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Getting up from a fall and learning from one’s mistakes are two of the most important lessons we learn early on in life. People don’t always get it right the first time, and there will always be pitfalls and obstacles to success. Dale Carnegie, author and world-renowned life coach, writes: “The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way.” Looking at Toyota’s best and worst models is an exercise in learning about automotive design and engineering successes and failures by one of the world’s biggest auto companies, and by doing this we can see that having “bad” models didn’t stop the company from making better cars. Toyota has both hits and misses with their car models; motoring enthusiasts and car owners (both satisfied and disgruntled) provide plenty of insights about just which models can be considered as the company’s best and worst. Browsing through internet forums and web-based magazines we can come with a short list of the models that got the people’s unanimous approval, and those that people wished the company didn’t waste resources on in the first place. The Toyota Corolla gets the first and most likes, particularly the fifth generation release because many owners are very satisfied with its good build, affordability, and overall quality as an economical compact car. In the lineup of Toyota best and worst models, there are more good models than bad ones, and since it’s more interesting to find out why the bad models were called such, we will first just list down the models that received enthusiasts’ stamp of approval before taking a closer look at the “better luck next time” models. So, the models that are deemed to be the best are: the Lexus LFA, Supra, MR-2, Hilux, Tacoma, 9th-Generation Corolla XRS, Prius, 3rd-Generation Camry, 4Runner, 2000GT, SC300/400, and the LS400. As for the “worst” models, the most-cited one is the FJ Cruiser, Toyota’s attempt to make a modernized version of one of their oldest darlings from the Sixties, the FJ40. Granted, it has s good off-road ability and a reliability characteristic of all Toyotas, but the model simply fails in handling, visibility, ride, overall fit and finish, access, and noise. In short, it’s not a good model to cruise in. Moving on to the list of Toyota’s best and worst models, another unfortunate car is the base, manual transmission variant of the Toyota Yaris. Now, it may be a good and affordable subcompact in terms of its reliability, turning circle, front access, and versatility as a hatch, but it fails to live up to the standards of acceleration, shifting, and handling. Too bad, since a subcompact hatchback should be able to steer well and be zippy too. The automatic transmission fares better, though. Other models that failed to impress are the Paseo, Sera, Verossa, Echo, Camry VX40, Previa, and the Lexus SC340. Most comments about these models mostly center on styling and handling. In this rundown of Toyota’s best and worst models, we can see that the main criteria—what makes a model good and what makes it bad—is its ability to fuse form and function. If successful, a model becomes one of the best, and if not, well, it means Toyota will have to try again.
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Toyota, japanese cars, used cars, import cars,
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