Australia isn’t quite as overrun with ex-JDM, used imports as, say, New Zealand. Typically, the Japanese imports I encounter are Supras, Skylines and the like. Imagine my surprise, then, when I saw this: a Toyota Blade. Looks like a pretty ordinary hatch, right? Just another Corolla derivative, you think? You’d be mostly right, unless we were talking about the Blade Master.
This appears to be a regular Blade and not the Blade Master, but let’s talk about both. Considering this is the first Blade I’ve seen and it was launched ten years ago, I’m not holding my breath for a Master appearing around here anytime soon.
The regular Blade replaced the Allex, which in turn replaced the Sprinter. As with its predecessors, the Blade was an upscale version of the Corolla sold through a different arm of the dealership network. Toyota sells cars in the Japanese market through Toyota, Toyopet, Corolla, and Netz dealerships; the Blade was sold through Toyopet dealers.
With the E150-series, the Corolla hatchback was now known as the Auris and was Toyota’s C-segment offering in Europe. Toyota Australia fought against the Auris name – perhaps after seeing Nissan’s debacle with renaming the Pulsar to Tiida – and so we received this as the Corolla. We also received the E150-series sedan, Toyota’s C-segment offering in North America and numerous Asian markets. (There were also smaller E150-series Corolla Axio and Fielder models in Japan, but let’s not go further down the JDM rabbit hole).
The Blade, like the Matrix and top-spec Corolla XRS in North America, used the larger Camry 2.4 four-cylinder with 160 hp. “Ok, that’s nice,” you may be thinking, “But what is so freakin’ exciting about a Corolla hatchback?”
How about a 3.5 V6 engine wedged into a compact, 3256-lb hatchback? That’s what the Blade Master was, using the same 2GR-FE V6 as could be found throughout the Lexus and Toyota model ranges. Unlike Volkswagen with the Golf R32, Toyota didn’t use all-wheel-drive in the Master. Although the Blade remained front-wheel-drive, Toyota didn’t detune the engine and it produced the same 276 hp and 254 ft-lbs as in other applications. The only transmission was a seven-speed automatic with paddle shifters.
That’s a lot of power for a compact, but don’t think of this as a hot hatch. It wasn’t. The steering was vague and the traction control was intrusive and couldn’t be turned off. Although the Blade received a revised suspension – and used double wishbones at the rear – handling was competent but unexciting. Some critics also found understeer and torque steer to be excessive; others were kinder in their assessments but still not willing to call the car thrilling.
Where the Master succeeded was in highway cruising. Thanks to a smooth ride and a tractable V6, the Blade Master could soak up long distances. The flagship Master G added some nice luxury equipment – like an automated parking system – and an abundance of Alcantara trim throughout the cabin to improve the ambience.
So, the Blade Master may have followed the muscle car formula of putting a big car’s engine in a smaller car, and it may have had the power figures and dynamic name of a hot hatch. But instead, this curious JDM oddity fancied itself as a grand tourer. A compact, FWD, V6, hatchback grand tourer.
Related Reading:
CC Capsule: 2002-05 Alfa Romeo 147 GTA – Hot Hatch Meets Muscle Car
Curbside Capsule: 1992-94 Plymouth Sundance Duster – Little Car, Big Engine
I was just commenting in another post today that the average person has some basic expectations of a car, and some low end fodder can’t be motivated on an on-ramp safely and makes a too much noise not doing much of anything.
So, you take one of the better penalty boxes, make it a bit more roomy, give it a decent quiet ride and performance above expectations, and in the United States you’d have another sales dud. This sounds like a very likable car, but it would be labeled a car for the geriatric.
Suddenly, I feel a bit sorry for auto product planners and marketers.
The car is so bland, I was looking at the background of the photos instead.
Now I want to ride on the Sushi Train!
It may be bland (the tailights shown look positively weird), but Toyota should have made this the 2nd generation Scion xb if for no other reason than the xb looked too similar to the xd.
It’s incredible to think there were so many different varieties of Corolla, there could almost have been a separate Corolla Car Company.
The vanilla version was the Scion IM, now the US market Toyota Corolla IM…..now stealthily available at your neighborhood Toyota dealer.
I find the Corolla IM very appealing, though I’ve only seen one with Toyota badging (I’m in the US). And it’s available with a manual transmission, so although it’s probably less sporty, it seems like a viable alternative to the Mazda 3 and VW Golf 4 door (5 door?) hatches.
Interesting, never heard of these special editions. The last “sporty” Auris we had was this
2.2 D-4D D-CAT GT180. That’s with a 177 hp 2.2 liter oil burner, we never got an Auris lukewarm-/warm-/hot hatch version with a gasoline engine.
I think I’ve already told here, but I’m a massive fan of that engine. In a 2-dr Auris or in a 2006 Avensis wagon. That and the 1.9 TDI are by far my favourite “mundane” diesels.
