from a normally aspirated 1.6, supercharged 1.6, N/A 2.0 and turbo 2.0, the fiesty little Mid-Engined Rear-drive 2-seater (MR2) offered a lot in a little package that often tested nerve and bravery - as many pre-sorted mid-engined cars did of that era.
Its targa-top also offered the sports lifestyle without the Italian pricetag, and the very personal sports car was a big hit during the '80s and '90s.
Get DRIVEN's exclusive news & highlights like this MR-S in our newsletter.
And then Toyota replaced the MR2 with the MR-S Spyder (Mid-ship Runarond Sports, apparently) and while the normally aspirated 1.8-litre was zippy, it didn't have the full-house valve timing and lift offered in the Celica. So it was OK. 103kW, 171Nm... decent without being deathly.
Combined with the full drop-top convertible roof, it was a slight shift for the MR series that lasted until 2007.
Seeing them in 2020 is increasingly difficult and rare - not impossible, but definitely interesting enough to say 'look at this' when one appears. Like this one.
A 2000 NZ-new model with 124,000km, it's a two-owner (we suspect) car in Bright Red, red seats and the SMT gearbox. And that's the slightly deflating part, because the five-speed manual was a sweet little gearbox and the SMT was a little, er, SHT. Part of the early wave of 'automated' manual gearboxes in the late-90s/early-00s, it's neither quick nor smooth and offers pauses between shifts as big as grandad talking over Skype.
So the manual gearbox is definitely preferred: it's not like it's Honda Type R or MX-5 good, but still a much preferred gearbox to the SMT.
Still, beggars can't be choosers, and this Otago SMT-equipped MR-S still offers drop-top motoring at a very sharp price, less than $8k! And that's a deal that would shift us.
Still prefer an MX-5, then we've got you covered here.
