Toyota has done a lot of things right throughout its history. The company began vehicle production in 1936 with the Model AA and established its first dealership in the United States in 1957. Toyota teamed up with General Motors in the mid-’80s to build the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) plant in central California. The joint venture helped transform the culture at GM, but the American behemoth went bankrupt in 2009. That was a year after Toyota overtook it as the world’s biggest automaker, a distinction Toyota also held from 2021 through 2023.
Advertisement
Toyota’s most successful all-time models include eight generations of the Hilux pickup, more than a half-dozen Land Cruiser variants, and the Corolla, which ranks as the best-selling car in automotive history. But no corporation, no matter how successful, has gone without missteps. Some Toyota models met with less than the widespread global approval of the Corolla and Hilux, and we’d like to highlight some of those lowlights for you.
The Toyopet Crown was a failure in the United States
One of those missteps came early in Toyota’s North American adventures. The Crown had been popular in J since its introduction in 1955, and this success inspired Toyota to select it as its first car to be sold in the U.S. The first two Crowns to cross the Pacific were met with a reception that included flowers, Miss Japan, and Toyota President Shotaro Kamiya. The twin sedans chugged their way from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay Area and back, at which point they both needed significant repairs. The American public didn’t have much better luck with the heavy, narrow, underpowered Crown. The model was also expensive at almost $2,000, which at the time was two-thirds of the average earnings for Americans.
Advertisement
That was far too much to pay for a car that took nearly a half-minute to get to 60 miles per hour. The Crown left stateside drivers feeling unsafe on the nation’s budding interstate highway system among Bel Airs and Thunderbirds, and the name “Toyopet” was a bit cutesy for the American market. Toyota gave up trying to sell the Crown in the U.S. after 1960, and focused on moving Land Cruisers here until introducing the more road-worthy Corona in 1965.
Early Prius models were slow and boring
Toyota began developing the Prius in 1993, and displayed it as a concept at the Tokyo Motor Show two years later. It went on sale in 1997, and Toyota promoted it as being “just in time for the 21st century.” Although it provided more than 46 miles per gallon of combined fuel economy, the bulk of the road-going public wasn’t ready for Toyota’s new hybrid. Its 14-second 0-60 time made it annoying to be stuck behind on a highway on-ramp, and the uninspired styling of the early models brought derision from automotive enthusiasts.
Advertisement
Since then, the Prius has matured into a sleek, beautiful car that easily keeps pace with traffic and still delivers amazing fuel mileage. Witness the stats for the 2024 Prius Prime: 220 horsepower, 44 miles of all-electric range, a 6.6-second 0-60 time, and up to 52 miles per gallon of combined fuel economy. It’s still not exactly a Lamborghini Murcielago in form or function, but the Prius has come a long way since its infancy. It’s also inspired a long list of jokes, like, “A Prius just tried to race me. I had it beat for the first 50 yards, but I can only walk so fast for so long.”
Fortunately for Prius drivers, it can now speed clear of most of the jokes at its expense.
The Yaris wasn’t all bad, just mostly bad
Some of Toyota’s best cars have been inexpensive, simple models. The Corolla won’t win any design awards, but it’s been consistently well-built and reliable for millions of drivers. The Tercel was about as exciting as a pile of wet sawdust, but good enough for Toyota to keep it around for nearly two decades. The model at the lower end of Toyota’s more recent offerings would make the Tercel weep tears of coolant in shame, however. The car that propped up the rest of Toyota’s lineup for more than a decade beginning in 2007 was the Yaris, about as unremarkable a vehicle as ever rolled off an assembly line. The earliest versions came with a 1.5-liter four-banger that wheezed its way to its peak output of just 106 horsepower and 103 pound-feet of torque.
Advertisement
One owner named Ian posted to the Toyota Owner’s Club Forums complaining that the Yaris was his “most hated car ever.” He noted that “Toyota standards have plummeted” and chronicled more than a half-dozen different locations where the car’s cheap assembly rattled while he drove. The most common complaint from Yaris owners has been the prematurely peeling clear coat, which can lead to rust problems. Despite these flaws, there are plenty of owners who love their Yarises for their fuel economy. Toyota finally put the Yaris out of its mediocre misery after 2020, but there are still plenty of them out there shedding their protective skins.
The Paseo was an insult to its target demographic
When Toyota introduced the Paseo in 1992, it was intended to draw young buyers with a combination of slick styling, sporty performance, and good fuel economy. It hit on the last of those targets, but missed on the other two and its overall goal of impressing young drivers. For some reason, Toyota felt compelled to put a spoiler on the early versions of the Paseo, but the only thing this car spoiled was its owners’ enthusiasm.
Advertisement
Output for the 1992-1994 version’s 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine was a barely acceptable 100 horsepower, then dipped to 93 ponies until the model was dumped in 1997. According to Good Car Bad CarToyota sold just under 100,000 Paseos through 1994, but less than 15,000 total in its last four years on dealership lots. Edmunds reviewed the 1996 model, and noted its “tepid acceleration, poor visibility, rear drum brakes, and two-speaker AM/FM radio.” Demand for used Paseos has cratered along with supply; we found a few unsold examples at one dealership in Amsterdam, and Autotrader doesn’t list a single Paseo for sale in the United States.
Comments are closed.