TurbolessButImprezzive

i want my gt-four back now!!!!!!!
(i know, we're talking MR2's here, but i always said that the only car i would ditch my celica for was as MR2....so obviously i bought a scooby!! lol)

Wizzbang

mr2 turbos are only dangerous in the wet if you cant adapt your driving. Id been down the safe and secure 4wd route, been through a few fun fwd cars and even had the odd rwd before I got my Mr2. On the first day after I bought it, I spun it going about 20mph, the road was damp/wet in places, I was driving it like a 4wd, and it was on sh1te tyres. Simple after that, drive it like a mid engined rear drive car(oh and put on some decent rubber). I sold it after a year of ownership because I got bored of it(it was a standard rev2 turbo, but it did have the lsd) and didnt want the expense of tuning(been there got the debts)another car, so I sold up and bought something even more envolving and seriously quicker a ZX6R.

Id say, if your thinking of getting one, a rev3 is best, try to get a lsd, get some decent rubber for it, and enjoy it, but dont drive it like a scooby/4wd car.


WizzBang

Scooby Dooby Blue

I've had my fair share of Scoobs and tbh, just got fed up of them. They're far too predictable and where i'm from, every ned and his mate seem to be getting them.

Sold Scoob #5 a few weeks ago and bought an MR2T.
Stuck on 17s with good tyres and the car's an absolute riot to throw about.

The engine's standard so is not as quick as a tuned scoob by any stretch of the imagination but it is so much more responsive down the revs (due to the twin-entry turbo i believe).

25mpg around town and 35mpg on a run is something i can live with.
My insurance premium went up £100 from the Impreza

If you want a safe car, buy a Scooby.
If you want go-kart handling, buy a tubby.
If you want a Ferarri 355, buy a tubby and get the bodykit fitted


Paul

Midmotorsteve

i drive my Revision2 turbo wet or dry, simply drive it slower in the wet... not hard. 15psi from a grainger valve and FCD means 250 - 260 bhp for all of £30.

I much prefer hard tops, so many T bars leak. Also Hard tops are a fair bit lighter 1200kg for a hard top.

I'd have thought at 250bhp it'd out drag any scooby with the same or less bhp as very little drive train losses and very aerodynamic.

In the dry i'd have also thought its as fast as a scooby on the bends.

Wet granted, of course 4wd will give more grip. I love mine, would only change it for things i can't afford. Nothing else under £4000 i would want.

matt5cott

Had my rev5 turbo a year and a few months now, at service time it just needed oil and the usual consumables, nothing wrong with it, nothing extra needed replacing, was chuffed

Turbo ownership is still fantastically amusing at times, because some people on the roads still dont even know a turbo version exists

If youre worried about driving in the winter/rain then get racelogic traction control put on!

Oh and philz youre a sod for posting that clip with some minor mods, stop tempting me lol

STI-R/A

Hello mate thought id give my 2p worth - A couple of weekends ago i was in my mates mr2 when he crashed it - wet road + **** end drive = big spin and end up in a ditch. We are both fine and the car amazingly is not a write off but these cars are very twitchy and when i had a go myself although great fun didntfeel nearly as solid through the bends as my scoob.
Having said that they are great fun wee cars and theres loads ucan do to them and being toyota, build quality is excellent - very reliable cars.
Just depends what you want i supose. Oh the chicks love them as well!

slim_boy_fat

Get a Porsche 944 turbo.

philz

To get over 300BHP you'd only need exhaust and unichip. Go on, you know you want to!

Then get a decat, chargecooler, hybrid turbo, standalone ECU, injectors.................

KiwiMR2

Hehehe.....might as well think about an R32 GTS-T while your at it

Said who?



So what did you end up buying??

Cheers
KiwiMR2

Cosworth427

Just because someone is old, doesn't mean they are wise, so just ignore neillewiselliot.

Nothing worse than blinded scooby owners writing off anything that doesn't have 4 doors and 4 wheel drive.

