Type R

Graeat straight line cars, show them a corner and they disappear off into a field!!

fatherpierre

Only when wet.

A myth otherwise - in the dry with proper shoes they stick to the road.

Sport160

I parked my friends one around a lamp post after a damp roundabout incident, hence not top of my list.

Muffleman

I have a VERY modified rev 1 (currently undergoing a lairy paint job) and I've had plenty of 'moments' in the wet but all were predictable. A mid engined RWD car of this speed and power is gonna be a handful in the wet, and all it takes is some common sense when it's peeing down outside.

That said, 'out of the box' they can be a little lairy. I have Ohlins coilovers, TRD anti roll bars, poly bushes etc. In the dry it's pretty awesome, in the wet its a case of gently does it.

Good cars though, and quick for not much money.

The Chief

How easy do they come unstuck in the dry though? would they give say a Scoob a run for its money in the dry, it would not bother me how it handled in the wet, 'cos i drive like miss daisy then anyway!

Dream Weaver

My NA version stuck to the road like superglue in the dry, never ever had a problem. In fact, only ever had the back end slip a handful of times in the wet as well.

Muffleman

Not very easily at all. I don't use mine over the winter months, and so every spring is a bit of a learning curve. Mid engined does take some getting used to with the weight being in the middle, but the handling really is very good.

Take one for a drive and make up your own mind mate, but they're fun little cars.

mg driver

i have been on track with an mr2 turbo and they might be safe (ish )on the road but on track near its limits it was dangerous and damn hard to control,,,,half way through the day nobody would go near it as it was snapping all over the place in the corners and he nearly lost it numerous times .

Then sure enough he lost control of it and crashed it ,smashing all the front end in.It was quick down the straights but i wouldn't have one or even go near one now on track.
I used to have a sccoby and although it understeered it was predictable and way better imo.

Dream Weaver

People who crash MR2's are just crap drivers IMO

I managed 18 months of snow, wind and rain in mine and never had problems - it wasn't the turbo version but still had 180 brake, and the turbo isnt that snappy on acceleration anyway.

They are a handful and will bite, but respect them, and drive smoothly and they are rewarding.

screech

i had my rev 1 turbo (the so called deadly ones) for over 3 1/2 yrs and it's still in one piece. i simply don't buy into the myth that mr2s are deadly, it generally just comes from non mr2 drivers or those that drive them badly. just because it requires little skill to drive a scooby it doesn't mean that all cars should be so simple to drive, an mr2 requires involvement and rewards the driver for it

ben44

I've just had a play with a blue one of these. It made a lot of noise and smoked abit, but that was about it. No need to use 4th next time me thinks

fatherpierre

You didn't say what you were in......

ben44

Sorry! A standard P1.

screech

so you're comparing a special edition tuned 280bhp car against a 220 or 240bhp car that once released was never made into special performance editions. sounds fair

if that turbo had induction kit, exhaust and raised boost, so basically bringing it inline with yours then it'd be a fair challenge.

Sport160

"People who crash MR2's are just crap drivers IMO

I managed 18 months of snow, wind and rain in mine and never had problems - it wasn't the turbo version but still had 180 brake, and the turbo isnt that snappy on acceleration anyway.

They are a handful and will bite, but respect them, and drive smoothly and they are rewarding."

Fair comment in my case, it was the 1st rwd car i'd driven in about 10 years and the first ever mid engine/rwd combo, should have been taking it much easier than i was. Went it wrong I overcorrected and stated a tank slapper effect until we ran out of road and founf the lampost, end of MR2.

Personally I still don't like mid engine/rwd setup, I hated my elise in the wet, a front engine/rwd setup like caterhams I found much more predictable.

Rgds
Neil

ben44

He challenged me That makes it fair in my books. His didn't sound standard either....

Dream Weaver

Although I liked the MR2, I also wasnt that keen on RWD if i'm honest, much prefer FWD.

screech

mine's not standard , just waiting for it to mapped, only been on the road for less than 1 week since being imported due to all the paperwork hold ups. rev 3 turbo (241bhp standard)

Muffleman

Excellent and honest reply mate. Everyone has their preference which is why I don't get all bent out of shape when someone has a go at the MR2 turbo. I've owned FWD, 4WD and RWD, and my preference is definitely RWD. But I totally understand that not everyones the same.

