While many automakers have chosen to remove the frame from underneath their midsize SUVs lately, Toyota takes a different approach by delivering two medium-bodied sport utes – one with a frame and one without. We’ve already looked at the latest unibody Highlander, and now we’ll spend quality time with the 2014 Toyota 4Runner frame-based SUV we first saw last fall.
Just wanted to say a quick “Howdy” to all of my friends at Toyota that will be heading here to North Texas in the next few years. Yes, the company has announced it is consolidating its three manufacturing, sales and marketing operations in one location in Plano, Texas, which is a northern suburb of Dallas.
Last year, Senior Editor Dan Cohen and I were introduced to the new 2014 Toyota Tundra fullsize pickup in separate launch events, his in an eastern state and mine out west. In his review, Dan began a conversation related to consumers who buy trucks out of necessity, but here in the Lone Star State, many are purchased merely for want.
What is that sleek, sophisticated and dynamic new sport ute you just saw? According to Toyota it is the all-new third-generation 2014 Highlander. While previous models were very good in their own right, the new Highlander may just be the epitome of the saying ‘Third time’s the charm’ by delivering more style, more comfort and more utility and capability.
Toyota started things off with a bang at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit by debuting its FT-1 sport car concept. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of its Calty design studio, FT-1 (which stands for the ultimate Future of Toyota apparently) continues a lineage that includes the 1978 Celica, Lexus SC400, Supra, FT-HS and LF-LC.
Detroit is not the only venue that sees significant automotive announcements in January. Increasingly, automakers are using the global audiences at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to debut not only the latest in technology but the future of transportation as well. Case in point is Toyota’s FCV (Fuel Cell Vehicle) concept and prototype hydrogen test vehicle.
Over the past couple of years there has been a great deal of news coming from the Toyota/Lexus camp, but one headline that may have gone unnoticed was the complete makeover of the flagship sedan Avalon. Not only is this the best (and most “American”) Avalon to date, but Toyota now offers a hybrid variant to consumers as well.
Toyota has been in the hybrid automobile business longer than just about anyone. Both Honda and Toyota have been offering hybrid gas/electric vehicles more than a decade, but only Toyota and its Prius line, including the new Prius v, has grown so much it not only outsells mainstream models, but has evolved into a family all its own: Prii. The Prii family consists of the original Prius (which is now in its third-generation model line in the States), and Toyota has added three more models to the genus: Prius v (the “green” family truckster), Prius c (the cute little city…
The Toyota Corolla has been the best-selling car on the planet since its inception in 1966 but lately it has been playing second fiddle to the compact car from Ford. Toyota needs a change and they need it now. Introducing the all-new 2014 Corolla that is on sale now and arriving in showrooms very soon. Over the past five decades Toyota has built a solid global reputation for reliability, efficiency and function with its compact model, so when the call came for a complete overhaul of what is already a very good vehicle it appears the designers and engineers on…
For those of you who have not yet heard, Toyota makes trucks, and they want to make more of them. In order to do that they have to sell more, and to do that they need to bring to market a truck that more people will want to buy. That’s their goal with the 2014 Tundra. Full-size pickup trucks dominate sales charts in North America – but only for the domestic automakers. Ford and its F-series is tops with Chevy close behind in the Silverado. Way, way behind is the Toyota Tundra that only (arguably) began coming into its own recently….
