GDII's SW20 MR2

[GDII]

Nice i also have an MR2 but mine is the spyder. Could never imagine taking mine off road

Heres a pic of mine

Very tidy ZZW30 MR2 you have. I can see why you wouldnt want to take it off-road. I have already managed to damage the front lip from piled up gravel in the middle of gravel roads. But it's so much fun driving on gravel I'm not really too concerned.

 

[supersub7]

Very tidy ZZW30 MR2 you have. I can see why you wouldnt want to take it off-road. I have already managed to damage the front lip from piled up gravel in the middle of gravel roads. But it's so much fun driving on gravel I'm not really too concerned.

It's been hard enough keeping it in a straight line in the winter weather we have had here. Ive spent more time sideways than i have going straight in the last few months .

 

[Azuremen]

It's been hard enough keeping it in a straight line in the winter weather we have had here. Ive spent more time sideways than i have going straight in the last few months .

It isn't that hard to keep an MR-S straight in the wet. Snow is a different story, but still much better than previous generations thanks to that longer wheel base

 

[wrapture]

My dad is in the process of getting his friends '93 SW20 MR2. It was wrecked but was fixed so well you can't tell, but because it was wrecked price dropped to $5k. He has title but his friend just finished replacing something big and wants to make sure it's perfect. Here the pics I have:

 

[Time_Attack]

That is not a 94. It is clearly a gen2 style. 94+ would be a gen3 style.

I'm a bit late I know but had you tried wet sanding and high speed buffing the door prior to having tried to clear it?

 

[wrapture]

That is not a 94. It is clearly a gen2 style. 94+ would be a gen3 style.

I'm a bit late I know but had you tried wet sanding and high speed buffing the door prior to having tried to clear it?

Sorry, '93. It was the last year with the 3 piece wing.

 

[Time_Attack]

93 was a good year. I've owned two 91s a 93 an 89 and an 86.

 

[GDII]

It's been hard enough keeping it in a straight line in the winter weather we have had here. Ive spent more time sideways than i have going straight in the last few months .

I haven't driven one but I hear they are a handful in the wet. What tyres do you have on it? I had some bad tyres on my MR2 and wet driving wasn't easy but now I have Toyo T1Rs I have had no problems. Good tyres are a must for these cars.

My dad is in the process of getting his friends '93 SW20 MR2. It was wrecked but was fixed so well you can't tell, but because it was wrecked price dropped to $5k. He has title but his friend just finished replacing something big and wants to make sure it's perfect. Here the pics I have:

Very tidy SW20. I love the colour of it. I would want to paint an MR2 Subaru grey 86F if I had another one to play with.

That is not a 94. It is clearly a gen2 style. 94+ would be a gen3 style.

I'm a bit late I know but had you tried wet sanding and high speed buffing the door prior to having tried to clear it?

I hadn't thought of doing that. I put the clear coat on the door mainly to stop the paint fading and stop the existing clear coat pealing further. It worked quite well too.

I picked up a few bits for the MR2. When I get back from holiday I will get some pictures of them. I am also getting some half leather turbo seats for cheap. They aren't in perfect condition but better than my current cloth seats. I will tidy them up then put them in the car.

 

[supersub7]

I haven't driven one but I hear they are a handful in the wet. What tyres do you have on it? I had some bad tyres on my MR2 and wet driving wasn't easy but now I have Toyo T1Rs I have had no problems. Good tyres are a must for these cars.

Not sure, they only mediocre tyres on it but they are almost at the legal limit and i will be replacing them with Toyo's.

Yes it can be quite a handful in the wet and ice is a killer. Tried to take it out in the snow for a few giggles and couldn't even get it out of my parking space

It isn't that hard to keep an MR-S straight in the wet. Snow is a different story, but still much better than previous generations thanks to that longer wheel base

 

[Time_Attack]

these cars don't have an actual clear coat as far as I know the clear is mixed into the paint. This was common in the 90s and why most cars from that time are faded badly but not really peeling.

You should have seen how much color came out of mine the last time I buffed it. Practically ruined the pads they were so stained red. That's one way to tell your paint is shot... lol

 

[GDII]

The rest of my car has no visible clear coat so I think the drivers door and front right quarter panel have been clear coated or are from another car. During the early 90s the paint quality was reduced along with a reduced amount of UV protector. They didn't find out until about 95 but then it was too late. I just keep it waxed.

supersub7, ice is never easy to drive on but these cars seem to make it more difficult.

 

[Time_Attack]

likely a trip to the body shop caused that.

Honestly I don't find these cars hard to drive in any condition. It's all about throttle control and steering angle. Just remember to not lift mid corner. The sudden weight shift is what inexperienced drivers dived snap oversteer and gave them their reputation.

