PETROL-POWERED 300 SERIES... ANYONE?

TECH TORQUE

- FRASER STRONACH

TOYOTA came up with a surprisingly high-tech diesel powertrain for the 300 Series and has done the same for the 300's petrol powertrain, not that you can buy it here in Australia ... yet.

Toyota Australia hasn't offered the 300 Series' petrol engine here because demand for petrol power in the 200 Series had dried up to the point where the 4.6-litre petrol V8 was no longer offered in the last two years of the 200's showroom life, after dwindling to approximately two per cent of overall 200 Series sales.

The trouble with the 4.6-litre petrol V8 in the 200 was higher fuel use than the diesel, with no real performance advantage in its favour. It only offered an extra 28kW over the 4.5-litre V8 diesel's 200kW, and its maximum torque figure of 439Nm was well short of the V8 diesel's 650Nm maximum. And where the V8 diesel needed just 1600rpm to reach its torque peak, the petrol V8 needed all of 3500rpm to get to its torque peak. On the road, in general driving, the 200's otherwise amenable petrol V8 always felt less energetic and responsive than the diesel V8 and barely managed to shade the big oiler in a pedal-to-the-metal contest.