(first posted 8/19/2015) Toyota has at times been one of the more conservative Japanese automakers. Its cautious approach to adopting front-wheel-drive is testament to this. Honda had released its FWD Accord and Civic in the 1970s, but the first FWD Corolla didn’t arrive until 1983 and the first FWD Camry launched in 1982 (both arriving a year late in North America). In some markets, Toyota was even slower in embracing the increasingly popular FWD/transversely-mounted engine format. Witness the last rear-wheel-drive Corona sold in Australia.
The 1980s were the salad days of mid-size cars in Australia. Ford’s Telstar, a rebadged Mazda 626, and the J-Car Holden Camira were selling well and were two of the first front-wheel-drive mid-sizers. The Honda Accord and Mazda 626 were lower volume, more premium offerings.
1984 Mitsubishi Sigma
A triad of locally-assembled Japanese mid-sizers carried the torch for the ways of old, though. The Nissan Bluebird, Mitsubishi Sigma, and the featured Toyota Corona were all utterly conservative, rear-wheel-drive sedans and wagons with inline four engines.
1985 Nissan Bluebird
America may have been the land of the free and the home of the body-on-frame, rear-wheel-drive V8 sedan, but perhaps due to CAFE the market was quickly flooded with modern, FWD offerings. The Bluebird’s upscale cousin, the 810 Maxima, made way for a front-wheel-drive model in 1984 and there was a front-wheel-drive Stanza launched in 1982 (a FWD Bluebird also launched in Japan and Europe in 1983). The bland Bluebird would continue in Australia until 1986 when it was actually replaced by another rear-wheel-drive model, the R31 Skyline and its four-cylinder derivative, the Pintara.
Mitsubishi would eventually launch a FWD model engineered specifically for Australia, the 1985 Magna, but they milked the old Sigma for all it was worth. The Sigma was sold in North America from 1978-81 as the Dodge Colt Wagon, despite its fellow foals being a whole size smaller.
Finally, there was the Corona. Toyota had actually launched a FWD car bearing the same nameplate in other markets, including New Zealand, in 1983. This rode atop a shortened version of the new Camry platform. A RWD Corona continued for Asia-Pacific markets, and was actually sold alongside the FWD Corona in New Zealand. Oh, and there were also mechanically identical cars wearing the Carina nameplate in some markets. How confusing.
While the previous Aussie-market Corona had come in a fairly sleek, imported liftback variant, the 1983 Corona was sedan or wagon only, all locally built. Gone was the 1.9 “Starfire” four – a hacked-down version of Holden’s 2.85 six – and instead there were two genuine Toyota engines. A carbureted 2.0 SOHC four opened the range, with 98 hp and 116 lb-ft. A fuel-injected 2.4 four was optional, with 116 hp and 146 lb-ft. Even more powerful turbocharged variants were available in the Japanese market.
The new Camry was also launched in Australia in 1983, but was positioned as a more premium offering and available only as a single imported liftback model. They are a rare sight today.
There was a sharp coupe variant of the RWD Corona that didn’t make it to Australia. It would have flopped here for two reasons. Firstly, Australia isn’t a big market for coupes and we already had the Celica. Secondly, the Corona just wasn’t that good to drive.
Still, the T140 Corona coupe was quite a looker, with rear styling that called to mind the contemporary Pontiac Grand Prix and Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
Rear-wheel-drive may be idolized as the most desirable format today, but that is because all the inferior RWD options were washed away as if by a cleansing wave. The Corona had all the compromises of RWD – inferior packaging, less all-weather traction – but with none of the benefits. Driving one, you would find the steering dead, the suspension soft and the body roll copious. The engines were gutsy at least.
The Corona may have been the last of a dying breed of Toyotas but it represented the start of Toyota Australia’s export program. They exported their first vehicle, a Corona wagon, to longroof-hungry New Zealand in 1986. Their export program is still running to this day, and quality standards have always been as high as you would expect from a Toyota factory.
The continued presence of well-preserved Coronas can be chalked up to a few factors. Toyotas have always enjoyed a reputation for quality and reliability and Australia’s generally dry climate is conducive to the longevity of older cars. You could also chalk regular appearances of the Corona up to their popularity with older, conservative types; the Bluebird pops up with similar regularity.
