Despite ‘Fair Go’ Toyota does well

Press, 25 May 1984, Page 9

Despite ‘Fair Go’ Toyota does well

BEHIND the WHEEL with

Peter Greenslade

Despite TVNZ’s “Fair Go” programme and its revelations about the proclivities of certain cars assembled by Toyota New Zealand, Ltd, to rust, the company is alive and well.

The people who run the business will admit that 1984 has been exceptionally busy so far, not entirely because of television’s watchdogs, but mainly because they have been engaged in two model launches which, of necessity, have involved changing the very conservative image of the marque to something rather more “with it” than one has come to expect from Japan’s largest carmaker.

Toyota’s first model launch was early in the year and it comprised the new front-drive 1.3 and 1.6litre Corollas which came in four-door saloon and hatchback forms and have been at the top of the monthly best-sellers’ lists since then.

Last week Toyota showed motoring writers its new Corona range in Auckland. In most respects these cars, all of which are powered by a new 1832 cu cm overhead camshaft engine, which develops 64kW (85.8bhp) at 5200 rpm, follow the Corolla pattern in that they are front-drive and come in saloon and four-door hatchback shapes with suspension fine tuned by the former Formula 1 racer, Chris Amon, and interiors furnished by Jan Beck, of Auckland.

The range, which comprises four cars and a reardrive station waggon, will go into dealers’ showrooms in about a fortnight and obviously Toyota New Zealand has studied prices of competitors in the 1.6 to 2litre market segment very closely, because these new models are quite attractively tagged as follows: Corona GL sedan, manual transmission, $17,495; GL sedan, automatic transmission, $18,245; liftback, manual, $19,995; liftback, automatic, $20,745. The station waggon, which is a GL version, runs out at $17,595.

While that range does underline the unwholesome fact that no-one should expect much change, if any, out of $20,000 or so when buying a top-of-the-range Japanese car, the prices are pretty competitive and, what is more, I understand that they are not just launch-day figures. According to Toyota executives, all things being equal, they should be stable for at least a few months.

These are roomy, fiveseater cars with generoussized, comfortable seats. The equipment level is quite high, although radios and cassette players are not included.

Toyota’s chief executive, Bob Field, argues that many buyers do not want a cassette player or would prefer

one of their own choice rather than a standard item and, I suppose, many people would agree with him. The four-door hatchbacks are the most highly specified versions. Power-oper-ated window and door locks, as well as alloy wheels, are features. The hatchbacks are also fitted with rev counters, digital clocks instead of the saloons’ analogue quartz versions, and oil-pressure gauges instead of warning lights.

The hatchbacks will take on the bustle-styled fourdoor models from Ford and Mazda, the 626 Sporthatch and the TXS, and will score heavily over both those cars because there is more head and leg room in the Toyota’s rear compartment and the sill of the luggage compartment is at bumper level.

I drove a manual GL sedan from Auckland to Pukekohe over a route that covered a representative selection of Roads and I was impressed by the responsiveness of the controls, the ride and the road holding. Once again, Chris Amon has done a fine job of sorting out the suspension, although the Coronas are perhaps not so sharp in the suspension as the lighter and less powerful Corollas.

When pressed moderately hard, these cars tend to under-steer or run wide in corners, although never alarmingly so. On the racing circuit at Pukekohe with tyres inflated far beyond the recommended pressures for road driving, the shortcomings of the shock absorbers did reveal themselves. The ride was spongy. However, I did not have to be uncommonly brave to enter the right-hand curve leading from the grandstand straight with the speedometer needle flickering tentatively around the 140km/h mark, so it can be safely assumed that here, at least, is a car which should behave itself in a very civilised manner when driven at sensible road speeds on

tyres inflated for normal use.

Testing a road car on a race track does not have a great deal of relevance to normal motoring, but it does enable one to discover most of the hidden vices which might catch an unsuspecting owner unawares in extreme circumstances.

