Comments on: Toyota, GM joint venture over in US

By: Mumble Duck

Mumble Duck — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:47:20 +0000

Okay. What cars from South Korea do you like FrugalOne?

By: FrugalOne

FrugalOne — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:35:27 +0000

MumbleDuck^^^^

Let me remind you/all i have NO allegiance to ANY brand.

Have a fetish for Italian cars but never purchased one.

I am a “swing buyer”, i will buy what suits my needs, and from which ever brand has the best value/quality ratio.

At the moment the sun is shining on Korea!

Cheers

F-0

By: Mumble Duck

Mumble Duck — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:17:50 +0000

FrugalOne, just cause you are a MazdaFord person.

By: davie

davie — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:57:29 +0000

You forgot the dash in the 1.9. Big old 1960′s-falcon style dash with the single speedo

By: Captain Mainwaring

Captain Mainwaring — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:36:31 +0000

One of the most numerous products from that joint-venture Fremont, California plant was the mid-nineties Cavalier, sold as both a Chevrolet (in the US) and a Toyota (in Japan). It looked good, so people bought it. Unfortunately due to GM build quality issues the Toyota versions bombed in the Japanese market, so a disproportionate number of them ended up as cheap, unloved used imports in a third country, New Zealand.
Some of them are still going, identified by the sort of driving etiquette displayed by owners who have even less taste in their choice of car than they do in their attitude to other road users.

By: Frontman

Frontman — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:44:45 +0000

BTW The button plan was well after the Corona and Misfire marriage. The good Senator’s plan was introduced in ’84, and GM married up with nissan first. The Lexan for Nova & Apollo didn’t happen till 89 when Toyota pushed the smaller Nissan out of the picture due to the succes of the Pulsar Astra twins….. (just a bit of trivia )

By: Frontman

Frontman — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:36:32 +0000

Davie, I’m well aware of the reasons behind the car, however I still rate it as the worst Aust built Toyota ever. The engine doesn’t excuse Toyota from the woefull steering, interior trim (looked really nice until the sun hit it) the plastics were worse than a 120Y, and the car drove like it was on diagonally opposed skates….. Your imported hatchback was only related by similar shape and badges, the suspension geometry and everything was of a completely different class.

By: davie

davie — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:17:45 +0000

Hi Frontman,

Toyota were forced to take the holden engine in the Corona because of aussie build-local law. They didnt want it.

I owned a corona lift back of that era, It had the Japanese OHC 2L engine instead of the holden-2.8L-six-minuus-two-cylinders 1.9L OHV four.

The Japanese engine was definatley the least-worst. The 1.9 had no torque and no top end. The japanese engine had big torque and no top end.

incidentally, at the same time there was a 8-valve DOHC version of the Corona 2 litre (18R-G). It was actually a pretty good engine! I think you could get it from grey importers and wreckers.

By: Shak

Shak — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:04:05 +0000

Frontman im not that old (16) but i even remember that car, My granparents had it for 3 months and sold it immediately because it was the lowest quality and most unreliable Toyota they had owned.

By: Frontman

Frontman — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 02:38:52 +0000

Frugal I tend to disagree with you assesment of the worst Aus Toyota, perhaps you are not of vintage enough to remember the Corona with the Misfire Four…..