bam

Now we have (had) the ISF, LFA, FRS, RCF, (hopefuly 2nd gen) ISF, (Hopefully rebirth) Supra Turbo, can we have a rebirth of the MR2 Turbo? Love this car. Small, fun, sporty, lightweight, fast, and reliable. I'd love to see it with the same formula just advanced to fall in line with today's design and technology. I think a 2.0L inline 4 turbo would still be awesome. Throw in, vari-timing, direct injection, double clutch, and all that other stuff and I think it would be such an awesome car. Maybe in the 90's when Toyota was making this car and offering it for sale at $30k or so, it was such a niche vehicle and such a high price (for the time) that it priced itself out of being successful. Now with Honda Accords going into the $40k range, a $35k -$45k MR2 Turbo would seem "reasonable."

If the talk is true that some report coming out of Australia is indeed correct and Toyota will build the FT-1 into the Supra at about $90k to compete with the GT-R, that will put many people out of that market and the Supra will again be a very niche vehicle. How about an MR2 Turbo to fill in the void between the FRS and the Supra to compete with say the 370Z or even Z4?

tex2670

If this was reborn, wouldn't it just be the Scion FRS? Would they really make a mid-engine sports car?

bam

The FRS is a completely different car to what the MR2 Turbo was. It was actually a small sports car and it ran amongst the 300Z twin turbo, Supra seq twin turbo, RX-7 seq twin turbo but on a smaller scale and with a different formula (mid-engine.) The FRS is a return for the Toyota brand under Scion into the sporty category but I wouldn't call it a sports car in the same vein as a 370Z or something like that. It's a great car for what it is and it has potential to something more with some proper mods, specifically to the engine but it's not an out right sports car.

Keep in mind the MR2 Turbo had a limited slip dif and only weighed about 2800 pounds.

gymratter

maybe a new mid engine car from Toyota will be sold as a Lexus. remember there is still the BMW and Toyota joint project. who knows what that will be.

JDR76

Yes, as long as it holds true to its heritage. A new version of the gen1/gen2 MR2, not the Spyder (ack!).

bam

That spyder was horrible and when I speak about the MR2, I don't include the MR2 Spyder in that discussion even though the Sypder had the MR2 branding. The Spyder was def a huge step backward. My guess is Toyota tried to keep the MR2 brand alive by making it more attainable so they reduced the performance to reduce the price but obviously, it didn't stick. That would be like Porsche saying that need to reduce the price of their Porsches because they're not selling enough and then cutting the flat 6 to an inline 4. It would never fly.

Coconut

I am all for an afforable rear mid-engine car.

mmarshall

My experience with small mid-engine cars (particularly with the MR2, more so than some others such as the Pontiac Fiero and Fiat X1-9), is that the same characteristics that give them such fun, snappy handling on tight curves also tend to make them somewhat twitchy and unstable on long straight roads such as Interstates. The generally rear-weight bias, with the weight of the engine/transmission back behind the driver, takes a lot of stabilizing weight off of the front wheels, so they don't have a lot of bite/traction the gyro-stabilizing effect to stay in a straight line. It often takes a lot of very small but constant steering corrections to keep the front end going perfectly straight...the front end tends to want to drift right or left, even apart from any crown in the road. This can be annoying on a long Interstate trip. MR2s, particularly with heat-producing turbos, I've noticed, also tend to run hot because the built-in grilles/cooling air slots built into the body panels don't necessarily let in as much air to flow around the engine and help pick up excess heat as a conventional front-engine design with a grille or underbody airflow right in front of the engine up front. The cooling radiator in a mid-engined car, of course, is also usually much further away from the engine (up front) with long hoses running underneath the cabin.

(my vote, BTW, was to bring the MR2 back with a front-engine to alleviate these problems......or the Celica, which was front-engine to start with).

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

I'm on board for RWD / Mid-engine

tex2670

I understand--I'm just saying that I don't think they'd bring back a mid-engine sports car, but instead, would bring back the name, and slap it on an FRS-type car.

bagwell

+1 DING! correct answer!

and no, IMO the MR2 Turbo was not in the same league as the 300ZX tt, Supra tt, etc

spwolf

plenty of people turbo'd their spiders or installed 2ZZ engine into it... I had turbo one, it was a beast.

bam

No quite because the MR2 is a Mid-engine, Rear-drive, 2 seater. The only thing the FRS has in common with the MR2 is the rear drive. Again, it's a sporty car but not a sports car. The MR2 was in the same category as those cars mentioned because it's a sports car just like an NSX, 911, 458, Supra TT. It's just on a smaller scale but it is non-the-less a sports car.

bam

I did hear of people doing this but I will say for conversation sake, let's say that the post is to refer to factory specs and not aftermarket because if you include aftermarket, many cars could be included.

bam

Yes, less weight in the front def contributes to this "problem" but I think now-a-days, advances in suspension design and geometry can alleviate this concern for the most part. Porsche being the most obvious example with their rear engine layout and have no successfully negated snap oversteer (to some people's disgust.) Seeing that the MR2 was alive and well almost 20 years ago, hopefully if it were to be reborn, advances in suspension design and geometry will reduce this concern to a minimum.

As for running hot, I would say the same for aerodynamics as it has come so far since the MR2 was on the road. Ferrari can now make a mid-engine sports car with a v-8 producing a lot of heat and have it run reliably. So while, they're able to properly cool the car with enough openings in the body panel, they're also able to use the body to generate downforce with a minimal deduction in drag and with the use of any external wings and winglets. Quite the accomplishment and trickle down tech from racing and F1.