Id say find another as well, there are plenty of MR2's that spec for that price in better condition. Best advice ive seen in this thread is "check the cooling system". Mine looked mint inside and out, coolant looked ok and i still had a blown head gasket (very early stages). Shop carefully mate.

if theres rust on the pillars then thats a NO GO to me. If it was ONLY THE ENGINE HEAT SHIELD then thats ok.

Well lets be realistic, the car is 20 YO. No service history is not unusual, and that odometer reading is a bit hard to believe anyway,  but from the pics the car doesn't look too bad.
Rust like in the engine bay comes from rain and may not mean much, but structural body rust underneath is more serious.
 
What does matter with any older car you may be keen on is getting a full RACV type check to really tell you what may need fixing. Those guys know their stuff.

Rust on pillars - no way!
OK the car is 20 years old....
How many of you that have posted comments that have a very similar age on your car and probably more km's have rust on your pillars???

I have a 90 Gt and no rust, but what I do have is a fu##ed engine because I didn't know what I was looking for when I test drove the car. I could have used the advice of the guys on this forum and I would have bought a different car. Say what you want about how straight the car looks, but the issue is mechanical because as you all know when these cars haven't been looked after they go wrong in a big and expensive way. So why risk it, he has a daily drive so the best advice you can give him is to wait for a good car with a known history preferably from a member of this forum as it is his best guarantee of getting a SDub that he can enjoy.

No argument from me Rizo. My point is that just on the body alone it does not sound like this is a good car. The op has not given any info on the mechanical stuff, but on the cosmetic alone I would still not buy it, it does not sound like it has been well cared for, and as with any car, but more so older ones - you want a well cared for car

Holy responses!
thanks guys, i appreciate the input.

I took the first 3 pics, the rest are from carsales, so favourable angles have been chosen.
car does *look* straight in the photos, but in person you can tell there have been a few dodgey or missing repairs. tbh, the car is pretty straight, but the rust is a big deal breaker for me. I can't tell how deep it goes or under what bodywork it reaches.

I have read all about MRTurbo's rust issue, so it was the first thing I looked for.
 
The only reason i looked at this car to start with was the low k's + cheap + dealer (for warranty).

but yer, I think I'll look a bit more, test drive a few more, and buy later. Wasn't even planning on looking till after i go and get back from overseas in August!

cheers guys, i'll keep looking.
If anyone wants to check it out (probably for spares?) -> (carsales)  
It's at Auto City Motors in Cheltenham, VIC
be quick, they upped the price by $44 since this morning! :P 

EDIT: only had a quick look at it, the rust really put me off, mechanically, it sounded to run fine, (didn't drive it, just idle and varying revs), smooth, no clicks, cold. Not really experienced enough yet in MR2's to get a good feel of the mechanics.
I was also worried about the quality of the suspension, assuming it had only done ~72000km in 20years, it probably would have been sitting in water rusting for a lot of that time!

Whats the jizz on the oil cap?
 
I'd be running checks to see if its a 'flood damaged' car.
 
The k's may be genuine, but it may have down the whole car more bad than good. If there's no books with the car i'd disregard what the tacho says - even a rank amateur can change the dials.
 
Just to tempt fate i'll say that my 94 arm n/a now has 270,000 k's on it, I bought it with 80,000 and have put the rest on myself as a commuter with 200k highway trip each workday. Car gets serviced by Toyota, only repair so far (touch wood) has been a rear wheel bearing. Drives just as good as the day I bought it.
 
You may be able to get the car for a fair price and use it as a blank canvas for the 2 that you want. I'd rather have the old suspension there rather than some hektik bone shaking cut spring jibber jabber. 
Then you can take the wise route and go Koni Eibach/TRD spring combo 
 
Like the other blokes have said, there's no shortage of the cars out there, all years and levels of ****isation and nice modding through to factory standards. Don't rush it, you will regret that!

Just bought myself a 1993 NA with just under 120,000km on it, one owner, full history by Toyota, brilliant paint (except for a few small knocks, and someone keyed it not long after it was originally bought :/ not TOO noticeable though), very clean, 11months rego, <$10k!
 
Just thought I'd update this thread to highlight that if you wait for the right car, you will probably find it.

Just gotta pick it up after RWC, etc, is done. I'll let you know how it goes in a thread. :) 

My opinion?
 
I wouldnt buy this car at all in your situation. These are my main reasons.
 
~ Rust in A pillars will be from a poorly fitted windscreen, otherwise these thungs really do not rust in those areas.
~ Water in the interior? possibly a flood/hail damaged car.
~ Kays wound back for sure
~ Mouldy interior with what looks like holes in the carpet?
~ Paint off the bumper appears to be from previous repairs (80% of the MR2's i have looked at for people over the years have had a front end hit)
~ $6000 is asking too much
~ A car yard will not do a roadworthy properly (the items you mentioned will not be done i can guarantee that!)
 
There are much better cars out there, increase your budget it will save you in the end from spending coin on a money pit.