MadMax96

This guy at work just told me he had a '92 MR2 with over 200k miles on it! He claims that running synthetic oil in it has kept it running so well all these years...... (not attempting to get into a motor oil debate!!)

Always liked that style....the little convertible things are lame-o.

Lexmex

As I understand it, the U.S. market will cease to get the MR2s. However, I was told by Toyota down here in Mexico they will continue selling it.

I have a few friends who bought them (wanted the looks of a Boxter without the price), but now they can get the power, too, as they are both going to turbo them.

They are beautiful cars.

Every so often, I see late 80s or early 90 models (brought in and later nationalized) and I almost bought an 88 as a second car down here once.

JJG2005

Sounds good... I'm going to definately try to pick it up tomorrow. I think the price may be closer to around 1300, but it's still a steal at that price. I've pretty much decided on making it my project to work on interior / exterior... while the SC will be built more for speed.

RON430

I put almost 230K miles on a 91 MR2 Turbo and you won't hear a bad word from me about them. Remember it is mid engined and I never found to have some of the unsettling characteristics that Porsches can bite you with. I put two clutches, a couple of timing belts, and more rear tires than I can remember. Hydroplaning on the front in standing water will get your attention real quick, never found any tires to eliminate it but Bridgestones were far and away the worst for hydroplaning on the front end. The red paint doesn't hold up well but then again, it turned into a beater and I didn't even garage it. I gave mine to charity and when the guy came with the tow truck I asked him if he wanted me to drive it on the ramps. He was flabbergasted that anyone was giving a car to charity, especially one that ran so well. Never burned any oil, pure synthetic all the way around. I put adjustable Tokico's on it and had a lot of fun with it as a commuter car. I am still amazed how comfortable the second gen MR2 is. It is a great, reliable car with nothing that comes close today IMO.

LexFather

i think they are pimp and with all the profits toyota makes, they can afford to lose money on a sports car or two.

How the hell do u offer the Celica all trac turbo, MR-2 turbo and Supra TT and then offer us nothing?

spwolf

turbo will make them smile, it works wonders for MRS, including mine ;-). As long as they buy some sticky tires, it will be awesome (F1's or S03's my reccomendation). Stock tires, while decent, got me dancing in 3rd gear, definetly not expected at that point of time.

spwolf

no time - both marketing and engineering. In Europe, we skipped few proper product launches since we simply had not time to do it, getting so many new models out. Same goes for US market. Imagine this - 2006 will see completly new Rav4. Yaris, Camry, Corolla and FJ.Cars that bring more than 1,000,000 sales per year for Toyota USA (not mentioning ES and LS, facelift of RX and new Thundra, facelift Highlander). They have to concentrate on those. So maybe in 2007, they have planned something in different genre.

From business standpoint, Toyota knows it doesnt have time for niche products, so rather doing them and doing them poorly, they will wait until time is right.

JJG2005

That is a good quote. I'm going to use that next time my friends are bashing Toyota for not having anything to compete with the Evo or SRT4.

230k on an mr2 turbo? Not bad! I wouldn't have donated it though, but someone out there got a hell of a deal! I remember my friend telling me one day "oh by the way, the charity auto lot had an mr2 last week"... I was like "WHAT, you didn't call me right away!!" Turns out it was a black mr2 (we dont know if it was turbo or not, but it was t-top) and only sold for $800. So... when I pick this one up for $1200-1500 I guess it will make up for missing the other deal, lol.

pvmike1

The original MR2 was made to be Toyota's answer to the Ferrari 308/328. Although the 2nd gen MR2 has more power and IMO looks much better, I still prefer the driving dynamics of the original. I drove a pristine 1st gen SC'd MR2 about a year ago, and it was just as fun then as it was when it first came out. Sure it looks outdated, but nowadays, it's a classic. I'll stare at a clean one on the road, as the sight of a well cared for MR2 is now rare.

Great cars.

mmarshall

You feel the MR2 was close to the Ferrari 308?