1987 was a new dawn for Toyota Australia, as the Camry would take over as their mid-size breadwinner. It was more modern, better packaged and drove better. With that, the sun set on the Corona.
After 1983, the Corona (which was still from the mid to late 1970s design) was replaced by the identical sized FWD Camry here in the U.S..
Always interesting to learn more about cars that were sold in very different form than ones of the same name sold in the U.S. at the same time.
Anyone else think the greenhouse looks very J-car-ish?
This is the T140 (5th gen Corona). The last Corona sold in the USA was the T130 (4th gen).
I sold my T130 81 Corona Dlx, in 2012… Wish I never did. 🙁
In the Philippines, they call the 1981-82 Corona, the Wedge… Because of the slightly sloped wedge nose facelift in 81.
It had the bulletproof 22R engine, and the AC was so cold, it would freeze you out of the car.
Some young guy loved the car so much, he wanted to trade me a 2003 Dodge Dakota 4wd truck for it. I said heck NO.
He eventually bought it, abused it and blew the engine. Jackass.
Be thankful you didn’t get this one.
Agree on the J car similarity.
Yes, but no doubt much better built than a J-car.
The Corona can be blamed for it’s pickup like road manners but I find their unabashedly Japanese styling retro cool. They do seem to follow Mitsubishi styling, that Corona coupe, SR5?, looks a lot like the Mitsu based Dodge Challenger we had 78-83 and the 4dr looks much like the FWD Sigma we had 88-91
In Australia with little emission regs, they probably were able to keep the engines under 2.0 liters, to retain economy and engine smoothness. They kept them around in Japan for much longer, I think they may have found a few buyers in USA later if they tried.
Agree. Toyota’s styling in this period was among the best. The Corona sedan looks better than the first gen US Camry. The Corona coupe is simply gorgeous.
Yep,
The T140 Corona coupe was so sexy, that even James Bond, himself, Roger Moore promoted them in Japan… In ads and a few Bond parody Toyota commercials.
Hey, even the pretty ladies love the styling. 🙂
You’d have to be like school on thanksgiving to like these cars styling, no class. Sarcasmo you truly have no sense of style buddy, stick to the colouring books and jigsaw puzzles and riding your push bike.
I thought Toyota was crazy to abandon the Corona name in the U.S. (and elsewhere), as it may have been the best model name Toyota ever had. Or maybe I think this because the first Toyotas to gain any traction in the US were Coronas, and the name “Toyota Corona” was burned into my memory from the early advertising. But it sure rolls off the tongue easily.
We had some practice from the typewriters.
Goes nice with a lime too 🙂
Brendan?
Does Ma Saur know about this? You drinking Coronas?
Aren’t you only 19? 😉
I happen to be 22.
I must be old, the Corona name immediately went to the Smith-Corona typewriter, not a thought while typing of the Mexican beer.
Far better than “Camry”, JP, you’re so right. Corona. Waste of a good name.
Agree that Corona was a great name. Arguably, the Camry should have been called Corona, since that FWD car took over the Corona’s “middle” spot in the U.S. line-up. Knowing that other markets kept Corona name on RWD cars may explain Toyota’s logic in introducing a new moniker for the FWD car. That said, I’ve always thought Camry was a subpar name, though it obviously hasn’t hurt sales one bit.
Coronas were still being built in Japan well into the late 90s NZ assembly of Coronas stopped in the mid 90s and imports continued on,
The only problem with Japanese Coronas was the narrow wheel tyre package and the mushy suspension tuning ill suited to our fun roads.
FYI: “Corona” is Latin for “crown.” “Camry” is from “kanmuri,”Japanese for “crown.” “Corolla” is the diminutive of “crown,” apparently.
So evidently, Toyota has been trying to get as much mileage as possible out of that name. I wonder if Ford’s Crown Vic was a problem here for them?
Corolla is not a diminutive for crown, but rather refers to the “crown” formed by the petals of a flower. That’s why early Corollas had floral motif badges.
Don’t forget the Toyota Crown, and the Toyota Tiara!
I consider it unforgivable that the Crown never sold well in North America. While there’s nothing wrong with smaller cars, like the Corolla, and the Carina, I believe that there are people who either need or want something larger, and thus should be offered something larger. Why did it take until the 90s, when the Lexus LS400 and Infiniti Q45 debuted, that we finally got that larger vehicle?
