I was in the fortunate position yesterday to take home a
Mk3 Toyota MR2
. “Here you go, Scrof,” said Dan, as the keys were tossed my way. “Have a go in this one and see if it’s any better than
that Mk1 you bought
MX-5 feels fun even on a motorway
I was in the even more fortunate position of having driven a Mk2 Mazda MX-5 last week, enabling a near back-to-back comparison. Growing up and devouring magazine road tests almost as fast as they were published, I’d assumed the MX-5 and the MR2 would be pretty similar things. On the face of it, they are. Yet driving the two so close to each other revealed a real difference in character.
For full disclosure, it’s worth pointing out that the two were very different examples; the MX-5 a pre-facelift 2000 model with 70,000 on the clock, and the MR2 a post-facelift 2006 example with just 13,000 miles under its belt. Hard to compare them accurately, therefore, which is why this isn’t a true road test – more, the musings of a bloke who’s always admired both.
Facelift MX-5 looks better to my eyes
Despite the Mazda’s obvious disadvantage in terms of age and use, it made a convincing case for itself. Because I’m an idiot, I drove it one night down the entire length of the M3, in mid-February, at rush hour, with the hood down. And you know what? It was fantastic. It was comfy in seats and suspension and instead of a roof, I had a smattering of stars above my head. But as you’d expect, it really came into its own on the back roads. The great thing about the MX is that it’s laid-back enough to allow you to pick and choose. Drive it like a hooligan, and there’s always tail-out fun on tap. Or drive it with care and precision, and it rewards with plenty of grip, steering feel and a wonderfully pointy front end. The engine can’t disguise its lack of grunt, but it’s always responsive and willing.
Jumping into the MR2, it was immediately obvious that it’s the sharper, more honed car of the two. The whole car felt more taut and more alert. Sounds great, but it had a downside: the same journey down the M3 was suddenly no longer a joy. Halfway down, I realised I was getting back ache as I couldn’t move the seat far enough back; what’s more, the suspension picked up imperfections that simply weren’t there in the Mazda (nor, even, in our Cup-spec Megane 265).
MR2 is the sharper car of the two
Turning off the motorway in the MR2, that discomfort did pay off – to a point. It was undoubtedly sharper and more responsive than the Mazda. But it also felt more fidgety, and as a result, less confidence-inspiring – like it had had a big caffeine hit earlier in the day and couldn’t quite settle down. That said, it allowed gleeful, eminently catchable oversteer on tap, and more easily than the MX-5 – thanks largely to the standard limited-slip diff – and the engine, while feeling flat and sounding uninspiring at low revs, did provide zingy, rev-rewarding acceleration once you hit the top end.
Reading this back, it sounds like I had a downer on the MR2, but I didn’t. I did think it was a less-accomplished all-rounder than the MX-5, but I also reckoned it to be the more rewarding driver’s car. Where the MX-5 is happy to play ball however you fancy, the MR2 demands you grab it by the scruff of its neck to get the best experience from it. I prefer its bluffer, chunkier lines to the MX-5’s, and I find it feels less cramped inside, despite lacking legroom.
I liked both equally, and as a result I find myself in something of a quandary. Which would I choose, if I had to part with my cash? If it was to be the MR2, it’d have to be a post-facelift; I’ve heard too many stories of earlier cars ingesting their engines. So at the two-grand mark, or thereabouts, the MX-5 would be the instant choice. One
like this
, for example, with respectable mileage and all the history you could hope for, would be a seriously tempting prospect. But with a little more cash to play with, I think the Toyota would probably edge it by a whisker, purely because of its looks and proclivity to oversteer.
This one
would be just the ticket - leather and a hard top are great options to have, the mileage is reasonable, it's got a full service history and it looks well looked-after. But it’s a subjective decision, rather than an objective one – so I’d be keen to hear your take.
[Lead pic: Will Williams/What Car?]