Official: Toyota brings TRD Griffon GT86 to Goodwood [w/video]

Filed under: Concept Cars, Motorsports, Coupe, Performance, Toyota, UK

In the midst of the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed, there’s a particularly special Toyota running up the hill. This special entry is a GT86 (the cousin to our Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ) that’s been poked, prodded, and tweaked by the minds at Toyota Racing Development. The result of TRD’s fettling is a nearly race-ready car.

Starting with the body, the hood, doors, trunk lid, and wings are all made of carbon fiber. The lightweight treatment doesn’t end there, though. The bumpers, fenders, and diffuser all feature carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic, while the windows are now made of polycarbonate plastic.

Under the hood sits the same 2.0-liter boxer engine found in the standard GT86, but its six-speed manual gearbox features a shorter final drive ratio for improved acceleration. The coilover suspension has been firmed up, and a TRD mechanical limited-slip differential replaces the Torsen unit. The TRD Griffon rides on TWS 18-inch wheels and Yokohama Advan tires. To bring proceedings to a stop, TRD has fitted its own mono-block caliper kit, complete with more robust racing pads.

Finally, the cabin features a TRD seat, shift knob, ignition button, auxiliary gauges, and a Momo steering wheel. A Takata harness keeps the driver in place.

To see what all that looks like on the move, Toyota has produced a rather stylish video.

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Toyota brings TRD Griffon GT86 to Goodwood [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 12 Jul 2013 19:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Scion tC to get TRD performance version?

Filed under: Coupe, Budget, Performance, Japan, Scion, Rumormill

2011 Scion tC

2011 Scion tC – Click above for high-res image gallery

This is interesting. The JDM-obsessed crew over at 7Tune seem to believe that Toyota is planning a more sports-oriented version of the 2011 Scion tC. At first blush, the car reads like little more than a best-of list of parts from the TRD catalog. The word comes courtesy of none other than Toyota’s Chief Engineer, Masayuki Nagai, who says that the car will boast all-new bodywork, a revamped suspension and a free-flowing exhaust for a little more pep. Supposedly the whole package will hit the wallet at a little more than $18,000. If that’s true, the new package could be a performance steal.

Unfortunately, this rumored sharper tC isn’t slated to hit showrooms until the 2012 model year, which means that buyers will be only have its more prosaic iteration to pick over for a full year before its meaner brother comes along.

Of course, we have to wonder exactly how many people are buying the tC because they want to scoot around a track faster than the competition – not too many, we’d fathom. But with Toyota apparently keen to gain a stronger male demographic for the tC, this is probably as good a place as any to start.

Gallery: 2011 Scion tC: First Drive

Photos by Jeremy Korzeniewski / Copyright (C)2010 AOL

[Source: 7Tune]

Scion tC to get TRD performance version? originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2011 Toyota Tacoma gets sweet-looking TRD T|X and T|X Pro packages

Filed under: Truck, Toyota, Off-Road

2011 Toyota Tacoma TRD T|X Pro – Click above for high-res image gallery

If you’re like us, you’d probably do all manner of unspeakable acts to be able to call the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor your very own. Unfortunately, FoMoCo isn’t in the business of accepting black market kidneys as payment, which has left us without a desert stomping pickup in the driveway. Fortunately, Toyota has come out of left field with a stopgap savior in the form of its new 2011 Tacoma T|X and T|X Pro models. The packages are built around the T|X concept from the 2009 SEMA show, and pack much of the hardware we saw on that particular show truck.

Both packages are available on the Tacoma V6 Access Cab or Double Cab Prerunner models that are equipped with the TRD off-road package. In addition to the sweet electronic locking rear differential, Bilstein shocks and BFGoodrich Rugged Trail rubber, the T|X package throws in 16-inch blacked-out beadlock wheels and black tube side steps among other good-looking pieces. Step it up to the T|X Pro, and you’re also rewarded with a TRD cat-back exhaust.

Both trims cost $1,699 and represent a savings of over $700 compared to if you’d simply raided the TRD catalog yourself. The T|X and T|X Pro packages may not put you on the same level as Ford’s mad hatter, but it’s a start. Hit the jump for the press release and check out our massive gallery below.

Gallery: Toyota Tacoma TRD T|X Pro

[Source: Toyota]

Continue reading 2011 Toyota Tacoma gets sweet-looking TRD T|X and T|X Pro packages

2011 Toyota Tacoma gets sweet-looking TRD T|X and T|X Pro packages originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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