RE: Shed of the Week: Toyota MR2 Roadster
Discussion
TameRacingDriver said:
And yet, the same engine is good enough for an Elise...
I really don't think it's a bad engine in all honesty. It's quite keen to rev, has a reasonable amount of torque at low revs so you don't have to thrash it to travel briskly, and frankly it's better than the 1.8 in my old mx5.
Personally never thought it was good enough for the Elise, either. I really don't think it's a bad engine in all honesty. It's quite keen to rev, has a reasonable amount of torque at low revs so you don't have to thrash it to travel briskly, and frankly it's better than the 1.8 in my old mx5.
It's far too linear for my liking, sounds crap and doesn't accelerate at a rate that makes it worth revving. I had more fun thrashing my mother's Fiesta. Really dislike the engine, and then mine died a death and cost ££££ to sort.
For me the engine in the Mk3 ruins it (in relation to my replacement engine, not the one that died obviously, that was even worse!).
Much preferred the 4AGE engine in the MK1 MR2.
That aside though, don't understand the comments about how impractical they are - there's a fair bit of storage space behind the seats, as long as you don't want to take full on suitcases they're fine. Get loads of bags in them/the front boot, even a set of golf clubs behind there. Carried a bike in mine, too. It's no hatchback, but what are people expecting?
Biggest gripe about luggage is the fact you have to keep adjusting the seat to get to the lockers behind them, which can be a PITA. The front boot is also accessible via the glovebox, and again it's f
king irritating if you just want to throw a bag or two in there before you set off. First world problems and all that, but still irksome. Edited by pthelazyjourno on Wednesday 4th April 17:46
pthelazyjourno said:
Personally never thought it was good enough for the Elise, either.
It's far too linear for my liking, sounds crap and doesn't accelerate at a rate that makes it worth revving. I had more fun thrashing my mother's Fiesta. Really dislike the engine, and then mine died a death and cost ££££ to sort.
For me the engine in the Mk3 ruins it (in relation to my replacement engine, not the one that died obviously, that was even worse!).
Much preferred the 4AGE engine in the MK1 MR2.
That aside though, don't understand the comments about how impractical they are - there's a fair bit of storage space behind the seats, as long as you don't want to take full on suitcases they're fine. Get loads of bags in them/the front boot, even a set of golf clubs behind there. Carried a bike in mine, too. It's no hatchback, but what are people expecting?
Biggest gripe about luggage is the fact you have to keep adjusting the seat to get to the lockers behind them, which can be a PITA. The front boot is also accessible via the glovebox, and again it's fking irritating if you just want to throw a bag or two in there before you set off. First world problems and all that, but still irksome.
Bit harsh about the engine, mine sounds fairly decent with a Powerflow, and its keen enough to rev and rewards with a reasonable lick of speed. My main criticism is it likes to drink a bit of oil. It’s certainly not a particularly great engine, I would agree with that. But it is fine for the car, pulls well enough, and for me doesn’t spoil it, even though it could be better. Having said that I will admit that if the engine does expire, I’d certainly investigate getting a better engine put in there. Honda K20 would be quite nice.It's far too linear for my liking, sounds crap and doesn't accelerate at a rate that makes it worth revving. I had more fun thrashing my mother's Fiesta. Really dislike the engine, and then mine died a death and cost ££££ to sort.
For me the engine in the Mk3 ruins it (in relation to my replacement engine, not the one that died obviously, that was even worse!).
Much preferred the 4AGE engine in the MK1 MR2.
That aside though, don't understand the comments about how impractical they are - there's a fair bit of storage space behind the seats, as long as you don't want to take full on suitcases they're fine. Get loads of bags in them/the front boot, even a set of golf clubs behind there. Carried a bike in mine, too. It's no hatchback, but what are people expecting?
Biggest gripe about luggage is the fact you have to keep adjusting the seat to get to the lockers behind them, which can be a PITA. The front boot is also accessible via the glovebox, and again it's f
king irritating if you just want to throw a bag or two in there before you set off. First world problems and all that, but still irksome. Edited by pthelazyjourno on Wednesday 4th April 17:46
They are quite impractical, for example, a passenger, decent size tent and luggage would be nigh on impossible (unlike an MX5 which has a cavernous boot by comparison and more space behind the passengers with the roof down). For a single person, they are fine. Generally mine is just a toy but it would be nice for it to be just a smidge more usable; as soon as you need to carry a passenger, your capacity for other stuff goes out of the window!
My 107k mile facelift uses almost no oil, and has done numerous trackdays and led a hard life generally. I've got the same 1.8 vvti in my daily shed corrolla which has 60k genuine miles and that uses a gallon per 2000m. It's done so for 20000m. Its previous owner was an old lady who had it 15yrs or so and did 2-3k miles pa max and had a main dealer service annually! Too many short stop start cold journeys kill em!
