Toyota Mark II

The ES has always been based on the JDM Windom...which shared the same platform as the MkII, Camry, etc. So anything is possible at this point. It's interesting to see the shift from FWD to RWD in Toyota's lineup. I guess the engineers (and bean counters) love the somewhat new RWD platform (Progres, Altezza).

However, I think this new MkII has LS430 styling cues, particularly the front.

JW, don't want to be fussy about details, but the platform for FWD Camry, ES, RX, Siena, Solara, Highlander is a different platform compared to the RWD Altezza, Progres, Mark 2. The drivetrain is different so there's not so much a chance of these platforms having common parts.

And Mark2 have been around for over 35 years. Camry debuted more than a decade later. Mark2 is the third oldest passenger model of Toyota. There is no shift to RWD, FWD came around from the 80s, RWD has been around from the start. Its just that most exported models were FWDs. So Toyota has quite an amount of expertise in RWD. Which is something Honda doesn't have anymore.

Mark 2 have always been a car for the conservative. (Boring design for all 9 generatons, IMO.) I personally like the Chaser which has been the sister car of Mark 2 for a couple of generations. Design of the next Chaser is said to be much better than the new Mark 2.

[This message has been edited by Altezza (edited October 26, 2000).]

Yes, I know that those are two very different platforms, but I was under the impression that the MkII was FWD...someone on a mailing list I subscribe to mentioned ES300 and MkII in the same sentence, I think, and I assumed that they shared the same platform. Oh wells... I stand corrected.

Originally posted by Altezza:
JW, don't want to be fussy about details, but the platform for FWD Camry, ES, RX, Siena, Solara, Highlander is a different platform compared to the RWD Altezza, Progres, Mark 2. The drivetrain is different so there's not so much a chance of these platforms having common parts.

And Mark2 have been around for over 35 years. Camry debuted more than a decade later. Mark2 is the third oldest passenger model of Toyota. There is no shift to RWD, FWD came around from the 80s, RWD has been around from the start. Its just that most exported models were FWDs. So Toyota has quite an amount of expertise in RWD. Which is something Honda doesn't have anymore.

Mark 2 have always been a car for the conservative. (Boring design for all 9 generatons, IMO.) I personally like the Chaser which has been the sister car of Mark 2 for a couple of generations. Design of the next Chaser is said to be much better than the new Mark 2.

[This message has been edited by Altezza (edited October 26, 2000).]

Click to expand...

[This message has been edited by JW (edited October 29, 2000).]