Seems as if someone likes his ‘90s Toyota coupés to be on the scarlet side of the spectrum. The thing is, they’re both built by the same carmaker, both in deluxe trim, both have two doors and are both some kind of red (or used to be, anyway), but in many ways, these two are completely chalk and cheese.
Age before beauty, then. The 2nd generation MR2, launched in late 1989, continued in its predecessor’s footsteps: it was still a sporty mid-engined two-seater, propelled by a 2-litre 3S 4-cyl. (163hp or, if turbocharged, 218hp). Toyota made this pocket rocket, which some dubbed the “poor man’s Ferrari,” for eleven seasons. An unqualified success, and there are still a few about, but this one doesn’t look quite as fresh as some.
I love how the sun turned this MR2 into a pale shadow of its former self, exactly like the one Paul posted a few years back (see “related posts” below). Our feature car doesn’t look like it’s had much cause to move in the last couple years. The tyres are starting to deflate… it’s almost a goner. Poor poor man’s Ferrari. You were too common for this world.
Let’s turn our attention to the Levin, which is not as widespread. Some of you may not have seen these in the metal: the 1995-2000 Corolla E110 (sold as the Geo / Chevrolet Prizm in the States) was the last generation to include a Levin and Sprinter Trueno coupé variant, after 28 years and eight generations, and this final iteration was not exported very widely.
The Levin name still exists today, but only in Chinese market Toyotas (and those are saloons anyway). According to Japanese sources, this generation was seen as overly cheap, having been conceived after the economic crisis hit, and was therefore not as popular. But the mid-range coupé market was already shrinking, so Toyota hit the kill switch when the platform change occurred.
Maybe it’s because I don’t see these very often, but compared to the E110 Corolla (a.k.a Geo / Chevrolet Prizm in the US) they are related to, these Levins are almost desirable. Plus, they must be as bulletproof as their saloon cousins, so there is a lot to be said for these. I have not caught a Sprinter Trueno version for comparison, I’ll have to keep an eye peeled for one.
The MR2, on the other hand, is not yet on my personal CC radar. These are more familiar to me – a neighbour had one back in France in the mid-‘90s. As an aside, it’s one of the most unfortunate nameplates Toyota ever came up with for us francophones: “M.R. deux,” when pronounced, sounds like the words “est merdeux” (is shitty). So Toyota probably had more trouble selling “le coupé MR2” in France, Belgium or Switzerland than in Spain, the UK or Scandinavia. “Levin,” on the other hand, might look like an invitation to drink and drive. Heads I win, tails you lose.
Related posts:
Curbside Classic: 1992 Toyota MR2 – A Camry In Italian Drag, by PN
CC Outtake: 1991 Toyota MR2 – What A Difference A Good Polishing Makes, by PN
COAL: 1993 Toyota MR2 – A Father-Son Project, by James Pastor
In-Motion Outtakes: 1991 Toyota MR2 – Lil’ Red Rocket. by Joseph Dennis
On The Go Cohort Outtake: 1993 Toyota MR 2 Turbo – The Affordable (and Reliable) Ferrari 348. by PN
That Crimson Red (3J6) on the MR2 is notorious for turning to chalk. Not a matter of if, but when. Renaissance Red (3L2), found on Celicas, Supras, and Lexus SC coupes isn’t as bad in this regard, but it’s also a known issue, especially on plastic parts like bumpers and mirror housings. Red solids were not a Toyota strength in the early 1990’s until they added a clear coat.
I’ve never seen a Levin or Trueno BZ-G without a spoiler or alloy wheels, so that might be a fairly rare find there. I was confused when you mentioned the name implies “drink and drive”, as Levin means lightning from my understanding (Trueno being thunder), but apparently in French it means wine? You learn something new every day…
It’s like the original Gran Turismo’s low level cups come to life.
That’s exactly what I thought when I saw these two together.
In the original Gran Turismo I had a black Levin and (I think) a blue MR2.
Wow that was a long time ago, wasn’t it?
I hate red as a colour for cars , and it’s propensity to fade is proof red is the devils work
I was never really much of a fan of the MR2s but I’m glad Toyota built this type of car anyway.
That Levin AE110 looks like a base model. It does not even have the all important rear wiper that many of the Levin’s had.
I once owned a facelift AE111 Levin BZR with thr mighty 20 valve 4AGE. As I’m in Australia it was a grey market used import. Without wanting to repeat myself as I’ve made this comment fteq8in other posts, I am amazed the local imbeciles didn’t decide to sell it here when new. The number of FT86s and the Subaru equivalent on the roads here proved there is a market for 2 door cars.
The AE111, out of all the cars I’ve owned was probably the most fun to drive. I would agree with Tats that the cars are durable. Probably the only issue is the super strut suspension which helped it attain its fantastic handling, and but needed somewhat frequent replacement. Some converted their cars to McPherson struts that the non performance and cheaper models had.
Thr reason for the cheapness would explain why the Levins, although built to the usual Toyota standard (at the Corolla level) had underwhelming seat material, and interior trim and minimal sound insulation. Improvements in these areas, a 1.8 version of the 20 valve and maybe 4wd would have made it into an awesome little coupe. A shame they don’t build a car like even more, even accounting for the FT86
I’m with AntiSuv on red as a car colour. My son’s first car was a red Lancer sedan, and he was always polishing and waxing it ever few months. Apparently red was the only colour Mitsubishi didn’t clear-coat. And the paint on the factory bodykit faded faster than on the sheetmetal.
CC-in-scale has a Levin BZ-G, but it’s the earlier AE101 series; the 110 seems not to be popular on the kit market either. But I do have an MR2 I finished last year. And it’s even red.
A very good friend of mine had an MR2 turbo of this generation (the first year), in the mid’90’s, his was a ’91 so before the rear suspension was modified, and sure enough it caught him out. No damage besides the pucker I guess. They weren’t sold in the US nearly as long as elsewhere, I don’t think it lasted beyond ’95. The easy tell on the turbos is the raised grills on the decklid and I believe the body molding is bodycolor.
The Levin looks quite good, never seen one before, it (or at least the pictures and the angle) reminds a lot of the two-door Subaru Impreza of the late ’90’s. The whole rear half looks quite similar to me.
Levin is a town in the Southern North island of New Zealand it straddles hwy 1 there are quite a few of both of those Toyotas here as usual, used ones flooded in from Japan I dont know if they were sold here new or not they probably were every other Toyota model was they were a very popular brand of car I was in Aussie at the time and remember reading local road tests of the Levin so it most likely landed in both south Pacific markets, the Trueno version of the Corolla is scarcer and pretty much all of these have hit the bottom of the market now.
Actually I found the overall Levin’s shape way more attractive than the contemporary standard Corolla.
As well the Mazda Astina 323 from the same time, I wonder why those design style didn’t prevail over the totally rounded bodies with bug eyes…