Toyota Sera

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Toyota Sera (EXY10)
Toyota AXV-II
Concept

The Toyota Sera (model designation EXY10) is a 3-door 2+2 hatchback coupe manufactured and marketed by Toyota from 1990 to 1996. It was only officially sold in Japan.

The Sera debuted in 1988 as the

Tokyo Motor Show
, the production-version Sera was presented. A vertically-positioned and electrically-automated model was also shown to demonstrate the butterfly doors and rear hatch in action.

Overview

Toyota Sera with one of the butterfly doors open
The distinctive glass roof "bubble" canopy provides a clear and wide opening view.

Released in a single engine configuration and body style, the Sera featured optional configurations for its transmission, brakes, cold climate and sound-system. Toyota marketed three trim versions, marketed as Phases, over its production and marketed the Sera exclusively in Japanese Toyota retail sales channels

Toyota Corolla Store — as an alternative to the Toyota MR2
, which was exclusive to Toyota Vista Store.

A total of 15,941 were built between February 1990 and December 1995.[1] 15,852 units were registered in Japan. Approx. 30 pre-production cars were used for development purposes.

Mechanical

The Sera came with the 1.5 L (1496 cc)

drums at the rear, unless fitted with the optional Anti-Lock Braking system
which had vented discs all round.

Mechanically the car is related to both the Paseo and the Starlet, sharing similar floorpans,

suspension
, steering and brakes.

Design

Body

butterfly door
Rear view with one butterfly door opened up
Sera with the optional Super-Live Sound System in "Casual Mode"

The Toyota Sera is a 3-door

gas strut
and counterbalanced by a smaller secondary strut inside the door.

Unlike conventional hinged side-opening doors, the butterfly doors can be opened fully in a fairly confined space, requiring only 43 cm (17 in) of lateral clearance. The Sera features windows that curve upward into the 'glass roof' section of the vehicle.

The rear hatch is constructed of a single piece of glass without a supporting steel frame. This, in combination with a steeply sloping front windscreen and glass upper-door/roof panels (a total of six separate glass pieces overall), gives the Sera its distinctive canopy and provides expansive visibility, although the thick

blind spot
, especially on the driver's side. To deal with its high solar load, air-conditioning and twin removable interior roof panels are standard.

Interior

Front bucket seats feature three point seatbelts and can tilt and slide forward to give access to the rear. The rear bench seat features a fixed central arm rest and either two or three point seatbelts.

In its normal interior configuration (with the back seats up and the parcel shelf in place) the rear cargo area does have a noticeably small opening (52 cm by 82 cm) and an elevated lip necessitating the lifting of luggage quite high before it can be placed inside. However the boot (trunk) is relatively deep and spacious. In addition the rear seats fold down and both the parcel shelf and the rear divider panel (usually in place behind the back seats) can be completely removed, in essence turning the entire rear half of the car into a cargo area. As such the Toyota Sera has a large amount of available storage space for its size. The space-saving spare tire and changing kit are contained in a small compartment below the boot floor.

Other features

The Sera/EXY-10 was one of the first cars to feature projector headlights (though the 1988 AXV-II concept model featured conventional headlights).

Phases

Toyota produced the Sera in three distinct trim variants, with either manual or automatic transmission, standard or ABS brakes and regular stereo or Super-Live Sound System ("SLSS") forming the three major choices for buyers. There were also a large number of additional factory options available across the entire production run.

Phase I (March 1990 – May 1991)

The initial build and the majority of the Sera's total production (around 12,000 of the 15,852 or so cars produced) featured:

  • 6 exterior colours (greenish yellow, medium blue, light turquoise (blue), wine red, dark grey and silver)
  • beige/tan interior or greyish blue depending on exterior colour
  • bayonet fuel filler cap
  • hard-wearing ribbed and woven seat material

Phase II (May 1991 – June 1992)

Around 2,300 cars of this second trim were produced featuring:

  • pastel pattern in the main sections of the seats with tan/greyish bolsters depending on interior colour
  • screw-type fuel filler cap
  • different seat materials

Phase III (June 1992 – December 1995)

1,550 of the final version of the Sera were manufactured, featuring:

  • grey interior with seat fabrics that have a secondary colour to complement the exterior colour
  • some engine component revisions
  • side impact beams in the doors
  • optional airbags (which may have been automatically accompanied by ABS)
  • three-point rear seat belts (Some very early Phase 3 models had standard lap belts)
  • stronger door struts to compensate for the side impact beams
  • solid plastic spoiler with LED high-level brake light incorporated (the only external change to the Sera)

References

  1. ^ a b "Affiliates (Toyota wholly-owned subsidiaries)-Toyota Motor East Japan, Inc". Toyota Motor Corporation. 2012. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  2. ^ Pollard, Tim (2012-07-06). "Twelve things you may not know about the McLaren F1". Car Magazine. Lynchwood, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, UK: Bauer Media Limited. Retrieved 2012-08-11.

External links