InterSpool

Well, guys as you know I'm in the market for a 951. However, I have discovered something.. the '90-'95 Toyota MR2 Turbo.

Everything was fine and dandy till this car came along and now it is a thorn in my ***. I've been doing a bit of research and not only is it lighter and mid-engined, but it seems to have a stronger drivetrain than the 951, too. According to http://members.tripod.com/turbocharged98/mr2.htm it even outhandles the 993.

I mean, wow. Am I missing something? Of course at the end of the day the Porsche will be a Porsche, and, well, the Toyota will be a Toyota. Someone help? Share a little info on these little monsters?

TonyG

Interspool

The 951 will smoke the MR2 all day.. any day.


0-60 mph doesn't tell the real story as the 951 is slow off the line to about 20mph. After that.. it's goodbye MR2.

On the track... the MR2 can't hold a candle to the 951.


Put a set of chips into the 951, and you have a 280-300HP car.


Apples and Oranges.

TonyG

InterSpool

I am not so concerned with the stock figures of either car. But once suspension and engine mods have been done to both of these cars (somewhat equivalent power:weight) how do they compare?

v944god

LOL, friend and I always argue about this..

he owns a 93' mr2 turbo, and im talking from experience. it is nothing compared to a 951. the mr2 has its points, but its still blah! the gearbox is nicely seating on the armrest, and its wrist snapping shifting. the power is nothing to be suprised about. i took it from a 20mph roll and punched it. i was truely disappointed. with the 951 i was totally amazed. thing kept pulling and pulling unlike the mr2. the mr2 is nothing compared to the 951 when it comes to taking those sharp turns, and drifting those curves. instead of the backend of the mr2 coming out, the entire body drifts making it real difficult to bring it back. it just doesnt give you that turbo feeling. it felt more like a n/a than a turbo. my friend knows that a 951 can totally own his car. the stock exhaust has a beatiful humming to it. the guages are cheap looking. the car is pretty small. no room to fit anything at all! its just the two seats and virtually half an inch of space behind it. the mr2 does hold it value especially with all these ricer kids out. friend bought his mr2 turbo off an elderly man for $1950!! a steal! with all the reciepts. all he had to do is change the clutch which cost him $400 but 2wks out of his time.

imo, the 951 is a monster compared to an mr2. like tonyg said, it will take it anytime and everyday.

cpt_koolbeenz

And don't forget the 951 looks 1000x better!

InterSpool

What's the problem with the MR2? The power to weight ratio should be better than a pre-'88S and '89 951. Is it just problems with the stock turbo or something? I know they can be modded to 300rwhp+ fairly easily using a 20G turbine like the Diamond Stars.

P.S. - I don't think I trust the website in my first post anymore ... I think much of their skidpad information is wrong. Someone else wanna verify that?

Kelly Chiu

Drive an MR2 at speed, its not too stable, somewhere above 85 the car begins to get REALLY darty. There also seems to be allot of gearbox failures with MR2s... if you do get one be aware that the suspension was chaged in 93, the 91-92 suspension had a tendacy to swap ends quickly.

Also the shifter is kinda mushy. I do like the styling though...

NZ951

I smoke the MR2's here. Even modded they are still slow. I dont bother with them anymore, waste of petrol. If you consider another car, it should not be a MR2. You cant compare it to a 951. Tony G is right as usual, apples and Ummmmm rotten sushi?

InterSpool

Yeah, I got the kick out of my system. The aftermarket for those cars here in the U.S. is terrible anyway, unless you are looking for body kits. Also, the functionability of the MR2 is absolute crap. I can at least still live with the hope of squashing someone in the backseat of a 951 and hauling our snowboard gear.
Btw, how bad is the back seat? Could a 5'5-6' person have any chance of fitting back there?

emwporsche

back seat?
951's have a backseat?

Seriously, go test drive both of them and then make up your mind.
Where's the clip of the mr2 hitting the jetta when you need it!

oh yeah, 951's rock!
(were not biased at all)

NZ951

I fit one person sideways in the back!

porshhhh951

lol...i have that video on my harddrive...i will drive and get it up.I raced a modded mr2 turbo once....he had downpipe,intake,blow off valve,piggy back ecu,ugpgraded inginition,and injectors...along with 15psi of boost.....i loved the car it was white and kinda looked liked a little ferrari.....but unfortunately.....it wasent really a match.....we went from a 20mph roll,40mph roll,60mph roll, and then he tried the ricer fly by crap and i just sucked him up.His car was quick for what it is i guess......but it kinda felt like i was racing a gt mustang with bolt-on's or something.

TurboTommy

More aftermarket development and support with the 951, built more heavy duty, more stabil at speed.
However, MR2 has less nagging maintenance costs; cheaper to keep on the road..............if that's an issue.

turbo944

I've driven some MR2s and my brother owns an NA. I'll give you my thoughts on it. His car is a 91 model and has about 175,000 miles on it. On the original transmission and clutch, btw and he drives the **** out of this car (no burnouts though).

They are NOT cheap to work on....most dealers and mechanics don't know diddly about them as there were so few sold compared to the number of Toyota dealers that they are fairly clueless (same with the Supra MKIV, especially the turbo version). So finding a shop that knows them for good service would be a must. The cooling system, like the 80s Ferraris, runs to a radiator at the front of the car and changing the coolant is an all day affair to get it bled because there are so many places for air to be at with the pipes running nearly the full length of the car and back.

It has pretty good speed for what it is and it handles quite well in his car. Fairly flat cornering and his hasn't been dodgy at all up to about 120, but it won't go much faster in the NA version.

The interior is fairly cheap looking and the dash is outgassing making that film on the inside windshield, but no cracks and it sat for an entire summer outdoors in the sun with the windows all the way up and no sunshield...ever. It does however look kind of cheapie on the inside though and it doesn't have that satisfying sound when you shut the door.

Driving it the steering is similar to the feel in the 951, but it's manual since the weight on that car is all out back. My brother got to drive my 951 about 15 miles and try out the boost a bit and liked the steering in my car a great deal. He was grinning ear to ear with the boost though.

As to speed/power, those motors are very strong and my brothers engine is tired and is going to either have to be rebuilt or replaced and he's wanting to drop the turbo engine in his car. Taking a look, Turbo magazine a couple of years ago did a buildup on one to over 500rwhp and at 70mph on the interstate, punching it in 3rd resulted in so much power that it lifted the front wheels totally off the ground with the lightweight up front. Not what you want when trying to really race someone, but it's some wicked scary amount of power in a car to do that. They can be VERY fast.

My biggest dislikes are the fact that as has been mentioned, you will never take along a 3rd person (unless the passengers are both tiny) and you will never store much luggage in it with no real room in the cabin for things and a trunk that is quite small. Also, it made the top 10 list of favorite cars in the gay community...... "Not that there's anything wrong with that...." Jerry Seinfeld

ilikemy944

Here in ATL, someone cleaned up at auto-x with a midly modified one... FTD lots, and I think got the regional title... Seem to handle great And I always wanted one before I saw the 944.