The New Toyota Century Is Here, With Hybrid Power And No V12

Toyota's updated Century has dropped the legendary '1GZ' V12 in favour of a hybrid V8 powertrain, but we still want one badly

Matt Robinson

05 Oct 2017

The New Toyota Century Is Here, With Hybrid Power And No V12

The Century is one of the weirdest cars Toyota has ever made. The second-generation version was fitted with a ‘1GZ’ engine - the only production Japanese V12 ever made - and stayed in production for nearly 20 years.

It was old-fashioned enough when it was first released in 1997, and had a reputation for being the wheels of choice for important government types and, err, gangsters. There’s now an all-new version on the block, and it’s just as quirky.

Just check out those 100 per cent wool seats! And the wood! And the net curtains! It really is a blast from the past, and even the all-new exterior isn’t vastly different to the old one.

Beneath the retro veneer though, much has been done to bring it bang up to date. There’s an LCD panel to control all the electrically-adjustable seats, a big entertainment display, a 20-speaker audio system, safety systems like collision avoidance, and much more besides.

The car has also - sadly - lost the V12. In its place is a ‘2UR-FSE’ 5.0-litre V8, supplemented by Toyota’s ‘THS II’ hybrid system.

The wheelbase has been extended to give rear seat passengers more space, and Toyota has even increased the door opening height and reduced the drop between the treadplate and the floor to make ingress and egress a little more graceful.

Fancy sampling those soft wool seats (leather is available, but why would you want that?) in person? The car will be on display at the Toyko Motor Show later this month.

Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.

Comments

I’d rather have one of these than a Phantom, TBH.

Why did I not even know it was still produced

Seeing this makes me want the old V12-powered Century more than ever.

“Old”

Looks awesome, but I suspect it won’t sell well at all compared to the likes of the S-class because of badge-snobbery. However, I think I have a solution that would massively increase sales…

Throw out the V8 and stick a 1LR-GUE in there! Definitely doesn’t suit the car’s character one bit, but who cares?

It wont sell well compared to those other cars because It cant be compared to any of those cars, The Century has always been sold only in Japan, and really the 1LR-GUE is Even more rare than the Century itself it will be sacrilegous to use it on car like this, now a modern interpretation of the 1GZ on the other hand would be a very welcome addition.