RB5_245

If you regularly drive a FF you won't be imressed by an mr2 turbo, the steering is quick, the car is very well balenced and has ample power, makes driving a pleasure because it comes in nicely in the midrange. The brakes stand up easily to hard use on the road.

However, as quick as the steering is, it feels lifeless, definetly not as good as an impreza. I do think this could be cured by a good suspension set up and the right wheel/tyre choice. It rolls too much for how stiff the suspension is, the springs and dampers don't feel quite matched for uk roads.

The throttle response is elastic. It is the one thing that made me sell mine. This is cured on the n/a version, but they are gutless compared to an sti.

Dave

screechmr2

'Nothing worse than blinded scooby owners writing off anything that doesn't have 4 doors and 4 wheel drive.'

i've noticed this a lot, let's face it not everyone wants a car that flatters to deceive, some people like a car that requires skill to drive fast. for what they (mr2 and scooby) were designed for they are both good.

rbs 245 i don't get the 'elastic throttle' comment, what's it mean?

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

Had a go in a friends Mr2 turbo rev3 yesterday. I was impressed with the power delivery, even if the rear wheels struggled for grip most of the time! To be honest, I thought is was a bl**dy good little car. People who say that they are cr*p, in my opinion, don't know their head from their ar£e. The tubby is very well balanced and from what I could feel, fairly easy to steer with the throttle.
Unfortunatly, I need a car with 4 seats and a boot, so my best option is to stick with the sti for now.
Don't get me wrong, I love the scoob to bits, but sometimes there is just too much grip, (can't believe I just said that! ) and it makes me feel abit, well, useless.
For the 'fun' factor, rear wheel drive rocks!!!

RB5_245

I hope i wasn't put into the 'blinded scooby owners' bracket there. As I said I used to own one, and think with a bit of effort it could be the car it should be.... because as it stands it's not what it should be. just drive a mk1 mr2 and you'll see what it was supposed to be like (handling wise).

The elastic throttle response is something that affected all the 3sgte engines. It feels like the throttle is connected to the accelerator pedal with elastic. very vague, far too short travel and unresponsive, it actually feels very similar to a VW camper i used to own.

If you're quick you can, from idle, jab the throttle and have it released before the engine revs.

If the n/a one had 300+bhp i'd still have one, put it that way.

Dave

screechmr2

'If you're quick you can, from idle, jab the throttle and have it released before the engine revs'

you must have the quickest feet in the history of the world!! either that or yours was f*cked

RB5_245

well i can't tap dance , so mine must have been F*****, as were other 5/6 i've driven and a couple of GT4's. What bad luck

Funnily enough i got the same reply on another thread when i mentioned the handling of them.

I've spripped and re-built some of the car (it was getting taken apart as a project.... then got put back together and sold when I priced £12K for the engine parts alone to do what i wanted). So I know it was in good condition.

When I bought it, it was absolutely mint condition with 50k miles. I test drove loads before i found that one, and have driven 5or6 since then.

I don't think i'm that good a driver that I notice things that mere mortals don't (I'll happily eat my hat if i'm driving in the WRC next year ).

So, with all this taken into account I can safely say the 3sgte engine has a really poor throttle response.

Dave

Roojai

If you are lucky you might find a rev 5 import with the BEAMS vvti 2.0 engine. That put out 210 bhp NA! Still not as fast as the tubby but much better throttle response and easier to control. Around 6 secs to 60.

mynickers

A few links you might find useful.

Buyers guide here:

http://www.btinternet.com/~netsurf/mr2t/mr2tfaq.html

Owners club

http://www.mr2dc.com/

http://www.imoc.co.uk/

http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/

Importers

http://www.mr2-direct-imports.co.uk/

What about an 200sx, bit more spacious, less bang for your buck as standard but another fairly easily tunable and reliable car. I have to say when I was looking for insurance I got an insainly low price on a MR2 Rev3 Turbo with mods from confussed.com, I was confussed as it was more expensive for UK 200sx - go figure..

edited cause I am a forgetful stoner:P

fatherpierre

I've owned 3 of these and the poor throttle responce was a feature on all of 'em.

Only an issue when initially hitting the peddle, though.