I've actually test driven the blue 2gr beast while I was down in palmy. One hell of a job the builder's done to get it in so nice and tight. I am not saying it runs crap, because it runs okay. However I feel that in this case.. getting it in and running right is one thing. But getting the 2gr in and having it run like it does on an aurion is certainly quite another.
It just lacked a lot of refinement, I didn't like the drone from the exhaust, lack of low down torque which I know the 2gr should easily deliver. A much better swap candidate than any v6 vz mz etc but I wouldn't consider it being better than a 3sgte. My tractor engine 4banger felt more refined for lack of a better description. (Maybe the blue thing should have kept the original manifolds and cat converters
)