These Coronas, like their smaller brothers, appear to be extremely safe and the only other thing I learnt at Pukekohe was that the brakes are powerful and smooth. Ventilated discs are fitted in front and conventional drums at the rear. They are more than adequate to cope with the car’s gross weight, which is stated to be 1495 kilograms. Steel-belted radial-ply tyres are standard on all models, but the sedans are on 165 SR 13s and the hatchbacks on 185/70 SR 13s. To cope with the greater amount of rubber the hatchbacks put on the road, they are equipped with engine-speed-senstive power-assisted steering which takes most of the effort out of steering the car in and out of tight spots. At touring speeds the steering does, perhaps, remain a little too light. However, I soon became accustomed to that.

The saloons on their skinnier tyres have variable rack and pinion steering to reduce steering effort at low speeds and this arrangement will be quite acceptable to most owners. The suspension system closely follows the Corolla layout. McPherson struts are employed at the front, there being L-shaped lower arms to enhance control and stability. A measure of antidive geometry has been obtained by attaching the lower arm at a higher point to the rear of the front wheel hubs, rather than in front of them. This arrangement is said to reduce by 40 per cent nose-diving tendencies under braking and the system appears to work quite well for there is, in fact, not a great deal of nose-dipping under heavy braking.

McPherson struts are also employed at the rear in conjunction with dual links, gas-filled shock absorbers and an anti-roll bar. The Coronas have been given Toyota’s new IS-L engine. It comprises a light block of ribbed construction which increases its strength while reducing the weight and the amount of vibration and noise.

The stroke, at 90mm, is considerably greater than the bore, which is 80.5 mm. This configuration helps keep down the weight and also the length of the engine. One of the penalties the configuration imposes is added height, but Toyota has overcome that by inclining the transversely mounted unit towards the rear.

A hollow crankshaft and

camshaft are employed in the interests of weight saving.

This engine is claimed to have a light thirst—something that it was impossible to corroborate because of the abnormal driving conditions on the test day—and to be extremely responsive because of its light weight and low-friction components. The latter claim is not wide of the mark. This engine is turbine smooth and even when it is pressed to its limits it remains that way. It is also a quiet worker. As already mentioned, the Corona comes either with a five-speed manual gearbox or a three-speed automatic with a lock-up clutch. The gearshift is operated by push-pull cables, as is the case with the Corolla, and it must be counted among the best, for it is exceptionally light and precise. I felt that the fourth and fifth ratios were perhaps a shade on the high side, for in each of those gears the car seemed to run out of puff rather sooner than expected. However, these are

excellent cruising ratios and would almost certainly bear out Toyota’s claim that the Corona has a light thirst. Third gear is a useful ratio. In it one can gain speed from low revs and continue to gather pace smartly right up to the 6000 rpm limit. I imagine many owners will make full use of this gear in town running, for it is virtually silent and provides a very acceptable level of flexibility.

The cars fitted with automatic transmission are more sluggish than the manual models. Because I did not have an opportunity to drive an automatic on the road, I do not know whether, like most automatic cars powered by engines up to 2 litres, the Corona’s system tends to “hunt” on gradients, but on the race track the changes were smooth, and the lockup torque converter seems a desirable feature.

Happily, the Japanese seem to have overcome the problems of front-drive feedback, or torque steer, in most contemporary front-

wheel-drive cars and Toyota is among them. The transaxle system in the Corona results in unequal length driveshafts. To overcome torque steer, a driveshaft centre support is employed to make the right and left shaft lengths and the joint-angles mirror images of each other.

These new Coronas are a far cry from the earler versions, and, like the Corollas launched earlier in the year, should appeal to a much broader segment of the motoring public. Toyota shows promise of becoming a force with which other New Zealand assemblers are going to have to reckon in the months ahead.

The company has indicated that, irrespective of the outcome of the Industries Development Commission’s report on the future of the motor industry, it has pitched for local assembly and has already put its money where its mouth is. Of course, TVNZ’s selfappointed guardian of the buying public, “Fair Go,” may feel inclined to point out at some time in the

future that Toyota, or any other car assembler in New Zealand, would have been cleverer to import completely built-up cars rather than remain in the do-it-yourself business, simply because New Zealanders do not do it as well as other people. Fair go!