V-12 Rumor

Road & Track Magazine ran a blurb a couple of months ago saying Lexus might be considering building a $100K-range V-10 exotic for around the

-- Pete

Cyberspace Raider wrote:

Thanks for the info.

CR

I think Toyota has a vehicle sold in Japan called Century which has a V-10 engine.

Century has a V-12 DOHC engine, not V-10.

The Toyota Century has a V-12 engine with a 42-volt electrical system (vs. the normal 12-volt.) Also it's a very bland looking car. Therefore there's no plan to bring it to the U.S.

The rumor that I heard is that the V-12 engine will be put into LX470, which will be discontinued. Will it be called the LX580??? If this is true it could be placed in other models as well.

CR

No, the V-12 won't be in the LX (the Land Cruiser line.)

Toyota's plan is to put a 5.0-litre V8 into the heavy SUVs, such as the Land Cruiser Cygnus and Prado. The 5.0-litre V8 would be a bore-out version of the existing 4.3-litre. (Actually it barely makes 4.8-litre.) The problem is that the matching tranny cannot handle the torque required in the SUVs reliably. They are working on it.

Next step is to make a full-size pickup with that V8.