All the best


Matt

ben44

Was it you then? lol. What are you looking at after the re-map, any ideas?

VAL113R

he also didnt say if the MR2 was a turbo or not

these cars are quite difficult to tell which are turbos and which are not.

did it have raised vents on the engine lid ?

ben44

Once I went passed it, it would have been a bit dangerous to check things like that It wasn't a standard MR2, it was quicker than that, it had the right turbo stickers on (I know) and as I said, he thought it was good enough to have a go...

I believe it was a non standard turbo. I'm not knocking these cars, and I said originally, it was smoking a bit. But I did beat it without to much effort! lol

screech

after the remap i'm hoping to be pushing 400+ bhp at the flywheel. so about 350 at the wheels

ben44

Cool. That will show some Subaru drives a thing or 2 at points. Including me maybe..... lol

Is it quicker than your Subaru at present?

ben44

Sorry, that sounded abit up my ****, wasn't meant like that.

VAL113R

no knocking you but it is very difficult to see the turbo stickers on the car

mine is black and the stickers are dark grey.

I guess I am trying to say it may not have been a turbo.

the non turbos come out at up to around 175 bhp in standard form so it may have been a non turbo

ps you would only have seen the engine vents from the back. remember the engine is in the rear ;-)

screech

i don't have a scooby. only the mr2. probably pushing 300 on low boost at the moment so still sees of most cars

RichardPON

I currently have a 350bhp 2wd Cosworth, and a Rev 2 MR2 Turbo.

To date, the MR2 has simply been the nest car I've ever purchased. It's a good looking car (so all my hairdresser friends say etc etc ), and it a VERY enjoyable driving experience.

Straight line performance with 10psi of boost is excellent, and the handling is superb. Sure, it's not a Lotus Elise, but for the money, it's a superb little car that I have had some huge fun with "down the lanes" etc.

I don't find the back end particularly easy to lose in the road at all in the dry. With that "mid engined" setup, there's so much weight over the back end, that it either takes a lot of force and aggression to unsettle the back end, or just a set of appalingly bad tyres! In comparison to my 2wd Cosworth, it drives like a 4wd car!

In the wet, yes, it is a handful, but I just respect it like I would any mid engined RWD car with 250bhp - it makes for a potent combination, and because of that weight transfer, you do have to be quick with the wheel to catch any slides, although from what I've seen, it's too little too late for those that crash in those situations.

Parts prices so far have been pretty good, as I've not really had to buy anything for it aside from a couple of trim clips and the like. The only things I've replaced to date mechanically have been a pair of rear tyres, and front and rear pads. I do nearly all the work on my cars myself, and changing the pads was a particularly easy job. There's nothing to worry about re: rust, and even things like the exhaust heatshields, which I know can be a rattly annoying problem on similar aged scoobs don't seem to cause any issue.

I have also done three track days in the car in the past two months, at Castle Combe, Donnington, and Bedford. I did have a couple of spins in the car, including one rather large one at Combe on the exit of Camp, where I ended up roof high in the cornfield but that was through my own choosing, as I was pushing the limits of the car on the exits of corners on a relatively empty circuit. At Bedford, where there is virtually nothing to hit, I really pushed the car hard, and did a fair bit of drifting, and found it hugely rewarding, even on standard suspension, and very very average tyres (intentional for ruining on track). I was able to keep pace with far superior cars (Porsche Carrera, modified Clio Cup etc) although track knowledge did help somewhat.

Couple of pics:





Overall, a superb car - one that I am extremely pleased with. I do have the cambelt change approaching, and the clutch will need looking at after a good day at Santa Pod (14.3 @ 97mph on 6 psi boost!) so there will be a little expensive coming up, although prices can be quite competitive from the specialist MR2 servicing centres. Petrol consumption has been interesting - I do like my right foot, and to date, I get approximately 180 miles out of a tank, although I have seen better on motorway runs.

Get over to:

www.mr2oc.co.uk

or

www.imoc.co.uk

for plenty of info and techincal help. The "Know Your 2" section on mr2oc is particularly helpful.