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Original SUPERCHARGED Engine

For sale: 1988 Toyota MR2

Technical specifications

Item location:
Fallbrook, California, United States
Make:
Toyota
Model:
MR2
Year:
1988
Mileage:
206,000
VIN:
JT2AW16J9J0131642
Color:
Blue
Engine size:
4AGZE Supercharged 1.6
Number of cylinders:
4
Power options:
Air Conditioning, Cruise Control, Power Locks, Power Windows
Fuel:
Gasoline
Transmission:
Manual
Drive type:
RWD
Interior color:
Blue
Vehicle Title:
Clear
Contact the seller / ! Report

Description

1988 TOYOTA MR2. Also called Mister Deuce, or The Origami Express, and you know a car has a cult following if it has multiple nicknames. The rare factory SUPERCHARGED version, made only for two years, in a particularly desirable color, Blue Mica. In excellent mechanical condition, and I do mean excellent. In very good cosmetic condition. ALL options, inc. power mirrors, power windows, AC, power locks, cruise control. Every feature, every switch, every function works and works well, except the speedometer, and the cruise control ties into the speedo, so it needs the speedo fixed to be able to work. 5 Speed Transmission.
The suspension to this car has been completely swapped out for springs and shocks, etc., to give it full race stance (center of gravity lowered) and taut handling, and I know of no other car that can be so improved by simply changing the springs and shocks. I have owned sports cars since my college days, starting with a 1959 MGA street legal ex-race car that I bought in 1967, and I have owned all the popular ones, including a vette, ---- and the best handling car that I have ever driven is the first gen MR2, . . . IF, and only if, you have the suspension swapped out, because the stock springs are way too soft and water down the capabilities of the chassis. Lotus designed the basis chassis and suspension of the first gen MR2, and it was given to Dan Gurney to evaluate for several weeks, with feedback going to Lotus before they finalized their design. I have heard that Lotus planned to use the engine and chassis in their own new sports car, but they went another direction instead. However, Toyota wimped out on the ride height and spring rate, going for "Runabout" rather than race car. Too bad. I have driven the first gen with stock suspension and it was disappointing. But the two first gen cars that I have owned had both had full suspension swaps and WOW! As I said, the best handling cars that I have ever been in. LIKE GO-KARTS.
And this one also corrects the other flaw to the original under-powered 1985 design, by greatly increasing the power by forced induction. The SC car did 0-60 in 6.5, vs. 8.5 in the naturally aspirated car, and this car seems to have had some extra tuning done, because it badly thrashes my Porsche Boxster, and that only makes sense if this engine is putting out more than stock SC power. The engine was the first mass-produced multi-valve engine, and is considered one of the best mills Toyota made, and it reached its full potential in the 4A-GZE, the supercharged version that is in this car, its original engine. A turbo engine has lag and makes power way up in high revs and only . . . after . . . a while . . . of waiting. A supercharged engine pushes you back in the seat even before your foot fully buries the throttle, and actually spools up even faster than a naturally aspirated engine and can be tuned for low end torque and still have plenty of charge coming into the cylinders at high RPM because of the air pump giving the engine all the charge it needs at any RPM. It feels like somebody swapped out the four-banger for a small block Chevy V8, lots of grunt down low, so you get shoved back in the seat if you press the throttle down a bit at mid revs, something you'd only expect from lots of cubic inches of engine. Seriously, like a small block V8, except that the gorgeous engine note, a mix of deep bass exhaust and Boeing 747 jet engine sounds from the supercharger, is better than any V8.
However, I have three cars and six motorcycles, and that does not count the cars that my wife and daughter drive, AND, to bring the matter to a head, I converted the garage to a family room ... so I must mercilessly purge my driveway.
One more point, as much as I love crisp cornering, I baby engines. This mill is red-lined at 7500, but I have never, ever taken it past 6500, and only rarely to 6000. There is no need, with so much grunt right off idle. And I wanted to baby the engine, as I said. I am 68, so I know the consequences of abusing machinery.

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