Toyota performance... a dying breed?

x2floor · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 10:40 pm Post subject:

toyota has its eyes on making more money and becoming #1 in the world a title that GM currently has. Spending billions of dollars on releasing more hot rod compacts and coupes and ofcourse a flag ship super car would not bring in the returns as opposed to developing more theoretically fuel efficient and reliable sedans ie. future developments to bread and butter cars like Corolla and Camry and releasing yet another advanced generation of the hybrid synergy drive vehicles which was first started by the prius back when nissan had plans to revive the Z sports car. You see the difference here? different strokes for different folks, companies have their priorities and target markets. Toyota does have the Scion tC for 'lesser' mortals which has a stage 1 supercharger kit made by TRD but its still slower than a Dodge Caliber SRT4, MazdaSpeed 3 GT, Mitsubishi Lancer RalliArt, Subaru Impreza WRX and Chevrolet Cobalt SS. Then to the next extreme is the Lexus IS-F which is no better than a BMW M3, Mercedes Benz C63 AMG and Audi RS4 but at least they got 2 players that seem to be doing quite well.

In youtube 'The Corolla XRS' dude posted alot of videos on the NZE120 series first gen XRS beating alot of cars which is pretty impressive for a 1.8 DOHC 16V VVTL-i motor mounted to a 6-speed gearbox but I am disturbed that the new XRS though its a better driver's car due to a more refined unibody chassis and a better suspension, the added weight and the dated at least 7 year old Camry derived 2.4 DOHC 16V VVT-i motor with less horsepower won't be able to cut against a major competitor like the Nissan Sentra SER Spec V.

I somehow feel that Toyota is still bringing out a supercar maybe a hybrid one or some V10 powered RWD version with a DSG like 8-speed gearbox because Honda is bringing out their next NSX and Mazda is bringing out their next RX-7 although none may retain their earlier names. Heck......Hyundai is releasing their Genesis Coupe with a 3.8L V6 engine said to be on par with the next Nissan 370Z for thousands less.

I wouldn't be to worried about toyota in the sports car dept. they have other great lines of cars and trucks that'll make alot of money again and with global economic recession and rise in fuel costs especially in the US, it won't be feasible to invest on a high mpg and impractical car.

scientist · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 10:43 pm Post subject:

De Dragon · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 10:44 pm Post subject:

Was it ever a living breed?

cinco · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 11:38 pm Post subject:

please the old xrs was ok just ok
the new one is more diluted
toyota is a mainstream brand they build what is proven to make money
read the toyota way and you will understand their strategy

trd.sports.m · Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:18 pm Post subject:

gt4tified · Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 11:17 pm Post subject:

reddo_tuner · Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 11:51 pm Post subject:

bushwakka · Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 6:46 am Post subject:

since nissan has 'shift' from good lookin cars to really horrifically ugly ones...toyota prolly did the same from beast cars to econoboxes?

trd.sports.m · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 2:35 pm Post subject:

c'mon new Nissan designs are a lot better than the older ones in my opinion.
Anyway I’m not against Toyota going econobox ecofriendly crazy. BUT!!!... its the principle involved. Think about it. Nissan could have left the Z out of competition and continued to use the R34 skyline platform in JGTC. Care to guess why they didn’t? All I’m saying is that its almost vindictive in a sense to see that Toyota continues to put their best foot forward in motorsports competition being near the top in so many events and outright dominating others. But, unlike every other car manufacturer, NOT one single shred of this experience trickles down to their sports oriented cars. It’s downright shameful that you can see supras take 1st 2nd and 3rd place sometimes in JGTC. But you can’t friggin buy one cause Toyota is no longer into performance. WAHTTTTTTTTT? So why the hell are they still in formula 1 and JGTC? Why don’t they just close TRD the F down. as well as TTE (now Toyota F1) why continue to produce cars they call "sports models" which are shamefully depressing relics of their predecessors??? Question

THAT’S all I’m trying to say. Toyota needs to make up their goddamned minds and stop bullshitting their loyal performance support base.

dmitc · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 3:24 pm Post subject:

De Dragon · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 3:27 pm Post subject:

Conrad · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 5:08 pm Post subject:

De Dragon · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 5:37 pm Post subject:

trd.sports.m · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 5:56 pm Post subject:

De Dragon · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 6:01 pm Post subject:

gt4tified · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 10:09 pm Post subject:

De Dragon, please clutter someone else's thread with your demonstrable constant need for attention, if you have nothing positive to contribute here....or you can just continue to be the shining example of a person with a deprived childhood that you portray.

AllTrac · Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 2:44 pm Post subject:

reiXmann · Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 2:56 pm Post subject:

kes_vtec · Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 4:30 pm Post subject:

as a honda fan.. to me toyota was the only maker that was able to competing with honda on both motor and class, but of late.. they really sucked ass... toyota had mad NA motors...

trd.sports.m · Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 8:06 pm Post subject:

well to those of you who continue to bash my reasons for bitching about toyota's eco obsession and calling it a bunch of hogwash maybe this video well help clear things up for those of you with weaker scientific backgrounds.

for those who cant get the video to load here's the URL. sometimes you have to refresh the page a couple times to get some youtube vids to work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_Gyhyu8P9Q