Verossa
  The
days left for traditional Japanese-taste luxury cars are limited.
Toyota
no longer needs Chaser and Cresta as supporting roles to Mark II,
therefore
both were replaced by a European-style new comer, Verossa. From the
name
which consists of Italian words "Vero" (True) and "Rossa" (Red) you'll
see this car tends to attract younger customers who used to prefer the
dynamic image of BMW 3-series and Audi A4. In fact, the radical styling
has strong Latin influence. Not unlike Alfa Romeo, but even more
exaggerate,
something approaching Zagato. Officially it is said as designed in
Japan,
but who knows whether Zagato gave any inspiration ? you know, Toyota is
the biggest client of Zagato.
Mechanically,
Verossa is
a repackaged Mark II as they share virtually the same dimensions and
all
mechanical components. However, Progres and Brevis are also its
sisters,
just have shorter overhangs and different choice of engines from the
same
gene pool. To lesser extent, all of them can also link to the smaller
Altezza
(Lexus IS). Strangely, all these cars bar Altezza are bounded in
domestic
market thus cannot avoid internal competition.
What differs the
Verossa
from Mark II is not performance or comfort. It is the subjective
dynamic
image delivered by the styling. So, I have no more say about it.
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This
is the Japanese interpretation of "sports sedan" - a twin-turbo
2.5-litre
straight six pumps out 280 horsepower, providing acceleration eclipsing
many sports cars. The chassis is not very stiff by today's standard,
but
compensate that by riding on stiff springs results in good roll-control
in corner. The steering is surprisingly heavy by Japanese standard, but
apart from kickback it offers no feel. Though the car is rear-drive and
have perfect double-wishbones suspensions all round, it understeers
rather
early and spoil any enthusiasm to attack corner. When you call for
driving
fun, it says to you, "I'm a luxury sedan". Then you ask for a supple
ride
and it replied, "I'm a sports car". In contrast, a BMW will satisfy
both
requirements. Fly the Mark II on highway and you can sense the cross
wind,
shake and roll due to aerodynamic lift.
Admittedly,
Toyota has been changing. IS200 was made according to European taste
and
tuned in Nurburgring before appearing in show room. But it is a copy
cat.
What the Mark II has is a unique character - no matter you like it or
not.
It won't appeal to most of us - otherwise Toyota won't bound its sales
in Japan - but it is a living history for Japanese traditional sports
sedan.
A history started in 1968 and entered the 9th generation last year. Its
sister car Cresta has already announced dead. Another sister Chaser is
also dying. The same goes for Nissan's similar Laurel. Everybody can
see
this kind of cars will eventually die under the threat of European
prestige
marques.