Who has Owned an MR2 Turbo?
Discussion
To be honest,I don't know what your finances are like but for me it was not a cheap runner. Rarely got over 25mpg,was modified though and have a heavy foot....
Felt like a real drivers car though,mid engine,rear wheel drive,sits low,engine just behind ur head with lots of lovely turbo sounds coming from it!raised a few eyebrows from fellow drivers when leaving them behind! Think the rev 3 models (94 onwards) all came with lsd's?I stand quoted tho...
Try and get a rev3 onwards as,in short, Toyota improved handling and increased power (240 bhp standard)
Not a very forgiving car,but a very satisfying one!
Felt like a real drivers car though,mid engine,rear wheel drive,sits low,engine just behind ur head with lots of lovely turbo sounds coming from it!raised a few eyebrows from fellow drivers when leaving them behind! Think the rev 3 models (94 onwards) all came with lsd's?I stand quoted tho...
Try and get a rev3 onwards as,in short, Toyota improved handling and increased power (240 bhp standard)
Not a very forgiving car,but a very satisfying one!
Flintstone said:
Friend of mine had one and told me it was a bit all or nothing. If the turbo kicked in on a bend things got......interesting.
You say that like it's a bad thing.If you drive it with an understanding of how things worked then you're fine. You can get the back end to squirm about in the wet without too much worry if you have a decent foot. If you just bury your foot into the floor everywhere, expect to be making an insurance claim.
To be honest it will be the least powerful car I own, but a 440Bhp 4x4 Escort Cossie and a 500Bhp rear drove Sierra cossie are not really every day propositions 
, I have no worries at all about the drive/handling, just interested to know if they are reasonably reliable & half decent on fuel.
, I have no worries at all about the drive/handling, just interested to know if they are reasonably reliable & half decent on fuel. They do have a few common faults but are generally reliable and great fun to drive. A rev 3 is the one to go for as mentioned above they have a better turbo that increases power to 245hp and better handling, the lsd is standard fitment on rev 3 turbos. They're Pretty fast as standard and very easy to get up to about 300hp on standard internals, exhaust, decat, intake, boost gauge and boost controller set at 17psi will see you there.
They're capable of 35mpg on a slow cruise, have a 55 litre tank and must be run on super, but it's all too tempting to put your foot down and watch the horizon rapidly come closer, mine is used for lots of very short trips through town mainly and this destroys the economy resulting in 200-220 miles per tank.
The turbo is positioned right behind you which makes a lovely sound and is very addictive, this doesn't help the economy. Bloody brilliant fun to drive and an absolute performance bargain, considering you can pick up a tidy one for 3-3.5k. See here for more information - http://www.btinternet.com/~netsurf/mr2t/mr2tfaq.ht...
There is a common saying when looking for a performance car -
Cheap
Fast
Reliable
Pick two of them.
However, the turbo is one of the very rare cars which i think fulfills all three.
They're capable of 35mpg on a slow cruise, have a 55 litre tank and must be run on super, but it's all too tempting to put your foot down and watch the horizon rapidly come closer, mine is used for lots of very short trips through town mainly and this destroys the economy resulting in 200-220 miles per tank.
The turbo is positioned right behind you which makes a lovely sound and is very addictive, this doesn't help the economy. Bloody brilliant fun to drive and an absolute performance bargain, considering you can pick up a tidy one for 3-3.5k. See here for more information - http://www.btinternet.com/~netsurf/mr2t/mr2tfaq.ht...
There is a common saying when looking for a performance car -
Cheap
Fast
Reliable
Pick two of them.
However, the turbo is one of the very rare cars which i think fulfills all three.
Edited by Scantily on Saturday 8th January 19:53
Scantily said:
There is a common saying when looking for a performance car -
Cheap
Fast
Reliable
Pick two of them.
However, the turbo is one of the very rare cars which i think fulfills all three.
Couldnt have said it better myself.Cheap
Fast
Reliable
Pick two of them.
However, the turbo is one of the very rare cars which i think fulfills all three.
Edited by Scantily on Saturday 8th January 19:53
If you have a 500 bhp cossie i'm sure the mr2 may feel slightly tamed!!!
Reliability wise? It's a toyota...
This was mine. I bought it with just 40000 miles on. A rev 3 T bar turbo.
Was not at all impressed with the handling. Had it checked out and nothing wrong, but they recommended a change of tyres. I changed the wheels for TVR tuscan black style and BF Goodrich profiler tyres. Massive improvement.
Fast cars, I even used to get 31mpg on motorway runs (Comparesd to 26mpg in my lower powered UK Impreza turbo)
At speed it began to take off, I have never been so scared in a car over 130mph, and reading 160mph the wipers were forced up the window and there was no steering as it was actually taking off.
