MR2 Roadster

The MR2 Roadster is the third and last car in the MR2 lineup, which featured 3 models, and a total of 9 versions (2 of which are the W30). Like the others, the W30 is a Rear Mid engine, Rear wheel drive (RMR) car, with a small displacement engine - with most of the performance focus being on cornering.

Many people think the W30 is the odd one out - but that's because when most people think of an MR2, they think of a SW20 (Second Gen). However, in reality, it's the W20 that's the odd one out - being much heavier and larger than the other two, with slower cornering but much more power. The W30 is actually a return to the car's original purpose.

The goal

Most of the goals of the W30 are derived from the MR2 as a whole - these goals date back to the 70s:

• Fun to drive
• High Performance
• Modest purchase price
• Good Fuel Economy

Generally high performance, good fuel economy, and modest pricing don't go together if you go for power - so Toyota didn't go for power. They made the car corner as well as it possibly could, and making it a midship is a critical part of that.

As for the specific goals of the W30, the main goal was to break the trend of cars getting bigger as time went on. Even toyota is guilty of this. The W30 breaks this trend by being the lightest MR2 ever, and almost the size of a W10. Despite that, it has the largest wheelbase of any MR2. (in time order, 2319mm, 2400mm, 2451mm).

The wheelbase was described by Harunori Shiratori as being in place to "achieve high stability" - they also said the car to be easily moddable, saying the car would have a "body structure as simple as possible to allow for easy customizing" - all external body panels are bolt on parts on the W30.

Performance

Most reviewers are impressed by the W30's cornering capacity, particularly relative to its price. Many compare it to the Lotus Elise or Porche Boxter, despite being in a completely different price bracket at release - other cars at a similar price, like the MX-5 and MG-F, fail to keep up in corners. It is worth noting that although the car corners faster than an MX-5, that does not mean it corners better, as the MX-5 is intentionally designed to oversteer - hence why the NA can corner at about .95Gs, and this essentially hasn't been improved since then.

The MR2 is considered to be more "serious" than the MX-5, being very predictable and tending to understeer slightly at corner entry. This can be turned into slight oversteer with relative ease by trail braking. Once in the corner, the midship nature of the car allows it to start accellerating very quickly (compared to an FR), without becoming unstable. It generally doesn't have the slight oversteer on corner exit you'd see from an MX-5, or indeed most FRs. Despite generally being good, it does suffer from significant body-roll when cornering, and benifits massively from stiffer ARBs.

The high stability and grip does mean that when it does lose grip, it tends to rotate very quickly. Likewise, the car will respond to any corrective action quickly. Someone use to driving FRs will probably overcorrect oversteer in a W30, although steps have been taken to make it less likely than the previous MR2s. Generally, releasing the brakes, and a slight flick of the steering will correct oversteer in under a second - any longer, and the car can snap in the other direction.

As well as its cornering ability, the MR2 is generally complemented for its braking as well. The brakes are fairly standard vented discs, but the increased rear weight and overall low weight both work to help with braking.

The engine is complemented for its character, being revvy but not to dead in the mid range - however it does have a bit of a low limit (6800), and somewhat low output. It isn't any less than an MX5, at 140BHP, but it can leave something to be desired. This is made worse by quite long gear ratios - the MX5 does a much better job in this regard. This does make the car much better for cruising, though, and it's easy to make the engine respond very well at lower RPMs, which helps in performance scenarios too.

UK speciifc

In the UK (and some other regions), the W30 comes with a Torsen LSD, and a water based oil cooler. The LSD helps with acceleration, especially out of corners. The oil cooler is a water/oil exchange just above the oil filter. It allows you to reduce oil temps by improving the main cooling system, rather than requiring you fit a specific oil cooling system. This means simply changing the coolant to have a higher ratio of water, using a water wetter, and/or fitting additional radiator fans can help bring oil tempratures down, typically for much cheaper than dedicated oil cooling systems. I use a 30/70 mixture of antifreeze/water, and find the oil temp will stay under 120C for at least 15 minutes at castle combe, without the heater being used at all. Previously it could hit 125 in that same time.

Figures

A lot of figures about the W30 are wrong. Especially acceleration times. Here are some accurate figures:

• Power: 140BHP at 6400RPM
• Torque: 126Lb-Ft at 4400RPM
• Limiter: 6800RPM
• 0-60: 6.9s
• 60-0: 94ft
• Top Speed: 133MPH
• Maximum Cornering Force: 1.05G
• Weight: 975KG (No AC)

Notes

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