The Last "GT-Four"

Did any of you know that when I started writing this sometime in early August 2010, Toyota did not have any overtly sporty car in their current vehicle lineup aside from the Lexus LFA (which is a Lexus, and not a Toyota)? This is the world's largest car manufacturer and once upon a time we could walk up to any Toyota showroom and buy a Supra, Celica, MR2 or an MR-S.

Now, if you take a walk into a Toyota showroom and start asking the salesman whether they sell sports cars, you now get a blank stare. There may also be some blinking of the eyes and some thought process going on inside the head of the sales man, who could be thinking, “What's a sports car? Does it have a boot to load lots of luggage? Can it carry people comfortably but very sedately?”

It is only if you meet a veteran Toyota salesman that has been around pre-2007 where you will get the answer “Oh, I'm sorry but we don't right now. We used to sell a few a few years back. But anyway, may I interest you in a Toyota Corolla? It has a beige interior, four wheels and a boot as well as being fuel saving”. This may have actually happened in showrooms around the world as Toyota have not actually sold a sporty car since 2007.

The last actual sports car that Toyota produced under its own 'Toyota' brand was the MR-S (above). This was a sweet little mid engined open top sports car that was powered by a 1.8liter engine. It handled like a peach and was something like a heavier, better equipped and more liveable day-to-day car compared to a Lotus Elise. This was a good thing as if you wanted an Elise, you'd buy an Elise. But if you were a little pudgy around the sides, you would love an MR-S over the Elise. Trust me on this. The thing is, Toyota stopped producing this car in July 2007. So you couldn't buy one unless it was used.

But the MR-S wasn't actually the last 'sporty' car that Toyota made. In 2007 Toyota also ceased production of the 3^rd generation Caldina (2002-2007). This car was a sports wagon originally based on the Toyota Avensis but shares not a single body panel between them. There are many variants but the most interesting one is the Caldina GT-Four (pictured above) . It was the last car to use the famed 'GT-Four' moniker that made its name on the rally special Celicas from the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. The last Celica GT-Four was the ST205 from the late 1990s as pictured below.

It had a 2.0liter turbocharged 4 cylinder engine very similar to the Celica GT-Four but in a station wagon body. The Caldina made 256bhp and 324Nm (239lb-ft) of torque and this was transmitted through a four speed automatic gearbox with tiptronic-like function. There were no other transmission options other than this four speeder. The gearbox then transmitted the power to an all wheel drive system similar to the Celica GT-Four. That meant an all wheel drive system that put its power to a viscous center differential and on some models, like the GT-Four N, a torsen type limited slip differential at the rear axle.

What the Caldina GT-Four isn't, compared to the Celica GT-Four is a station wagon, albeit a low slung sports wagon. This actually made it one of the shapeliest (and fastest) station wagons ever to be sold by Toyota. In fact it could be the nicest looking affordable station wagon that people could buy when it was being sold.

The other thing that made it different from the Celica is the very much longer wheelbase (due to it being based on an Avensis model series platform) and its weight. It weighs close to 1,500kgs and when you add the weight to the longer wheelbase as well as that four speed autobox, it does not drive like a Celica GT-Four. It may have the same Toyota Celica GT-Four DNA, whereby everything feels well built and similar, it drives slightly differently from the Celica. Only slightly as the car features better suspension geometry owning to it being newer than the final version of the Celica GT-Four. It does feel its weight though, a good 100 or so kilos (220lbs) over the Celica.

With 256bhp to play with it is quite rapid. 0-60mph comes up in about 7 seconds and those who had their 180km/h JDM speed limiter removed would see speeds of about 230km/h or more. However being a Toyota it does feel a little clinical in doing so. Speed builds up smoothly and there is no obvious drama whatsoever. You could be doing 170km/h without realizing this if you're driving the Caldina. Typical Toyota refinement is to blame for this. Even a Celica GT-Four feels smooth and linear instead of being explosive off the line.

Of course, due to it being a Toyota, the handling is also held back to be a little on the safe side. Maybe since it is only a sports wagon and could be used to carry whole families Toyota held back a little. Then again the seventh generation Celica (the final version of the Celica to date) I drove, gave me that same feeling too, even though it came only in front wheel drive form. So it's just Toyota being Toyota. Nothing more, nothing less.

The Blue car pictured here is an early (meaning 2002-2003) JDM Caldina GT-Four. The car is slightly tweaked by its owner (thankyou for letting me snap a few pics while a few of us were chatting up about cars) who has owned it since 2006 and has done engine, exhaust, suspension and some aero mods to it. The engine has forged pistons, slightly uprated boost and a piggy back ECU (as well as some other goodies). The suspension is lower than stock and runs 18inch Wedsport SA70 wheels on narrow 225/40/18 tires (due to the lack of space under the wheel arches). The aerokit sports a carbon fiber bonnet that has a larger scoop for the top mount intercooler and it much lighter than the stock steel bonnet.

The only thing I can say that the owner complains about is that it cannot run any extreme boost due to the automatic gearbox's inability to handle torque levels beyond 400Nm.  But having driven a Caldina before, and the fact that I totally understand the fact that it is a sports wagon and not an all out sports car, I wouldn't do much to one if I had one. Especially since it only has four gears to play with. With its spread out gear ratios mid range suffers if you do a full kick down and when you cruise at speeds beyond 180km/h it becomes quite strenuous for the torbocharged engine, being in boost most of the time due to the limited gearing.

Somehow 2007 was the last year Toyota made exciting cars and also the last year a GT-Four could be seen in the Toyota lineup. I also fail to see how a company like Toyota became so engrossed in the bottom line and stopped enjoying life a little. Maybe this is why certain things have happened to them, like the recent throttle pedal fiasco. Maybe this is why we may see that AE86 and Supra replacement soon. But it is still a few years away by the looks of it.