Toyota MR2 RED SPECIAL EDITION
Toyotas MR2 Red Has The Looks, The Specification And The Price To Be A Success. Which Is Great If You Like Red. Steve Walker Reports
There are times when even the most practically minded of people experience a moment of weakness. Driving along in our prosaic hatchbacks or sedate estates, sensible shoes lightly caressing our accelerator pedals, how many of us have caught a glimpse of a different kind of motoring? Something small, fast, roofless and wildly impractical. A car that, in the brief seconds before reality dawns, weve secretly longed to own.
Were talking, of course, about the roadsters. As everyday vehicles theyre, seriously flawed but as a tool to put a big stupid smile on a drivers face, theyre difficult to beat. Toyotas MR2 displays all the key roadster credentials and in Red special edition form, its that little bit harder to resist. Where
Toyota will ask you to part with £17,500 before you take possession of a standard MR2, The MR2 Red costs £18,000.
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Its this £850 premium that holds the key when choosing between the two. Can the extra features and added exclusivity offered up by the Red model justify its purchase or is a normal MR2 and a pocket full of readies a preferable option? The MR2 Red is not, as you may have been led to believe, red at least its paintwork isnt. Sable is the metallic shade that has been fingered to adorn the cars bodywork and on Toyotas colour chart thats a tasteful dark grey. The MR2 Red lives up to its name through a series of styling touches.
Outside, the most obvious of these is the canvas roof thats coloured a deep maroon but you may also spot the special Red badging. The interior, which can quickly be made exterior through the manual stowing of the roof, is a positive riot of red. The seats, door inserts and sections of the steering wheel are all covered in a rich red leather that tallies well with black plastics and chrome detailing around the rest of the cab. The Red special edition looks suitably different from the everyday MR2 models, cars that do not feature leather upholstery or metallic paint as standard, instead listing them as a £500 and £350 options respectively.
Thats the £850 premium justified right there. The Red also features a generous standard specification which includes alloy wheels, front fog lamps, a CD player, remote central locking and an alarm. Viewed solely as a value proposition it makes a strong case for itself but the final reckoning must come down to matters of personal taste. If you dont like red, this is probably not the car for you.
"If you like red and you like roadsters, youll love this car."
Whichever MR2 you select, it will be powered by Toyotas 1.8-litre VVT-i engine, a unit that, with the help of its variable valve timing technology, can produce a maximum of 138bhp. This might not sound like a huge amount given todays trend for ever more absurdly powerful sportscars but the two things you have to remember are the MR2s size and, more importantly, its weight. The 1,030kg kerb weight means that the MR2 is 119kg lighter than the equivalent
Mazda MX5 and 75kg lighter than the
MG TF 135.
Nearly 140bhp in a car a little over a tonne in weight equals fun with a capital F. Theres obviously more to Roadster design than sticking a big engine in a light car - although that, in a nutshell, is the basic principal pioneered by
Lotus founder Colin Chapman to great effect. You must have a balanced chassis that can handle the power while rewarding the driver. The MR2 has this and you can feel it at work out on the road.
The car uses MacPherson strut suspension all round, tuned to provide a lively but not uncomfortable ride. Dont expect the suppleness over the bumps of a good supermini but equally, you wont feel like youve just been put through your washing machines spin cycle this is no Lotus Elise. Figures dont tell the whole story with a car like this, its all about handling rather than straight line speed, but if you must know, 0-62mph will take 8 seconds and the MR2 will reach 130mph all in. Many sportscars have an engine in the front and a boot in the rear, others position the engine in the rear and have a boot in the front, some even locate their engine in the middle and boots at either end.
The designers behind the MR2 threw convention out the window by mounting the engine in the middle and providing no real boot space whatsoever. A tiny storage compartment on top of the spare wheel in the cars nose will house a few small, flat items, then theres 78-litres of space in lockers tucked away behind the seats and thats your lot. This isnt the car for long holidays, shopping trips or moving house but then you knew that. Heavy bags in the nose or tail of the MR2 would have upset its balance, the thing the designers worked so hard to achieve and that gives the car its essential character, so they ditched the old boot idea completely.
Theres not even much room for driver or passenger, to the extent that buyers of larger dimensions may be forced to think twice about purchasing an MR2. Theres another way theyve kept the weight down. The roof, on the other hand, is a model of convenience. You can flip it up and down on your own without breaking sweat or even leaving your
seat.
Plus it incorporates a proper glass heated rear window, so you don't have to put up with permanently murky vision in your rear view mirror. Toyotas MR2 Red looks a good value special edition model, while the MR2 itself is a fine roadster and a thoroughly enjoyable car to drive. Practicality is not a strong point and the chronic lack of storage space may preclude it from consideration by many buyers but a roadster is not supposed to be practical, its supposed to be fun and the MR2 fulfils that part of its remit very well. If you like red and you like roadsters, youll love this car.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
CAR:
Toyota MR2 Red special edition
PRICES: £18,000 - on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 13
CO2 EMISSIONS: 178g/km
PERFORMANCE: Max Speed 129mph / 0-62mph 8.0s
FUEL CONSUMPTION: (average) 38mpg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front airbags, ABS
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Heightmm 4335/1735/1305mm
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