Another pleasant surprise
Discussion
Went out in my '5 last night for a bit of a blast with a mate in a slightly tweaked mk2 MR2 and another friend in a new (mk3?) MR2 roadster.
If anything I'd say my RS-LTD was actually somewhat quicker than the original MR2 in a straight line and cornered at very similar speeds with both cars being pushed quite hard. We managed to loose the Mk3 several times as it was being driven rather more sensibly, but he still wasn't hanging around.
Quite surprised by this, as the MR2 feels a lot quicker when you're sat in it. I had expected the advantage to be less dramatic than it felt, but didn't expect it to be slower than the Mazda.
Rather impressed by that and hopefully it should be quicker when I've got the geometry sorted out.
If anything I'd say my RS-LTD was actually somewhat quicker than the original MR2 in a straight line and cornered at very similar speeds with both cars being pushed quite hard. We managed to loose the Mk3 several times as it was being driven rather more sensibly, but he still wasn't hanging around.
Quite surprised by this, as the MR2 feels a lot quicker when you're sat in it. I had expected the advantage to be less dramatic than it felt, but didn't expect it to be slower than the Mazda.
Rather impressed by that and hopefully it should be quicker when I've got the geometry sorted out.
Road driving can mask a cars true potential.
I've kept up with a couple of 911 Turbos in the last couple of years, in fact at times I was actually faster but I know that my car, fast as it is, is no match for a 911 Turbo and if the roads were different they would have sailed away without much effort.
I've kept up with a couple of 911 Turbos in the last couple of years, in fact at times I was actually faster but I know that my car, fast as it is, is no match for a 911 Turbo and if the roads were different they would have sailed away without much effort.
Dunno. It's obviously not a scientific test, but this was on some very quite (er, private) roads up to and occasionally beyond the limit of adhesion, so theres no problems with traffic etc. In gear acceleration from a rolling start on the same straight bit of road should be fairly representative, less so on corners, but if you have a well sighted bend where you can afford to push it a little, it should give a reasonable indication. Besides, I'm only comparing it to a naturally aspirated, 1200kg MR2, they should be fairly similar. The Toyota just feels a lot quicker and then on the road you realise it's not.
The first time I chased the 911 Turbo it was down the A404M all the way from Beaconsfield to Maidenhead. I won't mention speeds but I know my car will easily go faster than the speedo will show. The Turbo however will do over 180mph.
As for acceleration, there isn't really a lot between 0-100mph in 10 seconds and 0-100 in 14 seconds on the road in terms of how far away a car can get, especially if you're quick with your gear changes. It also relies on having the bottle to use all the available performance and the confidence in your, and your cars ability to keep the foot down.
I'm not saying your car wasn't as fast as the MR2 - that's quite possible but on paper a stock NA MR2 should be faster that a stock NA MX-5 so the difference might not be the car as much as the driver
As for acceleration, there isn't really a lot between 0-100mph in 10 seconds and 0-100 in 14 seconds on the road in terms of how far away a car can get, especially if you're quick with your gear changes. It also relies on having the bottle to use all the available performance and the confidence in your, and your cars ability to keep the foot down.
I'm not saying your car wasn't as fast as the MR2 - that's quite possible but on paper a stock NA MR2 should be faster that a stock NA MX-5 so the difference might not be the car as much as the driver
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