Very Stupid Question

[pedro7680]

i know this is daft,

im getting away from my celica and looking for mr2 turbo,.

but is the engine in the back and is it rear wheel drive??

whats it like to drive

[Fidgits]

Its mid-engined, rear wheel drive...

So, firstly, switching to RWD means a different driving style, think of it as instead of the engine pulling the car, its pushing it. This means on corners if you accelerate too early or too hard, you could end up losing the back end.

But that said, i much prefer the RWD setup, and instead of the front wheels doing the steering, driving, and the rear wheels simply there to stop the back of the car dragging on the floor, the front wheels steer, and the rear wheels drive...

Plus, our instincts are much more natural in a RWD car, you will naturally correct oversteer correctly, whereas, to correct understeer (in FWD) you have to actually do the opposite to your instincts.

Now, its mid engined, which is the best performance setup (F1 cars are Mid-Rear), so it will handle better, corner faster, BUT (and its a big but) the car will be less forgiving if you reach the limit.. and you wont get an awful lot of warning your approaching said limit, and once the back breaks away, 1 of 2 things are going to happen:

1. You manage to correct the slide before anything bad happens

2. You admire the blurred scenery that your about to collide with....

[DeusMR2]

Fidgits gave ur answer in a nutshell but id also like to add (after soem brief encounters of the slippery kind!) that when you do approach the limit of grip the car has a very strong tendancy to fishtail after you try and correct any slip... and the first time it happens it scares the crap out of you! This is much more likely to happen in a rev 1/2 car than a rev 3 car (1993 and on)

The steering is amazing though, it is extremely accurate - the best comparison would be to a go-kart, the car just goes exactly where you point it. The difference is very noticable if you've been used to a fwd drive car, like my previous Carina E .

Really the only thing you gotta be careful and concious about is taking corners, the key sentence i think that fidgits said is:

This means on corners if you accelerate too early or too hard, you could end up losing the back end.

you'll appreciate that sentence a lot more once you've actually driven a tubby!

[SMiFFAD]

i know this is daft,

im getting away from my celica and looking for mr2 turbo,.

but is the engine in the back and is it rear wheel drive??

whats it like to drive

Have to say the mr2 has to be a bad car to learn RWD in...... coming from the sx, i could control it nicely and drift it pretty much where i wanted it, all nice and predictable... the two is compleatly different and well unforgiving..... On standard tyres it understeers, then suddenly oversteers usually spinning you round in a circle :D

Quite fun mind once the initial scaring sessions over and done with

Go find a nice empty area and playwith it, find out what it does..... after shreadding a set of tyres you should both have respect for each other :D

Oh yeh, mines only an NA and the rears still allover the place :D

[pedro7680]

i like the idea already,

one more question the non turbo? whats it like?

would it be easy enought to stick a turbo in at a later date

[SMiFFAD]

i like the idea already,

one more question the non turbo? whats it like?

would it be easy enought to stick a turbo in at a later date

Non tubbies ok..... not awe enspiring especially if your used to something faster......

For the money and hassle youd spend adding a turbo you may as well sell it and buy a tubby one.......

If you are deffo after an mr2 and want something fast get the tubby.... ive only got the na cos of insurance and milage i do kills me £ wise :(

[Bibbs]

I've had both an NA (18 months) and a turbo (2 years+ now) ..

The NA was fun but very unstable (rev1 suspension and stock 14" rims) .. the Turbo is in a different class .. it's just awesome ..

[pedro7680]

would yous recommend me getting a 20 na mr2 and keeping the celica at the same time until i can get it repaired?

whats the groups thoughts on that

[mattmr2]

I'd just like to point out, and its probably been covered, MR2 stands for - Mid engined Rear wheel drive 2 seater.....

Quite cleaver really,

Matt.

[TheNissanMan]

Guess the main thing is to make sure you have good rubber on the car...

Rev 1 NA's had more torque and with a bit of playing on the suspension side can be superb :)

[Funkadelic]

Really the only thing you gotta be careful and concious about is taking corners, the key sentence i think that fidgits said is:

This means on corners if you accelerate too early or too hard, you could end up losing the back end.

you'll appreciate that sentence a lot more once you've actually driven a tubby!

But on the plus side you get more weight over the rear of the car, thus increasing grip at the rear wheels, so in theory you're less likely to overstep the mark in an MR2 than, say, a Supra which is RWD with a front mounted engine.

This of course, has its downside, because if you DO overstep that mark, the weight of the back end will mean it tries to overtake the front end, and that's not too handy, and you end up in the same situation as the one just quoted.

[dj_davo]

I'd just like to point out, and its probably been covered, MR2 stands for - Mid engined Rear wheel drive 2 seater.....

Quite cleaver really,

Matt.

dont wanna be pedantic :D but that is the abbreviation quote we all use cos it does sound good, but apparently the real abbreviation first used by toyota was,.....

Mid engined Runabout 2 seater.

but of course that sounds pants, so we will condemn that forever into the 'dont use bin'

[mattmr2]

I thought it was Mid-ship runabout, but hey they all mean the same so it don't really matter.

[JohnnyC]

I thought it was Mid-ship runabout, but hey they all mean the same so it don't really matter.

Yep, "midship" as written under the front bonnet of the mk3.

In addition to what others have rightly said (mostly about oversteer).

I used to have a gen6 Celica, and I thought that the mk2 MR2 was basically the same but with the rear seats removed and the engine put in a different place - it's not, the MR2 is a lot more hardcore! Much stiffer suspension and you sit EVEN lower than in the Celica. Handling is pretty much the same as the gen6 Celica too (except when you reach the limit of course!).

It's not the best handling car I've owned, that crown goes to the gen7 Celica. I've only had mine 9 months now and I've had the backend 'wobble' a bit twice - and that's enough for me thank you very much, too scary :D

But out of all the cars I've owned, this is the one I plan to keep the longest :)