Performance buffs will miss MR2

Toyota sports car lost its buyers base to `practicality'

By Russ DeVault
STAFF WRITER

To understand why Toyota is axing the MR2, its mid-engine bundle of fun, just look at the price tag: $33,037.

To understand why there are fans who complain about the decision - 123,200 cars have been sold since the MR2 was introduced in 1985 - just look at the car's driving attributes: zero-to-60 mph in 5.9 seconds and 60 mph to zero in 112 feet. In other words, it can hit 60 mph and return to rest before most cars can break the speed limit.

Road-handling characteristics of the MR2 are near-flawless. It won't run off the snakiest two-lane around unless the driver goes to sleep or does something absolutely stupid. Credit goes to the MR2's splendid mid-engined configuration and sticky Yokohama uni-directional tires.

The MR2 is a comfortable car too. Supportive seats - leather is optional - and good pedal/instrumentation/controls placement take care of that. Despite its lack of height - only 48.6 inches tall - the visibility from within the MR2 is good. The mirrors make no concession to aerodynamic qualities that interfere with vision.

But practical the MR2 isn't, a factor that Toyota likes to say is another reason for its demise. "Sales steadily dwindled as people demanded roomier, more practical cars," says Xavier Dominicus, Toyota's Miami-based publicist. "Plus, the amount of money required to develop a worthy next-generation MR2 couldn't be recouped in today's market."

But there are those who think that what goes around comes around and that the owners and potential owners rejecting the MR2 today will come to cherish it.

"Anything that unique - a two-seat, mid-engine sports car - can become a collector's item," says Atlantan Al Burns, former automotive newletter editor and longtime industry observer.

"The baby boomers who bought the cars but don't want them now because they need more seats, more space, will remember the MR2 when they have their midlife crisis and want it back," Burns says. "It may take 15 years for that to happen, but it'll happen."

The MR2 is a remarkable vehicle, but its fate hardly makes it unique. Remember the Pontiac Fiero, which was killed off in 1988, the year it became what it should have been all along. And there was the Cadillac Allante, also a two-seater, that was summarily executed last year after reaching its prime.

The difference here is that the MR2 still has room for development. Its four-cylinder engine - 200 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 200 pounds of torque at 3,200 rpm - is a turbo and, being a turbo, occasionally lags. And 200 hp, while adequate for a 2,800-pound car, isn't a number that will wow everybody these days.

Aside from s shifter that can be balky, the MR2 is a cheerful little mover that performance buffs will miss. Some will even remember when it sold for $10,000 instead of $33,000 and lament how they came this close to buying one.