Originally Posted by kblake
Actually, I love MR2's. All flavors, even the Gen 3 powered ones. I had my 88NA for 5 years, only a year less than I had my 93T. I still love that car. It's probably my favorite, of all the MR2's I've owned. Never gave me a day of trouble for 5 years/70k miles. My sister has had it for the past 8, and has yet to have any serious problems with it, despite the fact that it's fast approaching 20 years since it's date of manufacture.
The vast majority of MR2 turbo owners in the U.S. have gen 2's. How many of your 47 MR2's were Gen 2? I'm going to hazard a guess, and say "most of them".
A lot more people in the community (board politics aside, we're all one community) have done more with Gen 2's than Gen 3's, and that will change slowly, if at all. The board OWNER of THIS board is a die hard Gen 2 fan, and has experienced owning both motors.
Actually, it's my hobby. It gives me something to do while I'm raising the kids, until they are old enough for school. ATS couldn't afford me full time, nor could any of the other board sponsors, here or on OC. It wasn't an advertisement. Luni made a fallacious statement, and I corrected him.
That's B.S.
The sponsors get moderated just as much as the next guy over there, probably more, because the attitude is that WE should know better, whereas the average member who hasn't been around as long tends to get the benefit of the doubt. The reason there are more "celebrities" over there, is because the board has been around longer, and so there are more members who are long standing members of the community, who pioneered many of the modifications and developed many of the parts that are taken for granted today.
The purpose of this thread was to discuss the relative strengths and weaknesses of the Gen 2 motor vs. the Gen 3 motor. People are obviously going to champion whichever engine they decided to go with. Most people put their ego where they spent their money. Some people (myself included) lack equivalent experience with both motors. The best I can do is point out the strengths of the Gen 2 motor, while people like DavidV (who has little or no experience with the Gen 2) champion the Gen 3. An educated reader can read both sides, and make an informed decision, and the thread's purpose will have been served.
My limited experience with the Gen 3, and threads like this one have actually changed my opinion slightly, to the point that I now recommend a Gen 3 swap in some cases, particularly in cases like Matt's, where the person is going from a 5SFE to a 3SGTE, and doesn't plan to go beyond BPU. At the "2 the Beach" meet, in Ocean Shores, WA this past September, I actually talked Lyle Beach out of a Gen 2 swap, and into a Gen 3 swap. From what I hear, he has subsequently purchased a Gen 3 clip, and had Kris from KO Racing install it.
Ken
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