12 Of The Worst-Looking Toyotas Of All Time

Toyota has been on a design rampage lately. The latest Prius is one of the finest-looking passenger cars around, and the Land Cruiser is taking us back to its origins with a brilliant, retro-looking design. Even the company's low-cost offerings catch the eye — the latest Toyota Corolla Hatchback is a fun and cool little car. And let's also not forget about stunners like the GR Supra coupe and Crown Sport crossover.

That's not to say Toyota didn't have design failures throughout its history. Toyota wasn't known for great design in the past and mostly produced cars with passable styling. Still, as you'll see in our list of the worst-looking Toyotas of all time, the automaker produced some weird-looking cars that only mother could love. Others were downright bland, showing that design was not a top priority for the company. Predictably, most of these cars were forgotten, though some enjoy cult following. So, fasten your seatbelts, because this Toyota wall of shame has some interesting stories to tell.

Imagine a city car measuring just 152 inches long with enough space for four adults and their cargo. Now imagine it returning 47 mpg combined (turbodiesel), while also being capable of 99 mph. Oh, and on top of that, it's hugely reliable and durable.

On paper, the Yaris Verso seems like the ideal city car for tight European and Japanese streets. Conceived as a more practical alternative to the regular Yaris, this "minivan" version offered a vastly bigger interior, while retaining the tiny footprint. Not only that, but the rear seats could also be folded flat without removing the headrests, revealing a vast 75.6 cubic feet cargo area. Heck, it even offered an elevated driving position before crossovers became a thing. Toyota used some "kei car" magic here, and it worked.

However, you really need to love its practical traits, and hate cars in general, to love the Yaris Verso. European owners of these vehicles were happy with what they got, but boy did they look dull. Toyota's designers tried to cheer things up with a happy-looking face and tear-shaped side windows, but that quirkiness did nothing to wipe out the dullness. The interior isn't as bland and the dashboard has some funky-looking lines. Still, it's mostly one shade of grey, making it look quite boring.

WiLL was a brand conceived by Toyota, Panasonic, Asahi (yup, the beer company), and Kinki Nippon Tourist Company to launch products that appealed to millennials. The WiLL lineup was quite extensive, and included a desktop PC, collapsible bike, dark beer, and of course, cars.

Individuality was WiLL's selling point. Sort of what Apple does today, but on a grander scale, because Apple canceled its car project before it even reached concept stage. Toyota didn't have that problem, though, as it already had a chassis lying around, and producing an "individual" WiLL car was only a question of replacing the body panels and redesigning the interior.

The WiLL Vi (pronounced vee) was based on the Vitz/Yaris, but you'd probably be hard-pressed to even guess it's a Toyota. With its unusual symmetrical sedan shape, the Vi will hardly win any design awards. It just looks too squished, too cartoony. And what's with that egg-shaped body that even the side windows follow? No question, the WiLL Vi will turn heads everywhere it goes for all the wrong reasons.

Although it has a similar shape, the interior isn't as dull as the Yaris Verso's, thanks to the various shades of brown — hardly the funkiest color, but better than grey. The dashboard was made from highly recyclable Super Olefin Polymers, lmuch ike the plastics used in most modern vehicles today. So, although the Will Vi is one of the strangest Toyotas ever made, at least it has some legacy to its name.

Toyota was obviously all-in with the WiLL craze at the turn of the century, launching two more cars under the brand. One was an eccentric Corolla-based hatchback called the VS, which borrowed the looks from Stealth Fighter aircraft. It didn't help much, though the smaller WiLL Cypha was undoubtedly the worse looking of the pair. Seriously, there are cars with sad-looking faces, like the frog-eye Ford Scorpio, and then there is the Cypha.

Being a 145.5-inch-long city car, the JDM-only Cypha already has a foolish appearance that suits younger audiences. Its upper grille and hood line even smiles! Unfortunately, the vertical headlights with four eyes apiece erase all that happiness from Cypha's face. It just looks so dejected, much worse than the Vitz/Yaris on which it was based, though you could argue it looks better than the WiLL Vi.

Curiously, Cypha's name was an abbreviation of "cyber" and "phaeton." The latter is an open, four-wheel carriage frequently used before cars became popular. See the resemblance? Neither do we. At least the WiLL Cypha came with Toyota's G-Book network service, which offered Google Maps functionality before the service was even available. Notably, it informed the driver on nearby restaurants, movies, and other events, and could even learn the user's preferences. So, the Cypha at least got the "cyber" part right.

Back in 2015, when Tesla was starting to reap the benefits of its first mass-market EV, the Model S, Toyota introduced a hydrogen-forward initiative with the Mirai. The world's first mass-produced hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle arrived to disrupt the EV industry with longer range and quick fill-ups. However, hydrogen wasn't ready for mass adoption, with hydrogen stations being even rarer than the Mirai itself.

