23rd May 2007, 15:49
Final update:
Ended up getting a new airflow meter which settled all the flat spot annoyances. I also got the paint redone on the deteriorating areas for a good price.
The bad news is the car is no longer in my possession or will ever be driven again.
Was driving through a gorge on a gravel road behind a large quarry truck. I badly needed to get past to meet an appointment so I had my headlights on hoping he would see me through the dust. He did see me and pulled over. Unfortunately, I couldn't see him at all through the dust and happened upon him at about 40 - 50 kph.
I saw the truck and trailer about 10 meters in front, still taking up half the narrow road despite being pulled over. I swerved to the right (we drive on the left side of the road in NZ) to avoid him, but clipped his huge right tire with front left corner of the car. The impact shifted left front side of the car backward nearly 2 feet, smashed the passenger glass targa top, utterly cracked the windscreen, squashed the chassis sufficiently to jam both doors and cause me to bump my head on the windscreen. The amount of twisted metal up front was unbelievable for such a low speed crash, but that's what you get when you have no engine up front.
Ended up selling the wreck and getting a 97 type s v-tec Honda prelude I managed to pick up for cheap as a stand in. I would get another mr2 in a heartbeat if I could, but the gravel road is just not good for it. The Honda isn't close to comparable with the greatness of my Mr2 gt.
I really liked my Mr2, so much fun to drive. Driving should be fun.
27th May 2007, 07:05
Hey,
Sorry to hear about your car. I've currently got a honda prelude 92, and I'm looking at getting an mr2. Whats the handling like compared to the honda? I've found my prelude has really nice steering. Is the interior as good would you say?
19th Aug 2007, 20:08
Another update/comment after all:
Hi, sorry this reply is a bit late, but I've had a good long time with the prelude to give you a good answer. In a nutshell, the mr2 handled better than the prelude. The mr2 seemed to have about 20-40% less body roll. The mr2 has a feeling of being lower to the ground than the prelude and feels more sure footed in general. The suspension setup in the mr2 was also more firm, but did not feel uncomfortable. So long as you keep a bit of gas down around corners, the mr2 felt amazing.
To be honest I have to say the prelude interior certainly feels better quality than my mr2. In saying that, the mr2 interior styling is superior to the prelude. The mr2 is way more snug with the awesome raised gearbox shaft at armrest hight, fully separating passenger and driver. It made the driver feel he was definitely in something special. Man I loved that feeling of just getting into the car, sitting low with my left arm resting on that raised gearbox section and hand nearly covering that stubby little gear lever, it felt amazing.
The Mr2's torque always used to blow me away after periods of driving ordinary cars. It felt like you could go ridiculously fast just from pressing the gas a little and feeling the car start to speed up. The torque curve is such that it feels like your better off shifting up a gear at say 4500 -5000 revs than letting it rev further. Change gear early and the torque just keeps the car accelerating hard. The turbo pressure just isn't sufficient to do much at over 5000 revs. The prelude also has good power and so long as it is in vtec zone would give the mr2 a good run for its money, but probably slightly behind. With vtec, the power just doesn't seem to taper off so I'd be interested how both cars compare over 100k's against each other, I don't' think there would be too much difference. However, the front wheel drive in the prelude is amazingly annoying and certainly hinders fast takeoffs, unlike the mr2.
29th May 2010, 18:59
I have a NA MR2 with aftermarket ECU/chip, headers/manifolds, exhaust, airbox and a few more. And it has outrun my friend's 2.2L VTEC Prelude. However a VTEC Civic gave me the run and left me behind haha. MR2s drive amazingly.
I am 17, living in Auckland and had 2 MR2s. Only cars I have owned. But I am sorry to hear about your crash mate. I think I read about it on the MR2 site? Did you post it there too?
How's the Honda going now?
23rd May 2011, 11:04
Hey, sorry for posting my own question on your page but I'm currently looking at buying a 1990 MR2 turbo for $4500. It has 110 thousand kms, right hand drive and in great shape. But the only thing that scares me is the owner says that the turbo only pushes 5 PSI. Is this normal for a stock turbo to be only pushing 5 PSI? Or is there problems with this turbo? I'm trying to learn as much as I can before buying.
Thanks, Ty.
3rd Jan 2006, 18:00
Yet another update:
Had problems with the air inflow meter resulting in bad flat spots during acceleration and terrible accelerator response lag during cold starts. The most likely cause of these problems was the 'gate', situated inside the air inflow meter, sticking at various points of its swing. This gate adjusts depending on how much air is being sucked into the engine. Dust must likely was again the cause of this problem. Had some auto electricians look at the meter and the car has been performing very well since then.
The red paint lacquer is slowly, but steadily deteriorating. The paint underneath is fine albeit a little faded. Will look at getting this fixed at some stage.