News: 2013 Toyota Mark X

Love the front diffuser and unique looking lights

The Toyota Mark X is often overlooked by buyers in Malaysia when looking for new cars based on the fact that it is not officially brought in by Toyota Malaysia themselves. However, among grey markets, the car is often one of the bestseller family sedans and to date, the Mark X though old still attracts young daddies. Still, it is fast looking its age already and a timely update is most welcome.

Enter the 2013 Toyota Mark X. Set to be released in Japan, the upcoming Mark X is an all new model from Toyota. As it seems that Toyota is in a roll of making beautiful updates to its car lineup, the Mark X is not spared. The Mark X ticks almost all the boxes in Toyota's new design direction but what it doesn't are cues from Lexus. As a whole, the Mark X looks nothing like a Lexus in a Toyota badge but a unique model altogether.

Rear boot has a unique look

A Toyota alternative to the GS model from Lexus, the Mark X has 2 engine choices, a 4GR-FSE 2.5l V6 pushing 200 hp at 6,400 rpm and 243 Nm 4,800 rpm and a 2GR-FSE 3.5l V6 generating 318 hp at 6,400 rpm and 380 Nm of torque at 4,800 rpm. All variants are mated to a 6-speed Super ECT automatic transmission but higher end models get an additional paddle shifters. I'm not sure what ECT means exactly but will update this as more info is revealed. There are 3 modes to select in the car as well - Sport, Snow and Eco mode. Since the car operates 4WD through an electronic control, it rides on 30 (front): 70 (rear) under normal conditions but the ditribution balances out if more grip is required.

Yum!

Cream interior makes the interior of the Mark X bland to me

The Mark X also sports a hefty amount of safety system but this will be updated later. Of highlighted items are Vehicle Dynamics Integrated Management (VDIM) which integrates the safety precautions in the vehicle as one to operate more efficiently. Another highlight is the Pre-Crash Safety System (milimeter-wave radar system). When the car's sensors placed in the front grille detects that the car is approaching an obstacle and has excessive speed, it sounds a buzzer alarm to alert the driver, the braking force is further increased and if the obstacle is unavoidable, the seat belts gets tightened to prevent the driver or passengers from flying off the car or hitting the dashboard. It sports a bi-xenon lamp and has Intelligent AFS which allows the headlights to turn according to the movement of the steering wheel. Much like that in Volkswagen cars. The mirror is auto dimming as well to reduce glare and the windshield wipers have rain sensors. I don't trust rain sensors on wipers that much though as it would cost a bomb to replace the wiper if it ever wears out. There are control navigation, cruise control and radar cruise control on the higher end models. The Radar cruise control operates much like the Adaptive Cruise Control in Volvo's S60 that slows down automatically if the car ahead of you slows down.

Gazoo's tune

Looks good

Toyota Japan also incites that the Mark X is a very eco friendly car and has loads of acronyms labelled on the car but since I don't read Japanese and Google's translate isn't making any sense, I will find for another alternative to give you more details about this bold new Mark X. Sorry, guys!