1985taylor1925
Senior Member
How cool would it be if the 3rd gen bacame such a cult classic that Toyota decided to bring it back in a slightly re-engineered model. Hey, you never know, maybe one day it will happen. Now put yourself in the shoes of a lead designer and engineer for Toyota. What would you do?
Heres what I would do:
1. Widen the whole thing by 3". This would include the body, interior, frame, wheel base, a arms, the whole deal. This would have several benefit.
- A wider wheel base makes for more stable handling in any condition. It would give a smoother ride on and off road, and would obviously help elimintate body role and sway.
- Would provide a bit more space for a bigger engine and transmission!
- Would give us more interior space.
- Though the 3rd gen body looks good from almost any angle, Ive always thought it looked a bit narrow from the front or back. I would keep the exact same lines, just make it 3" wider.
2. Engine and drive train: With the extra room, a bigger and stronger engine!
- Basically something like what theyre putting in the 5th gens. Something in the range of 260-300 hp.
- Stronger tranny and drive train components, including axel and gears.
- Radiator and tranny cooler as two seperate units.
3. Redisigned suspension:
- A stronger steering rack. There tends to be a lot of issues related to the racks on our 3rd gens. The engineering has advanced so that they could eliminate those issues, producing a rack that will go 200k with no problems if well maintained.
- A arms/solid axel. So this one is up for debate. I know the majority of you would hands down opt for a solid front axel. To be honest I would prefer IFS, but would increase the length of the a arms by 1.5". This would make it more like a long travel setup, would provide less angle on the arms, allowing for a taller front lift, would give a smoother ride, and net more suspension travel.
- An adjustable fine tuned progressive front coilover.
- Watts linkage in the rear. No more panhard drops or adjustable panhard bars. No more rear axel sway. Perfectly verticle articulation but with the ride of coil springs rather than leaf springs. How awesome would that be.
- Beefed up rear swing arms.
4. Redisigned interior.
- With 3" more room, there are alot of options. More storage space, cup holders, navigation system, bigger cargo cubby, etc.
- Some heavy duty floor mats.
- How about optional 3rd row seating like the LC!
- Standard field monitor
- Rear climate control with overhead vents
- A few standard power outlets like the newer tacomas have
- Better interior lighting
- Bigger glove box
- And the list goes on
5. Exterior
- A few nice fender flare options
- How about a refined looking Sotoshi grill, like those on the fj cruisers
- The 96-98 style bumper, but significantly beefed up for collisions and with nice fog lights built in
- A JDM style spoiler
So what would you guys add/redesign??
Heres what I would do:
1. Widen the whole thing by 3". This would include the body, interior, frame, wheel base, a arms, the whole deal. This would have several benefit.
- A wider wheel base makes for more stable handling in any condition. It would give a smoother ride on and off road, and would obviously help elimintate body role and sway.
- Would provide a bit more space for a bigger engine and transmission!
- Would give us more interior space.
- Though the 3rd gen body looks good from almost any angle, Ive always thought it looked a bit narrow from the front or back. I would keep the exact same lines, just make it 3" wider.
2. Engine and drive train: With the extra room, a bigger and stronger engine!
- Basically something like what theyre putting in the 5th gens. Something in the range of 260-300 hp.
- Stronger tranny and drive train components, including axel and gears.
- Radiator and tranny cooler as two seperate units.
3. Redisigned suspension:
- A stronger steering rack. There tends to be a lot of issues related to the racks on our 3rd gens. The engineering has advanced so that they could eliminate those issues, producing a rack that will go 200k with no problems if well maintained.
- A arms/solid axel. So this one is up for debate. I know the majority of you would hands down opt for a solid front axel. To be honest I would prefer IFS, but would increase the length of the a arms by 1.5". This would make it more like a long travel setup, would provide less angle on the arms, allowing for a taller front lift, would give a smoother ride, and net more suspension travel.
- An adjustable fine tuned progressive front coilover.
- Watts linkage in the rear. No more panhard drops or adjustable panhard bars. No more rear axel sway. Perfectly verticle articulation but with the ride of coil springs rather than leaf springs. How awesome would that be.
- Beefed up rear swing arms.
4. Redisigned interior.
- With 3" more room, there are alot of options. More storage space, cup holders, navigation system, bigger cargo cubby, etc.
- Some heavy duty floor mats.
- How about optional 3rd row seating like the LC!
- Standard field monitor
- Rear climate control with overhead vents
- A few standard power outlets like the newer tacomas have
- Better interior lighting
- Bigger glove box
- And the list goes on
5. Exterior
- A few nice fender flare options
- How about a refined looking Sotoshi grill, like those on the fj cruisers
- The 96-98 style bumper, but significantly beefed up for collisions and with nice fog lights built in
- A JDM style spoiler
So what would you guys add/redesign??