TameRacingDriver said:
Bit harsh about the engine, mine sounds fairly decent with a Powerflow, and its keen enough to rev and rewards with a reasonable lick of speed. My main criticism is it likes to drink a bit of oil. It’s certainly not a particularly great engine, I would agree with that. But it is fine for the car, pulls well enough, and for me doesn’t spoil it, even though it could be better. Having said that I will admit that if the engine does expire, I’d certainly investigate getting a better engine put in there. Honda K20 would be quite nice.
They are quite impractical, for example, a passenger, decent size tent and luggage would be nigh on impossible (unlike an MX5 which has a cavernous boot by comparison and more space behind the passengers with the roof down). For a single person, they are fine. Generally mine is just a toy but it would be nice for it to be just a smidge more usable; as soon as you need to carry a passenger, your capacity for other stuff goes out of the window!
To be fair, I probably hate it more than most due to the amount of grief it gave me. Possibly not rational, haha. They are quite impractical, for example, a passenger, decent size tent and luggage would be nigh on impossible (unlike an MX5 which has a cavernous boot by comparison and more space behind the passengers with the roof down). For a single person, they are fine. Generally mine is just a toy but it would be nice for it to be just a smidge more usable; as soon as you need to carry a passenger, your capacity for other stuff goes out of the window!
I just didn't like the power delivery.
RE luggage space, I actually found it better than the MX5 as the cabins are pretty much the full width of the car - so I could get my golf clubs in. With the MX5, IIRC the boot is pretty much the width of the boot opening (certainly on older ones), and wasn't that deep - I wouldn't be surprised if overall carrying capacity is quite similar.
Obviously depends what you're carrying. Then again I've had several Elises, several MR2s and a couple of Smart cars, so possibly my expectations are lower than most!
culpz said:
The Don of Croy said:
Mine has the despised SMT gearchange (with electronic throttle and stability control included) so it's more a cruiser than ultimate track weapon, but if you want open top motoring on a budget that can still amuse on twisty roads then I'd recommend it in a flash.
Out of interest, what's the SMT gearbox like? I know the usual comments of it being crap, unreliable and it doesn't belong in a car like this are aplenty, but i quite like the idea of one in the MR2.Have you had many/any issues with it?
Reliability is certainly an issue, but I don't think that it affects a huge number of cars. I have fixed several over the years for customers. Sometimes a system reset and relearn is all that is required; the clutch and gear change are operated by hydraulic actuators with position sensors, and the system has to know exactly where each gear is and also the clutch biting point. Often though, one of several expensive components needs to be replaced, and even with much experience it can be a lottery as to which one needs to be changed. Many times it is no more expensive, and and a more certain result, to convert the car to manual.
Pan de Monium said:
Maybe I should experiment with suspension alignment. My whole car is completely standard, including alignment. It seems to have quite a lot of grip, but doesn't give me any feel for how hard it's working the various tyres and how close to the limit it is. I certainly can't play with and feel the weight transfer like I could with the old 911 I used to have, and I have much less confidence with feeling grip levels than any MX-5 I have ever driven.
As someone who has owned a couple of MX5's and is currently running an MR2 I'd echo the other comments and definitely recommend you play about with something. Maybe it's tyres? My MR2 is very 'playful'. Not quite as completely forgiving of being chucked about as an MX5 but you can certainly have lots of fun and feel very clearly where the limits are.Ilovejapcrap said:
5. Pre cat failure is really a myth. They only have 2 oilway holes in the piston and if they block up they burn oil contaminating the cat and making it break down. Newer pistons have 4 larger holes stopping this issue, if you get it in time.
About time someone put the record straight. My daughter's first proper car was a Mk1 which she ran for nearly 10 years before it got to the point that I was going to have to spend about 6 months restoring it. She replaced it with a 2000 Mk3 that had suffered the high oil consumption resulting in it running out of oil, seizing one big end, snapping the con rod and putting a hole in the side of the block. Towed it home, whacked in another engine from a 2002 but that still drank oil. As said, there are only two tiny holes behind the oil control rings so unless the oil has been changed regularly with decent quality stuff from new, they gum into the grooves and do nothing. I stripped the broken engine and while the compression rings moved freely in their grooves, the oil control rings were stuck solid. That one lasted until a year or so ago when it got shunted from behind and the insurance company wrote it off so she bought a 2003. From 2003 onwards there are twice the number of holes in the pistons and they are bigger too, so they don't suffer from the high oil consumption. Knowing these engines inside out now, I wouldn't touch a pre 2003 (engine mods coincided with the facelift so easy to tell which engine it has) even with a full service history. A friend of mine bought his at 1 year old in 2001 and ran it for 3, fairly hard years without issue. He loved the car, but agreed that although nippy, could have done with at least another 40 or 50hp in power, but the 190 Celica lumps drop in nicely I've heard. That would be an interesting prospect when lift kicks in...😀
Gilbertd said:
Ilovejapcrap said:
5. Pre cat failure is really a myth. They only have 2 oilway holes in the piston and if they block up they burn oil contaminating the cat and making it break down. Newer pistons have 4 larger holes stopping this issue, if you get it in time.
