1988 Toyota MR2 Brings Supercharged Gran Turismo Thrills on the Cheap

Irrespective of the generation, a Toyota MR2 will pop up somewhere in all the installments of the popular Gran Turismo franchise. The two-seat, mid-engine, RWD sports car also delivers its lightweight and affordable thrills across other well-known series, such as the Xbox Game Studios Forza.

This time around, we are talking about a real-life installment of the MR2 genre, a 1988 example equipped with the 1.6-liter supercharged inline-four that's currently available to the highest bidder on Doug DeMuro’s online automotive enthusiast portal cars & bids.

This car is dressed up in a stealthy black paint scheme (it comes complete with matching alloys) and has a black and gray interior that has clearly seen better days, just like some parts of the body. We love a little TLC when classic nameplates are involved, so we can imagine this 1988 MR2 might strike at the right chord for a Toyota enthusiast that’s not afraid to get the hands dirty to get the job done.

And it’s going to involve quite a few days of tinkering, by the looks of it, and also judging by the extensive list of known flaws. Ever the great talker, Doug DeMuro is trying to paint a sunny background for this auction, noting that “the AW11 is such a neat car, and totally unlike anything being sold today. Not only does it have an incredibly small size (which makes for a tossable, thrilling vehicle), it also boasts mid-engine construction - and, in Supercharged form like this car, a surprisingly potent engine with nearly 150 horsepower.”

Of course, we need to understand that he’s very much interested in delivering the best outcome for his clients, meaning that we need to take this MR2 at face value. In our opinion, this will only be enticing if bidding doesn’t go up too much from the current listing of just $5k because it’s probably going to take at least the same amount to get it up to snuff.