A Mid-Engined Legend: The MR2 Story

6 October 2026

To understand a car, start with where it came from. Tazzmobil’s story is being written today in North Cyprus, by Yusuf Özcan Doğan’s own hands — but its roots go back to 1980s Japan.

The idea in the name

MR2 stands for “Midship Runabout 2-seater”: a mid-engined, two-seat fun car. The idea is simple but bold: put the engine right behind the driver, between the axles. The mass gathers at the centre of the car, the nose gets light, and the car seems to rotate around the driver in a corner.

Toyota showed the idea at the 1983 Tokyo Motor Show as the SV-3 concept, with engineer Akio Yoshida leading the project. A year later, the concept hit the road as a production car.

The three generations of the Toyota MR2: AW11, SW20 and ZZW30

First generation: AW11 (1984–1989)

The first MR2 was wedge-shaped, light and pure — Japan’s first mass-produced mid-engined car. At its heart was the 1.6-litre twin-cam 4A-GE. In 1986 came the supercharged 4A-GZE. So the MR2 met the supercharger long before Tazzmobil did.

Second generation: SW20 (1989–1999)

The second generation grew up, matured and got faster. With the 2.0-litre 3S-GE, and in some markets the turbocharged 3S-GTE, the MR2 was now a serious sports car, with lines that echoed the exotic mid-engined cars of its day.

Third generation: ZZW30 (1999–2007)

For the third generation, Toyota went back to the roots: lighter, simpler, a soft-top roadster. It was sold as the MR-S in Japan and the MR2 Spyder in the US. The engine: the 1.8-litre 1ZZ-FE with VVT-i variable valve timing. Production ended in 2007, and the MR2 name went with it.

Tazzmobil is one of this generation.

The ZZW30 as it left the factory: 140 hp, 970 kg, and an engine behind the cabin, between the axles

Small numbers, big balance

Stock, it makes 140 hp and weighs 970 kg. On paper that may look modest, but for a rear-wheel-drive, mid-engined car under a tonne, those numbers are excellent. What makes the MR2 Spyder special isn’t power — it’s balance: the mass in the middle, a small car, direct steering.

That balance is also a great starting point. Add power to a light chassis and you feel every horsepower. But keeping the balance gets just as hard — and that challenge is what Tazzmobil’s story is about.

Tazzmobil side-on: a silver MR2 Spyder with its hand-drawn livery and number 102. Photo: Don Mayor

A wild link, from North Cyprus

Yusuf Özcan Doğan turned this small roadster, with his own hands, into a complete fun machine — one that burns tyres like a monster and draws huge donuts. A hand-drawn Taz livery on silver, blue halo headlights up front, neon underglow, the JA 303 plate and two race numbers: 21 and 102. The project came out of North Cyprus, and Gazoo Racing appreciated it.

A roadster that left the factory with 140 hp, rebuilt around an engine made to handle 800+ hp.

The other two posts in this series cover how that engine was built, and how the power gets to the road:

To see the whole car up close, visit the car page.

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