[jdw5155]

Question I posted to Toyota Racing Development (TRD):

"Will you be creating any performance products for the forthcoming US Lotus Elise? Will any of the performance parts for the 1.8L Celica GT engine fit on this? Any information you might have would be appreciated. "

---

Answer from TRD:

"Unfortunately TRD has no plans to offer parts for the Lotus Elise.

(Hugs and Kisses)
TRD Help"


Okay, they didn't put in the Hugs and Kisses part, but I know they wanted to.

Perhaps a contractual issue with Lotus, who knows. I do look forward to some of the more adventureous on these forums to keep us posted as they use the TRD parts or others to raise the performance bar a few notches. Shame TRD will not be offering up sanctioned bolt ons.

I'm sure Lotus Motorsport will eventually be offering their own performance upgrades, right?

Jim

 

[hermanslotus]

Jim,

What did you expect??

Lotus has spent a lot of time and $$$$ tuning that Toyota motor for our Elise. They developed the engine management software in the ECU, the intake system,exhaust system and they had to modify the oil pan on that Toyota motor to make it fit.

I am sure TRD was told hands off on this. I am certain there are and will be no TRD bolt on parts for our Elise. Ofcourse anyone with a new Elise can buy TRD parts and try to make it work and maybe destroy a nice new motor with a nice new factory warranty

Best Wishes,
Mitch

 

[jdw5155]

Relax Herman, I was just sharing a little information with the community. I'm sure you intuitively knew that TRD wasn't going to be looking to support another variant of Toyota engine, so this information wasn't for you.

Hugs,
Jim

 

[hermanslotus]

Jim,

No worries, Do you or did you in the past own a Toyota??

Mitch

 

[jdw5155]

Yeah, but nothing fun to modify. In college I had a Corolla and my previous car was an Avalon. Very reliable but terribly boring. Maybe I should have considered finding a supercharger for it. That would have been quite a sleeper.

I'm guessing you've worked over and tracked a few Toyotas?

 

[hermanslotus]

Yeah, but nothing fun to modify. In college I had a Corolla and my previous car was an Avalon. Very reliable but terribly boring. Maybe I should have considered finding a supercharger for it. That would have been quite a sleeper.

I'm guessing you've worked over and tracked a few Toyotas?

Yeh I hear ya, A good friend mine had a '89 Corolla in collage we couldn' t kill that car until the igntion went at 197,000 miles unreal. Yeh it was a boring car but may did it last.
I'm sure the Toyota motor in the Elise will be very reliable. That car will be a blast!!!!

Best Wishes,
Mitch

 

[Randy Chase]

Just a note, TRD has shifted it's emphasis in the last 5 years to clothing. So it's not a big surprise. They basically dropped support for the 5000/year Toyota Spyder.

 

[banTTor]

I like buttons.

I want a car with lots of buttons or a car that has a button most other cars dont have.

 

[babak]

I like buttons.

I want a car with lots of buttons or a car that has a button most other cars dont have.

Would a started button suffice?

 

[MattG]

Just a note, TRD has shifted it's emphasis in the last 5 years to clothing.

Lol. Sad but true. Rumor has it they're changing their name to Toyota Racing Duds.

Actually, I think they're just putting most of their effort into race engines these days.

 

[Modern Wedgie]

Sadly, I never would buy TRD equipment for my celica, because a lot of aftermarket tuners provided better tested products, like Hotchkis, etc. And it took too long before the Eibach/TRD equipment became competitive to the others...something like 2 years after the inital launch of the new celica.

I guess they just work on name recognition alone, and are warrantied by toyota which makes a huge difference to those who are worried about aftermarket upgrades voiding warranties.

 

[OneFastLotus]

I get dealer cost on TRD/standard Toyota items and I recently checked on the price of the toyota LSD...they dont offer much discount on this particular item...I get it at only $30 less than full retail

Close to $1000 for an LSD.

 

[Randy Chase]

I get contigency racer cost on TRD stuff (and have been known to cash a few TRD checks for winning). Is that the same as dealer cost Jenn? I pay about half of what retail is.

 

[CrashTestDummy]

I was told by the dealer that there is little to no markup on the TRD stuff. I get parts at dealer cost on most model lines and have seen some of the mark-ups, there was only a $50 mark-up on the diff.

Curious, do the 6 speed Celicas have a LSD in them or are they open? Why not just get one out of a junkyard ifso?

 

[shinoo]

I heard that TRD will become the 'tuner' division of Toyota. Much like BMW M or Merc AMG. A TRD tuned Lexus seems pretty marketable to the status buyers who want a bit more 'performance'.

 

[vvtlikick]

...
J/C, do the 6 speed Celicas have a LSD in them or are they open? Why not just get one out of a junkyard ifso?

I believe the only 7th gen Celica with a factory LSD is the top-of-the-line model in Japan. All other models and markets get open diffs.

The euro market MR-2 Spyder and the newest US market Spyder come with one from the factory, which should fit.

 

[OneFastLotus]

I get contigency racer cost on TRD stuff (and have been known to cash a few TRD checks for winning). Is that the same as dealer cost Jenn? I pay about half of what retail is.

Randy, Im not sure, we get whatever crashtestdummy mentioned above.
We get contingency from Mazda and the discounts are pretty deep which is why the Toyota LSD suprised me so much. Maybe your contingency is less than dealer cost? Im not sure with Toyota.