Hey guys I'm currently a member of the Ozcelica forums and I would just like to ask if the MR2 turbo is p plate legal? I since heard from a few members in ozcelica that the 5th gen gt4 celica with its 3sgte engine is p plate legal because it fits into the power-weight ratio laws. Since the mr2 turbo shares a similar engine, I heard it is lighter than the 6th gen gt4 celica, don't know about 5th gen. Is this true? Because I'm looking to buy an MR2 and some of the cheaper ones I see on carsales and gumtree are turbo. I don't mind n/a for a reasonable price and if there's a possibility I could do a swap with my 6th gen celica that I currently drive.

What state are you in dude? NSW has changed their P plate restrictions on August 1st. They're now power to weight restricted, still with exceptions for cars deemed high performance e.g. Fast acceleration.
You can search banned and allowed cars from this site. http://roadsafety.transpo...icle-restrictions.html
Looks like ST185 GT4s are allowed, ST205 are banned.
Turbo SW20s are still listed as contact RMS. I sent the rms an email a few weeks ago asking to clarify as when I did the calculations a turbo SW20 came in just under the 130kw per tonne so I was hoping my girlfriend might be able to start driving it!
They eventually replied with a generic response that said those cars are being reviewed keep checking the website for updates... Useless!

Here's their response...

Hi

At this time these vehicles are under review. While these vehicles are still under review they will remain banned until the status can be verified. The assessments should be completed prior to 1 August 2014 for the introduction of the new laws. Continue to check back on the website over the coming weeks for further updates.

The vehicles that will be banned have characteristics that are high-risk for inexperienced drivers, and are:

• Vehicles with power to mass ratio above 130 kilowatts per tonne (based on tare mass), or

• Vehicles with significantly modified engines that require certification under the Vehicle Safety Compliance Certification Scheme, or

• Other vehicles classified as high performance because they have risky characteristics such as fast acceleration



Regards
Jeff

Hey I live in NSW and thanks for replying so soon. I appreciate it and man, very convenient relevance that you asked the RMS yourself regarding your turbo MR2 haha! Still doesn't make sense to me why the ST205's are banned while the bigger monsters of rally (wrx sti and the evo) are street legal in Australia. Is the 3sgte a joy to drive on the mr2? I really want one but I'm also really concerned about its age and mileage and if it's easy to maintain. Being a 1997 ST204 with a 293,000km mileage owner for the past few months, I've just blown a lot of money on it with maintenance and it may seem cheap to everyone else but it's been hard on my savings. I'm still 18 with a minimum wage job at subway and having to replace the radiator, power steering hose, new rims (since the key for the nuts broke and the nuts are incredibly rare) and etc.
Please message back if RMS has managed to approve the MR2 and would also like feedback about the car from a few owners here. Thanks again for the reply WHITCHY, really appreciate it!

st205s are street legal, just not legal for you to drive on p's in certain states. last time I checked wa still doesn't have any vehicle restrictions on p drivers.

I'm guessing the extra 30odd hp and 50odd kg less weight of the st205 tips it over the scales (or under)

it's prob not a bad thing restricting new drivers (in general) from being behind the wheel of a turbo sw20.

Evos & Stis aren't p-plate legal. Less likely MR2 turbo will pass due to the tricky handling. I'm surprised s15 au spec is p plate legal now.

I know evos and sti's aren't p-plate legal, but I thought the ST205's were illegal to drive by any one in Australia and they are more underpowered than both of those cars. Ok I might have to go search for more N/A MR2's around here...

you can't import the st205 unless you owned it privately and are bringing it over.

but your defintely allowed to drive one of the 77 locally delivered or handful of imported ones that are here if you own one.

well.....I am praying sw20 isn't banned, I was filling up and a highway patrol pulled up....he was filling e10 for a ss :o anyway after filling his car with evil he noticed my mr2 next to him and checked out my car, he didn't seem to really care that it was turbo, even had my p's on :P, just not happy about a 2 minute turbo timer :D 

To be honest unless they're very well hidden I would avoid turbo timers and blow off valves on a street driven car. They're a sure way to get the police to pick on anything they can. I would generally be against turbo mr2 owners on their p's on a whole note, as they're very tricky compared to any other car they've likely driven, and enough people kill themselves in far less tricky cars.