I thought I had enough ‘80s stuff to go for two months, but no. So we’ll spend this April and May in the ‘90s, as I’m pretty sure I do have enough of that in store for an 8-week run. Toyota, to a greater extent than other JDM players (except maybe Nissan), grew their range a lot in the late ‘80s and ‘90s. One micro-niche that became important was the sort-of-sporty pseudo-hardtop saloon, of which this Carina ED is a perfect example.
To be entirely fair, we’ve covered this ground many times already. We’ve seen the Nissan Presea, the Bluebird U12 hardtop, the Toyota Corolla Ceres and Sprinter Marino, the Honda Inspire… And, of course, the Carina ED’s very own twin sister, the Corona EXIV. All of these were part of this pillared hardtop craze, and there were more I haven’t had a chance to properly document yet (especially Mazda models).
The whole idea was to bring the exclusive and high-end feel of the hardtop look to a lower tier of models. In the ‘70s, hardtop saloons were reserved for a certain class of cars – Toyota Crown, Nissan Cedric / Gloria, Mazda Luce – the bigger models. By 1980, the Toyota Mark II / Cresta / Chaser and the Nissan Laurel had also joined the fray, soon to be imitated by the Mitsubishi Galant, the Toyota Camry and the Nissan Skyline. And by the mid-‘80s, the hardtop craze reached all the way into the lower-tier of family saloons – Corona, Pulsar, Corolla, Bluebird. This final, smallest form of the hardtop saloon is what we’re dealing with today.
In a nutshell, the Carina ED is a sister model to the Corona EXIV. Same body, same engines (1.8 and 2.0 litre 4-cyl.) and same platform, the latter two being shared with the Celica. The only difference lay in the front and rear styling, as well as the badging, obviously. And in this regard, the Carina ED is a case study in mad over-use of Engrish.
Let’s start with the model name: Carina was a nameplate in use since the early ‘70s, so no problem there. But Toyota saw fit to call their hardtop variant “Exciting Dressy,” hence “ED.” Never mind that these two letters are more usually used to refer to a well-known male ailment typically remedied by a course of little blue pills. But then, this car was never meant to be sold outside Japan.
To add another layer of hilarity, Toyota’s PR department were experts in finding the strangest English words for their high-trim cars. There was the Cresta Super Lucent Exceed, the Camry Prominent, the Chaser Avante Lordly and the world-class Lucida Estima Charme Pleasure Wagon. For the erectally-challenged Carina ED, the top-of-the-range package was called “Exciting Version.” Let’s hope whoever came up with that got a promotion and a lifetime supply of Oxford English Dictionaries (or Oxford EDs, as they would have called it).
So what warranted such Excitement for this Version? The usual toys – A/C, 4-speed auto, power everything, a sophisticated hi-fi system with CD and MiniDisc player (remember those?), front and rear spoilers and alloy wheels. One option was four-wheel steering, which our CC may also have.
The Carina ED was a surprisingly long-lived model, given its niche nature. It debuted in 1985, graduating to a new platform in 1989, when it was joined by its Corona EXIV twin. Our T200-based feature car was the third generation, launched in September 1993. By this point in time though, the whole concept of extending pillared hardtop luxury to the Corona / Carina was starting to wear thin: the Japanese economy imploded just as the new models launched and sales were consequently far below expectations.
By the mid-‘90s, most JDM car buyers were looking for something cheaper, not a smaller car that tried to look expensive. On top of which hardtops were notoriously cramped and perceived to be less safe in case of roll-overs. The first-generation Carina ED had garnered over a quarter million sales; the second generation did less than 200k. For generation number three, production barely made it past 110k units. It was time to call it a day for the sexy hardtops with the Exciting and Dressy names.
The last Carina ED limped off the production line in May 1998 and the last units were only liquidated by December of that year – a shocking amount of inventory for the champion of just-in-time car-making. But then, by this point in time, the whole JDM was in dysfunction – particularly Mazda and Nissan, soon to be followed by Mitsubishi. Toyota weathered these troubled times rather well, thanks to their overseas sales successes. Goes to show a little case of ED never killed anybody.
Related post:
Curbside Classic: 1994 Toyota Corona Exiv (ST200) TR-R – The Four-Door Celica, by T87
Great review. i’m very fond of the pillarless versions of these, that vanished with the previous generation. Corona EXiV started in 1989, replacing the Corona Coupe, so one generation later than the ED.
I just like the straightforwardness of “Exciting Dressy”. I mean, why not call it what it is? It seems hard to believe that the Carino nameplate would have come this far from the days of the early- ’70s model that was slotted between the Celica and Corona in the U.S. market. I think it’s just beautiful.
I don’t find it unattractive but I also don’t find that it has much unambiguous “identity” either…perhaps overall it’s a little limp, and its age isn’t helping. Sure, it’s a Toyota, however to someone half a step down on the auto aficionado ladder or say, someone not at all familiar with the JDM market, if you told them it was a Nissan (squint and see some Maxima/S14 in there) or a Mazda (likewise with Eunos Cosmo and smaller Amati iron) they’d likely believe you. In fact I think it could have been sold as either other marque without too much trouble. Except that they had their own home-grown versions already….
So is this FWD or RWD???
I know the Chaser Mark II, Mark X, Crown, Crown Majesta, Aristo(Lexus GS in the states) are all kinda the same car under the skin. I guess RWD midsize sedans were big sellers in Japan during the bubble economy, thus so many variants. And I know the bubble broke in 1991 or so, but all these variants had been designed, tested, all the R&D money was sunk before the bubble broke so I guess they said screw it and releasee 7 variants of the same car.
It’s FWD. It’s mechanically and structurally related to the mid-’90s Toyota Celica.
I’m fond of these, though I guess they lost something when they became pillared. However, they spoke to a kind of philosophical problem with Japanese cars of the ’80s, which started having the same problem as Italian cars of the ’60s, design-wise: The coupes and hardtops were sometimes pretty neat, the regular four-door sedans looked like shoe boxes. When it seemed like the market would grow forever, I guess that seemed to make sense, but with the proliferation of pillared hardtops, one became tempted to ask, “Look, wouldn’t it be easier to just make your sedans more attractive?”
Unfortunately, the bursting of the bubble meant that they just took the toys away instead.
“…Carina ED is a sister model to the Corona EXIV. Same body, same engines (1.8 and 2.0 litre 4-cyl.) and same platform… The only difference lay in the front and rear styling”
There is actually significantly more external stylistic difference (this generation, at least) between both than just the ends. The only exterior panels shared are the doors; even the roof stamping and back window glass are unique to each.