I actually didn’t know it had left. But I’m glad it is back. Seems to now be in a turbo-charged hybrid format, priced less than before it left 3 years ago. Not sure about the off-road reliability of that configuration. Off roaders require excellent reliability, and the ability to McGiver a repair if stranded out in the woods.
Just what you need: a high tech $70,000 SUV.
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Instead of being priced in the Range Rover and Escalade end of things it’s more off road than luxury tank. Believe it’s mechanically relatwed to the new gen Tacoma with the same Turbo engine and hybrid powertrain. Previous one was also sold as the Lexus LX which more buyers wanted the Lexus dealer experience. Toyota discontinued the previous one a couple years ago.
The new one no longer shares the same body as the LX and is based on the GX. It might face the same problems @wolyrobb mentioned with dealership envy.
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Do you have a reference? I’m skeptical that this travesty will actually occur!
Why yes, I do! Motorweek did a review a few weeks ago. Here’s the video and an article.
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Current speculation is the 4Runner will be based on the new Tacoma and top out pricewise where the Land Cruiser will start. Its the TGNA-F platform that’s under the Tundra and Sequoia already on sale.
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I would much rather hear that the Toyota Tercel returns to the USA, as a low-cost subcompact car with a fuel-efficient 4-cylinder engine, and basic features and technology. Somewhere in the world, there must be vehicles like this being sold today.
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The 1990 Tercel with a manual transmission got 29 mpg average, low for an equivalently sized car built today. The same car with an auto trans got 27 mpg.
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It also had difficulty accelerating to expressway speeds in a safely-short distance.
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The mazda basef yaris was the last for the us, dropped due to low sales 3yrs ago.
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My gf of that era had a 90 Tercel w/ manual trans. I didn’t notice it had any 0-60 difficulty. I was a frequent driver, b/c she exercised her elbow a little too much during our nights on the town … lol …
A 91 Tercel clocks in at 11.1 seconds , pretty respectable even by today’s standards.
I respectfully suggest that a 32 year old Tercel would not be able to achieve that level of performance… if it is still running.
I much prefer the 5.5 second 0-60 times of my current vehicle, which also gets signficantly better gas mileage than a 1991 Tercel, in addition to having better brakes, better handling, much better crash resistance, and much more comfortable seating.
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Can confirm. I owned a 1991 Tercel with the 3-speed automatic. This was not meant to be a sports car, and it did not perform like one. It was, however, a comfortable and fuel-efficient car with basic features that I like.
When I was shopping for a new car in early 90’s , I rejected the Corolla the first time I did a test drive, accel too slow, seemed unsafe, based on an automatic trans test drive. The MT version test-drove much better, which is of course the configuration I purchased. 11 seconds 0-60 time is good enough for me. But it may not be good enough for everyone, especally these days. Have to do an apples to apples comparison of course. Econobox to econobox in other words. I think my early 90’s MT equipped Corolla clocks in about 10.5 seconds, compared to the current popular Econobox, Honda Fit, a little under 9 seconds. Toyota’s prior Yaris was a little less than 10 seconds I think, at the time it was discontinued.
Remember the British sports cars before British Leyland ruined them? A lot of them were slow, but still fun to drive.
No experience with any of them, but the classic car-restoration magazines concur w/your assessment. Fun to drive, good exhaust sound, but not particularly fast.
Reminds me that UK tv comedy, sort of a mini-series, “Detectorists”. One of the characters drives a 1970’s Triumph TR7, which he adores. He can recognize it from miles away, by its sound. It continually needs repair as you might expect, which he can’t afford, until he finds a gf who’s also a Triumph-specialist diy’er mechanic … lol .
My daughters 2002 Corolla had about 20ish HP more than your vintage Corolla and she couldn’t wait to up grade it to her current 2017 Corolla, only about 30ish more HP (10ish over the 2002) but much better gearing and a little quicker… lol
I think that “current” might not be the correct term for a vehicle that hasn’t been marketed in The US for 3 years.