There are certain words that are almost never used in automotive reviews of the best-selling sedan in America, the Toyota Camry. Those words include sexy, sporty, dynamic, titillating or fun. Apparently no one cares, especially consumers as Camry has led sedan sales here in the States for 14 out of the past 15 years and this past month Toyota sold its 10 millionth model since introducing Camry here some 30 years ago. Not bad Camry, not bad. In May of 1988, Toyota brought production of the car to its plant in Georgetown, Kentucky and in 2006 it began producing hybrid…
During this week’s Press Preview of the 2014 Toyota Tundra and 2014 Toyota 4Runner, we had a chance to spend some “quality time” in different models of each truck. And while we spent some time with the trucks on nicely paved roads, we also had a chance to go off-road with both vehicles. The event took place on the grounds of the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington, PA, a gorgeous resort set on 2,000 wooded acres in the Laurel Highlands of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Here’s a small taste of what it was like off-road in the 4Runner. Toyota had a series…
Toyota claims its Highlander midsize crossover utility vehicle pioneered the segment that saw traditional frame-based carry-alls attain more carlike attributes by converting to unibody architectures. Despite that, Highlander never really became a “household name.” That’s kind of a shame, as Toyota’s midsizer offers quite a few variants of its three-row CUV including choice of powertrains – four- or six-cylinder gas or hybrid engines – and front- or full-time four-wheel drive, along with choice of base, SE, Limited or new Highlander Plus trim grades. The current Highlander is the second-generation of the nameplate that received a mid-cycle refresh a few years…
In a little over a decade, the compact crossover/sport utility segment has more than doubled in the number of competitors and they come from all corners of the globe. Automakers have seen sales figures of these vehicles account for nearly 13 percent of all light vehicle sales and they all want a piece of that pie. Toyota introduced its first small SUV, known as the RAV4, in 1994 globally and here in the U.S. the following year. For 2013 the automaker brings an all-new Gen-4 RAV4 that will be sold in more than 150 markets around the world. Since 1995…
Day one of the 2013 North American International Auto Show has come to a close, and it is time for a quick rest before day two gets fired up with another round of rollouts, debuts, and premieres. Here is a gallery of the bedazzlement that the opening day offered from automakers such as Jeep, Chevrolet, Lincoln, Volkswagen, Hyundai, MINI, Bentley, Honda, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Toyota, Infiniti, and Maserati.
Move over smart car, Scion is taking over the micro-subcompact car segment with its iQ. The new Scion iQ is being touted as the world’s smallest four-seater and adds yet another model to the funky spinoff division of Toyota. I had been looking forward to testing this new little urban go-kart. I find its design much more appealing than Daimler’s smartfortwo U.S. model and its onroad experience is light years ahead of the smart car. But I do have two requests for Scion in the iQ: First, please stop calling this a four-seater – it ain’t. A third occupant maybe…
No sooner than we took our seats in the movie theater-turned presentation room at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas that we knew this was unmistakably a Scion program. Thumping music, flashy images and video – and everything product-centric. Scion is the new, trendy little division of Toyota and we were here to experience the all-new rear drive sport coupe co-developed with Subaru and marketed as the Scion FR-S here in the States. With the exception of its Lexus luxury division, Toyota has been out of the rear wheel-drive car segment in the U.S. for quite some time. Well,…
The newest member if the Toyota Prius hybrid family has arrived – the Prius c. The “c” refers to city, where the new compact hybrid’s use is primarily intended. Aimed towards urbanite millennials, Prius c offers Toyota’s Synergy Hybrid gas/electric drive technology in a more compact package. Prius c is a “two-thirds” scale model of the original Prius hatchback styled in a small sportwagon design. Joining fellow Prii (the chosen plural form for the moniker) Prius, Prius v, and Prius Plug-In, Prius c allows drivers to operate the vehicle in EV-only or combined gasoline and electric power. The combustion engine…
Toyota is working feverishly to recover from a few setbacks in global production last year. Mother Nature wreaked havoc on the automaker in the Asia-Pacific regions in 2011, and at a time when Toyota was releasing new or redesigned product. One such re-launch is the 2012 Yaris. Toyota has found that 70 percent of new car buyers in the subcompact segment prefer the liftback (hatchback) body styling. It is because of this that the Yaris sedan is gone from the lineup with 2012 models arriving in base LE three-door or, as in the case of our recent tester, a five-door…
Toyota has been making its Camry sedan for 28 years with most of those built right here in the U.S. of A. at its Georgetown plant. For the past nine years the Camry has been the best-selling car in America. And the entire time Toyota has not had to resort to using adventure, culture, heritage, patriotism or even sex to move these vehicles. The Toyota Camry does what it does best – it sells itself. For 2012 Toyota delivers an all-new, 7th generation Camry with 100 percent new sheet metal while exterior dimensions remain the same. Inside, however, the sedan…
Contrary to the only other Asian full-size pickup, the Toyota Tundra boasts a choice of powertrain configurations including a more powerful V-6. This on top of the truck arriving in two model grades, three cab styles, three wheelbase lengths and three bed lengths. And on top of all that there are still the “special edition” packages that can be had, such as our recent TRD Rock Warrior tester. While the truck was no wimp, truth be told I did not go out and battle any rocks with it. The styling package was very attractive and I did not want to…