Christople

I think the car is almost too old to really be a fun tinker car. The ones that are in pristine are overpriced, the ones that are beat up on are really expensive to work on, and finding one decent enough to buy is hard enough.

The car is a tank, is a great sleeper, fun to play with. Just hard to find. I think the best thing to do is just get an old Porsche and toy with that.

But then again, if you only want the MR2 you haven't listened to me by now.

Dolemike

No, youve misinterpreted what Ive said. That or I wrote it wrong. What I mean, for the more experienced driver the 91-92 models IMO have better road handling capabilities. The suspension changes in the 93+ models took away some of the PURE mid-engine feel of the car. Nowhere in my post did I say the 91-92 handled better because it spins out easier, but it does spin out easier than the 93 models and in the hands of an inexperienced driver that is not good. For the general public Toyota tamed the suspension (if you will) to make the car a bit safer for those people. The rear suspension of the 91-92 is a bit more twitchy, if you dont see a difference between the 2 different stock suspension setups then perhaps you have not driven the 91-92 model hard enough.

Also, what I meant was the 93+ models have more of an understeer feel similar to that of a FWD car in comparison to the snappy oversteer of the 91-92 model. If you know the true nature of the 91-92 model and can handle the oversteer you wont end up in weeds, which brings me back to why toyota changed the suspension... because most people generally couldnt handle that.

PoweredByCamry

Understood, as I said it is a matter of personal preference. But I still think it is a myth that all experienced drivers prefer a car that is twitchy. A car can be very benign at the limit and still rotate when you need it to. You are probably right they changed it for the sake of people with more bravery than skill, but experienced drivers can make these changes work for them as well.

Stock and completely untouched you are correct there is a difference between the cars. But IMO the '93 still very much has pure mid engine handling, and in many ways can better exploit the real advantages of the layout (putting down power better, low polar moment of inertia for quicker directional changes) without so much of the drawbacks (snap oversteer and instability). Also, my other point is that both cars can easily be setup to be loose or pushy without buying any other equipment, just a change in rear toe.

All this IMO of course, it's all good

Peter

Dolemike

Eitherway you look at it, once you mod either suspension it still brings it back to the same Mr2 + better suspension and handling, didnt the 93+ also gain a LSD as an option as well not to mention larger rotors?

brent_strong

Like a 944? Worst idea ever! After working on a few different 944's and even having the engine out of one, I'll never own one of those cars. Parts are overpriced, the cars don't perform THAT well and they aren't all that reliable. I was not impressed at all with the car.

PoweredByCamry

I think the rotors were thicker, but not larger in diameter. Not clear about the LSD status on the '91-'92, but the '93 turbos most of them had LSD and ABS. There were a host of other improvements large and small, such as strengthening of the front swaybar mounts and endlinks to prevent breakage when using an aftermarket front bar.

Like you said, both were great cars and could be made to handle great.

Peter

vader1

You might be able to find it with a little searching but there is a place in Chicago I believe (and probably others as well) that was importing whole cars from Japan that were much newer than the 95s that were brought here. They had 250 hp stock and many upgrades from US model but they are all right hand drive. You could probably buy one and get a junker and convert to left hand drive if you wanted. I think they wanted about $17k for a 1999 and they tended to be in the 30,000 mile range.

Skip Ferrari

Brent, I agree with most of what everyone said. It sounds like the guy selling the car did a super job fixing it up. If you're interested get with him & take it for a drive. If he's too far away get on www.mr2oc.com & ask someone near by to let you take a spin in their car.

Not all 93's had LSD, ABS or power steering. I suggest you check with him, but since his car had leather interior the car is probably fully loaded.

Also, with a bigger turbo his car could be really fast, but would have more lag & be less drivable. My mr2 rides much worse than the S2000, but his set-up might be better.

The rear tires wear out in 10,000 miles or less, but the fronts will go twice that or more. Gas mileage is the same as the S unless you do a lot of boosting.

If you buy the car invest in some BGB's (Big Green Books, repair manuals).

ROLLINS

I've been wondering when you would show up, Tom. I guess this is kinda off topic, but what all mods do you have done to your MR2?

Skip Ferrari

Look in my signature above.