Toyota MR2 Mk2 Review

Overall Rating

Fantastic Looks performance and handling, great equipment levels & easily tunable.

potentially lethal in the wet, low fuel economy, parts are expensive. (As with all performance cars)

I bought my Toyota MR2 GT-S in June 2000. It is a late 1992 model in silvery/blue. When i bought the car it already had a cat 1 alarm system hks mushroom filter and full blitz exhaust system. Since then i have added a blitz dsbc (dual solenoid boost controller) running a pressure of 1 bar (14.5 psi). This has radically transformed the car into a completely differnt animal. Acceleration is awesome with hardly any lag as the wastegate is now either permanently shut or open, as opposed to various stages of leaking due to the machanical vsv system. Strangely after fitting the dsbc i have had no problems from the ecu fuel cut which allegedly needs to be wired out via a defenser. I am not sure wether this is due to my car having a later ecu or upgrade already, or the fact that i am using an electronic boost controller rather than a bleed valve which can cause nasty boost spikes and generally upset the computer. Last summer (before dsbc) i took the car to Trax at Silverstone and recorded a 0-60 time of 5.5 secs which i was quite chuffed with. The car was only running 0.68 bar (i found out later) and i guess was producing around 230 bhp. I now estimate the power to be around 280 bhp and hope to run a 4.5 sec ish time this year. I also found the car would start to pink around 1.05 bar plus boost, and feel the only way round this due to limited space for a replacement intercooler is water injection. however i am more than happy with what i have especially at the thought of shelling out for an engine rebuild.
The MR2 turbo is without doubt the fastest most desirable sports car small money can buy. Why it was never available over here is a great mystery. If you want my advice then start looking for one immediately, but make sure you read up on them first as there are unfortunately some dogs starting to appear.

Members' Comments onChris.'s Review

• Wenny. on 2nd Aug 2002

  Any car with a mid-engine WILL spin if u go too fast through a corner. I had a 3gen j-spec engine with raised boost and this baby was even happy tailed on dry if i drove too fast in a corner. Tires indeed do matter as you have to have good tyres that handle good in wet but they ALWAYS are tail happy if you push the limits.
  
  Get a ferrari and u will have the same thing.

• samm on 23rd Feb 2004

  Im looking out for a rev3 mr2 turbo.
  Are 92 j reg mr2 turbo's rev 3?
  Anything i should look out for or avoid?
  How many piles per gallon can i expect (not that i am expecting much)
  Also- have any of you also driven a nissan 200 s14 touring or impreza wrx?
  how do you think they compare-as far as i am concerned the mr2 looks the best and i think rwd is more fun but is it really better than the scooby and nissan?