Toyota Compact Cars

With more than a year’s worth of leaks and news about the next-gen Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ, we finally learned in early August that Subaru was ending production of the BRZ. Toyota hasn’t commented on its production timetable for the current-gen 86, but we’re pretty sure the current-gens end of production isn’t far off. That has become more than evident now that the first spy video and images of the 2022 Toyota GR86 has surfaced online. Much like the most recent rumors suggest, neither Subaru nor Toyota are changing very much as they shift into the next generation.

The Toyota GR Yaris made waves in the Euro market. As a pint-sized hatchback, its 1.6-liter engine is good for an impressive 257 horsepower and 266 pound-feet of torque. It even has a six-speed manual transmission and all-wheel drive. It’s the definition of a perfect recipe for a performance-oriented hatchback. Here in the States, our Yaris is based on the underpinnings of the Mazda 2 – another model that isn’t available Stateside – so a 257-horsepower GR Yaris will never call the U.S. home, unless you build it yourself, of course. However, that doesn’t mean Toyota has forgotten about the U.S. Market altogether, and a recent post on Twitter is clear cut proof that something good is coming our way.

Toyota has recently joined the hot-hatch market with the beefed-up GR Yaris, but it wants to expand to new segments now. With the GR Yaris aimed at the Volkswagen Polo GTI and the Ford Fiesta ST, Toyota wants a competitor for the larger and more popular Volkswagen Golf GTI and Ford Focus ST. So the Corolla is next in line for the Gazoo Racing treatment and the good news is that it will come to the United States.

The name Papadakis Racing popped up on many tuning aficionados’ radars when the team signalled its intentions of boosting the 3.0-liter BMW-sourced straight-six engine of the new 2020 Supra to in excess of 1,000 horsepower.

Not an easy task, to say the least, but with the right expertise and lots of work, bumping up the new Supra’s power output to a level that would make its predecessor proud is actually attainable.

Rumors and bits of info on the upcoming new 2021 Toyota 86 have been travelling around the internet for quite some time and have been intensively covered here on TopSpeed as well.

However, a recent leak reaffirms the fact that the 86 nameplate is making a comeback, albeit as part of a new naming scheme.

While news outlets everywhere are praising the 2021 Toyota Supra for its updated powertrain and improved performance, Europeans are stuck looking in from the sidelines. Due to the ever-increasing and near-impossible to hit emissions regulations, Toyota is being forced to withhold all the updates that just made the 2021 Supra that much better here in the States. What can we say, Euro 6 emissions regulations are a real bitch when it comes to getting cool, fast cars.

Toyota made some major changes to the 2021 Toyota Supra, the most important of which come in the form of updated power output for the six-cylinder model and the introduction of the four-cylinder Supra to the U.S. market. However, there was another gem hidden in Toyota’s announcement, and that is the Supra A91 Special Edition. It doesn’t come with any extra power over the standard model, but it is based on the six-cylinder model, so it does have the extra power.

Rumors of a new Toyota MR2 go back as early as at least 2010 but they really came back to life after Toyota launched the new 2020 Toyota Supra and Tetsuya Tada (the head engineer behind the Supra) said he wanted to bring the three brothers back. Since then, there have been a number of developments, including rumors that it could be an electric sports car and that Toyota wanted to partner with Porsche to build it. Now, however, it looks like all your hopes and dreams were, well, a little premature.

Whenever a carmaker takes out the good stuff out of its know-how box and spreads its on a new car, well, that’s when you know you’re in for a treat. That’s exactly what Toyota did with the GR Yaris, its second global GR-badged car after the Supra GR and at the same time a homologation model that will sometime in the future spawn a fully-blown rally racer.

Toyota is going rampant with the RAV4 lately. After launching the fifth-gen of the beloved crossover last year, the company launched the TRD Off-Road model, and now, it is being offered with a plug-in hybrid system. We’re talking about the RAV4 Prime, a fuel-efficient version of the crossover that can deliver a combined fuel economy of 90 MPGe. Surprisingly, it also happens to be the most powerful version of the RAV4 yet. Toyota sure knows how to keep a 25-year-old nameplate fresh and running.

Toyota’s usual lineup for the SEMA Show is centered mostly around SUVs and trucks, but the 2019 edition brings the fifth-generation Supra into the spotlight. The Japanese carmaker took the 2019 SEMA Show by storm with a handful of modified Supras, either built by aftermarket tuners or developed by Toyota itself to preview upcoming parts and accessories. Here’s the four most interesting coupes you’ll find on the show floor.

The 2020 Toyota Mirai Sedan Concept is a show car that previews the second-generation Mirai. Introduced in 2015, the Toyota Mirai was the first hydrogen production model offered in North America. The 2020 Mirai Sedan Concept shows a completely redesigned model on the outside, now featuring a sportier body with a four-door sedan layout. The production model will arrive in late 2020.

Although it’s labeled as a concept car, this vehicle gives us serious hints as to what to expect from the production-ready second-gen Mirai. That’s because the car you’ll find in dealerships will be almost identical. The big news besides the new exterior design and the more refined interior is the Premium RWD Platform that replaces the old architecture. And yes, this means that the second-gen Mirai will drop the FWD layout in favor of a sportier RWD setup. Toyota also promises a 30 percent increase in driving range and increased hydrogen capacity.

Back in 2017, Toyota brought a quirky concept vehicle called the “Concept-i” at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Now, an evolution of that same concept will debut at the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show. It goes by the “LQ Concept,” and, among other nifty tricks, the LQ Concept is largely defined by a personal assistant called ‘Yui’, which, according to Toyota, is meant to “learn from the driver and deliver a personalized mobility experience.”

In other words, the LQ Concept wants to be your friend, an unnerving thought given where these things could end up. Perceived concerns aside, the LQ Concept is a good example of Toyota’s eye towards a future where a connection between the driver and the car is of paramount importance. We’re going to learn more about the LQ Concept in Tokyo, but, for now, chalk this one up to another concept whose purpose remains years ahead of its time.