The MR2 Spyder employs the same engine used in the Toyota Corolla and Celica GT. The engine is rated at 138 horsepower, which should, on paper, move the 2,200-pound car briskly. But the engine's performance doesn't quite live up to the car's appearance. While some small-displacement engines scream encouragement to rev them past redline, the sound of the MR2 Spyder's engine doesn't encourage high-revving. Toyota's VVT-i engine uses variable valve timing, but it doesn't generate a big surge of power when it switches to the high-power cam profile. And it doesn't feel as quick as a Mazda Miata. Still, Toyota claims a 0- to 60-mph time of just under 7 seconds.The five-speed shifter is good. It falls just short of the outstanding shifters in the Mazda Miata, Honda S2000 and BMW Z3, which are all front-engine cars. Routing the shift cables around the MR2's mid-placed engine apparently creates just enough drag that the shifter lacks the positive click-click feedback of sliding in and out of gears. Instead, there is a continuous light drag that masks much of the feedback from the gearbox. It is still better than the Porsche Boxster's shifter. Toyota decided the reason its second-generation MR2 was less popular than the first was that it was more expensive and heavier as a result of using Celica components instead of Corolla components as a foundation. So the MR2 Spyder is based on prosaic Corolla components, such as MacPherson strut suspension front and rear. This is more than adequate for typical street driving, but hard driving over uneven surfaces tends to expose the limitations of struts. (Even the much more expensive Porsche Boxster, which also uses struts, has problems under such conditions.) The MR2 Spyder enjoys a smooth, comfortable ride, courtesy of its long wheelbase and moderate spring rates. The steering is light, nicely balanced and provides good information about the road. The mid-engine design gives the car excellent balance that will give showroom stock racers an edge over the front-engine Miata, but the MacPherson strut suspension may offset that benefit. The brakes are light and sensitive and feel easy to modulate. Only track testing will reveal how they respond when pushed hard, but they are more than sufficient for sporty street driving. A problem in the passenger's seat is the blast of air that shoots between the outside mirror and the windshield pillar when driving al fresco. It doesn't have the problem on the driver's side for some reason. You could drive with the window up, but that seems self-defeating. The Spyder is one of Toyota's three new models (Celica and Echo are the others) that seek to rebuild the company's image with young customers. Toyota has been sort of the unofficial car company of the baby boom generation, but that means the average age of Toyota buyers has gotten higher than the company would like. Toyota has created a separate multimedia web site (www.isthistoyota.com) to promote these cars to younger buyers who have been gravitating to Honda. The Toyota MR2 Spyder's one unassailable advantage over the Mazda Miata is its newness. MR2 buyers will not see another car like theirs on every street corner, as it can seem with the Miata on a warm summer evening.
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