About a year ago I saw a black Spyder that REALLY looked sharp driving down the street. I'm looking at buying a 2000ish silver Spyder for the collection. Can I get opinions from you guys? What problems to look for... etc.

 

Never saw enough of them to know of any common problems.
I thought it was a cool car, but think Toyota missed the boat by not offering the 2ZZGE or a turbo/supercharged version like previous MR2's.
I drove a couple, and they don't seem underpowered and they handled well.
Go for it and add a turbo kit

 

yeah, it would definitely need more cowbell! I mean, more power. I think they didn't offer the GTS engine for insurance reasons.

 

theres a 2zz swap available for the spyder, it runs around 4200 turnkey and you get a 6spd also

one thing to look for when buying used is lift damage, make sure theres no kinks in rear fenders and such. if you incorrectly lift a spyder it will kink the rear fenders or in front of them.

the precats also have been known to break apart and bomb the engine around 40k miles. you can gut the precats yourself or buy a header without them.

if you want even more power you can turbo it and get some good numbers. http://www.hassauto.com sells the turbo kit

check out www.spyderchat.com for more info, theres always someone selling theirs normally too

 

I picked up my Midship about a month ago and absolutely love the thing (though it did replace my 91 MX-5 that had 131k on it).

I have never driven something (that is so inexpensive to own and operate) that is this much fun to drive. Plus, on those colder days in December (remember, I live in Tucson) leave the windows up for fun wind-free top-down driving...

 

The only major issue with these cars are the precats. If you gut them then you dont have to worry about any engine troubles.
The Spyder has been the most reliable car and fun car I have owned.

If you like tight nimble handling then there is nothing that comes close if you do the right suspension mods except for maybe the Elise. The S2ks had a hard time keeping up with us at the dragon.

I have a 2zz and its quick but I have driven a tubo spyder on many occasions and it has plenty of torque that puts it in the super car range without much money.