Retrospective: When Toyota Actually Made Interesting Cars

"Interesting" is a subjective concept.

That said, the last generation Supra was an awesome car (speaking as a former owner of a 95 black turbo (no spoiler).

I guess it was a sales-based reason, but I always thought it was a mistake to cut the Celica. (even though the last version paled in comparison to the early 90's all-trac.

Yes it is. Many find the Prius to be very interesting.

And let's just remember, Toyota reached 'world domination' (or whatever you would prefer to call it) by making the 'boring' products that they now make. Toyota figured out what people want in an automobile (no frills low maintenance driving) and delivered that to them tenfold. Yes they abandoned the 'enthusiasts' and it is a decision that this whole website wont seem to get over, but it needs to.

The point is Toyota made a lot of great cars. But now they focus and refine only things that make them lots of money. Some even argue (and I am not naming names here) they piggie back on others advances when the costs have dropped low enough for them to make a profit.

It almost seems like they have sold out to the relentless pursuit of making money.

Oh, are you referring to BMW's switching back to steel frame construction from aluminum too?

Every manufacturer did that other than tier like Ferrari. They exist to make money and since you don't own it, live with it.

dlin, not everyone jumped back to steel. Both Audi (A8) and Jag (XJ) use aluminum.

That's where Toyota suffers a lot with its Lexus brand and embarrasses its luxury branch's customers! Lexus itself is all about business. It's a business project... an investing in some sort of pioneering and experimenting in the luxury market.

Lexus has all these great stuffs, but only if the customers would actually end up finding most of the features useful. If something is too costly and unnecessary, they wouldn't bother.

I can't find the articles, but I will always remember the lines that read that the Lexus models have never and almost will never create as much hype as the original, first generation LS.

"Some even argue (and I am not naming names here) they piggie back on others advances when the costs have dropped low enough for them to make a profit. "

Toyota has one of the biggest R&D budget, whilst they actively design the parts and monitors the manufacturing of those parts produced by their supliers. COmpare that with GM whomay offer the contract out the cheapest etc..

The Toyota Supra was the best. I love my old supra I had. 1997 Targa Top. really nice and fast stick shift/Manual transmision.

Let's not forget possibly the best car to come out of Japan, the 2000GT.

People are too quick to write off Toyota. They are indeed focusing quite a bit of energy into hybrids, maybe at the expense of updating their performance products. But hybrids are extremely important right now to the (at least near) future of the automotive industry. And Toyota is testing their capabilities in economy, performance and luxury vehicles. We'll see what the pay-of will be.

But Toyota is also currently producing the potent IS350, IS-F, and has the joint Subaru project in the works. The MR-2 and Celica have only been off the market for a few years. I wouldn't count Toyota out yet.

Who are we kidding here? Toyota NEVER made interesting cars. The "legendary" Supra was just a garage project for ricers, the Celica was a grossly underpowered car..sort of a high school girl idea of a sporty car, while the MR-2 got squashed by Mazda Miata in every single category.

All that Toyota did is attempt to make performance cars. They never actually succeeded and that's the reason they ultimately gave up.
The latest attempts with the IS-F show that they are still not ready to compete with the fantastic German offerings.

Actually as of now I'm boosted to +5. Take in consideration that every single Japanese cheerleader on this site made sure to deboost me like always and even you could probably understand that a +5 boost means that the number of car enthusiasts outnumbered that of Japanese fanbois by 4(since we start with +1). Considering the huge number of Japanese fanatics on this site I'd say quite a lot of people seemed to agree with me(boost me). Yes, you can cry now.

Remember Star, at you not with you...

doing styling sketches is not designing.

the 2000GT was actually engineered by Yamaha.

and fwiw, the ferrari Enzo was styled by a Japanese person.

I'm not understanding the point of this article. Toyota has the #1 selling car in America, and the #1 selling car in the world. Toyota is more interesting cars to people more than any other brand in the world otherwise they wouldn't have that title.

Car enthusiast have a different vision on cars compared to grandma and people like Paul McCartney. They look for other things like quality, safety, technology, and care less about who can beat who around a curve. Those people have better things to do in life and care less about things we do care about in automobiles.

Toyota sells cheap transportation, not good cars. Learn the difference BEFORE you post on a car site.

Usually, something sells in big quantities because is cheap, not interesting.

Remember Star, at you not with you...

"Toyota sells cheap transportation, not good cars..." -dimbulb Star.


ROTFLMAO!!

check out used car listings, stupid. used toyotas are just about the MOST EXPENSIVE used cars in their class. AND often even compared to higher classes!

that is because despite all the "boredom" they happen to be the HIGHEST QUALITY 4-wheeled devices on the market.

To Star: about your "cheap transportantion comment," Most Toyotas are more expensive than Acuras, mercedes, bwms, infiniti, and even it's luxury version lexus. So you really should "learn the difference before you post on a car site"

Yaris, Corolla, Matrix, Prius, base Camry, base Tacoma are all less than the TSX which is the cheapest Acrua. Actually the base Avalon and the mid level Camry are likely as well. I don't think I need to pull up the 1-series, G35, A4 (the A3 at $26k is lower than some of those Toyota models).

