No, this isn’t an oddball kit car based on the SW30-chassis Toyota MR2, it’s actually a Toyota VM180 Zagato–yes, that Zagato that gave us the Alfa Romeo SZ, Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato and many more striking automotive designs.
Sold exclusively in Japan and only at Toyota's "Vista" dealerships, only 100 examples were ever built.
Mechanically similar to the MR2–well, …
why does this remind me of a Buick Reatta?
Sequential transmission? interesting.
I don't think it's an improvement over the MR-S, but I can't tell how much of it is those wheels....almost everything I dislike in wheel designs.
Never been a fan of the 3rd gen, love the 1st and 2nd. This doesn't change anything.
Jerry said:Never been a fan of the 3rd gen, love the 1st and 2nd. This doesn't change anything.
Meanwhile, I love the third-gen, and strongly dislike this thing.
Mmmm the headlights are really unresolved..............it's like the put Jimmy Durante's nose on Brad Pitt's face.
The new Edsel?
Not an sw20. Zzw30 chassis.
Title says SW20, body says SW30, but that's a ZZW30 chassis car.
pointofdeparture said:Title says SW20, body says SW30, but that's a ZZW30 chassis car.
Or did they get a 3S-GTE in Japan, with whoever thought that more than 140 hp would upset the car's balance getting deservedly ignored there?
I like it. It's got a certain Zagato flair.
I dunno - I think at some point Zagato jumped a whole school of sharks and went from "slightly odd but pleasing to the eye" to "drawn by a rather sloshed wannabe Picasso".
Really excited about the title then horribly disappointed by the reality.
In reply to MadScientistMatt :
Nope, same engine globally. Europe got a 6-speed option but everyone had to live with the 1ZZ.
All Zagato cars from that era had lights like that, I have no idea what they were thinking with them or if they're any good.
gearheadE30 said:Sequential transmission? interesting.
'Interesting' maybe, but it's basically an automated manual. They're running out of parts for them now, but to be frank I can't imagine an MR2 without a manual.
Proof that Zagato doesnt always get design right
I need eye bleach.
JThw8 said:Proof that Zagato doesnt always get design right
Yeah, everyone has Mondays.
What happened? Zagato got out their ugly stick and used it. Not the first ugly Zagato design by far, but nearly the worst. How they can vary so dramatically from gorgeous to hideous has amazed me for half a century.
TurnerX19 said:What happened? Zagato got out their ugly stick and used it. Not the first ugly Zagato design by far, but nearly the worst. How they can vary so dramatically from gorgeous to hideous has amazed me for half a century.
Perhaps somebody decided to take the spyder part way too literally.
Yech, proof that even the most prestigious styling houses can go very very wrong.
What is even more shocking is that this made it to production, with more than one made!
I prefer Modellista's take on the MR-S.
The Italians are willing to take more design risks than American companies. I like most of their weird stuff (including this), and look at it as a completely different frame of reference. Think of atonal music, or exotic tastes that we might find undesirable at first. But if you grew up with it, it would be a different story.
And saying "it's ugly" is kinda dumb in the first place. It's a purely subjective reaction.
Never been a fan of Zagato's meddling, and this reaffirms that. Barf...
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