By on May 27, 2009

Or not. The best part? The LF-A, seen burning here at the 24 Hours Nürburgring, has just been re-approved for production, according to Motor Trend. Oy.

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14 Comments on “Toyota Makes Practical Appliance Cars...”


  • avatar
    golf4me

    Don’t fool yourself. This thing exudes about as much taste and class as Rosanne Barr doing the national anthem. Having seen this thing in person, I’d say Toyota’s reputation is safe.

  • avatar
    golf4me

    Oh, and in what position did it place?

  • avatar

    Why can’t Toyota make affordable “sports cars”. You know, like the Civic Si or Mazda Miata?

    What a minute they already made cars like that, the Celica and the MR-2! It’s been so long since they’ve made anything mildly interesting I almost forgot.

    I saw a Lexus IS-F yesterday for the first time. I was certain some young guy was going to get in and speed off. Nope. Some old man hobbled into it, using the a-pillar as a handle and swinging the door closed with the top of the door frame, then he slowly backed in and out a couples of times and crept off. (Nice exhaust note when he started it though.) So even the IS-F is being driving by dull people!

  • avatar
    superbadd75

    It will be a tragedy if/when Toyota is the only automaker left when the smoke clears. Everything Toyota builds just bores me to tears. Their cars just all seem to bee all engineering and no personality. No thanks, I’d rather have a car that’s a blast to drive even if it is slightly imperfect.

  • avatar
    CarShark

    I thought they refashioned the SweetF-A into a high-powered hybrid.

  • avatar
    quasimondo

    Why can’t Toyota make affordable “sports cars”. You know, like the Civic Si or Mazda Miata?

    Sports cars don’t make money, I thought you guys knew better.

  • avatar
    ohsnapback

    Oh what a feeling, Toy-Yawn-da.

    Most. boring. cars. ever.

  • avatar
    autopartsbuddy

    any interesting updates from Toyota?

  • avatar
    Steven Lang

    Let’s see…

    The Tc is the best selling Scion model of all time. Even though it’s in what, fourth year of production going on five, it still outsold the Avalon for all of 2008.

    Last generation Celica? Very good sports car… flops.

    Last generation Supra? Stupendous sports car… an even worse sales flop.

    Current generation IS-F? Unbelievably nice sports sedan… with no chance in hell of ever making a profit.

    MR2, Corolla GT-S, Celica Supra, etc.

    All sporty vehicles.

    All unprofitable.

    Conclusion? Toyota’s victory of becoming the mainstream gold standard results in bitter defeats whenever they venture into the sports side of the market.

    So you know what they do? They build 268 hp Camrys.

  • avatar
    CarShark

    Well, to be fair to Toyota, it’s not like the Supra failed on its own. The whole Japanese Super GT segment died out by 2000. Mitsu 3000GT. Mazda RX-7. Nissan 300ZX. All are dead or have been neutered to some extent.

  • avatar
    Brock_Landers

    Nice to see that the LF-A didn’t burn to ground like Audi R8 few years ago at the ‘Ring.

    IS-F has plenty of flash and pizzazz, just drive it and you’ll understand why.

  • avatar
    theslik1

    carguy622 :

    I saw a Lexus IS-F yesterday for the first time. I was certain some young guy was going to get in and speed off. Nope. Some old man hobbled into it, using the a-pillar as a handle and swinging the door closed with the top of the door frame, then he slowly backed in and out a couples of times and crept off. (Nice exhaust note when he started it though.) So even the IS-F is being driving by dull people!

    Yep, nobody but us dull old people driving the IS-F.

    Move along…nothing to see here. :-)

    Brock_Landers :

    IS-F has plenty of flash and pizzazz, just drive it and you’ll understand why.

    Stop spilling the beans. The ignorant should remain so!

  • avatar
    Shogun

    Let’s not forget Toyota dumbed down the MR-2 so that it would become “more economical”…

  • avatar
    JMII

    Using the Scion TC as an example – how hard would it be to make a RWD version then slap a turbo on the 4 banger? How much more would it cost? When is someone (anyone!) going to make a low cost, fun to drive, affordable sports coupe? Right now there is the Miata and… sorry I’m drawing a blank here. I’m going to assume the Miata is profitable, so why not bring back the Celica GT as reskinned Scion TC.

    Given Toyota production capacity can’t they make a niche product like a small sports car by just using their parts bin? Scion TC body, Lexus drivetrain, Camry V6? Monster Garage could build it in under a week, why can’t Toyota?

    I sure miss those old Toyota MR2s, Supras, Celicas, etc.

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