The 1995 Toyota Previa is the only “sports car” that can win a trophy for resembling a loaf of bread and still have the owner call it museum-quality with a straight face. This one took home a Hagerty “Best Silhouette” award, which is either the most niche concours class of all time or a polite […]
If you’ve spent any amount of time lurking around the van-nerd corners of the internet, you already know the first-gen Toyota Previa is one of the strangest and most screechiest people-movers ever sold in the US. Mid-engine? Sure. Driveshaft powered by a rubber donut? Of course. Optional supercharger? Naturally. But a factory AWD, 5-speed manual […]
If you were asked to make a list of mid-engine cars equipped with manual gearbox, rear-wheel-drive, supercharged engine, and seating for seven…you would probably struggle to find the answer. But the Toyota Previa was an oddball mid-engine minvan with a soundtrack that sounds like someone is dragging a bag of marbles behind the rear axle. […]
New car dealers have strange cars on their lots. You can’t even find a manual transmission at a Ferrari or Lamborghini dealership in 2021, but if you have a hankerin’ for a mid-engine car with a manual gearbox and rear-wheel-drive, skip the fancy new dealerships and head to craigslist. Yeah. Because the mid-engine car you are going to buy today doesn’t have a prancing quadruped on the hood, but it does have a stick shift and seats 7. Find this 1992 Toyota Previa offered for $2450 in Albuquerque, NM via craigslist. Tip from FuelTruck.
This next Previa looks so familiar at first glance, but falls apart under scrutiny. What’s up with those headlights? Is that wing stock? Why is it so narrow and skinny? Why are the bumpers so trim and tight to the body? Why does it have a postal truck backup mirror and a bumper mounted parking pole? The engine starts with the glack-glack sound of a turbo diesel 4-cylinder? White curtains and seat cover doilies? But the steering wheel on the right side is what gives it away — this is a sweet Japanese Domestic Market version of the Previa, known as the Estima Lucida and it comes with Lexus rims, a 3C 2.2 liter turbo-diesel, 4-wheel-drive and a manual gearbox. Looks like fun. Find this 1993 Toyota Estima Lucida offered for $13,890 in Canton, GA via eBay.
Driving cross country was much more common in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Full size vans from all the domestic automakers were the road trip van of choice. These vans were very often customized with murals on the exterior and fitted with wall to wall carpet on the inside. The Scooby-Doo or A-Team vans immediately come […]
If I told you to name all of the mid-engined 90s cars that were built in Japan and sold in the USA, the list would probably look like this — Toyota MR2, Acura NSX…and that’s about it….but you’d have missed the 7 passenger car with available supercharger and all-wheel-drive…did I mention you can get it […]
If you were asked to make a list mid-engine cars, equipped with manual gearbox, optional all-wheel-drive, optional supercharged engine, and seating for seven…you would probably struggle to find the answer. However, the truth is you’ve seen (and heard the screaming supercharger that sounds like a fountain pen being dragged across a chalk board) of this […]
When you start discussing mid-engine all-wheel-drive vehicles, most people think of cars like the Lamborghini Diablo VT or Audi’s Quattro equipped R8. However, Toyota beat them to the mid-engine all-wheel-drive setup with manual transmission (or supercharger) way back in 1990 with the launch of the XR10 series Previa minvan. Find this 1991 Toyota Previa offered […]