FIVE CLASSIC TRIALS 1999 TOYOTA MR2 (W20)
Beloved by owners but often misunderstood by others – there’s a lot to like about the W20 MR2, as this NEC show Pride of Ownership contender proves
The second-generation MR2 is a subtle piece of design. Gone are the W10’s razor-straight edges in favour of a smoother look, more becoming of the ’90s. There’s a touch of Ferrari 348 and Honda NSX in the way this well-proportioned car looks. Mid-engined cars often suffer from an excess of nose – look at the front overhang on a Ferrari Testarossa compared to its rear – but not here. And the pop-up headlights help to maintain a flush aesthetic with the sleek sidelights set into the bumper.
Pull on the door handle and drop down into the cabin and it’s a sensible place to sit. And while ‘sensible’ may not necessarily be something that you want from a sports car – you might be looking for ‘lairy’ or ‘frivolous’ – it’s all the better for it. You sit low beside the centre console, the pedals dead ahead of you and the wheel well positioned for even the tallest of drivers; it feels pukka even before you’ve set off and everything you might need to operate while underway is easy to find and use. Well proportioned seats hold you in place and the gear lever falls to your left hand with your arm resting on top of the transmission tunnel.
Twist the key and the 3S-GE engine stirs into life with a refined and polite thrum and quickly settles to a muted idle. This isn’t an obnoxious sports car; it’s one that you and your neighbours can live with. Pull away and the clutch is a little heavier than on a humdrum hatch or saloon but it’s not laborious and there’s enough torque available to keep you bowling along in most gears. Open the taps and the car comes to life. There’s no massive squat under power – you simply feel the rear of the car tense up as the engine note climbs introducing a neat mechanical howl to the experience as the tacho needle races for the 7200rpm red line.
Speed piles on with ease as you row through the gearbox; the shifts are smooth and the gate is well spread so you quickly fall into synch with the car. Acceleration is linear and a hard launch on good Tarmac will put you back in your seat and prompt you to quickly grab for second. People bemoaned the second gen MR2 for being a softer, more GT iteration in period but that’s far from the truth. Working through a twisting back road is a joy; the steering weights up well as you move the wheel off centre so feeding in lock as a corner tightens is intuitive and you find yourself quickly adjusting lines through both the wheel and the throttle. The W20 is a brilliantly approachable mid-engined car and can be enjoyed without worrying that it will suddenly let go and launch snap oversteer onto you: you’ve got to treat it like a real hooligan to even get close to it spinning like a top. Feedback th