 

[GDII]

I don't find them hard to drive but as you say inexperienced drivers have trouble. Other cars I have driven struggle to turn properly which is why I like MR2s. I drive smoothly so my driving style suits these cars. I wouldn't give it to my brother to drive as he would put it off the road. He's a good driver but his car (1999 Subaru Impreza WRX Type RA Limited) is very stable so he drives it completely different to how MR2s should be driven.

 

[Time_Attack]

Agreed. I had an NA miata for a short time and actually found it to have a more lively rear end than the MR2.

 

[Azuremen]

Not sure, they only mediocre tyres on it but they are almost at the legal limit and i will be replacing them with Toyo's.

Yes it can be quite a handful in the wet and ice is a killer. Tried to take it out in the snow for a few giggles and couldn't even get it out of my parking space

*Video of someone not driving well*

You do understand I daily drove an MR-S in an area with much harsher winters than the UK? I use to daily an AW11 with a 20Valve swap in similar conditions? The MR-S is so much easier to manage in poor conditions thanks to the smoother powerband and the longer wheel base. I did run suitable tires for the winter, while running Kumho XS in the summer. But I could manage getting both the AW11 and MR-S around on the XS and equally aggressive tires in light snow.

Not to say these aren't trickier cars than standard FR (my M3 inspires so much confidence in turns) but they aren't crazy handfuls in poor weather unless you are pushing them. Even then, it is just understanding how to manage the throttle and minimize steering work if possible.

 

[Time_Attack]

Driving a mid engined car isn't something they'll teach you in drivers ed.

 

[GDII]

Took the MR2 down to the south island over Christmas. I was down there for 3 weeks but only spent a few days driving. I managed to cover about 2250km and $430 of 95.
Wellington-Dunedin-Alexandra-Queenstown-Christchurch-Wellington.

Car ran fine except for the stuck thermostat from my previous cooling system troubles. But the AC helped keep temps up around running temperature. We managed to fill up the whole car with stuff for the holiday. Boot full, behind seats full and frunck full with tools in case I needed them. I managed to use quite a few of the tools but non on the car. Unfortunately when you completely fill up an MR2 with stuff it adds another 100kg on top of the two people making it handle poorly. So I drove slowly while it was all packed up.

Overall it was a great trip. Lots of good roads and new scenery I haven't seen.

 

[Punknoodle]

There is some really nice scenery all around that trip. Queenstown scenery is outstanding. My favourite place scenery and road wise in the South Island is a drive through the west coast. It's wild through there.

 

[GDII]

Yeah they are pretty wild. I have only driven in central Otago with my EE90 Corolla. It was incredibly slow and handled badly. It was nice to have the MR2 there this time even though it was very heavy.

 

[GDII]

I got another set of seats. These are half leather, half Alcantara from a turbo model. I gave them a good clean and they came up looking pretty good.

I can't tell if one has blue trim and one has black. The photos seem to make it pretty clear that they are different colours but when you look at them from above they are booth blue.

I also got some MR2 floor mats, you know, the ones that say Man in Dandism.

Before:

After:

The drivers seat had one of the seams come unstitched so I took the seat cover off and stitched it back up.

Next I would like the re-colour the parts that have cracked but that would probably cost more than I really need to spend. These were a Xmas present to myself from the cash I scored from family.

 

[Punknoodle]

They are pretty nice, are they comfortable? Do they have extra bolstering at all? I have been in a couple of N/A MR2s and I actually quite liked the seats.

 

[GDII]

I haven't actually sat in them yet. They are still wet from cleaning them. I think they have the same padding as my cloth NA ones. My drivers side has a big chunk of padding missing on the side from getting in and out of the car. Hopefully these are slightly better.

I also need to find leather head rests as these are still cloth. Or I could make my own.

 

[GDII]

The new seats do give better lateral support. I'm quite pleased with them.

I will get some liquid shoe shine/Polish to colour the white cracked leather. I just want them to be black again. Not much I can do about the leather condition.

 

[Punknoodle]

I will get some liquid shoe shine/Polish to colour the white cracked leather. I just want them to be black again. Not much I can do about the leather condition.

That will stain your clothes bro

 

[GDII]

Pretty sure it won't. Another MR2 owner has done the exact same thing on his car. I will use it to recolour the leather then polish it to remove any chance of staining clothes.

 

[GDII]

Removed rear wing for repainting. My car looks ridiculous without it on but a pink wing was almost worse. Finished painting one of the sides. Now the wing looks better than the rest of the car.

 

[Punknoodle]

Yeah I don't like these cars without a spoiler, don't know why so many people would do it. Looks good! Must make it easy that you have a somewhat easy colour to match.

 

[GDII]

I just took in the front lip, which was already colour matched to the car previously, and got some more paint matched up. Pretty much the same except the car has 22 year old paint. The match is very close so I am happy.

 

[GDII]

More painting. Rear wing is complete now. Just need to wait for the paint to dry fully then reinstall before the rain comes.

 

[Space Dynamics]

Is that thing tricky in the dirt?