Toyota Altezza: JDM Consumers Information — JDMbuysell.com

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Have you ever ever puzzled the place the identify “altezza taillights” got here from? Imagine it or not, it got here from the identify of the mannequin that initially had them, the Toyota Altezza. That’s proper, these clear lense taillights that had been so standard within the late 90’s and early 00’s had been first launched on the Toyota Altezza or Lexus IS, because it was recognized in North America.

Though the Lexus IS nonetheless lives on to today, the Altezza was solely offered in Japan from 1998 to 2005 and discontinued after only one era in favor of its extra luxurious brother. It was a mid measurement sedan designed to tackle the likes of the BMW 3 Sequence, Nissan Skyline/Maxima, Mercedes Benz C-class, and so forth.

This information goes to give you all of the potential data you’ll ever want in case you are pondering of shopping for this RWD sedan with an out there 2JZ engine. We’ve got created probably the most complete patrons information out there to make your choice that a lot simpler.

Professionals and Cons

Professionals:

• Unparalleled Toyota reliability
• Accessible 2JZ engine (non-turbo)
• It’s a sensible RWD sedan
• Snug inside
• Accessible in a guide transmission

Cons

• Poor dealing with
• Weak rear differential
• Poor throttle response
• Small engines might be fairly undersized for the automobile
• Poor gasoline mileage

Frequent Points

As we talked about within the professionals and cons part, the Altezza isn’t resistant to sure points. As this automobile is getting up there in age, they’ve been effectively documented, and homeowners have acknowledged what the most typical points are with these vehicles.

Decrease ball joins appear to be the achilleas tendon of the Altezza. There are quite a few posts about how these fail prematurely, particularly in international locations the place the roads aren’t the best. One of the best factor to do is to get them inspected frequently to keep away from any undesirable surprises.

As with many different vehicles, the timing belt must be changed each 80k-100k km (48k-62k miles) with the intention to keep away from catastrophic engine failure because of it being an interference engine.

Relying on the engine you’ve gotten the facility steering pump might be one other weak half beneath the hood. Vehicles with the 3S-GE engine had been well-known to have pumps fail prematurely. Alternatively, the Altezza’s quipped with the 1G-FE engine gave the impression to be spared of this downside.

Though many purists say {that a} guide transmission is a should, that might not be the case right here. Many homeowners have complained that the clutch/transmission develop a little bit of a “clunking” as these vehicles age. Homeowners with the automated transmission don’t report having this problem.  

Common Worth

That is one automobile you can get a pristine instance for round $10,000. In fact, yow will discover some for as little as $3,300, however we don’t advocate shopping for the most affordable of any mannequin except you’re able to throw a bunch of cash at it, however there are some diamonds within the tough on the market. Let’s take a look on the most cost-effective and most costly Altezza’s provided on JDMBuySell.com

View all Toyota Altezza vehicles listed for sale.

Comparable Options

On the earth of mid-size sports activities sedans, there are heaps to select from. If you’d like German, Japanese, US, or some other nation that produces vehicles, likelihood is that they make a four-door sports activities automobile. Let’s take a look at among the closest opponents that the Toyota Altezza has.

Fashions and Specs

First era (1998-2005)

The Toyota Altezza was solely made for one era. Nevertheless, it did proceed beneath the Lexus identify. For the sake of this text, we can be solely specializing in this era.

Throughout this time, Toyota provided a spread of three engines to select from. These had been the two.0L 3S-GE, 2.0L 1F-FE, and three.0L 2JZ-GE together with a guide five-speed transmission and an non-obligatory five-speed computerized. All engines had been out there as gasoline variants. The cutting-edge design of the Altezza obtained the distinguished “automobile of the 12 months” award in Japan in 1998-1999.

In July 2000, a hatchback model of the Altezza was unveiled to the market with the 2JZ engine and computerized transmission possibility solely. Despite the fact that it did have the mighty 3.0L engine, gross sales of the wagon model had been poor.

Between 2003 and 2004, the Altezza obtained very minor beauty upgrades for the inside and exterior like 11-spoke wheels, fog lights and smoked surrounding trim. A brand new two-position reminiscence seat perform was added to the inside in addition to a upkeep mild indicator.

Sadly, after this era, Toyota determined to focus their efforts on the an identical IS model from the Lexus model and outline the automobile into extra of a luxurious model, due to this fact discontinuing the Altezza model.

FAQ

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexus_IS#Third_generation_(XE30;_2013percentE2percent80percent93present)
• http://amdnazri.blogspot.com/2008/11/history-of-toyota-altezza.html
• https://discussion board.lowyat.internet/subject/1880755
• https://providecars.co.jp/2017/06/20/toyota-altezza/
• https://www.driftworks.com/discussion board/threads/your-review-about-1999-toyota-altezza-2-0-rs200-z-edition.185924/
• https://www.sundaynews.co.zw/is-the-toyota-altezza-a-worthy-buy/
• https://nzhondas.com/subject/129477-how-reliable-are-altezzas/
• https://themotorhood.com/themotorhood/2016/4/11/white-noise-remo-grands-turbocharged-altezza

Easy methods to Import a Toyota Altezza

Learn our final information, How to Import a Car from Japan.

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