About time someone put the record straight. My daughter's first proper car was a Mk1 which she ran for nearly 10 years before it got to the point that I was going to have to spend about 6 months restoring it. She replaced it with a 2000 Mk3 that had suffered the high oil consumption resulting in it running out of oil, seizing one big end, snapping the con rod and putting a hole in the side of the block. Towed it home, whacked in another engine from a 2002 but that still drank oil. As said, there are only two tiny holes behind the oil control rings so unless the oil has been changed regularly with decent quality stuff from new, they gum into the grooves and do nothing. I stripped the broken engine and while the compression rings moved freely in their grooves, the oil control rings were stuck solid. That one lasted until a year or so ago when it got shunted from behind and the insurance company wrote it off so she bought a 2003. From 2003 onwards there are twice the number of holes in the pistons and they are bigger too, so they don't suffer from the high oil consumption. Knowing these engines inside out now, I wouldn't touch a pre 2003 (engine mods coincided with the facelift so easy to tell which engine it has) even with a full service history. CanAm said:
CanAm said:
I've never seen interior photos. Could one of the owners post some photos of the load spaces for us, and give us measurements.
Anyone?They are spacious enough (I'm 6'2 and fit easily) however it is very low to get into. The interior is quite "plasticy" and not up to modern car standards.
Luggage space is not their strong point, 2 small lockers behind the seats and one in the front. Enough for a weekend away but maybe not much more.
It's a pretty snug fit inside to say the least. If you are over about 6'2" I think most would struggle, especially if you are carrying a bit extra weight. My mate is about that and 17 stone and he couldn't get in it.
As said, the dash is pretty grim and plasticky. Seats are OK if you can get them in a comfy position. Once you do, don't use the bin behind the seat otherwise you'll lose your position (seriously, why do the Japanese never get this right?).
If you can, get one of the special editions with the red interior. It really brightens it up and makes it less bleak. I wish mine had it, put it that way; mine is all black, and its pretty depressing to look at.
As said, the dash is pretty grim and plasticky. Seats are OK if you can get them in a comfy position. Once you do, don't use the bin behind the seat otherwise you'll lose your position (seriously, why do the Japanese never get this right?).
If you can, get one of the special editions with the red interior. It really brightens it up and makes it less bleak. I wish mine had it, put it that way; mine is all black, and its pretty depressing to look at.
TameRacingDriver said:
It's a pretty snug fit inside to say the least. If you are over about 6'2" I think most would struggle, especially if you are carrying a bit extra weight. My mate is about that and 17 stone and he couldn't get in it.
Yes, fair play on the sizing, I'm 6'2" but only 12 stone.TameRacingDriver said:
It's a pretty snug fit inside to say the least. If you are over about 6'2" I think most would struggle, especially if you are carrying a bit extra weight. My mate is about that and 17 stone and he couldn't get in it.
As said, the dash is pretty grim and plasticky. Seats are OK if you can get them in a comfy position. Once you do, don't use the bin behind the seat otherwise you'll lose your position (seriously, why do the Japanese never get this right?).
If you can, get one of the special editions with the red interior. It really brightens it up and makes it less bleak. I wish mine had it, put it that way; mine is all black, and its pretty depressing to look at.
I'm 6'2" but have a Recaro Pole Position in mine mounted solid to the floor on a low mount (non adjustable). Feels great, just can't quite get a nice steering wheel position at the moment. As said, the dash is pretty grim and plasticky. Seats are OK if you can get them in a comfy position. Once you do, don't use the bin behind the seat otherwise you'll lose your position (seriously, why do the Japanese never get this right?).
If you can, get one of the special editions with the red interior. It really brightens it up and makes it less bleak. I wish mine had it, put it that way; mine is all black, and its pretty depressing to look at.
I can't believe I missed this SOTW either! I've always been curious about these little cars and ended up getting one over winter. One thing I love about them is how direct the steering is, compared to other cars I've owned. Really pointy cars in all conditions (running AD08R 205f 215r).
I've been loving mine in the sunshine. Went for a blast last night and its such a fun steer, although the Falken 912s did go off and pegged me back after a bit.
As for the interior, yes its 'of its time' but its perfectly functional and whilst not pretty its really not that bad.
100% recommended.
As for the interior, yes its 'of its time' but its perfectly functional and whilst not pretty its really not that bad.
100% recommended.
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