8000 mile roadtrip in an MR2

From: Christopher Heiser 
Date: Fri, 5 Jul 1996 12:03:06 -0400
Subject: 8000 mile roadtrip

	I have just returned from a (MR)2-man roadtrip covering a good part
of the U.S. and thought that some might be interested in how the MR2 faired.

	let me first preface this by saying that the car is *always* driven
with no regard to the abuse level on the car.  i believe that my car should
stand up to my driving style, and if it cant i shouldnt be driving it.
this trip was a good example of this auto philosophy.

	i have a black 1993 turbo MR2, which i bought used in february.
the roadtrip began after my university graduation, on june 1st.  the car
has the following modifications:

	OZ wheels (16" in front, 17" in rear)
	Yokohama AVS intermediate tyres
	K&N air filter
	Carbon brake pads in front, Metallic in rear (Whoa!  these work!)
	Straight pipe exhaust
	Carbon Fibre mud flaps (heh)
	Twin 900CFM horizontal cooling fans (yes, really)
	Hella 90/130 euro lights

we started in pittsburgh, and visited the following cities (in order):

	Brighton, MI
	Denver, CO
	Billings, MT
	Seattle, WA
	Vancouver, BC
	Fort Bragg, San Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Cruz, Newport Beach
          and Mojave (all CA)
	Las Vegas, NV
	Flagstaff, Phenoix and Tuscon (all AZ)
	Colorado Springs, CO
	Pittsburgh, PA
	Washington, DC

	the trip lasted exactly one month, and was _not_ enough time to do
everything we wanted.  my advice to any would-be roadtrip planners is this:
take whatever you think is a reasonable ammount of time to do everything
you want to do on your voyage, and then double it (at least!).  but anyway,
to the car:

	i have only had the car for about 6 months now, but i am pretty
familiar with the vehicle.  the first thing be noticed is that there is
definetly an optimum crusing speed for the car.  we found that the best
compromise between speed and gas consumption was 80mph.  this allowed us to
get 20-25mpg, and make decent progress.  this was NOT true in montana,
where we went 120mph and got about 13mpg.  i would not recommend this to
anyone who is sane or intelligent (we were neither) as the car does not
handle well above 100mph.  110mph is a bit nervous, and 120mph is
difficult.  you have to really concentrate 100% on driving at that speed,
wehreas in a 911 or 7-series BMW you could porbably fall asleep at the
wheel at 120mph and not crash.  the fastest that we got the car on the trip
was 130mph.  i have heard that the car will do 150mph, and i do not doubt
that the engine is more than capable of redlining in 5th gear.  but the
suspension cannot handle it, and i would not recommend it.
	these recommendations are based on my vehicle alone.  perhaps other
models are more capable of high-speed travel, but if mine is a good example
i would urge you to buy something else if you want to go 150mph.
	anyway.  the engine performed beautifully, and took constant abuse
for days at a time.  we *never* had heating or cooling problems.  we saw
snow and 110F degree heat, and i swear the only time the coolant temp
needle moved was on startup.  amazing.  hell, we even fed it avgas (100
octane low lead) and it only complained a bit.  and ran worse, as it turned
out.
	most of the trip was spent on the highway, but there were a few
roads that turned out to be absolutely incredible.  the best of these was
the very beginning of U.S. highway 1, at the north end of california.
following U.S. 101 from oregon, take U.S. 1 to fort bragg.  there you will
find the most amazing road i have ever driven.  it is a 40-mile mountain
road with banked turns, through a redwood forest.  this is not a high-speed
road; i think the fastest we went was about 80mph.  but this road is
absolutely fantastic....i ground out the rear tyres into the wheel well
several times (a combination of the poor suspension and an extra .5" wheel
diameter) and i am sure that some of the mobile homes on the road were not
appreciative of my driving style.  but it was an amazing hour of driving,
and i urge anyone who is near this road to check it out.  tight turns, and
short striaghts.  amazing 150 degree hairpins, uphill, downhill....it was
like a rollercoaster you could steer.
	we had few problems with the car.  the major letdows were the
suspension and the transmission, which disintegrated over the voyage.  we
began to lose the 4th gear sychronizer at the beginning of the trip, and
now 3rd and 5th are also departing.  talking to john broderick at Mr. 2,
this is not uncommon.  fortunately, the warrantee should cover a new
tranny.  ;)
	the car ended the trip with 57,500 miles.  the yokohamas in the
front are gone (they lasted about 10,000 miles with 1.5 degrees of negative
camber) but the rears are still fine.  the ride was not as harsh as i
thought, but i would not rate it as comfortable.  we had to sleep in the
car several times, which was intensly uncomfortable (i am 5'11") and not
very restful.  if you plan to sleep on the road, bring a tent.
	luggage worked out well.  the front bonnet was used for tools, car
maintainence products, etc.  the rear was for clothes.  we had an AC
inverter in the car, so we had our celphone and video camera plugged in
constantly.  the factory stereo worked fine for the trip (except it refused
to play our madonna disc for some reason) and made the long drives easier.
the air conditioning was more than sufficent for the mojave desert.  the
t-tops made california twice as much fun.
	to sumarize:  this is a fun car, but not a good choice for a
roadtrip car.  if comfort is your thing, buy the 7-series, not the MR2.
only the diehard sportscar nuts will appreciate the MR2 on the road for
long periods of time.  for us, it was our only car so we had little choice.
it is very reliable (the only major porblem was that our front brake
calipers almost fell off, and that was due to our incompetence) and will
drive forever.  dont shift to hard if you like your tranny in one piece.
it goes fast, but not too fast.  its more quick than fast.  it can outbrake
300Z's, VR-4's and supras with ease, and turn harder too.  if youre
interested in speed, upgrade the brakes and suspension FIRST.  and upgrade
your lights as well....the hella lights saved us many times on the roads at
night.  i dont know how we would have made it with stock lights.
	anyway, thats all i can think of now.  if anyone else has made
long-distance MR2 treks, i would love to hear about it.

	-ch