Toyota Wants Its New Four-Cylinder To Be Better Than A 2JZ

Toyota got us all rather excited earlier this year when it, in a joint announcement with Subaru and Mazda, confirmed it was working on a range of brand-new internal combustion engines, designed to underpin its next generation of pure combustion and hybrid cars.

Set to arrive over the next couple of years in both 1.5 and 2.0-litre forms, the engine family is made up of fairly traditional inline-fours, and it’s set to power everything from hard-working pickup trucks to sports cars.

We’ve even had an idea of what it sounds like after Toyota showed off some footage of a Lexus IS prototype testing with it. And to show just how seriously Toyota is taking these new engines, it’s hoping their legacy will parallel that of perhaps the company’s greatest engine of all – the 2JZ.

Japanese outlet Karuma News attended a press briefing and ride-along event where it got to experience the new engine first-hand, according to Lexus Enthusiast. There, a Toyota engineer said: “Toyota has a globally popular engine called the “2JZ engine”. I would like to aim for an engine that surpasses that.” 

If you’re reading this, you’re doubtless familiar with the 2JZ. A 3.0-litre straight-six produced in both naturally aspirated and twin-turbo versions, it’s famed for its durability, tunability and raspy sound, and is most notable for being installed in the fourth-generation A80 Supra. No pressure, then.

At the event, Karuma News had ride-alongs in both an automatic Lexus IS – presumably the one from the sound video – and a Toyota Hilux, the latter of which featured the engine in 296bhp guise and mated to a six-speed manual gearbox.

However, Japanese magazine Best Car was also at the event and quotes a Toyota engineer who revealed the existence of a prototype Lexus RC featuring the engine in roughly 600bhp form, hooked up to a six-speed manual.

This engine, reportedly, “was said to be for motorsports,” tallying with Best Car’s previous reports that a 600bhp version is in the works for racing applications, but it’s thought that up to 395bhp will be extracted from the road-going engine. It’s that version that’s rumoured to sit in upcoming revivals of both the MR2 and Celica.

It’s going to take a lot for a four-cylinder to carve out the same sort of legacy as an engine as legendary as the 2JZ, but it looks like Toyota is taking this project very seriously indeed. We can’t wait to see the finished item.