The fact that the Mirai looked like it did certainly didn't help matters. While Tesla's Model S was sleek and sporty, the Mirai was an overdesigned mess. There was simply too much going on. Look at those front gaping air intakes, or the unnecessary sharp incision under the bonnet that connects the headlights with the windows. Then, there are the weirdly accentuated fenders, and comically big taillights. It's the same story inside: a busy dashboard with too many physical and touch buttons. Too much piano plastics. Just generally clumsy.

During our 2016 Toyota Mirai first drive, we learned that it wasn't a bad car. It wasn't fast or exciting, but it got the job done. We reckon most buyers couldn't get over the appalling design. Fortunately, Toyota redeemed itself with the second-gen Mirai, which looks way more elegant and cohesive. It's also quicker, and more economical. Heck, it even utilizes the same RWD platform as the Lexus LS, instead of the FWD configuration of its predecessor. It hasn't been enough to be a success, but at least it looked decent.

Toyota's hybrid powertrains are gaining market share at an increasing rate lately, and for understandable reasons. They are reliable, incredibly fuel-efficient, and easy to fill up — just like a regular gas car.

And all the success of Toyota's hybrids has its roots in the first-gen Toyota Prius — the world's first hybrid car. Launched in 1997 in Japan, the Prius offered sedan practicality, with the same interior space as the Echo, while returning vastly higher mpg figures. According to Toyota, the Prius was good for combined 48 mpg. In 1997, that was revolutionary. Oh, and unlike its biggest rival, the Honda Insight, the Prius didn't sacrifice functionality to reach those figures. Sure, it was not a large vehicle, but four could sit inside and fit some cargo.

Still, the Prius was far from an exciting car. It looks as boring as it gets from the outside, with weird proportions and almost no personality. Things didn't get better inside, with two pale shades of grey dominating the bland cabin. Although exciting in technical terms, the hybrid powertrain wasn't exactly thrilling, either. The 1.5-liter gas engine with 70 hp, aided by a 44-hp electric motor and a 1.78 kWh nickel-metal hydride battery, was only good for a 0-60 mph time of 13 seconds. Still, it was good enough to cement the Toyota Prius' status as a pioneer for future technology.

The Prius was never offered as a coupe, but it was not hard to imagine how it would've looked, because the Toyota Echo Coupe already existed. Boasting the same egg-shape styling as the Prius, but with two big doors on the sides, the Echo Coupe looks a bit tasteless. Kids will probably like the cartoonish design, but last time we checked, cars can only be driven by adults. Really, the first-gen Yaris, sold in other markets, was by far the best interpretation of the platform. Cohesive. Sporty. Just fun to look at. A polar opposite to the first-gen Echo.

Admittedly, the interior of the Echo was a carbon copy of the Yaris. However, while the Yaris had a cool digital instrument cluster, the Echo had simple analog dials. The design of the dashboard was playful and interesting, but again, the grey plastic made it look quite flavorless. At least the Echo was reasonably quick for an entry-level car; its 1.5-liter engine was good for 108 hp, and a 0-60 time of 8.5 seconds. Although not as economical as the Prius, the Echo was still sipping fuel at 35 mpg. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to entice buyers, with the Toyota Echo being discontinued in 2005 as a sales flop.

The first-gen Prius may not have been an outright ugly car, but after two more sedate generations, Toyota launched one of its most hideous cars ever. The Prius Mk4 is so overdesigned that ranting about it would take hours. Aerodynamic efficiency (0.24 Cd) was probably the driving force, but aerodynamically efficient cars can also look sleek. For instance, the latest Toyota Prius is a head turner.

Looking at the fourth-gen Prius, you'd be excused for thinking it was penned by designers that just started college. Every detail is superficial. The headlights are large and overly complex, almost touching the windscreen. Instead of connecting with the window line, line on the better-looking Prius Prime, they connect to the egg-shaped roof, which makes the car look squished. This was made worse by the huge front windows and the rising, sharp door incision that simply doesn't work with the round body. This is before you peek at the back, where you'll find taillights that would look huge on an SUV, let alone a small hatchback. Toyota improved the design of the facelifted 2019 Prius slightly, but it was still a dull-looking vehicle.

It's a shame, because the fourth-gen Prius was a very economical car. The Prius Two Eco model, for example, was good for 58 mpg city, an astonishing figure even by today's standards. With 121 hp on tap, it was also reasonably potent, reaching 60 mph in acceptable 9.6 seconds.

Remember when almost every automaker had coupe and convertible offerings of their popular models? Those times are sadly gone, but looking at the second-gen Camry Solara might make you think that's a good thing. Why Toyota decided to overdesign these lifestyle vehicles is anyone's guess, especially since the first-gen model looked sleek and elegant.

Like, the thin horizontal headlights on the original worked pretty well, so why did Toyota designers go for huge and ghastly teardrop-shaped headlights, instead. The hood incision only exacerbates the headlights and connects to the teeny-tiny grille. Yes, grilles today are oversized, but this one looks almost like a joke next to the headlights.

