Toyota wisely chose to put 15-inch radials on the car. The independent suspension (struts and springs with control links) is supple but firm, giving up a few inches of body lean in corners before stiffening in a muscular, shoulder-down stance. Considering how much steel is in the car's unit body, the MR2 is remarkably light (about 2,200 pounds unloaded). The rack-and-pinion steering answers instantly to command, and the sensations from the tires feed up through the wheel so you intuitively know what each wheel is doing at all times. For pure performance, nothing beats a lightweight, midengine, rear-drive car - as a glance at the grid of the Indy 500 will tell you.Īnd the MR2's performance is sparkling: lively, alert and well composed, the car makes even transitions from one sliding corner to another. Credit the MR2's expansive wheelbase of 96.5 inches, which sets the wheels in the far precincts of the fenders.Ĭonsidering its myriad packaging problems, why bother with a midengine design, anyway? Because placing the engine near the center of the car allows it to turn more quickly, like a pirouetting skater with her arms drawn in tight. Legroom is ample for a small midengine car (compared with the cruelties of the X1/9, for instance), allowing you to move the seat forward for a few degrees of seat-back rake. It makes its presence known under hard acceleration, as it should, with a hoarse, mechanical burr but in the putter of city streets it remains pleasantly sotto voce. Yet in terms of sound, the MR2's engine seems isolated from the cabin. The Achilles' heel of any midengine car is packaging, since the engine takes up so much prime real estate close to the driver. Handsome materials, like brushed aluminum and dimpled vinyl on the steering wheel, dash and door pulls, provide a serenely technical feel. The bluff and upright dash keeps the climate and audio controls nicely separate. Inside, the MR2 is well organized and comfortable, with simply superb bolstered buckets that you may be tempted to unbolt and install in your living room. From this angle, the current Spyder has more in common with the first-generation MR2 of the late 1980's - itself a riff on the old Fiat X1/9 - than its immediate forebear, a Mini-Me of the Ferrari Testarossa. The rear of the car features a long louvered decklid and prominent taillights above a Ferrari-like rear grille. Compared with the Miata, with its lozenge-like curves, the MR2 is crisply geometric, with slab sides punctuated by scalloped air ducts and an anthropomorphic face reminiscent of Mike Mulligan's steam shovel - all grin and bright eyes. Stylistically, however, the two cars come from different sides of the drafting table. The top latches appear to have come from the same supplier who sells to Mazda. In some respects, the MR2 seems derivative. Both cars are powered by 1.8-liter, 4-cylinder aluminum engines, though the MR2's variable valve timing gives it the edge in usable torque (125 foot-pounds at 4,400 r.p.m., compared with the Miata's 119 foot-pounds at 5,500 r.p.m.). The MR2 is a few pounds lighter, too, and the Miata can be weighed down more with luxury options that Toyota does not offer. At 153 inches, the Toyota is a couple of inches shorter than the Mazda, though the MR2 is slightly wider and taller. A car with no storage is merely a toy, and toys, as the Plymouth Prowler proves, become boring.īy the numbers, the MR2 and the Miata are strikingly similar. Yet this seems a miscalculation to someone who has spent a week in the MR2. Toyota could answer quite reasonably that utility was never part of the car's mission statement. In this way, the MR2 has a strangely feral feel, as a car that must be enjoyed alone - quite a contrast to the congenial Miata.
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