by Toyota the first major sales success in North America was coronawas sold here in model year 1966 and proved to be a lot of cars for the money (My first car was a 1969 Corona sedanwhich I bought for $50 at the age of 14, so I concede a little bias of Corona This). Toyota did a great job car sales here during the 1970s and 1980s, but never really made a lot of money from the American luxury sedan segment until its debut. Lexus LS 400 for model year 1990. Before that, Toyota Motor Sales USA tried to convince Americans to buy high-end products crown And Corona Mark II, with no notable success. Final, Toyota Corona Mark II 1978 appeared here with Cressida badgeAnd some Americans felt ready to buy this big six-cylinder luxury machine. Cressida sales never really increased here, but Americans can buy Cressida throughout 1992. 1990s Cressidas are almost impossible to find in today’s auto graveyard, but I did the feat in Sparks, Nevada, a few months ago.
The LS400 was an engineering masterpiece, with a brand new V8 engine and all the other innovations, and it terrified the big European car companies. It also makes the Cressida seem a bit small and outdated, so it’s surprising that Toyota continued to sell it here for the 1990-1992 production years.
Under the skin, Cressida is always a relative of the same years super. That means its suspension and powertrain are generally similar to contemporary Supra hardware (like rear-wheel drive Datsun 810/Nissan Maxima shared a lot of technical DNA with car Z).
This car has a 7M-GE inline six-cylinder engine that makes 190 horsepower and 185 pound-feet (the Supra version has slightly more power).
While Mark II in 1991 in Japan can be purchased with a five-speed manual transmission, American Cressida buyers must get the Aisin four-speed automatic transmission.
These cars put together very well, even though this car only covered 172,794 miles before finishing.
In 1991, the Lexus LS 400 has an MSRP of $36,955 (approximately $81,490 in 2022 dollars), which is less than Mercedes-Benz S-Class by a staggering amount but caused problems for Toyota salespeople, who were trying to get $22,198 ($48,945) on a new Cressida.
Cressida that year was quite luxurious and very well built, but new Lexus looked like more cars per dollar at the time.
Toyota continues to install combo CD/cassette players in our current century Lexuses. Of course, this Cressida has that rig.
I think this is the first Ouija board I’ve ever found in a scrap yard car.
Sadly, we never got the turbocharged version here, nor did the Cressida Grande.
The least troublesome car sold in the US!