Great fun and quite controllable, much better than a rev 1 I drove (a mates), that was not as forgiving.
The Rev 3 has a different engine to the Rev 1 and 2 as well as suspension mods & rear lights.
Mine had a LSD too.
When I say its fast, A knackered old Saphire cozzy pulled away full of chavs once. It was spitting flames out the back so imagine it was tweeked, it didnt last however he pulled over to let me passed because these MR2s are reliable even when driven fast.
Edited by nottyash on Saturday 8th January 22:55
I've had mine for nearly 6 years now. They aren't really a day to day proposition. Don't get me wrong, many people do use theirs as their sole means of transport but they aren't great on fuel. On a full tank I used to get about 260 miles and that was 70% motorway miles. Most are T-Bars so are prone to leaky rubber seals which results in wet seats and ice on the inside of your windscreen. They are very sensitive to worn/faulty ignition componants, they need high octane fuel and the calipers are prone to seizing (I've had to replace every corner on mine).
The original Rev1 Turbo is a perfectly good car, just less forgiving than the latter revisions. With the Revision 2 larger brakes were fitted, an LSD was an option and the aforementioned suspension tweaks were made (not for the Rev3 as previous posters have mentioned). The Rev 3 shared the same basic engine as the earlier revisions (3SGTE) but with significant alterations to the cylinder head including a steel HG, different cams, a MAF sensor as opposed to an air meter, the C20b turbo instead of the CT26 and 540cc fuel injectors instead of 440cc. This raised power from the previous Revisions 220bhp to 241bhp. Torque remained at 220lb/ft. The only genuinely noticeable difference in performance between the Rev2 and Rev3 is the turbo response. The Rev2's unit whilst slightly bigger runs out of puff and tails off after 5500rpm(ish) whereas the Rev3's keeps on pulling.
You could run one for a short time on a shoestring but they really need a fair amount of TLC to get the best out of them. If you can find a tintop on one of the owners forums thats been looked after and you dont mind putting your hand in your pocket for the odd caliper go for it.
Why have I had mine for so long? Well I've had a real hankering for an R32 GTR Skyline for some time, I travelled a long long way across the country to test drive a 350bhp example that I was really hoping to fall in love with and buy. After driving the GTR down the same roads I had just driven down in my MR2 I was left in no doubt that the MR2 was not only much more fun, but despite being around 80bhp down on the GTR it also felt much quicker. I wont be getting rid of mine for a long time.
The original Rev1 Turbo is a perfectly good car, just less forgiving than the latter revisions. With the Revision 2 larger brakes were fitted, an LSD was an option and the aforementioned suspension tweaks were made (not for the Rev3 as previous posters have mentioned). The Rev 3 shared the same basic engine as the earlier revisions (3SGTE) but with significant alterations to the cylinder head including a steel HG, different cams, a MAF sensor as opposed to an air meter, the C20b turbo instead of the CT26 and 540cc fuel injectors instead of 440cc. This raised power from the previous Revisions 220bhp to 241bhp. Torque remained at 220lb/ft. The only genuinely noticeable difference in performance between the Rev2 and Rev3 is the turbo response. The Rev2's unit whilst slightly bigger runs out of puff and tails off after 5500rpm(ish) whereas the Rev3's keeps on pulling.
You could run one for a short time on a shoestring but they really need a fair amount of TLC to get the best out of them. If you can find a tintop on one of the owners forums thats been looked after and you dont mind putting your hand in your pocket for the odd caliper go for it.
Why have I had mine for so long? Well I've had a real hankering for an R32 GTR Skyline for some time, I travelled a long long way across the country to test drive a 350bhp example that I was really hoping to fall in love with and buy. After driving the GTR down the same roads I had just driven down in my MR2 I was left in no doubt that the MR2 was not only much more fun, but despite being around 80bhp down on the GTR it also felt much quicker. I wont be getting rid of mine for a long time.
good thread! I miss mine terribly - it was a rev 2 turbo but with rev 3 looks and I spent a fair bit on it - CT20B turbo with a decat with induction kit etc and when you drove it sounded like darth vader was in the boot 
It was also however, horribly expensive to keep on the road - they are awesome cars but they are getting on a bit to say the least sadly
I would have another in a second though. I paid for a full suspension rebuild of mine (the cost still haunts me) but afterward it was like driving a 250bhp go cart - utterly awesome!
Oh - dont get a t-bar one. They will leak (they ALL will) might as well just stick to the aircon!
It was also however, horribly expensive to keep on the road - they are awesome cars but they are getting on a bit to say the least sadly
I would have another in a second though. I paid for a full suspension rebuild of mine (the cost still haunts me) but afterward it was like driving a 250bhp go cart - utterly awesome!Oh - dont get a t-bar one. They will leak (they ALL will) might as well just stick to the aircon!
