Verossssssa!

[Morpheus XIII]

With a nice italian-sounding name and a design unnatural to japanese cars, is this new Toyota just another european rip, or a bold new standard setting statement from the land of the rising sun?

I, for one, am enjoying the crisp, clean and simple, yet refreshed sculpturing. The rear fender crease reminds me somewhat of the Nissan GT-R's beefy paneling, while the shimmering front honey-combish grille stands out like a medieval shield or chain-mail with a centered family crest emblem.

[Morpheus XIII]

Interestingly, the rear lamps are shaped almost exactly like the front headlamps. Rear:

[Morpheus XIII]

Fast sedans are always welcome in today's society:

[Morpheus XIII]

A sideview reveals the rightly proportional shape (unlike the LS430/Celsior which seems to have too blunt of a nose in comparison to the rest of the body). Note also the luxo-signature of door pull-handles:

[Morpheus XIII]

From the inside we can see the very european ruddy-orange instrument lighting, flush dashboard buttons, and a step-gate shifter, but set off by sharp japanese sportscar textures including a meaty three-spoke wheel, and pod vents with chrome (aluminum?) vent accents:

[Morpheus XIII]

Sport no-slip seating is shown (leather is of course, available), and the passenger side nearly mirrors the driver's, stating that this IS still a fully functional sedan, instead of being strictly sports (where all the design focus is usually aimed at the driver). Anyone have an idea what the shiny object might be in the center of the rear seating area?:

[Morpheus XIII]

Enough power is summoned with an available 2.5L VVT-i turbocharged 6-cylinder 1JZ-GTE, which draws out 280 hp @ 6200 rpm to play up there with the competition.

[Heep]

I was just looking at that yesterday on Toyota's Japanese site...I'm still stuck on the front end styling, dunno if I like it or not...

I love that steering wheel though...

The shiny thing in between the rear seats are the things that you plug the right side and center seatbelts into...they're folded down.

BTW, that's not coming to North America, is it?

[Jay!]

I like it. It strikes me as very SC430/Soarer-ish.

Originally posted by Morpheus XIII
Interestingly, the rear lamps are shaped almost exactly like the front headlamps.

That's exactly what I thought about the new SC430/Soarer, too. Hmmm...

Originally posted by Morpheus XIII
Enough power is summoned with an available 2.5L VVT-i turbocharged 6-cylinder 1JZ-GTE, which draws out 280 hp @ 6200 rpm to play up there with the competition.

"280 hp..." Yeah right! :right:

Originally posted by Heep
The shiny thing in between the rear seats are the things that you plug the right side and center seatbelts into...they're folded down.

I see one buckle here. If it's for the center seat, that means that the left passenger will be sitting right on it. But, I don't see one on the other side...

Why bother with five seats anyway? Can't it just be a four-seater?

[Heep]

Here's a diagram for ya. There are two buckles, folded nicely into a recess in the center seat. The both flip up, the one for the right side passenger moves over to the right enough to be off the center seat, and the center buckle flips up and moves left enough to be off the center seat. I've seen it before on other cars.

[Jay!]

I still don't get it. Doesn't that still put a buckle up a butt?

[Morpheus XIII]

I see what he is saying; it's retractable, but somehow it slides outwards so the center guy won't be sitting on the buckle.

[Jay!]

I guess Toyota will have to sell them here just so I can figure it out. `

[Morpheus XIII]

Don't we all wish... I feel the Verossa will be a better competitor for the I30 than the ES300 would. It's just too sedate, even the new ones.