I met the newest member of the Prius family today. And I did so a mere five miles from where I welcomed a little bundle of joy to my family 15 months ago in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Fitting, then, that this should be the family-oriented relative of the Green Movement’s poster child. Fortunately for me, the v was all cleaned up and ready to drive without a dirty diaper in sight. Read more…
It is a bitter cold spring day in Michigan, perfect I guess for taking a 2011 Toyota Prius out for a spin. While I’m fascinated by what the Prius is capable of I question the cost in terms of driving appeal. Click above to have a look. Read more…
The Venza had a lot going for it heading into this review. My colleagues and I had already determined that its bold grille, modern crossover proportions and over-the-top 20” wheels made it the best looking Toyota among the current crop. Not exactly a hard fought victory, we realize, but bonus points nonetheless. Plus we knew our particular model would be powered by the optional V6 that has been praised in everything from the RAV4 to the Camry, so we expected that to help seal the deal. Add in the fact that this particular crossover isn’t even tall enough to adversely affect handling all that much and we were fully expecting to write a review praising Toyota’s family hauler. And then over the course of a week we found ourselves distracted by some glaring faults and by the end we were left questioning, of all things, Toyota’s hard-earned and long-held reputation for unbeatable interior execution. Read more…
With sales of almost one million units since its debut in 2000, the Toyota Prius is an unqualified success and Toyota can hardly be blamed for looking at ways to expand the Prius’ appeal to new customers. Which is exactly what we saw Toyota do at this year’s Detroit Auto Show. Read more…
We tried to lead with something more insightful, but that is pretty much the best way to describe the third-generation Toyota Tundra. It’s big. Very big. Every aspect of it seems purposely designed to out-scale the domestic competition once and for all. In fact, I don’t think the pictures do it justice (and I took the pictures!) It almost has the look and feel of a three-quarter-ton Ford Super Duty. It’s as if Toyota overshot the half-ton class and landed in a five-eighths-ton class of one. Clearly this Tundra makes up for Toyota’s last two half-hearted foray’s into the full-size pickup realm with girth to spare. But there is more to being a successful pickup truck than size. Has Toyota done their homework? Read more…
Driving an off-road vehicle feels like piloting a giant concrete block.
They’re unweildy, heavy, bouncy, unresponsive and generally uncomfortable on the road. Vehicles like the Jeep Wrangler and Nissan XTerra might be great on the Rubicon Trail, but who cares about off-road ability when a trip to the Home Depot sends you to the chiropractor? Read more…
It seems that every time you open a newspaper or turn on TV, you see another story about how we Americans are fat pigs.
Scientific studies, government reports and publicity-loving doctors like to remind us that we’re beyond simply unhealthy — we’re so fat we’re killing ourselves. Read more…
It’s not often that you find Toyota playing catch-up with any car, much less in a category that it created just a few years before.
But that’s exactly what happened with the RAV4, a vehicle that almost single-handedly created a new wave of small, car-based SUVs in the late 1990s that were easy to drive but looked and performed like their truck-based cousins. Read more…
No, you don’t have to plug it in.
That’s the answer to the question lots of people asked about the 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid. They simply couldn’t figure how a big, muscular SUV with great power and acceleration could get the same gas mileage as some four-cylinder compact cars.
But, thanks to the miracle of gas-electric hybrid technology, that’s exactly what this SUV does. Read more…
There was a time when “compact truck” really meant “claustrophobic, micro-sized, knee-crunching truck that should only be bought by anorexic contortionists.”
But today’s compact trucks — well, there’s nothing compact about them. Read more…