The Lexus models should be priced with or at the higher end marques, if they are better cars people should be willing to pay the same or more for them.

whatever their prices when new, all toyotas are underpriced and GREAT DEALS for buyers.

look at the prices after 3 to 5 or more years. due to their good build, indestructible drivetrains, and simply how they hold up, toyotas as used cars ALWAYS are priced higher than just about EVERYTHING they competed against when new. often their prices remain higher than even cars that initially cost MORE.

quality always tells, in the long run.

Not this crap again.

Huu, are you referring to 1200-hp Supras? Well, if you want to talk about tuning. Let's pit a 1200-hp Supra against one of those 1200-hp RUF Porsches...

He's refering to bog standard Supras which were easily outgunning BMW M3s and M5s of their times despite having lower power to weight ratio.

No wonder BMW picked up the idea of twin turbocharged engines.


Tsukuba
BMW M3 (E36) 1:08.46
Toyota Supra RZ 1:07.22

Fuji Raceway
BMW M3 (E36) 1:53.78
Toyota Supra RZ 1:51.37

http://www.fastestlaps.com/index.php?page_id=compare&car1=45a14adc629d1&car2=47a7331336095


Tsukuba
BMW M5 (E39) 1:14.19 (Wet Lap)
Toyota Supra RZ 1:07.22

http://www.fastestlaps.com/index.php?page_id=compare&car1=47a7331336095&car2=459a8badeaedc


Tsukuba
BMW M5 (E34) 1:09.81
Toyota Supra RZ 1:07.22

http://www.fastestlaps.com/index.php?page_id=compare&car1=47a7331336095&car2=45dc6e9ba856d

"iLexus" I don't think you belong on this site with a comment like the one you just made...I'd like to think I'm no more or less (Maybe more) superior to the average Camry driver whom doesn't seek thrills of any type or form from their car. I can only assume you're most likely one of these drivers you speak so highly of, especially considering your obvious devotion to Lexus which is a luxury buyers anti-thrill seeking paradise (IS-F exception).

BTW the Lexus quality argument is so 10 years ago, the 80's & 90's have come & gone as with the major issues that may have plagued Bimmer's & Benz's of that time.

Toyota is all about profits and they are good at it. Look at BMW, they are catering to enthusiasts and are in big trouble. Profits down 90% and Chris Bangle has jumped ship.

BMW's net profits tumbled nearly 90% to 330m euros ($423m; £306m) last year, as the global economy weakened and reduced demand for cars.

Earnings were hit by 2.4bn euros of exceptional costs linked to bad debts, personnel costs and provisions to cover risks on used car markets.

Separately, the European Investment Bank made a 400m euros loan to BMW as part of a wider industry package.

The EIB approved 3bn euros in loans to the European auto industry.

The money will go to German, Italian, French and Swedish carmakers, the EIB said.

Most of it will be aimed at improving fuel efficiency and cutting carbon emissions.

The bank added that it expected to approve a further 2.8bn euros of loans to the industry in April and May, which would take its total lending to the sector to 6.3bn euros since December.

BMW is not the only carmaker to struggle. VW reported on Thursday that sales fell 15% in January and February.

And troubled carmaker Saab said that it planned to cut 750 jobs in Sweden.

BMW Gloom

Shares in BMW fell 8% to 21.04 euros on the news of its profit fall.

BMW did not provide an outlook for the year ahead. However, Norbert Reithofer, BMW's chief executive said in a statement: "The BMW Group has been able to make improvements at an operating level in the midst of extremely difficult economic times."

He added: "Cost structures have been further optimised and thanks to rigorous management of free cash flow, the BMW group is in a very solid financial position."

BMW is to cut its dividend by two-thirds to 0.30 euros. "We want to pay a dividend even in difficult economic times, demonstrating both the confidence we have in our operating strength and the interest in our shareholders," Mr Reithofer said.

The title should really be; Did Toyota Ever Make Any Interesting Cars?

if anyone thinks toyota makes ONLY boring vehicles, they should take a ride in one of the Tacomas with a machine gun mounted in the bed.

there are HUNDREDS of 'em around, in very 'interesting' places on the planet!

other versions of the tacoma have been modified by "iron man" stewart to compete in and DOMINATE the Baja 1000 and every major desert/off road race.

those tacos beat ALL v8 trucks, ALL sissy sporty cars from europe and anywhere else, and even dune buggys and motorcycles.

Can't think of a Toyota that was actually interesting. The only toyota I might buy is an older model cruiser...you know the one with a proper frame!

It appears that most are missing the point or are making ignorant statements such as kpaxx above. If you look at the lineup of cars that Toyota offers, there are no sportcars whatsoever. No Supra, no Celica, no MR2 or MR Spyder. Those of you who post on this site and attend track days, do solo events, or race cars know what I'm talking about. There's not a single Toyota that could be made into a racecar. At least Mazda and Nissan are still giving us some sporty cars.