In my view, the Sportivo is a "hot hatch", the Celica is a "sporty coupe", the MR2 is a "sports car" and the Supra is a "grand tourer", I'm just basing that on how various comparable cars have categorised themselves in my little mental encycopaedia!
Either way, Toyota seems to be losing its performance focus ... personally, if these proposed hi-po big cars are going to stay FWD, then they're going to fall flat.
I just think FWD runs out of puff when used in large, heavy, high powered vehicles. Toyota needs to put AWD under them, ala the X-Runner utility, or if they really want to target the SS/XR market, such buyers will only want RWD.
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agreed. the problem with the stivo is, toyota is trying to push it into a market that is dominated by so many other vehicles in more than one aspect. cheaper yes - but too expensive for what it offers when compared to other "hot hatches". if you look into any hot hatches comparions - almost everytime the stivo is not mentioned. its trying to run with cars like the volkswagen golf gti, honda integra type s, mazda sp23 (which is pretty much the same as the stivo), renault megane turbo (ugly yes but it goes fast aha) and of course the wrx.
the general verdict is that the stivo and the mazda sp23 avoid the insurance premiums and the price of the rest of the turbo-charged competitors, but, unfortunately lack in everything else. im not saying that they're a bad car, thats just my view of the car market.