has anyone here driven an mr2?

[spitz7985]

has anyone here driven an mr2 and a s13?

if so,
what were your impressions of the 2?
how did it handle vs. a s13?
was it a 2nd gen or 1st gen that you drove? forced induction or n/a?

[dayna240sx]

I've never driven an mr2, but I'm almost 100% sure the mr2 will handle a lot better.

[SR20DETpower]

I wouldn't nessecarily say that........

plus the mr2 takes on some handling characteristics being a mid mounted engine that I just don't like one bit.

[Fliquer]

Ive driven all three generations of MR2 and I gotta say that the first and last have the best handling. The 2nd gen has pretty good handling, but even though I did not get a chacne to drive it to the limit, I have a feeling it would have been rather difficult to control.

[SR20DETpower]

rgr most rear monted engine'd cars are too squirelly or they go from bad understeer to snap oversteer......

[turbo2nr]

i have driven a worked 91 mr2 turbo tuned to about 300hp@ wheels. that car hauls ass. the handling was o.k. but not up equal with the new added speed. i rember loosing the back quickly. it was still a fun car but a bitch to work on..
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[SR20DETpower]

oh yeah thats a nother thing, those cars have SMALL engine bays, i mean REAL SMALL like smallest you will ever see. You have no idea how lucky you are to have a 240sx engine compartment lol, there is quite a lot of space in there for an import.

[turbo2nr]

we had to change the altinator and to get to it we had to disconnect the exhaust from the turbo back and drop the crossmember..
lots of work..
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[Sexy beast]

I drove an MR2 once and the hellish thing would pop out of gear on every uphill...what a pain in the ass!

[c.stratton04]

My friend has a 91 mr2 turbo and it handles hella good. like someone said before, the mid engine does make it squirly. when you load up the outside wheels on a turn, they will easily snap back and you will loose control (i speak from experience). i have not driven a s13 yet.......

[CrzyMR2T]

well i own an mr2 turbo, so heres what i think of it. i think it handles really good, good for autocrossing, better than a 240sx, cause it can go left to right quicker since the engines in the middle. if you dont know how to drive this car, yea you ll probably end up spinning out. it hasnt happened to me yet, but ive been in situation a couple of times where i almost did. like when i was taking this corner really hard, i decided to let off the gas, which is not a good idea and a mistake, the rear end all of a sudden just snapped out, and i corrected it really quick. you better have fast hands when this happens, but even if you re a really good driver, it still might not work, and you ll just go into a spin, so you dont want to let off the gas in an mr2 when goin into a corner really hard. this snap oversteer thing really only applies to 91-92 mr2s though, since the 93-95 got a rear suspension redesign, by doing this, toyota pretty much got rid of the problem. if you want that rear suspension on the 91-92, its simply a bolt on process.

to get a good slide on the mr2, you have to be really gentle with the gas, and the steering wheel. mr2's are less forgiving than a 240sx, its a lot easier to control a 240 through a slide, but the mr2 seems to grip a little harder.

on that engine room thing, yea it doesnt have much space, but you can fit one of those toyota v6s in there, it actually fits better than its original motor, cause the cylinders are three in a row, and v shaped, instead of 4 in a row. although i love the mr2, id much rather have the 240 for an everyday performance car, and a car to work on yourself. id really like to have both cars, thats actually my plan, but we ll see what happens depending on my budget.

[2of9]

i've ben in my uncle's MR2 Turbo...fastest car i have ridden in, the launch was 2nd to the DSM AWDs' well...my uncle said the handling was good at high speeds...and the engine is pretty damn small last time i checked...nice car tho..havent ben in a 240sx, but my bro wants one

[SR20DETpower]

the 240sx handles really good. I see a lot of people dog it out and I wonder what they are thinking! Maybe they drive Ferrari F40's for an everyday car lol. Its not the best handling car, and by far not the worst. It just excels in drifting, with its nuetral balance, IRS, FR drivetrain, lightweight, and its chassis rigidity. 240sx's have a pretty good chassis, even the 'sloppier' s14's are still real tight. If you don't feel this way you need to upgrade your suspension or atleast put on some OEM parts to replace that old worn out part.

On the other hand mr2 is real touchy but it has ok road holding. It is terrible to work on, and rear weight biased.

your put let a driver drive both of them on a race track who never has driven them before and the 240sx should be faster(lets say one with a sr20det so power is equal or a non turbo mr2) Given experienced drivers in each stock the mr2 might come out on top, the 240 still has more balls and when its at its limit and lets loose you still feel very confident with it. Thats what racing real hard is mostly about, being condifent in your car, you have to know how it reacts to everything so there are no surprises.

If you hit a little bump in a hard turn and it starts to mess up you have to know whats it going to do and how to counter it like 2nd nature without even thinking. And mod for mod, experienced drivers on a race track, im going to put my money on the 240sx! its all about who has the biggest balls, mr2 isn't a very confident car in oversteer, whereas the 240sx is probably one of the most. This little tidbit, even though we aren't talking about drift racing is what gives it an edge. When you take it past the granny margin and put your vehicle on the line, whoever has the more confidence inspiring car is going to burn your ass. This is why some underdog cars can put the hurt on expensive sports cars on the race track.

[CrzyMR2T]

91-92 mr2s are the only ones that really had that snap oversteer problem, it was just a design flaw that toyota fixed in later mr2s. toyota changed the rear suspension design twice on the mr2, they pretty much got rid of that oversteer problem the first time, and then made it even better on the last mr2 which we never got. the front to rear balance isnt bad either, its about 45/55. if you want good cornering on the mr2, either buy the 93+ ones, or bolt on the newer rear suspension on the 91-92. the 91-92 still handles good, but has that snap oversteer problem if you make a mistake behind the wheel.

mr2s will launch better than a 240sx, cause of where the engine is located, and itll lose less horsepower due to no driveshaft, so the mr2 has the better straight line performance. mr2s also stop better. for cornering, it depends on what you like, for grip, they re probably about the same, but for drifting, the 240sx is the better car. overall performance seems better on the mr2, but id still rather have a 240sx, cause the performance is not too far off, easier to control through the corners, and it has a lot more room.

[CrzyMR2T]

Originally Posted by Sexy beast

I drove an MR2 once and the hellish thing would pop out of gear on every uphill...what a pain in the ass!

what yr mr2 was that? the older mr2 transmissions werent that great, i think they were the 91-92 ones. a lot of 91 mr2s tend to need a transmission rebuild, or a whole new one. 91 mr2s lacked syncromesh, which made shifting difficult, it was easy to scratch the gears. 92 got more syncros, but i think it was the 93 and up that were good, since it got even more syncros.

another thing about the mr2, the turbo had stiffer suspension, and thicker sway bars, so the n/a didnt handle as well.