What Happens When You Try To Turn A Toyota MR2 Into An Audi R8

Sometimes replica supercars can be surprisingly convincing. Not so long ago, for instance, we were studying a Porsche Boxster turned into a remarkably faithful McLaren F1 LM replica, complete with a central driving position.

Then we have that ever-popular knock-off to consider the [Toyota MR2 turned ‘Ferrari F355’](https://www.carthrottle.com/post/spanish-police-raid-fake-ferrari-factory-that-turned-peugeots-into-f430s/. When done well, you might just fool a non-petrolhead with one of these, and perhaps the odd car person so long as you don’t drive too close. This particular MR2 conversion, however, is somewhat less successful.

The key first-generation R8 details are all here - a big single frame grille, a bunch of angry looking vanes in the front and rear bumpers and the side gills. There’s even a set of double-spoke wheels that don’t look far off what Audi was fitting from the factory back then. The problem? The shape of the car isn’t remotely right.

The front overhand is much too big, and the rear deck sits really high. The back end is too round to effectively emulate an R8, looking more like a TT, and not just because the replica looks to use Mk1 TT rear light clusters.

Inside, there’s a wraparound element for the dashboard to give the driver a more cocooned feeling, and a portrait-oriented off-the-shelf infotainment system. Which covers up the air vents. Oops.

It’ll struggle to keep up with even a lower-spec TT when pushed, as the 1993 MR2 base car is a non-turbo model. But hey, at least it isn’t the four-speed automatic version.

The ‘R8’ is located in Coconut Creek, Florida, but the car’s original home was - as you might have gathered from the number plates - the UK. This leaves us doubly perplexed. Firstly because someone will have spent a lot of money and effort making an MR2 look not much like an R8, and secondly because someone else spent a lot of money and effort bringing it to the USA.

Unsurprisingly, no one was taken with it enough to go for the $25,000 (around £18,000) Buy It Now option when the MR2 was listed on eBay recently. The auction ended having secured one bid for $10,000 with the reserve not met.

Source: eBay via Car Scoops