This might be the rule, but I don't get the impression that it is followed very well. Speed limits in Ohio seem to be set pretty arbitrarily. Almost all interstates are 65 with the exception of I70, which can be 70 for stretches. Most every rural back road is 45 or 55, regardless of whether it is double or…

Yeah, it is. The lower final drive is to compensate for the fact that you need tighter gearing when to go from 8200 to 6200 RPMs than you do for going from 6500 to 4500 RPMs. They did a good job at gear spacing with the engine, as the car redlines at 45, 60, 80, 100, 120, ? in each gear.

The 1zz and 2zz don't actually have much in common other than their block. The 2zz has a shorter stroke and wider bore compared to the 1zz (82/85 vs 79/95) and they share no head components. So even if they did share the same cam lift and duration on the "low-lift" profile, they would still exhibit different torque…

The transmission sucked, but the engine was quite nice. It had decent low-end torque, but the engine really woke up past 3500 and pulled hard to the redline.

I don't think Lotus was involved in an official capacity, Toyota just hired some of their engineers to work on the MR2. (It's hard to find online car articles from that era though, so I might not be able to get a source).

It's possible, but mine is a very early model (2000). I know that they toyed with fuel shutoff over the years (from 8100-8300), so it's possible they also adjusted the lift setting a bit as well.

Front wheel drive was the wave of the future in the 80s. Honda had released a bunch of FWD cars that laid the smack down on Porsche, BMW, etc, in terms of handling. Once people saw that cars like the Prelude could corner better than a Porsche, people began to associate FWD with great handling.

I think the Probe is a great car, considering the era. It handled just as well as the foreign sport compacts, but had a bit more power from its V6.

You have to give Pontiac credit, along with Subaru, they were the only companies to have foresaw the rise of the Crossover.

Sleeper? 14.5 in the quarter is ho-hum at best, even in 2001. Plus, ticking a heavy-ass engine entirely in front of the fore axles destroyed the handling. I'm not sure I can think of a modern car that handled worse than the Passat.

The problem with the 2zz is the power delivery. The lift happens at 6300, which is just too high. Even though the gear spacing on the transmission was designed so that a shift at 8200 would bring you to 6300, it is still frustrating to drive. First is super long (45MPH @ 8200) and it is hard to downshift to first…

The car you are describing is, literally, the Lotus Elise. I suspect that Toyota didn't put the 2ZZ into the MR2 because Lotus helped design the suspension in it and they were planning on using that engine in the Elise. Had Toyota offered a 2zz MR2, the Elise would have been largely irrelevant, since the MR2 would…

This car sucked compared to the Miata. The transmission is from a Colorado and you can tell. Gear spacing appropriate for a pickup truck is not appropriate for a sports car.

That V6 was world class at the time, besting every other V6 in terms of power and refinement, it was even more powerful than the supercharged 3800 found in top-tier GM sedans. This engine was in production long before Nissan's VQ35 was, yet provided the same amount of power.

Then handling is miles better than the V6 Mustang, and a little better than the PP V6. The solid rear axle is still noticeable when the pavement isn't silky smooth. Plus, the GC doesn't feel like a bouncy castle between shifts.

I don't know what you mean, the GC was a great car. I loved the handling, I know some people thought that it could be a handful to drive fast, but that's part of the fun. The original turbo engine was underwhelming in stock form, but the V6 moved the car. Low 14s is hardly slow.

Well, a 5.0 GT with a tune and slicks will run 11.9 — Ford tuned them for drivability from the factory, so they gain like 60ft-lbs in the lower RPMs with a tune. But your point still stands.

Only the LT/LS ones. My mother had to give away her 95 V6 auto F-Body because nobody would buy it.

Nothing more American than a Toyota! Especially one that wasn't even sold in the US for much of its life. (only from 89-93)

But...but...UNDERRATED!!!!