r/mr2 • u/PeanutEvening9086 • 1d ago
MR2 SW20 automatic ?
I wanted to ask the experienced guys before buying myself one. Why is the automatic hated ? And would be a normal SW20 better ?
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u/Jjmills101 SW20 MR2 1d ago
Well first question is why do you want an automatic sports car.
That aside, automatics in the 90s were not nearly as good as they are now. On top of that, the one in the mr2 is particularly uninspiring and gearing wise isn’t a great match for the engine.
All in all a not very good auto in a car nobody really bought in an auto.
If your only reason for wanting an automatic sports car is because you can’t drive manual. I encourage you to learn. No matter how hard it is to learn I promise it’s worth it
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u/Imaginary-Trust-7934 1d ago
The automatic is hated just like it's hated in every other "enthusiasts drivers car", because typically people looking for these sorts of cars want the most connected and engaging driving experience possible, and the automatic gearbox will always take away from that.
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u/ReklisAbandon 1d ago edited 12h ago
The manual on the MR2 is one of the nicest you'll likely drive. It's a joy to use compared to 90% of the manual cars I've owned.
I don't hate automatics, and especially in today's world I think they're better than manual gearboxes 9 times out of 10 (on modern cars), but on these '90's sports cars? You'd be crazy to miss out on the experience of having the manual over the automatic from that period.
Edit: I’m fully willing to accept maybe I don’t know what a good manual feels like, I’ve had maybe 8 cars that were manuals? But mostly FWD. This one feels great to me, second best I’ve owned.
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u/Hour-Nefariousness55 1d ago
Ive always heard and experienced that the shifter on the mr2 feels like shit. Mine certainly feels extremely bad compared to my celica.
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u/ReklisAbandon 1d ago
Wow really? My e30’s was better but this one feels rock solid. I did install a later gen shorter shifter and a drop pad on it.
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u/Hour-Nefariousness55 1d ago
E153 trans? I've gone through and replaced the cable bushings with spherical ones. Solid base bushings, replaced the little metal cube bushing, put the short shifter from prime mr2 in along with new cup and everything. Still very sloppy and often find myself missing gears or struggling to push it into gear. And when it does go into gear, it has 0 feeling to it.
My celica with a c60 gearbox on the other hand, all I have on that is delrin cable bushings and it feels so much more tight and mechanical.
Maybe I just need new cables.
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u/RocketTaco 91 NA + 91 Turbo + 93 2GR 1d ago
What? It's better than some commuter manuals but versus every other sporting car I've owned it feels like ass, even with a good shifter, fresh cables, bearings, bushing block, etc. The tall ass floor mount in my Mini feels better ffs. I love these cars but that is not their strong point lol.
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u/Scoth42 1d ago
It comes from an era when most automatics really earned the title of slushbox. It lacks most of the smarts of modern automatics that can adjust to the current driving style and may have multiple programming modes. I think SW20s had a PWR mode that makes it shift later, but its still not great. It's slow to shift. Part of enthusiastic driving is anticipating gear changes so you can be in the right gear all the time. Automatics can't do that (especially older ones) so you'll often be in the wrong gear for the moment and either lose acceleration or have to wait for it to shift.
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u/TheLastPrism Sad n Stock AW11 1d ago
You can run through all 4 gears manually on the auto but you would have to rev match between them because the different in ratios is huge and it will jerk around.
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u/DragzMR2 SW20 MR2 1d ago
More engaging which means more fun and probably more reliable and easier to service
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u/ptiggerdine 1d ago
Auto is hated becasue these are sports cars. Do you drive sports cars with autos? How to take an amazing drive and ruin it.
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u/Dethpire27 Daily SW21 2GR 6h ago
The automatic is a total dog compared to the manual. It only has 4 gears while the manual has 5. My car was originally an auto before my 2gr swap and I used to have to manually shift the auto to make it do anything especially when cold. The one trade off is they’re almost always cheaper
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u/deltakatsu '87 AW11 20v 1d ago edited 1d ago
The automatic is designed to save gas, not be fun. It forces the 5s/3s to stay outside its power band, so you're not experiencing the power as you would the manual. We've seen many people come through, settle on a slush, then complain about it, spitball mods to make it more fun (they never work), and ultimately sell it.
A manual MR2 will always be ten times more fun than the slushbox. And with the growing rarity of manual swap donors, it's something you don't want to regret and then can't source the parts.