In late 1981, Toyota completely redesigned the Celica Supra as well as the entire Celica lineup for its 1982 production year. In Japan, they were known as Celica XX, but everywhere else the Celica Supra name was used. Still being based around the Celica platform, there were several key differences, most notably the design of the front end and fully retractable pop-up headlights. Other differences would be the inline-6 still present in the Supra instead of the inline-4 as well as an increase in length and wheelbase to conform with the overall larger engine. Toyota's continued market competition with Nissan is shown by the Supra's use of a rear hatch sun shade to avoid the louvres popularly associated with the Z car. Owing to an increase in the Supra's width, it was no longer regarded as a "compact" under Japanese dimension regulations.
L-type and P-type
In the North American market, the Celica Supra was available in two distinct models. There was the Performance Type (P-type henceforth) and the Luxury Type (L-type henceforth). While being mechanically identical, they were differentiated by the available options; tire sizes, wheel sizes, and body trim. The P-type had fiberglass fender flares over the wheel wells, while the L-type did not. The P-type was also standard with the more sporty 8-way adjustable seats. The P-type did not get the option of a leather interior until 1983. All editions of the P-Type had the same 14x7-inch aluminum alloy wheels and throughout the years the L-Type had 14x5.5-inch wheels until 1985 when they were changed to a P-type styled 15x6. The L-type also had the option of a digital dash with trip computer; some Canadian models had this option as well as a few rare instances of American models. The digital dash featured a digital tachometer, digital speedometer, and electronic fuel level and coolant level gauges. The trip computer could calculate and display various things such as fuel economy in miles-per-gallon, estimated time of arrival (ETA), and distance remaining to destination. Excluding the 1982 model, all P-types were available with headlight washers as an option, but the L-types were never fitted with such an option. Although gear ratios changed throughout the years all P-types came as standard with a limited slip differential.
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