Only the 2005 to current Avalons sold well. They are the largest Toyota currently available in North America except that they used a modified FWD stretched Camry platform from 2002-on. The 2005 version is slightly larger than the RWD 1989 Lexus LS400.
My aunt and uncle, who’ve never previously bought a Toyota, have a 2003 Avalon. They seem to enjoy driving it. I, for one, have never been impressed with the Avalon. While I like its styling, I’ve never cared for the front-wheel drive drivetrain. I believe that bigger, luxurious cars should be front engine, rear-wheel drive.
The last were badged Corona Premio and seem to have ended early 00-03 in Japan we get em here but handling wise they are horrible compared the NZ new Amon models
It’s important to understand that from Toyota’s perspective, they did not stop using the Corona name until about 2000. From a JDM or global standpoint, the Camry was a supplement to the Corona, not a replacement for it.
As we’ve discussed here before, the first Camry was actually a RWD sedan — the Celica Camry, essentially the last RWD Carina with a Supra-like grille — for the home market. When the FWD V10 Camry arrived, it replaced the RWD Celica Camry, not the Corona or Carina, which both continued to be sold concurrently. There were lots of similarities between the FWD Camry and Corona platform in the interests of cost savings, but they have separate chassis codes, so they aren’t twins in the way the Corolla and Sprinter were.
As a result, in the mid-eighties, Toyota had four midsize FWD sedans: the T-platform Corona (for Toyopet stores), the T-platform Carina (for Toyota stores), the V-platform Camry (for Corolla stores), and the V-platform Vista (for Vista stores).
Toyota export cars did often mix and match pieces and model names from different platform twins (for instance, the U.S.-market Corolla coupes of the ’80s were closer to the JDM Sprinter coupe), so that wouldn’t necessarily have stopped them from applying one name to a different product in another market, but they were still distinct and separate lines.
For some reason, the Camry did replace the Corona for the North American market. After 1984, all we saw was the Camry, no Corona were offered, at least, not for the USA market. I don’t know why.
The Corona T140 coupe brings to mind an update of a car sold in the U.S. as the Carina for a few years in the mid 70s. It also brings to mind the Dodge Challenger, as a previous poster has noted.
The T130 that was the last U.S. Corona looked to be narrower than the 140 and consequently looked longer. That model was sold as a 4 door sedan and a 5 door hatchback. Someone down the street from where I lived in Memphis had a light yellow hatchback. By the early 80s these were fairly conservative designs.
BTW, in the U.S. the Tercel, with FWD and somewhat oddball styling preceded the FWD Corollas by nearly 3 years.
Originally, the Carina (which was closely related to the Celica) was supposed to fit between the Corolla and Corona. They shared a lot of mechanical pieces, but Toyota didn’t consider them the same platform. When they went FWD, they became basically twins.
The last GOOD Corona… They have a lot in common with the RWD e70 Corollas and RWD a60 Celicas, as far as chassis and differentials go.
My favorite view of the RWD T140 Corona…….Sideways!!
You should try a NZ market FWD Corona youd soon change your mind letting a race driver do the suspension tuning turned out to be a master stroke by Toyota they suddenly had a real handling weapon in their lineup and much faster than the old T140.
I’ve seen this Corona model used as taxicabs in some Asian countries such as Singapore in this era, though they were much fewer in number than the Crown.
It looks like a mini Ford Victoria…so cute.
That last shot of the white Corona looks like Toyota’s version of the Ford LTD.
I agree, if you mean the Fox LTD.
The Corona may have been unexciting to drive, but then so were most American competitors, large or small. For most drivers, American roads are dreadfully dull, so there’s no danger of reaching design limits in most cases. And if you do, then prepare to parley with the lightbar guy.
I had a quite visceral reaction on seeing the photos of this car – I find it almost depressing. It’s the generic car I used to draw with a ruler when I was 5 because I lacked any creativity.
I’m wondering why the Mazda 626 was a more premium offering compared to the Telstar, if they were the same car? Did Ford & Mazda offer very different trim levels to avoid stepping on each other’s toes?
I would say the Mazda had to cost more because it was fully-imported in the high-tariff days, thus they came with more equipment as standard to justify the price.
