Fact is, it might bet a simple matter of software calibration to tune the SMT for aggressive shifts, which begs the question of a sport-shift mode. And neither did anyone we spoke with at Toyota. Maybe aggressive shifting would lead to long-term durability problems in the MR2's five-speed transaxle, we don't know. It seems Toyota tuned the SMT conservatively to eliminate warranty hassles down the road. Abuse aside, the main problem with this technique is that there seemed to be no consistency between the time we'd drop the car into first gear and when it actually began moving, which makes it unusable for drag racing or Solo II competition. The SMT, by the way, worked flawlessly during the remainder of our time with the car, despite the abuse.Īt the end of the quarter mile, our not-so-advisable technique was 0.4 seconds quicker than a conventional launch in the SMT but still 0.8 seconds slower than the five-speed. It shaved four tenths of a second off the car's 0 to 30 time (down to within 0.3 seconds of the five-speed car). It quickly became obvious that driving it like we stole it isn't advisable, but it is quicker. The car would hesitate for an unpredictable amount of time and then shoot off the line with the stench of burning clutch and some truly awful sounds from the drivetrain. What the MR2 did next ranged between oddly abusive and completely unpredictable. Revving the engine to about 4500 rpm, we slid the gear selector from neutral into the "plus" gate and gritted our teeth. You've heard of a neutral drop before, right? We couldn't stand it, so we tried a few unconventional launches. The SMT's launch technique is so conservative it gives up 0.7 seconds in 0 to 30 mph acceleration relative to the five-speed MR2. This simple fact will keep the SMT from being a real performance option. Multiply that difference over the length of a solo course or drag strip and you're talking about a lifetime. A closer look at the data shows the SMT to take, on average, almost three times as long to complete an upshift as does our test driver (0.23 seconds vs. Using a conventional launch, the SMT MR2 is, on average, 1.2 seconds slower through the quarter mile. Our quarter-mile testing illustrated the dramatic difference between the SMT and five-speed MR2's acceleration times. Still, the slow upshifts can't be ignored.
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