The Mr2-mr....or Not Mr

[pizza boy]

Mid-engined Runabout 2seater, Mid-engined Rear wheel drive 2seater, Mid-ship Runabout 2seater etc etc.

The question is...is it REALLY mid-engined. I mean the engine sits directly over the axle. The lotus elise is the same too. In Ferraris the engine sits in front of the rear axle which means its a 'proper' mid-engined car, Porsches it sit behind the axle hence its classed as rear engined. So the MR2 really is a kind of inbetween an MR and RR isnt it? So isnt it false advertising to call it an 'M' R2?

Any opinions?

[KiwiMR2]

does it REALLY mean the engine postion or the weight distribution?? From memory the mr2 is 52/48 yeah?? The batmobile rx7 is better than that too.

Cheers

KiwiMR2

[JohnnyC]

MR2 weight distribution (according to the brochure) is 55 rear, 45 front.

This pic shows quite well where the engine sits, true that *part* of it sits above the rear axle, but most of it is in front...

[Fidgits]

ahhh...

Of course its mid engined, look at the picture, you cant say its rear engined (and BTW, only the 911 is rear engined, the boxter is mid)...

Just my 2 cents..

[Bibbs]

there was also the 300zx style car, mid engined but infront of the driver .. very strange.

[Fidgits]

The 300ZX was front engined Bibbs!

It just had very good 50/50 weight distribution...

[Bibbs]

nah .. there was a limited edition / concept car .. 2 seats and the engine was behind the front wheels ..

I'll try and get details ..

[Fidgits]

I always though the definition of 'front engined' was the fact the engine was in-front of the driver... hmmmm

[ae111sr]

I always though the definition of 'front engined' was the fact the engine was in-front of the driver... hmmmm

By that definition a rear engined car has the engine behind the driver and in a mid engined car the driver sits on the engine :P :P :P

[Fidgits]

I always though the definition of 'front engined' was the fact the engine was in-front of the driver... hmmmm

By that definition a rear engined car has the engine behind the driver and in a mid engined car the driver sits on the engine :P :P :P

no...

Following the same definition..

A mid engined car is one which the engine is between the driver and rear axle..

A rear engined car is one which the engine is behind both the driver and rear axle..

[midmotorsteve]

big arguement on scoobynet about this, all the new breed of really expensive merc coupes etc now claim to be mid engined as well as some ferraris that have the engine infront of the driver, they claim these new cars are mid engined because it only matters that the engine is between the front and rear axles, not if infront or behind driver. <if my vocabulary was any smaller, it would be nearly as small as my genitals> i say, if the engines infront of the driver its front engined. :P

[Bibbs]

Technically .. it's where the engine is in relation to the axles ..

[KiwiMR2]

Just like giving the MR2 a GT Badge......GT stands for Gran Turismo/ Grand Tourer.......by definition a MR2 most definitly doesn't fit into that catagory The !Removed! have a knack off chucking the GT Badge on all sorts of cars :)

Cheers

KiwiMR2

[JohnnyC]

The Merc coupes referred to are "front mid-engined".

And it's not only Toyota that slap GT badges on willy-nilly, what about VW and the Golf GTi and Lupo GTi....and Peugeot 306 GTi-6....

[Bibbs]

My old AX was a GT .. 1.4, 80 bhp - GT !??!

[Ian_M]

there was also the 300zx style car, mid engined but infront of the driver .. very strange.

there was also a mid engined mitsubishi GTO

[Bibbs]

Reading in Banzai that the new MX5 is also front-mid engined ..

[JohnnyC]

oh, and the Porsche 924 was front-engined :D