From the side, the Camry Solara coupe looks decent enough, but the egg-shaped roof is so dull. However, it's nothing compared to the convertible, which has a comically large negative space in the rear ¾. The huge body panel looks out of place, and makes the wheels look tiny. It's almost like a boat on wheels. The Camry Solara isn't too bad from the back, though.

To top it all off, the Camry Solara wasn't sporty by any stretch of the imagination. Yes, it had a potent 3.3-liter V6 producing 225 hp, but also didn't handle very well. Unsurprisingly, Toyota discontinued the Camry two-door coupe after only a decade on the market, with the convertible following soon after.

The 2JZ engine code is one of the most popular in the auto industry. A 3.0-liter inline-six, this engine has powered the mythical Mk4 Supra, both in twin-turbocharged (2JZ-GTE) and naturally aspirated (2JZ-GE) forms. But what if we told you the weird car in the image above was also one of the Toyota models powered by the 2JZ-GE engine?

The Origin is one of the weirdest and rarest vehicles Toyota ever made. Developed to commemorate Toyota reaching 100 million produced vehicles in its Japanese facilities, the Origin was designed specifically to look like the 1955 Toyopet Crown, the country's first Japanese-made passenger car.

We must admit, the Origin does resemble the first-gen Crown. Circular headlights. Chrome grille. Rolls-Royce suicide doors. It's all there. However, the Origin is also based on a modern platform, sourced from the Progrès, which is based on the tenth-gen Crown. Thus, it has a lower window line, and windows that look a bit oversized by comparison. It looks almost cartoonish, if you will. Origin's interior looked decently luxurious, though still too modern for the exterior design.

If you wondered, the Origin was equipped with the 212-hp tune of the naturally aspirated 3.0-liter inline-six. Toyota made only 1,000 units and sold them at 7 million yen (~ $47,000) apiece, excluding taxes.

Looking at the entries on this list, it seems like Toyota often has an issue with overdesigning its vehicles. The Probox, though, looks like it skipped the design department altogether. Its overall shape is nothing to write home about, because it's a box. However, there is nothing else on the body to distinguish the Probox — it looks like it was designed with rulers, and then just refined on the edges. The interior is quite spartan, too, with grey plastic dominating the cabin.

However, in this case, there is a reason why the Probox looks as it does. This minivan/wagon type of thing was designed mainly for commercial use, meaning nobody bought it because they liked it. Instead, people bought it because it offered a lot of space for little money. Toyota even made some engineering decisions to further maximize space. Notably, the rear axle was a unique four-link design with barrel-shaped nonlinear coil springs, while the shock absorbers were angled toward the rear.

To keep the price low, Toyota equipped the 165-inch long Probox with some of its smallest engines. As standard, the boxy wagon came with a 1.3-liter gas engine, with a 1.5-liter unit available as an option. Until 2007, the Probox was also available with a 1.4-liter turbodiesel. Curiously, Toyota even offered an AWD version, and a model equipped to run on compressed natural gas (CNG).

The Opa is another wagon/minivan model Toyota sold in its domestic market. Unlike the Probox, the Opa had at least some unique styling elements. However, the keener front end, vertical headlights, and unique stepped window line didn't make it more interesting to look at. In fact, the stepped line led to ridiculously large windows, and small, squished door panels. The rising window line gave the Opa a more dynamic look, but also made the door panels look like they were melting.

Interestingly, Toyota said at the time that the Opa offered minivan-like space and driving performance on par with a luxury sedan. We aren't sure about that second part; the Opa was offered with 1.8-liter or 2.0-liter gas engines, producing 134 hp and 150 hp, respectively. The smaller engine was also available with AWD, but then it only made 123 hp.

Only automatic transmissions were available with the Opa. The smaller engine was paired to a four-speed, while the larger engine was the first in Toyota's lineup to use a CVT. Hey, at least we now know which car to blame for Toyota's insistence on using CVTs in its economy cars. Unsurprisingly, the Opa was discontinued after five years on the market.

To finish off this list, we present you the best-selling vehicle in Indonesia — the Toyota Innova. Designed exclusively for the Southeast Asian market, the Innova is a combination of an SUV and minivan. The latest model launched in 2023, borrowing the design language from the Highlander, and it looks decent enough. Its proportions are still weird, but it's nothing compared to the previous generation, which looked like a coffin on wheels.

See, the side profile of the second-gen Innova offers nothing interesting — it almost looks like someone cut it with a knife. The huge negative area and relatively large windows add to the blandness, but crucially, make the wheels look tiny. We can definitely see shopping trolley vibes here. And don't let us start on the front end, which looks like it had too much plastic surgery. The rear end isn't too bad, but it's not exactly handsome, either.

Fortunately, the Innova was quite practical, offering three seating rows inside. It even had some luxury features, like climate controls for second-row passengers and wood-like inserts on the dashboard. Curiously, the Innova rode on a ladder-frame chassis, as opposed to the monocoque construction of the new model. As such, it came standard with rear-wheel drive, and Toyota's truck-specific engines — a 2.7-liter gas unit producing 164 hp and a 2.8-liter turbodiesel producing 172 hp.