I enjoy learning about the cars available in the Australian market, and it is fascinating to see the variety of unique offerings not available stateside. I’m intrigued by the T140 Corona Coupe–I’ve never seen that before. I don’t think it would have worked here either, but highlights the dizzying array of JDM products.
Drive around in New Zealand we have Aussie market Toyotas NZ new Toyotas and ex JDM Toyotas then try to get parts when your one breaks and they do, Toyota NZ refused to entertain any parts lists for EX JDM cars, yet they import them themselves and recondition them at the old assembly plant in Thames and sell them as Signature series with a warranty, But NO parts list for the ex JDM Toyota Corona wagon/van I had, nope never heard of it, fortunately we have a thriving 3rd tier parts system here and I got cambelt crank seals and injector pump seal kit at my second port of call.
Late edit; that should say signature class, I saw the badge on a friends wifes 07 Corolla this arvo.
The coupe looks like a cross between a Celica and a secondgen Chrysler Cordoba. But in a good way.
That white Bluebird’s facelift grille looks like the sort of thing some Western importers used to put on Lada Samaras to replace VAZ’s original distinctive-but-weird effort.
“The coupe looks like a cross between a Celica and a secondgen Chrysler Cordoba”
The coupes were most certainly marketed as such in Japan; a more luxurious Celica alternative. Interestingly enough, the following Corona coupe was a Celica coupe without the pop-up light front end.
Once the Celica switched to FWD, the home market never received any of the coupe models. Instead, they got this Corona until 1989, and then the Curren from 1994-1998 (the Curren was again a Celica coupe with a different front clip).
Maybe some buyers were confusing the Corolla and Corona names? When Camry name appeared, Car and Driver writer claimed it was ‘computer generated’.
People who don’t know much about computing talk like that; it was an implied slam against Toyota, who evidently invested much effort trying to come up with synonyms for “Crown;” see my post above.
Nice, those old RWD Coronas are really rare in NZ the FWD version got massive criticism from motoring writer for its poor roadholding as did the RWD so Toyota bit the bullet and told said motoring writer if you can do better go right ahead our parts bin is your parts bin and he did producing the Amon Toyota for the NZ market ONLY, those cars were locally assembled not imported and they drive very well making the Corona NZs favourite car untill it was cancelled in the late 90s
Toyota Australia’s first export to NZ was a wagon but not that Corona it was the 5door Corolla of 1971, Campbell motors NZ only assembled the 3 door wagons all our 5doors were from OZ. Oh and a friend of mine in Sydney bought a 86 RWD Corona wagon new it was imported fully built up from Japan it was a last batch built,2.4 engine 5 speed manual it served her well she probably still has it if shes still driving.
Nissan simply put a FWD subframe and powertrain in their Bluebird there are some still alive locally but most survivors I see are the diesel model ex JDM
I owned a 87 Mitsubishi Sigma in NZ great car it was the hiroof wagon 2.6 5 speed that was while on holiday here in 01 even then I noticed the FWD Sigmas here (badged Magna in Aussie) both were on NZs complicated flooded car market.
My brother in law had one almost identical to the feature car, but with the alloy wheels that the feature car should also have, being an Avante. The same wheels were used on the rwd Celicas. I don’t think he had any major dramas with it for the years he owned it.
These last-of-the-rwd Japanese cars were a good form of cheap transport, they are simple carburettor, 4-cyl cars, no constant-velocity joints to wear out, easy access to everything for maintenance, actual ground clearance. Avoid an automatic transmission, you don’t need power steering, keep it simple.
First glance I thought it was my late father in laws, then my wifes then sister in laws
Avanti. The blue one is even from my home state of Queensland.
Much as I depised it, it kept going with 240000 Km on the clock. My in laws killed it
within 6 months.
My most un-favourite car, based on several years’ experience. My wife had one when we married. Beautifully built, nice clutch and gearchange, but you are so right about the abysmal road manners of these cars. Maybe it’s just as well they were never all that common; certainly there were more Sigmas, Bluebirds, and Telstars on the road in Melbourne at the time.
