Midlife crisis?

[themadscientist]

I was just discussing cars with a comrade, imagine that, on a car forum! The coincidence is spooky. Anywho, I was bearing my soul about my growing appreciation for a cute car. Now I am exposed and vulnerable so be kind. I think I want to test drive an MR-S. The MR-S is just a home market name for the last gen MR-2.

They are not particularly fast. They are small and not very practical. They seem to be pretty well designed for tossing down a windy road, though, and I've never had a vert. I would never think of leaving my Skyline, but the idea of a peppy little drop top for daily commuting, maybe a little gymkhana(autocross) on the weekends sounds like a fun change of pace from what I have done in the past.

Regardless, I need a drivers car, something with an attitude and a fighting spirit. I never noticed that in these cars until I followed one down a togue. We weren't racing, just going in the same direction faster than advisable. That little sumbich cuts corners like a ginsu knife and the guy knew how to keep the engine in the power band. I think it had an aftermarket muffler because it sounded racy as hell.

It doesn't look like much, does it?


It sure dresses up nice, though, and yes, I like that damned wing!


Maybe I'm getting old, or maybe I am looking for more sophistication, I'm not sure. The giddy laughter from Tsuchiya-san confirms what I am guessing, that this little thing is fun to drive.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-ikdbqMKsc[/youtube]

I'm broke as hell right now, but the MR-S is on my radar.

Crap, maybe "cute" was a bad choice of words. That thing is pretty pissed off!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n3hMQvb6GE[/youtube]

[BusyBadger]

I've always liked these despite them not holding a candle to the SW MRs. And you know the saying about being able to make a light car fast is easier than making a fast car light.

And while I'm sure get a ton of great parts over in the car's homeland, just think of the possibilities with this!

[themadscientist]

Lead me not into temptation Satan!

[Razi]

That TechnoPro MR-S looks like a ton of fun to drive.

Another vid it was in:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrAyyTBsxPU[/youtube]

[themadscientist]

This makes it worse. He was driving that MR-S like I used to ride my 600, late braking and full power through the corners. I use to piss those liter bikes of through the twisties because they could overpower their tires and had to roll off and didn't have many opportunities to use all the power. That's a great example of the difference between turbo and NA driving.

[Razi]

Just to fuel the flame.
Doing a 2ZZGE swap like the TechnoPro MR-S seems fairly straight forward, not a ton of wiring to mess with.
http://www.mr2.com/forums/mk-3-mr2-spyd ... pyder.html

[themadscientist]

You guys suck so bad....

If I got one, I would probably just add a supercharger with an air-to-liquid intercooler to it if I needed more power. You retain the linear power curve that is so nice in NA engines.

2ZZ vs 1ZZ and a stripped interior.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTwOsGn8_JQ[/youtube]

[leesredgt]

IM all for MR2 and MRS's. I say go for it full throttle. You wont regret it. I absolutely love my turbo SW.

[Bubba1]

IM all for MR2 and MRS's. I say go for it full throttle. You wont regret it. I absolutely love my turbo SW.

I met someone that uses that generation MR2 as a track day car. It's nice, very competent handling, but not particularly fast. As MR2's go, I think the best one is the 92 MR2 turbo. The ones that look like mini Ferrari's. I have 2 friends that own them for track day cars. They are terrific little cars and have some oomph. Like a reliable elise that you can actually fit and climb out of.