Toyota Calls A Spade A Spade. Saywhat?

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt
toyota calls a spade a spade saywhat

A Spade.

Listening to demands for “compact cars with minivan-like features,” Toyota unleashed two truly mini minivans upon the Japanese public, with the aim of becoming the leader in that segment. But wait what they called the thing.

A Spade

Powered by either a 1.3 liter or 1.5 liter engine, both mated to Toyota’s Super CVT-I, the mini minivans come with a “large, passenger-side remote-controlled sliding door. The door can be opened and closed using a wireless key or by the touch of a button from the driver or rear seats.” Apparently, Toyota wants to ncroach on Honda’s NBOX.

A Porte

The two minivans are actually one. Same body, same engine, trim, even price. What is different are the names and the channel. One minivan, called “Porte” is sold through “Toyota” and “Toyopet” dealers, the other, called “Spade” is available at through “Toyota Corolla” and “Netz” dealers.

Yes, they called it a spade. Toyota helpfully supplies the information that Porte is derived “from the French word for door”, whereas “spade” was “chosen as it contains portions of the words space and wide, key elements in the vehicle’s design, and also because it is the strongest suit in a deck of cards.”

Ok, ok. But did they check the urban dictionary?

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  • Damon Thomas Adding to the POSITIVES... It's a pretty fun car to mod
  • GregLocock Two adjacent states in Australia have different attitudes to roadworthy inspections. In NSW they are annual. In Victoria they only occur at change of ownership. As you'd expect this leads to many people in Vic keeping their old car.So if the worrywarts are correct Victoria's roads would be full of beaten up cars and so have a high accident rate compared with NSW. Oh well, the stats don't agree.https://www.lhd.com.au/lhd-insights/australian-road-death-statistics/
  • Lorenzo In Massachusetts, they used to require an inspection every 6 months, checking your brake lights, turn signals, horn, and headlight alignment, for two bucks.Now I get an "inspection" every two years in California, and all they check is the smog. MAYBE they notice the tire tread, squeaky brakes, or steering when they drive it into the bay, but all they check is the smog equipment and tailpipe emissions.For all they would know, the headlights, horn, and turn signals might not work, and the car has a "speed wobble" at 45 mph. AFAIK, they don't even check EVs.
  • Not Tire shop mechanic tugging on my wheel after I complained of grinding noise didn’t catch that the ball joint was failing. Subsequently failed to prevent the catastrophic failure of the ball joint and separation of the steering knuckle from the car! I’ve never lived in a state that required annual inspection, but can’t say that having the requirement has any bearing on improving safety given my experience with mechanics…
  • Mike978 Wow 700 days even with the recent car shortages.
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