Some days ago I mentioned that I would not buy a Carina after this one. What would be my successor for the Carina then? Well, I don’t know that either but time will tell, maybe an Lexus IS300 (Altezza) or perhaps another car. At least I’m always looking around for fun cars and I found another one: the Toyota Comfort! 🙂
Toyota Comfort standard trim
Toyota Comfort in standard trim

The Toyota Comfort was designed in 1988 with only purpose to serve as a taxi. More or less something like the Austin FX4 you saw around the UK up till five years ago. The current model is based upon the Crown S130 platform, but with a shortened floorpan to make it more agile. The Comfort features a 3Y-PE engine on LPG or a 3C diesel.

TRD Comfort GT-Z in black
Very good looking supercharged TRD Comfort GT-Z in black

But the more fun is the limited (59 vehicles) TRD Comfort GT-Z. This car features a supercharged 3S-FE and has, of course, a TRD suspension which is much stiffer than the standard Comfort. The supercharged 3S-FE outputs 160HP which should move this car happily around every corner. 😉

Enginebay of the supercharged TRD Comfort GTZ
Enginebay of the supercharged TRD Comfort GTZ

And if that is not enough: there is also a TRD Comfort GTZ which runs on the track. It’s got the supercharger replaced for a turbo. I suspect it is mainly being used for drifting seeing the D1 sticker.

TRD Comfort GTZ racecar with Turbo-ed 3S-FE
TRD Comfort GTZ racecar with Turbo-ed 3S-FE

Just imagine what the movie trilogy Taxi would have looked like if it had featured this car instead of the 406. 😉

TRD Comfort GTZ racecar with Turbo-ed 3S-FE
TRD Comfort GTZ racecar with Turbo-ed 3S-FE

Sounds like an ideal family car if I would live in a RHD country. Nobody expects something as boring a taxi to be used as a normal car and actually be a wolf in sheepsclothing. And what I would do is probably take out the 3S-FE and replace it with a Beams 3S-GE. That would make much more sense than supercharging or turbo-ing the 3S-FE. 😉