Nowadays, when I look at the original Toyota MR2, I can’t help but wonder how and when Toyota let themselves become so soft and boring, because I often forget how many of their cars used to be “da bomb” …back when people actually said “da bomb.”
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By Peter Tanshanomi
Tanshanomi is Japanese [単車のみ] for "motorcycle(s) only." Though primarily tasked with creating two-wheel oriented content for Hooniverse, Pete is a lover of all sorts of motorized vehicles.
Jeff Glucker
In Toyota’s defense, they build a pretty great little sports car, and most are pretty apathetic to it.
Also, I had a new Corolla hatch for the weekend, and that is a Good Car. Not really thrilling, but competent and certainly not soft.
A lot has changed in 30-odd years too, in Toyota as well as Japanese industry.
Not only that, but the new Supra looks like it’ll be pretty decent too (though I’m sure there will be whole bunch of internet whinging about it despite their whole perception of the last supra being entirely forged by watching Fast n Spurious movies). Akio Toyoda seems like a genuine car guy. Still a long way from their 80s/90s peak when they seemed to have a sports car/coupe for everyone, but at least they’re trying, which is way more more than you can say about most big manufacturers.
It’s not much to look at, but I think the current Toyota 86 checks all of the right boxes for fun driving. I only wish it were available as a sedan (or at least a hatchback).
I’ve had 15 years so far of driving an “appliance” minivan, and when the kids are finally out of the house, I want something legitimately fun that isn’t impractical. The Toyota 86 is a nice blend of RWD, manual shifting, and just-adequate power, which means I can drive it at 9/10ths without getting into too much trouble. It only fails my “practicality test” in that it’s a coupe.
I was just watching Mike and Ant, and the refurbishing a MkII turbo, on “Wheeler Dealers” last night. They pulled the engine to replace The Hose From Hell, but I know I’ve seen an article on replacing it with the engine in the car. But, they were able to get the head rebuilt, the head gasket replaced, a new clutch installed, etc.
We became boring, Toyota just followed our money.
Mazda is always called the most driver-focused of the mainstream brands. Nobody buys their stuff.
Focus/Fiesta ST, GTI, BRZ twins, MR Spyder…no blockbusters. Even the new Miata seems like a flop, if the number I see on the road is any indication.