top gears fav sporty toyotas

[STR]

I always thought MR-2 referred to it being Mid engine, RWD and a 2 seater?

[iOnic]

MR2 doesn't "officially" stand for anything. But Toyota did advertise them using the phrase "Midship Runabout" and the 2 is assumed to refer to the seating configuration.

[deaf_rattle]

http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/foreig ... ?imageNo=7
Foreign cars we wish we'd got
Toyota Century
The only front-engined, rear-wheel-drive, V12 car Japan produces, the Century is a mighty lump of modern-retro-expensive brilliance. Looking like a monster Nissan Cedric, Toyota's home-market flagship gets a 276bhp, 5.0-litre V12 and has been produced in Japan since 1967, with its only major redesign in '97. The doors are fully electric, the suspension courtesy of air-ride, most are ordered with wool trim (quieter than leather) and have lace curtains in the rear instead of tints. Timewarptastic. Cost? Just £61,000. In Japan, at least.

[BZG Wagon]

http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/foreign-cars-2011-10-24?imageNo=7
Foreign cars we wish we'd got
Toyota Century
The only front-engined, rear-wheel-drive, V12 car Japan produces, the Century is a mighty lump of modern-retro-expensive brilliance. Looking like a monster Nissan Cedric, Toyota's home-market flagship gets a 276bhp, 5.0-litre V12 and has been produced in Japan since 1967, with its only major redesign in '97. The doors are fully electric, the suspension courtesy of air-ride, most are ordered with wool trim (quieter than leather) and have lace curtains in the rear instead of tints. Timewarptastic. Cost? Just £61,000. In Japan, at least.

Crap that's awesome!

The 1GZ-FE is a 5.0 L (4996 cc) V12 48-valve DOHC engine with variable valve timing (VVT-i). Bore is 81 mm and stroke is 80.8 mm, with a compression ratio of 10.5:1. Official output as per Japanese Manufacturers' Agreement is 206 kW (276 hp) at 5200 rpm although true power output is estimated to be around 230 kW (310 hp). Peak torque of 481 N·m (355 ft·lbf) is at 4000 rpm with over 400 N·m (300 ft·lbf) available from as little as 1200 rpm. The fuel injection system is controlled by two ECUs, one for each bank of cylinders. The engine is capable of running on a single bank of 6 cylinders should a malfunction occur.

[wde_bdy]

There are a few of those engines floating around NZ going into various cars. I know of one early model Crown and also a Celica running twin turbo.

Callum

[~SlideWays~]

There are a few of those engines floating around NZ going into various cars. I know of one early model Crown and also a Celica running twin turbo.

Callum

Have seen one in the flesh, HUGE engines... fugly though.

[GTTpower]

Pretty sure 'fuel' used to have a century.

[Mr Revhead]

There are a few of those engines floating around NZ going into various cars. I know of one early model Crown and also a Celica running twin turbo.

Callum

picsorban

[Snoozin]

Pretty sure 'fuel' used to have a century.

He did, it was a V8 one though.

There's a handful of Century's kicking about in NZ. Albany Toyota has a LWB/limo version sitting there in the showroom.

[wde_bdy]

There are a few of those engines floating around NZ going into various cars. I know of one early model Crown and also a Celica running twin turbo.

Callum

picsorban

On Toymods (the Crown might be on Oldschool too?), not willing to post pics of other peoples cars for them.

Callum

[wde_bdy]

Although here is a Century motor (only V8 though) in a Corolla.


Callum

[cogent]

I thought someone on here got a chance to work on the century engine and basically concluded the 1uz was a much more impressive engine?

[wde_bdy]

Depends what it was built for, it does a superb job of effortless, smoothly and quitely lugging around a whale of a car with some quite impressive acceleration if required. Scope for performance enhancements is a little limited and expensive (12 rods, 12 pistons, 48 valves etc), rods are similar to late 1UZ so won't take a lot of abuse. It also has 3 computers to run it so would give any auto electrician nightmares.

Callum

[Timmo]

The problem when talking about the Soarer is there were 4 major variants each with slightly different aims. That said, they were definitely Grand Tourers (GT) designed to travel long distances, at speed, in comfort rather than being track weapons- The steering was too vague, the brakes too weak and the car too nose heavy (and too heavy overall) for a proper sports car. The basic structure was there of course, but Toyota already had a six cylinder super sports car in the Supra, and a couple of 4-cylinder cars too...so they didn't need another car in that segment of the market.

The most 'sporty' was the Jzz30 (the most powerful, the lightest and only one with an option of a manual transmission), the least being the Uzz30 (steel springs) or Uzz31 (Air suspension) with the Uzz32 (Active suspension) somewhere in the middle.

It's a bit like Nissan with the Skyline 350 GT and the 350Z: Similar cars but slightly different aims.

Sporty- Yes, Sports cars, nope.

[mr_monkey]

ok ok, i stand corrected.

Supra is not a sports car I've decided. Its a supercar

[deaf_rattle]

ok ok, i stand corrected.

Supra is not a sports car I've decided. Its a supercar

if the supra is a super car, you need to include the 3000gt (gto), nissan 300zx, nissan skyline gtr, mazda rx7 in your list of super cars.

But none of them are supercars. I think the only japanese car that came close (before lfa) was the honda nsx

[Mr Revhead]

Nah the NSX was a sports car

[deaf_rattle]

Nah the NSX was a sports car

lol, i was going to call it sporty, cause of the nice little spoiler on them

[rollaholic]

theres some great vids on youtube of the nsx smashing all kinds of exotic cars on race tracks

[iOnic]

There are videos on Youtube of Honda Civics smashing exotics on the track...