Toyota is rumoured to be developing a new MR2 with a G20E 2.0L turbo engine.
If you’re a fan of old school Toyota performance cars, there’s a long forgetten nameplate that’s rumoured to be coming back – the MR2. Toyota last used the ‘MR’ name for the MR-S, which was the third in a series of mid-engined lightweight sports cars. After the global recession of 2008, performance-oriented Toyotas disappeared until the recent GR resurgence. Now many automotive media outlets are claiming a new MR2 is on the way in but it’s mostly speculation, as Toyota themselves don’t seem to have directly indicated its return.
Earlier this year at the Tokyo Auto Salon, Toyota unveiled a GR Daihatsu HiJet, which has its engine mounted in the middle, which media outlets construed as a teaser for the MR2.
However the real tell tale sign of the MR2’s return is with last year’s GR Yaris M Concept. Toyota showed this is a custom version of the performance hatchback with a new G20E 4-cylinder turbo petrol engine mounted in the middle.
Toyota have entered it into the Super Taikyu series and say it’s still in the early stages of its development. Many believe it serves as a testbed for an upcoming MR2 though Toyota could just release a production version of this hatch to save cost.
Personally, I think this is more likely and that’s because Toyota are also moving away from a rear-wheel drive set-up, which was a key part of the MR2 and MR-S formula. The GR Yaris M Concept is the strongest indicator of the return of the MR2 but it uses a four-wheel drive setup while MR vehicles have always used rear-wheel drive setups. Toyota also lacks a suitable chassis for the car and Toyota executives say an MR2 is not coming this decade… Which essentially makes it such a long-term and easily-cancellable project that it’s probably not worth getting excited about. After all, the situation in Iran is enough for any car company to stop and rethink their product strategy.
More likely the real ‘hero’ of the story here is the 2.0L G20E engine that sits in the middle of the GR Yaris M Concept. This engine is going to end up in a lot of applications across Toyota’s model line-up including performance vehicles but also mass market vehicles.