My impression of the car was that it was more of an answer to the Fiat / Bertone X / 1-9 and Pontiac Fiero....though with far better quality. Both the X / 1-9 and Fiero were garbage in the quality department.

Coffey454

Strange comparison of MR2 to the 308... I remember the ad campaign for the second gen turbo which quoted the performance as being better than the 308. It sounds impressive to beat a Ferrari, but really - the 308 was a bit of a turd. I drove one about a dozen years ago and was amazed at how un fast it was - the Porsche 944 Turbo in front of me pulled away - quite hard.

Get the MR2 - you can't go wrong with a vintage Toyota

GSing430

got a 93 N/A. great commuter. beats racking up my mileage my gs and save on gas and less worries when i take it to work. 167k and still running strong!! you can put a BEAMS motor in it. same motor as the altezza / is200.

Tuna

No offense, but I'm skeptical of your friend. How did he tune the car to make 500hp if he's never dyno'd it and he's never been to the track? Sure, you can street tune them, but you generally don't street tune a car for 500hp.

While I like both other generations, this comment is a myth. The MKII MR2 actually handles BETTER than the MKI. People get the false impression that the MKI handles better because it FEELS like it handles better due to it's smaller size and more go-kart-like feel. If you look at magazine tests, the MKII outperforms the MKI. As proof, I rode in my friend's 93NA at an MR2 meet in Vegas in 2003 on a road course, and he was passing up every single MKI that was on the course at the same time, including the Supercharged models which have more power than the MKII NA. As far as the Spyders, I won't argue with you there. They're just too underpowered from the factory, IMO. I'd still love to have swap a 2zz into one and turbocharge it.


As for me, I've owned 3 MR2's (all MKII aka SW20). My first one was a 91NA and I had 2 93 Turbo's up until I sold one just this morning. Personally, if I were to buy another one, there's no chance I'd buy anything but a 93+ Turbo model. They have better suspension geometry (longer control arms in the rear which makes the car more stable in the corners and less apt to "snap oversteer"), stronger synchro's in the tranny as well as an LSD option (most 93 and up Turbo's have the optional LSD), and better brakes that stop the car from 60-0 in 106ft. The braking record for Sport Comact Car magazine's Ultimate Street Car Challenge is currently held by a 93 MR2 (V6 swapped) with factory 93 Turbo brakes and rotors. He had stainless brake lines, and better pads and fluid and some R-Compound tires and made 60-0 in 99ft. I'm part of the mod staff on www.mr2board.com if you want to come check it out and get some more info (hope that's not against the rules here.) I use the same name there. Otherwise you can feel free to AIM me at TunaMR2 and I'll answer any questions you may have. Sorry for the lengthy post.

RON430

I will admit to not having any sort of inside information but my understanding is that what killed the MkII MR2 or whatever you want to call it, was the beancounters. It was too expensive to manufacture and the third gen is not as expensive to build. I haven't driven the third gen but I think the market voted pretty loudly on it. Toyota doesn't like to do niche cars but it was and probably still is compared to the competition, is still great. I had really nervousness over a turbo motor and, once again, Toyota proved that what they sell works for a very long time.

MR2 was meant to compete with the 308? That is about the most absurd thing I have seen posted in a long time although I haven't read a lot of posts so maybe there are some other extremely poorly informed opinions running around. I think that opinion demsonstrates a severe lack of understanding of Toyota's understanding of their position in the market. Could they compete with Ferrari? No. Ferrari is a low volume mfr, Toyota is not. Most of Ferrari's value is because of the limited volume, something Toyota is not interested in.

flipside909

A big factor in why the SW20 3S-GTE died was inflated insurance costs. super compact, Turbo, 2 door 2 seater sports, high risk and expensive parts are insurance premium inflators.

As for the ZZW30, that was not a real MR2 in my opinion. It lacked the soul of the previous AW and SW and the 1ZZ-FE was weak and had marginal styling which is why it sold poorly. If Toyota released the ZZW30 with at least a 2ZZ-GE that it should have had (instead of letting Lotus use it for the Elise), then things could have been a little different.