1986 Toyota MR2 review from North America

Some electrical - my fault.

Bad wheel bearing when I bought the car.

Other than that, very maintenance free.

I've set up my car based on the Japanese tuning methods for mid shipped cars.

Volk racing TE37 16x7 wheels which immediately improved performance all around.

Using pillow ball uppermounts took away any vagueness in the handling once my driving skills surpassed the tuning level of the car. I actually run my suspension settings close to stock with only the front camber being slightly out of stock range.

Running a coilover setup also improves overall handling for the 2. Lowering to a basic 2 finger gap is low enough for the street, and most likely your skills, if you are not an experienced weekend track/autocross racer.

With a 25 offset for my wheels, it pushed them out all the way to the edge of the fenders. Another big improvement! Makes the wheels look 1" bigger - like 17's even tho they are only 16's. Total stability in the rain at 80mph.

Running my adjustable struts medium soft up front and soft in the rear allows the right amount of understeer in rainy conditions. In the dry I run identical med-soft settings for both f and r. On winding backroads I stiffen the dampers to medium and that allows a perfect amount of neutral to slight oversteer to get the rear to point where I want it.

Running an aftermarket rear sway bar also helped tune the rear end for more oversteer or neutral handling depending on the setting, and tightened up the sloppy rear end for more stability. 87's did not come with rear sway bars. Luckily I bought a set of strut housings off of Ebay from an 89 and it had the sway bar mounts, unlike my 87.

These tuning methods allowed me to pick up to around 20 miles per hour more around the corners with complete stability and pure enjoyment that the 2 was designed for. That also includes my increase in driving skills... something that most people don't factor.

I don't run high grip tires on the street for now because that mentality meant that your tires are doing all the work when it should be your whole car working together. My next set will be higher grip tires with the hope that it doesn't ruin my ride quality too much. I've been enjoying the softer side-walled Kuhmo tires - and for everyday driving and spirited driving works better on the street.

Please separate a "race" car from a tuned "street" car. Race settings don't work so well on the street... suspension wise. Street tuned vehicles can outperform any high end stock ride on the street. Street tuned vehicles are fun to drive - imagine that?!

Your skills will improve because you enjoy driving your car... and if someone faster comes along let them pass... you may find out how awful their driving skills are once you get to follow them for a bit.