Edited by paolow on Saturday 8th January 23:57
paolow said:
I paid for a full suspension rebuild of mine (the cost still haunts me) but afterward it was like driving a 250bhp go cart - utterly awesome!
£500 for coilovers, £100 for bushes... that's your lost surely?
Mine has been really cheap to keep on the road. It doesn't do many miles (around 4000 in 5 years), but apart from the caliper issue already mentioned there's been nothing but routine servicing, which is amazing considering most of those miles have been on track, or out 'testing' tyres.
Sold mine then bought it back a few years ago. Reliable and fun to keep standard but not as cheap as cossies to modify. Ie you won't get into 300hp cheaply. Feel like a proper sports car though and up to 100 will keep with some fast cars. Spent 7k modding mine with a fully forged engine and when I sold it only got 2200! That car was bullet proof aswell.
MikeyMike said:
I've had mine for nearly 6 years now. They aren't really a day to day proposition. Don't get me wrong, many people do use theirs as their sole means of transport but they aren't great on fuel. On a full tank I used to get about 260 miles and that was 70% motorway miles. Most are T-Bars so are prone to leaky rubber seals which results in wet seats and ice on the inside of your windscreen. They are very sensitive to worn/faulty ignition componants, they need high octane fuel and the calipers are prone to seizing (I've had to replace every corner on mine).
The original Rev1 Turbo is a perfectly good car, just less forgiving than the latter revisions. With the Revision 2 larger brakes were fitted, an LSD was an option and the aforementioned suspension tweaks were made (not for the Rev3 as previous posters have mentioned). The Rev 3 shared the same basic engine as the earlier revisions (3SGTE) but with significant alterations to the cylinder head including a steel HG, different cams, a MAF sensor as opposed to an air meter, the C20b turbo instead of the CT26 and 540cc fuel injectors instead of 440cc. This raised power from the previous Revisions 220bhp to 241bhp. Torque remained at 220lb/ft. The only genuinely noticeable difference in performance between the Rev2 and Rev3 is the turbo response. The Rev2's unit whilst slightly bigger runs out of puff and tails off after 5500rpm(ish) whereas the Rev3's keeps on pulling.
You could run one for a short time on a shoestring but they really need a fair amount of TLC to get the best out of them. If you can find a tintop on one of the owners forums thats been looked after and you dont mind putting your hand in your pocket for the odd caliper go for it.
I've been driving Mk2's for 10 years now and that is one of the most spot on posts I have ever read about Mk2 revision history/differences and ownership experience.The original Rev1 Turbo is a perfectly good car, just less forgiving than the latter revisions. With the Revision 2 larger brakes were fitted, an LSD was an option and the aforementioned suspension tweaks were made (not for the Rev3 as previous posters have mentioned). The Rev 3 shared the same basic engine as the earlier revisions (3SGTE) but with significant alterations to the cylinder head including a steel HG, different cams, a MAF sensor as opposed to an air meter, the C20b turbo instead of the CT26 and 540cc fuel injectors instead of 440cc. This raised power from the previous Revisions 220bhp to 241bhp. Torque remained at 220lb/ft. The only genuinely noticeable difference in performance between the Rev2 and Rev3 is the turbo response. The Rev2's unit whilst slightly bigger runs out of puff and tails off after 5500rpm(ish) whereas the Rev3's keeps on pulling.
You could run one for a short time on a shoestring but they really need a fair amount of TLC to get the best out of them. If you can find a tintop on one of the owners forums thats been looked after and you dont mind putting your hand in your pocket for the odd caliper go for it.
About all the OP needs to know IMO
Nothing really to add to the thread other than my parents have one of these out in Spain as their holiday car.
Overall it has been reliable in the 5 or so years its been out there. Currently the PAS has stopped working but I think that should be a quick fix. Nice to drive too, back end steps out incredibly easily in the wet!
The good thing (for me) is as its a two seater it rarely even gets used when they are out there with friends, so they intend to replace it with a more practical hatchback and have said I can have it for free if I bring it back, otherwise it will be scraped! Perfect track day project!!!
All I need to do now I find out the cheapest way of bringing it back to the UK. Could drive it but not sure of any problems that could arise on the way...
Overall it has been reliable in the 5 or so years its been out there. Currently the PAS has stopped working but I think that should be a quick fix. Nice to drive too, back end steps out incredibly easily in the wet!
The good thing (for me) is as its a two seater it rarely even gets used when they are out there with friends, so they intend to replace it with a more practical hatchback and have said I can have it for free if I bring it back, otherwise it will be scraped! Perfect track day project!!!
All I need to do now I find out the cheapest way of bringing it back to the UK. Could drive it but not sure of any problems that could arise on the way...
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