One minor correction – the 2 litre 2S-C was the sole engine when these were released in Australia. And what a clunker of an engine that was. No torque down low, no power up high, it seemed to major on turning petrol into noise. Smooth noise, mind you, refined noise, but noise nonetheless. And the weird tune our anti-pollution laws required meant that the engine backfired three times on the change from first to second when the engine was cold. Every morning, when my wife was going off to work: bang-bang-bang. All this, and only 22mpg. I think the 2.4 came along at the first facelift, as a feature of the Avante ‘sport’/luxury range topper. Certainly faster, and I can’t help thinking, probably more economical too.
Another memory – those ‘cross-in-a-circle’ design wheelcovers were ridiculously heavy, being made of several layers of plastic, and cost $50 from the dealer when you lost one. That’s 1985 dollars. During the five years we had a T140, we needed three.
Toyotas are supposed to be reliable, but ours shat its big ends at 80,000km, despite being religiously maintained. Maybe others lasted longer, but as a private buyer, you only get a sample of one. We’ve stuck with Mitsubishis and Mazdas since.
Australian punters were turned off Coronas in a major way when the previous model was fitted with the awful Holden Starfire to improve local content prior models featuring Toyota engines were really good cars, Toyota shot themselves in the foot by trying to sneak in under the tariff barrier and yeah Sigmas Accords and 626s were more common especially 626s as they also sold with Ford badging and a rep for blowing headgaskets but they were popular.
Too right! Toyota almost went from being a major player to an also-ran as a result of that disaster! From memory the only way to get a proper Toyota engine rather than the cut-down Holden was to get the imported Liftback model though I believe they later extended it to the range-topper sedan as well. This would have been a massive loss of face for Toyota, as the Ford Laser was creaming the Corolla in the small car segment. While they frantically needed to get back into the family car action with a decent engine for their mass market family sedan, the 2S-C wasn’t the engine to do it with. They might have done better to make the 22R the only engine until they got the bugs ironed out of the 2S.
This car looks way better from the side and the front than from the rear.
Wow, Old Wilding, you really got a Friday afternoon jobbie out of Port Melbourne, and a 4.45pm one at that. Either that, or the person who serviced yours had a conceptions of morality that were flexible to the point of complete reversal, or that he suffered certain intra-cranial insufficiencies. Or, that he was one who, in combination of both the foregoing, was generally unable to proffer an ordure. I mean, where’s the luck, man – these just don’t break!
Setting aside your misfortunes, I am a little surprised at your vehemence regarding drivability. I’ve piloted a few of these back closer to the day, and found them wholly not-good-enough considering rear-coils and rack steering and such, but also wholly, if dully, functional enough. That is, they were ok in the context of the hardly-wondrous competing Bluebirds and Sigmas. The 2.4 injected ones, with power steering and 4-wheel discs – Avante! – were nastily rough and somewhat over-engined, but were a bit swift back then, and a bit entertaining, if in a crude fashion. Ofcourse, this was all miles behind the scarily-new-age-it’ll-all-break Mazda 626 standard, but in its place, well, it held it.
Still, all that said, my dear dad had a used ’87-’92 Camry that had its transmission expire at 60,000 miles, so perhaps you should form a club of The Exceptions one day.
I’ve heard of the Toyota Corona after 1983, but unfortunately, it was discontinued in the United States after 1982 in favour of the front-wheel drive Camry. I remember being pissed off when that happened. While front-wheel drive does have its advantages, I’ve always preferred the old-school rear-wheel drive drivetrain.
+ 1000
What?
That means I agree with you, 1000 times… on preferring the old school RWD drivetrain.
Thank you. I didn’t know what that meant. Front-wheel drive is fine for small cars like the 1st generation VW Golf/Rabbit, and the classic Mini Cooper, but not for anything larger than that. For family sized cars like the Toyota Corona, the Crown, or for sports cars, it has to either be rear-wheel drive, or all wheel drive. 🙂
A competent FWD car is more enjoyable than an incompetent RWD one. Which this most surely is.
Are you sure about that?
This is the last of the Corona wagons badged Caldina and JDM only a friend just bought this one its a 2.0L 5 speed manual air pwr windows etc pretty much a standard bottom feeding Jappa the front sheetmetal is the same as the last NZ Coronas. These also came as a stripper van leaf sprung straight back axle manual everything no trim and 2C non turbo diesel.
