I like the Miata idea. The only negative I see to the Miata is no factory roll over protection. The MR2 can be taken to track days because it has a roof. Most track days will refuse the Miata. I know there are a number of aftermarket roll bars for the Miata but I am too tall for most of them.

Still, the Miata just has so much potential. I rather like the idea of swapping a GM 60 degree, aluminum block, pushrod V6 into the car. Here's someone who did it with the iron block version. The engine just looks soo small. The alloy block would actually make the car lighter than the original motor!
http://34v6miata.tripod.com/index.htm

 

MRS with 2zz would be quite fun and different, thought about it myself actually. How much of this do you plan on doing urself and what kind of skills do you have? The miata is basically down to a science now with the following that it has, but the MRS would be quite cool to have- more or less an Elise, lol.

 

The MR2 is more exotic looking and a lot more rare than the miata. The mid engine layout of the spyder makes it a great handling car than makes it faster than the miata on a track mod for mod.

A bolt on turbo kit on the stock MR2 spyder gets you this.



270hp at the wheels enough to run 12s. That is 270hp in a 2150lbs car!!

A properly setup MR2 spyder turbo is as fast as a lotus elise on a track even with only low hp turbo.

I currently have a MR2 spyder that already has a 2zz motor it. It's currently in the process of getting a 2zz turbo kit as well.

Current Specs are:

2zz engine
6-speed trans with LSD
Hardtop
Rollbar with gutted soft top
Race seats
OHlins suspension
Toyo RA1 race tires

200hp/2100lbs

With turbo
300hp/2150




My old MRS Widebody turbo track car. I should have never sold it.



The new one when it was still fairly stock

 

Wow that car is tuned bad, he has a 40hp drop in the midrange. The HT on the sptder looks kinda like a mugen.

 

Could that stock engine handle that kind of boost? I mean I've heard that the 2zz was a bit problematic in the celica, engine catching on fire and such...

 

You forgot to mention that that MR2 costs $$$ to mod compared to the miata. Parts availability is better in the miata.

 

catching fire??? I dont think Ive ever heard of that before and if it did happen it was probably due to install error. Ive been following the 2zz since it first debut in 2000. You should definitely look into monkeywrench racing for all your spyder/2zz needs as they are the cream of the crop in that area. I believe monkeywrench has there celica with a built 2zz near the 700whp mark.

 

The stock engine in the MR2 spyder is the 1zz. The 2zz is in the celica or the Lotus elise and can easily be swapped into a spyder.

The 1zz can not handle as much boosted hp as the 2zz. The hp limit on the 1zz seems to be about 250whp before the stock connected rods fail. If you change out the rods and pistons then 300whp is easily achievable.

Lotus used the 2zz in the superchaged exige. It handles boost fine.

 

A properly set up MRS with 250whp+/- can be extremely fast. I rode in a turbo 1zz with maybe 180whp with CUSCO full suspension/chassis reinforcement and it handled extremely well. It's one of the less finicky MR cars I've driven. I will choose between an AP1 and MRS with swapped drivetrain for my next track car, most likely depending on whether I own an s2000 at the time.

 

I would go with MR2 Spyder hands down. Being a previous Spyder maybe I'm a bit biased but the car super fun right out of the box. Now given it doesn't have nearly the power of the S. But the lighweight of the car makes it nimble and so...fun to throw around the twisties. Here's a place where you can find a plethora of knowledge if you haven't already visited www.spyderchat.com. Oh yea there are a couple of CrAzY guys w/ K-Series swaps, that may sway your decision a bit. I plan on buying one in the future as a project car as well. Have fun and good luck.