Brain Fertilizer

This article says that Toyota's sportiest vehicle isn't, really.

I wasn't really surprised.

When was the last time Toyota had a great sports car? When was the last time Toyota had the hottest sports car in a market segment?

Nissan has had sporty cars, all-time classics like the 280z, 300z, and now the 350z. Their upscale line has the G35 that apparently challenges BMW for driving excitement.

Honda has always made great little fuel-efficient cars that are (nearly) infinitely-modifiable/tunable to be great little sprint cars. The CRX was pure fun. The Civic Si provided great road-racing excitement. The Fit is the most fun of all the little econoboxes.

Mazda is a poor man's BMW. Mazdaspeed 3 and 5 are designed to compete with the BMW 3 and 5 series, if I understand correctly. Well, not exactly compete...but give you 80% of the performance for 50% of the price, which is a bargain from the perspective of most paychecks. The Miata revived the roadster's popularity in the US, and remains the best in its class after more than a decade on the market. And, of course, the RX series is a truly unique sports car offering unique thrills.

But Toyota? Fast and/or exciting? Naw.

Toyota = efficient, comfortable transportation. Not flashy, but perfectly tuned to getting you there comfortably and safely for 80% of the population.

It's turned them into the world's largest carmaker, so I guess that ain't too shabby.

I have a '98 Corolla and an '01 Prizm (made by Chevy, but to Toyota specs on a pure Toyota design) and love 'em both. I'm convinced that no matter how wealthy I may one day be, I'm going to stick with a Corolla-sized and Corolla-powered concept. It suits me.