Wasn’t that specific 177 hp version of the 2.2 D4D engine rather problematic? It was only offered for a relatively short period, IIRC.
At its introduction it was the most powerful 4-cylinder car diesel on the market.
It’s quite rare around here, as most Avensis were the 2.0 (don’t know about the Netherlands). It might have been problematic but at least in Portuguese forums there aren’t many reports neither in the Toyota side nor the Lexus (IS220d, very same engine but with RWD) side, probably due to the rarity.
At the time that engine was quite a feat dor Toyota as they finally had a diesel four that could go on par with a E46 330d on the Autobahn
I was looking at a used ’07-’10 Avensis with a diesel a little while back and a significant percentage sported new engines – across versions. So it seems you’ re right.
Even the 2.0??? Wow, that period must have been a bad one for Toyota!
By the way, Mads, what car did you end up with? Since we heard about your love affair with the A2 1.2 TDI, I haven’t seen anything since!
Since I talked about the 1.2 TDI, I once saw a quite mad German project: a guy got a Lupo 3L and a 1st gen petrol Audi A8 4.2 V8 and swapped engines between them!
The 1.2 TDI might be a good engine. But not in an A8!
Had no idea this existed. That seems a bit overkill in the engine department, for a FWD hatch. I guess it was…
Toyota is rumored to be readying a “hot”/sporting model of the next Yaris….though it’s not sure if the U.S. will get it.
I wish someone would remind Toyota that there is more to building an “attractive” car besides styling and a big engine.
Toyota Yaris GRMN, “more than 210 hp” from a 1.8 liter supercharged engine.
It says New Yaris on its plate, but the new -as in current- Yaris model is merely a recent update/facelift.
Around 200 to 220 hp is the maximum power output of today’s B-segment hot hatches, some renowned names are the Peugeot 208 GTi and Renault Clio RS.
A more humble “new” Yaris. Two-tone paint job though! I forgot to mention that the 1.3 liter gasoline engine has been replaced by a 1.5 liter engine, naturally aspirated.
These Blades were quite a step up in market position compared to their Allex predecessor. The basic Master model was roughly the equivalent of $30,000 when new. As it turns out, they diddn’t exactly fly off dealer lots, and Toyota tried a different approach for the next luxury Corolla-based hatch, the Lexus CT200h. Just a couple minor points; the transmission was a 6-speed unit, and Blades were sold out of both the Toyota and Toyopet Store locations. Auris was exclusive to the Netz and Corolla Store networks.
I have never seen these particular corollas downhere but we do get AURIONs with 3.5&six speed manual and i have driven one&it’s tons of Fun.thank you for this interesting cc.
Perhaps now the Australian native car industry has been turned off your parking lots might become more interesting William, if not surf over to NZ and be amazed and its not only the JDM cars youve never seen we have used imports from all over the RHD planet though ex UK cars are not a very good idea we have em, Complying imported cars can be a nightmare with all the silly regulations we have the variety is impressive, Ive seen a couple of these blades and the spec sounded interesting when seen on online auctions.
It’s a 21st century Japanese Ford Galaxie LTD. Except it lacked that car’s sales success.
Granted, with the Japanese taxation setup, anything over 2.0 liters is going to be niche…but maybe with a manual transmission and a harder edge, like the Golf R or Focus RS, it would’ve been a more successful niche car and a global one, as well as a much-needed enthusiast-cred builder for Toyota.
What a peculiar automobile. Also I keep seeing bits of other cars in the design–Golf, Nissan Leaf, even a vague whiff of Frenchness. The 3.5 version is absolutely puzzling–reminds me in an odd way of the V8 Pacer!
Sharp eyes, William! I’d have just thought it was yet another blobbish-looking little black Toyota, not even noticed the badges and the funny lights, and paid more attention to the Volvo next to it. Or the Suzuki in the next row. Or the Magna pulling into the spot behind it. Or….
“This curious JDM oddity fancied itself as a grand tourer. A compact, FWD, V6, hatchback grand tourer.”
Just another way to sell a few more V6 engines? I can’t see how this combo makes any marketing sense beyond that. It’s too small (short wheelbase) a car to be a true grand tourer. Gobbling up miles does not take a large engine in a small package in a speed limited world. I would be looking for a balanced package using a 4 cylinder with a flat torque curve and a balance shaft to mitigate the inherent vibrations. (The 2.4 L engine may be just that – I don’t know).
The only thing laudable in this Blade is the fully independent rear suspension. I also like the interior. I’d like to put those bits into my Pontiac Vibe.
This engine is a rocket in my wife’s AWD RAV4 Sport. It can chirp the tires on a hard launch… even with the AWD and the traction control that really doesn’t fully turn off. It would seem pretty difficult getting a Blade quickly off the line without burning the tires away.