Some thoughts on my first week of MR2 ownership.

While it is perfectly possible for me to drive this vehicle with my giant work shoes I now fully understand white people wear round heel driving shoes.

That engine sound right behind your shoulder is one of the sweetest things I have ever experienced.

While I was initially concerned about the size of the steering wheel and considered putting in a good quality removable oh, I am no longer remotely interested in this. What you learn how to get in the car it’s not bad at all. I have driven 914 and Alpha graduates and Lotus Elise and this is actually roomy by comparison.

I used to hate roundabouts.

The shift throw on this is so tiny that I keep over-reaching 2 to 3 and go 2 to 5.

Having driven some legitimate high performance cars I understand why people say this is not a fast car. It isn’t. But it certainly makes up for being fast by being fun. During the time I was saving my nickels and dimes to buy this I looked at a lot of cars. The week I purchased the car I literally saw a Jaguar convertible, a Mercedes convertible, a BMW convertible and a Maserati hardtop. The price of which together did not add up to what I spent on the MR2.

On the other hand when I want to drive the MR2 all I have to do is get in it and turn the key. I will not have to spend half of my life working on it like the Jaguar or the Maserati, I will not have to invest my great grandchildren’s College fund on new shocks like the Mercedes or take out a second mortgage on my house to replace a radiator like the BMW. Because it’s a Toyota and because it’s the right year and because it was impeccably maintained it should be reliable as well as easy and inexpensive to maintain which was my whole goal.

Car turns heads. I don’t think I could get this much of a reaction out of a much more expensive car. In fact my company ride is more than four times what this cost and nobody pays any attention to it at all.

Hats are definitely a thing. I’m not a hat wearer except when I’m hunting or hiking and then generally I wear a Stetson Moab or some other crushable type of hat. I had to dig around to find a gimme cap, and it is not a look that pleases me. It just screams midlife crisis and I am practically a generation beyond that point. And the little Tweed flat cap just seems pretentious and aspirational. I could probably pull that off if I had bought the Jag but mostly because I would never be seen actually driving it.

Sunglasses are also a thing but since I wear prescription glasses the best I can hope for is the clip-on style and they don’t do much to protect the sides. So I might end up having to get a pair of driving goggles just out of sheer Whimsy. In fact I might even consider the goggles and an aviators leather cap just out of sheer Whimsy. Especially if I can find something that looks very much like the outfit Marty Feldman wore in silent movie.

Actually I will probably see if I can drive with the Stetson on without blowing it off. When the wind deflector is up there isnt really a lot of wind in the car.

On the way back from Michigan there were tons of alligators on the road. An alligator for the uninitiated is a chunk of tread shredded off of a semi Tire. Hitting one of these in a car this small is like hitting a wheelbarrow in a normal sized car.

Unlike my company car which is actually an explorer you can’t wiggle the steering wheel even two or three degrees, every tiny twitch the steering wheel elicits a response from the suspension.

I can see where a hardtop would be a handy thing. With a hardtop this would certainly be an acceptable daily driver even with a long commute. The only issue with that would be the stick, as light as this clutchis and as short as the throw is I would still not want to row this thing through Rush Hour Chicago traffic.