And the back
I don’t get why the Toyota Corona was never continued in the USA after 1982, having been replaced by the equally attractive, but unfortunately Front-wheel drive Toyota Camry.
It had to do with the Camry being much modern with Front Wheel Drive technology and being identical in size with the outgoing (no pun intended due to the name later being associated to Coronavirus many decades later after the facts) Corona which still used a proven but ancient RWD technology dating back to the early-1970s. Toyota USA & Canada didn’t want to have two cars of the same size competing against each other since the ancient Corona may pirate the sale from the modern Camry which they are promoting more as a size compromise between the Corolla and the Cressida. The first generation FWD Camry introduced for the 1983 model year looked like a scaled down version of the otherwise different RWD Cressida. FWIW, the Camry continues on through the present in 2021 while the Camry based Avalon (which succeeded the Cressida almost a decade later) being discontinued or soon to be.
Yuck, the Toyota Groaner, as I called it.
My significant other looked at a Mazda 626 as well before buying her Corona, though the price difference was about 20%. She thought she bought the Corona after I came into her life, but I said if I’d been around I’d have happily given her the extra to get the Mazda.
My bad experiences with this model (above, as Old Pete), and elsewhere, didn’t stop me building one though. Here’s that cool coupe we didn’t get, in some leftover paint from Jane’s old car.
Ive seen those coupes here in NZ but whether they arrived new or were part of the ex JDM used tsunami I dont know, I was in OZ during most of the 80s, very few of those old Japanese cars are left on the road scrapped for a nice shiny used import with all the extras in most cases.
I distinctively remember the 1983 Toyota advertisements proclaiming for the new Australian made 1983 ST141 “Super Responsive” I thought against it’s opponants motor vehicles and engines. But, I’d bet it’s “Super Responsive” against the previous models standard Holden Starfire OHV dud motor 1,892 cc, 58 kW – 78 hp and wait for it……136 N⋅m 14 kg⋅m; 100 lb⋅ft.
Toyota PR dept had been screaming SUPER RESPONSIVE to the world how better this “new” engine in the new T141 was. In reality Toyota bearly caught up to the competition (see below). Pretty pathetic if you ask me.
My parents owned a “midtier” rent a car business in the Melbourne CBD during 1985-1987. The 3 most profitable segments were A-Compact,B-midsize,and C-family or large
A=segent included cars like Toyota Corolla E70 and E80 (I think base engines. manual trannies and novacain on wheels) Holden Barina was a great zippy FWD.
B= Suprisingly the Corona compared to other midsize RWD (Sigma and Bluebird) wasn’t the worst in my opinion. Sigma, Corona and Bluebird in that order, 1982’s Mitsubishi GJ Sigma had gutless but smooth Astron 4G52 70 kW (94 hp) and 152 N⋅m (112 lb⋅ft) and the throbby Astron 4G54 2.6 76 kW 102 hp and 192 N⋅m, 142 lb⋅ft. Corona’s new 2.0 ltr 2S-C with outputs of 73 kW (99 PS; 98 hp) @ 5,200 rpm and 157 N⋅m (116 lbf⋅ft) @ 3,200 rpm)
The 1067 elderly Nissan Bluebird’s L20B 1952 cc, making a wheezy 72 kW (97 hp).
We may have had early build V20 Toyota Camry 82 kW (111 PS) at 5,600 rpm, 166 N⋅m (122 lb⋅ft) at 3,200 rpm. 3S-FC Two-barrel carburettor version of the 3S-FE
We had no FWD’s in this class, cheap and dependible cars, all automatics.
C= Large class included = Despite relavity poor reliabity Mitsubishi Magna, I dont remember any issues. EF Ford Falcon with the inline 6 3.3ltr and VK Holden Commodore with the old inline 6 3.3.
Interestingly for 1986 all these vehiles didnt have even a basic EFI system and automatics is only 3 speed, except the Magna with 4 and was for occupunt comfort and technolgically a million miles ahead of any of these vehicles.
We had some station wagons I think where Magna’s or Commodores.
These cars are leaded fuel vehicles, before the change to Unlead fuel in 1986. many of the vehicles mentioned had either very modified or new unleaded engines. Or the cars themselves were unavailable for sale.
Great website Paul !!
Hello sir, can you get me corolla t140 Left hand drive , like the very blue and photos I attach to this request, please