by Wallace Wyss –
Toyota felt the need for a new halo sports car called GR GT, that is priced in a celestial realm high above the GR86 and GR Corolla—almost in the supercar area. It does have a supercar engine, a new hybrid powertrain that puts twin-turbochargers feeding air to a V-8 with an electric motor. Combined power is 641 horsepower and it has 627 ft-lbs. of torque. Top speed of the road version is said to be 199 mph.
There is, by the way a race version with a different nose treatment but this review is of the road car.
It has the traditional silhouette of a serious front engined sports car, with a long hood, a small greenhouse, and a can-you-get-any-bigger rear wing. The materials are as lightweight as possible — aluminum construction, carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic body panels.
Why front engine? I say partly weight. A mid engine could have been too tail heavy, even this is 45/55 weight front to back. Even with all the lightweight aluminum and carbon fiber, it will weigh 3,858 pounds.
HYBRID BARELY MENTIONED
The car, attempting to be all things to all men, is a hybrid but in various stories I could find scant mention of the electric motor. In The Drive they said “Between the driveshaft and gearbox is an electric motor to act as a torque filler and replace the torque converter for smooth shifts and seamless power delivery. A battery pack rests above the transaxle to feed the electric motor.” It could be that being a hybrid will get it accepted by folks that are dead set against pure ICE cars. And there’s some muttering in the press that it will use solid state batteries that aren’t even finalized yet.
Here’s my take; going from photographs.
FRONT Seductive are the two small scoops on the hood on each side of the bigger traditional air scoop. Alas the front does not have its own distinctive shape but even looks like a blend of sports cars from the last half century.
SIDE Very slab like and plain. In the press photos the functional side vent on the front fenders looks unfinished, no trim highlighting it. It looks like it might have a side exhaust but if so, that wouldn’t be legal in some countries. Both wheel wells are cut very high, for the tall wheels, which give it its low slung sporty look. The mag wheels with their thin spokes are delivering more air than most mags. Special tires were designed for the car (expect them to be $500 apiece!) But the flowing shape is abruptly cut off , more than is traditional, making me think the designers panicked and had to cut a few inches off, it was getting too long.
REAR A hodge-podge of every cliche. The full width taillights seem Dodge like, screaming American supercar. The twin exhausts are very Ferrari-ish. The various sculpting around the rear seems superfluous and un-needed until you see the factory press release show air coming out of the huge vents on each side of the license plate so aerodynamically you can build a case for the vents to help draw hot air out, but not sure where, maybe rear wheelwells, from under the car, wherever needed.
INTERIOR Surprisingly conventional, at least it has the touchscreen a reasonable size, and not taking over the interior. The center console has various switches partly recessed and looks both functional and stylish. When you see the interior you know it’s an automatic (an 8-speed) you see it’s a road car unless they make a separate model with a manual for racing.
PRICE I don’t usually talk price but in this case, it could be the car’s first big barrier, maybe a crippler to sales. It is rumored to be as high as $500,000, which would even put it above some Ferraris. Japanese cars (with rare exceptions like the Supra targa) don’t hold their value as future classics, so to start out at half a million is asking way too much when there’s no chance you’ll get it back (compare to say the Ferrari SP2, of which some are already selling used for more than they sold new). To me it is not a design that will last an eternity like the Toyota 2000GT . It is just a put-together list of desirable features but all on a shape not worth remembering.
OVERALL SUM UP Disappointing when you consider how minimalist and strong shaped some lower cost Toyotas are today, even the new Prius. This is a hodge-podge of car design features available over the last 50 years. I think the Toyota LF-A is a much cleaner design.
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR: Wallace Wyss is a long time commentator on car design, and a car writer for over half a century. At present he is doing oil portraits of the greatest car designs. Consignors can reach him at photojournalistpro2@gmail.com
Photos compliments of Toyota.
I kept waiting to find the design critique but it is not there.
Mr. Ruzzin, pissing on the parade sometimes stops so movement.
Since we will all be taking orders from the AI Overlord soon here’s AI’s defination of critique:
“A critique is a detailed, analytical evaluation or assessment of a work, idea, or situation, covering both its positive and negative aspects. It goes beyond simple criticism by providing constructive feedback, aiming to examine the quality, structure, and effectiveness rather than just finding faults.”
Damn shame AI is a part of our reading and conversation = A 2001 Automotive Spaced Out Odyssey of car design. Beauty is no longer integrated with pure automotive design. They all look like Chinese cheese graters designed by 16 year old Chinese Gillette Razor company trainees. I was blessed to be in a cool long conversation with Tom Tjaarda, Robert Cumberford, Piero Barberini Rivolta and Camilo Pardo in 2010 or so at CI when they spoke honestly about the absence of automotive beauty in today’s cars and that elusive beauty that they strived so much for which was so crucial in the radical designing 60’s. So true! Boy racer designs, a fad, do not equate to lasting beauty. Poof. If it doesn’t go fast or sell quickly then chrome it.