Executive editor Mark Gillies, generally smitten with the Spyder's road (and track) manners, wrote: 'It's great when you load it up, but it lacks feel on turn-in.

The power-assisted rack-and-pinion steering, although communicative and quick, was occasionally knocked for being a bit overboosted. Los Angeles bureau chief Michael Jordan enthused: 'Two decades of fascination with autobahn speeds have brought us a generation of 180-mph cars that weigh 3500 pounds, but when it comes to the joy of driving, lightness is everything.' And the MR2's four-wheel vented disc brakes with standard ABS contributed to exceptional stopping distances: We recorded 129 feet from 70 mph. Credit for the MR2's quick reflexes must go as well to its featherweight status: Our car tipped the scales at just 2260 pounds. A 43/57 percent front/rear weight distribution imparts a sense that the Spyder is pivoting around a point a few inches southeast of your right shoulder. The MR2's all-aluminum DOHC in-line four displaces 1.8 liters and, with the aid of Toyota's VVT-i variable valve timing system, produces 138 horsepower and 125 pound-feet of torque-enough to prod our Four Seasons Spyder to 60 mph in 7.1 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 15.5 seconds at 89 mph.Ĭommon among racing cars and big-ticket exotics, the MR2's mid-engined layout offers dynamic benefits that are immediately apparent behind the wheel. The MR2 Spyder is the first car in the long history of the Toyota Motor Corporation to be imagined from the start as a two-seat convertible, and truly, it's a sensational effort. (Recall, if you will, that Toyota gave Pontiac and its Fiero a similar wedgie in 1985 with the original MR2.)

In the spring of 2000, however, Toyota set out to give Mazda a mighty wedgie by reviving its MR2 name with a cheerful little mid-engined roadster that was, in size, specification, price, and performance, aimed dead smack at the Miata.

Toyota mr2 spyder hardtop