Toyota Sera: Difference between revisions

The Toyota Sera was a small sports car built by Toyota solely for the Japanese market in the early 1990s, though enthusiasts in New Zealand, Australia and the UK have since imported the Sera.

Its most distinctive feature was its gull-wing doors which hinged forward and up from the bottom and top of the A pillar (similar to the McLaren F1). The Sera was available with a 1.5 L inline 4 engine. The Sera came with either 3 speed automatic or a 5 speed manual transmission.

The car is related to the Toyota Starlet, and shares similar floorpans, suspension, steering and brakes.

The engine is the 5E-FHE developing 110ps (108bhp), and this is the largest capacity derivation of the E series engines, and the most powerful of the normally aspirated versions. The Toyota Starlet GT Turbo or Glanza engine, codename 4E-FTE, develops 135ps (133bhp) as standard and has been successfully transplanted in a number of Seras both in Japan, Australia and the UK.

The doors are the most eye-catching feature of the car. They are hinged towards the top of the door and about half way up, and they tilt up and forwards - the McLaren F1 copied these doors. Other people have said they've never seen a seagull with wings like the Sera, so maybe the term gullwing is inaccurate!

They are more correctly called dihedral doors.

The weight of the door is reduced by a thick gas spring (gas strut), but there is a balance system to help take into account changes in temperature inside the door that is not visible without removing the door panels. The door can be opened fully in a fairly confined space, unlike most cars with conventional doors.

The Sera came with an optional 'Live' surround sound system that included a on the rear parcel tray that could rotate towards the passengers or the glass hatch. The premium sound package also included as small subwoofer as well as a center speaker in the dash.

The downfall of the car is the huge amount of glass that creates a green house effect inside the car causing interior temperatures to soar. All Seras came standard with air conditioning to offset this problem. Due to the overwhelming amount of glass the body is not very rigid. This lack of rigidity takes cause poor handling characteristics with pronounced body roll. Another disaponting feature is a tiny opening for the rear cargo area; measuring only 52cm by 82cm. This boot (trunk) space is only large enough to fit a small suit case, fortunately the rear seats fold down to increase storage area to an acceptable level.

• UK Toyota Sera Registry

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Yes, the boot size is limited, but as a previous editor has stated, the seats fold down to make the boot space very spacious. The high loading lip is a problem though.

The shell is pretty rigid - the sills are very very strong indeed (I've tried cutting through them in the past), and the A and B pillars are very strong as this forms a rollover cage. I suspect the shell is much more rigid than the Starlet the car is based upon.

Pronounced body roll is due to the springing and damping the car comes with. This can be fixed with a set up uprated dampers and springs, but the trade off for handling is a loss of ride comfort.