so I don’t know if you guys remember but I put out a post awhile ago on an old Nissan Maxima I had and wanted to see if I could get running again (sold it to a guy eventually due to the expense it would cost to get it running again) and so just yesterday I was on Craigslist browsing around and came across the exact same car! even with the same mileage and AAA sticker we had on ours!.. If I had the money I sure would give it some thought just to have as a around town car… Loves the design on this year. sigh
Those were very sturdy cars and with the Toyota Cressida provided real competition to US vehicles. A friend who owned a BBQ business and did a lot of travelling bought one and loved it. The power train was particularly robust.
The styling was somewhat neo-gothic, but you got used to it.
The Cressida was a rear wheeled drive wasn’t it?
Yup . . . Cressida was RWD
Yes, the Cressida was rear wheel drive as Toyota took longer to switch to FWD. A friend who sold medical instruments and travelled a great deal bought a Cressida and put some 300,000 miles on it, most of them trouble-free. This guy had always been a Big 3 full size car fan, but the Cressida won him over.
However, what a lot of people have forgotten is how cramped the interior of those old Cressidas was. I had to help a neighbor by driving his Cressida for him, and I was shocked at how much less interior room that car had, as compared to my Taurus.
Um… comparing a Cressida to a Taurus for interior space is a bit unrealistic. Wouldn’t you say? 
No, I wouldn’t say that it is unrealistic.
My first-generation Taurus had a wheelbase only 1.3 inches longer than that of my neighbor’s Cressida.
Trust me–the difference in leg room between the two vehicles was much greater than 1.3 inches.
The biggest disparity in interior room was probably as a result of the difference between the Cressida’s RWD architecture and the Taurus’ FWD architecture. The size of the bell housing/transmission/driveshaft tunnel of the Cressida really cut down on the room inside that vehicle.
The main reason fro going to front wheel drive was to get more room in smaller package car. My 1988 caprice RWD was a gigantic vehicle with the interior room of a much smaller car. I rented a FWD Citroen in France and the rear leg room was very generous as this was a family size car there. European cars that stick to RWD (Mercedes, BMW) shoehorn the engine/transmission into the passenger compartment somehow.
A guy down the street has an Olds Cutlass hardtop from the early seventies. It’s all hood and trunk with cramped legroom in the back. The monster was marketed as a “trim size” intermediate. On full size 2 door hardtop GM cars of around 1960 the trunk lid was larger than the roof panel!!!.
Yeah, but full size cars from the early 1970s were huge compared to intermediates like the Cutlass.
VDC, that’s my point. They’re entirely different designs with different attributes. The only similarity is the number of wheels.
The Studebaker Lark had good inside dimensions, yet had a shorter overall length than most cars of its era and was rear wheel drive to boot. Studebaker had little money and the passenger section of the body came out in the 1953 sedan models. The Lark had as much passenger space, front and rear, as many large cars of its time period. I contrast the Lark wth the Cressida. A good friend of ours bought a Cressida and didn’t keep it very long. She had traded in a Cadillac and went back to a Cadillac. Another good friend bought a new Datsun (Nissan?I don’t know when the name change took place Maxima in 1985. I rode in the car many times to musical gigs. I wasn’t really impressed with that car. It wasn’t very roomy in the back seat.
^
And that is also my point.
While both vehicles were in the mid-size category, there was a drastic difference in interior room.
The Cressida far exceeded the Taurus in terms of durability, but it fell far short in terms of comfort.
@VDCdriver I am not certain the Cressida exceeded the Taurus in durability. We had a,1988 Taurus and inherited a 1989 Mercury Sable. Both cars held up well without major repairs.
Fair enough, VDC. 
@VDCdriver I am not certain the Cressida exceeded the Taurus in durability. We had a,1988 Taurus and inherited a 1989 Mercury Sable. Both cars held up well without major repairs
My sister-in-law had one of that era…It was total junk. Constantly in the shop. Was junk long before 100k miles.
I’ve Never Heard Of A “Cressida.” I Take It That Vehicle Is No Longer In Production?
In what era (range) were they manufactured? Why did it become extinct, if it did?
CSA
@common sense answer The Toyota Cressida came along in the mid 1980s. I think it was the top of the line car marketed by Toyota in the U.S. I don’t think it was very popular. The Camry was the real breadwinner for Toyota in the mid size car category. The front wheel drive of the Camry gave it more interior room over the rear wheel drive Cressida and the overall length of the Camry was less.
@MikeInNH Taurus durability:. Sister-in-law 1; Triedaq 2. I had good experiences with both the 1988 Taurus and the 1989 Sable I owned. Both cars went between 150,000 and 200,000 miles. The Taurus was totaled in an accident. We sold the Sable to our son. He ultimately got a good buy on an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme and sold the Sable to a family friend. The Sable was still going when it was totaled. The only repairs were a starter for the Taurus and an,Alternator and hood struts for the Sable. Now, two cars don’t prove that the Taurus/Sable twins are duraable, but one troublesome Taurus doesn’t prove that they are junk. I have no idea about the durability of the Cressida. My friend who owned a Cressida didn’t have any real problems–she just didn’t like the car. She had traded in a Cadillac for the Cressida and was,broadsided in the Cressida. She took the insurance settlement and bought another Cadillac. My wife drove a lot of miles in Tauruses recruiting graduate students at rhe institution where we were both employed. She preferred the Tauruses over the other vehicles in the fleet. These Tauruses seemed to stand up for 100,000 miles,with many different drivers. I noticed when I drove past the motor pool lot the other day that I there are Camry Hybrids in the fleet. I am interested to know how these Camrys hold up.
@“common sense answer”
Although it’s not an official fact, the Cressida’s successor was essentially the Avalon, back in 1995
I believe the Cressida’s last model year was 1992 or 1993
And Toyota apparently wanted to reintroduce a V6 “good sized car” which was better equipped and slightly larger than the bread-and-butter Camry. But this time using essentially the same running gear and a stretched Camry platform, unlike the earlier Cressida, which shared almost nothing in common with the Camry
Our fleet recently acquired some Ford Fusion hybrids. I assume they were cheaper than a comparable Camry Hybrid