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The Nissan Z Proto has excited enthusiasts with its skillful reimagining of the Z-car idea that at the same time references the best of the model's past. Nissan now has released a video giving the design backstory of the sports car concept.

The video features Alfonso Albaisa, Nissan senior vice president of global design, and Saturo Tai, executive design director. Tai says the original Datsun Z is the car that as a kid made him want to be a car designer. Once he got to Nissan Design, he was part of the team that did the 1990 300ZX. Albaisa says that he, too, was spurred to become a car designer by the original Z. Early in his career, he was involved in shaping the 350Z.

The 2021 Honda Odyssey is a modern minivan, and as such it's absolutely gigantic. That is obviously not news. And yet, the Odyssey still managed to blow me away with its cargo-carrying ability. 

Now, like the various three-row crossovers and SUVs I've luggage tested, I only checked to see how many pieces of luggage from my garage would fit behind the raised third-row seat. The most voluminous crossover I've tested and indeed one of the most voluminous three-row crossovers, period, the Hyundai Palisade, could fit the four biggest suitcases I own. Pretty good, but sorry Palisade, you're about to be crushed.

An expert says almost the same amount of water vapor may have flowed into a rain front when record rainfall hit Kyushu earlier this month as when a rain disaster devastated western Japan in 2018.

Professor Tsuboki Kazuhisa of Nagoya University estimated how much vapor flowed into the stationary rain front using data from the Meteorological Agency.

To date, the Volkswagen Atlas has managed to swallow more pieces of my luggage behind its raised third row than any other three-row crossover. The Hyundai Palisade came close as it was able to fit the four biggest bags in my travel arsenal. In this segment, I have also tested the Mazda CX-9 and Toyota Highlander, both of which are at the bottom of the segment in this one area. 

On paper, the Honda Pilot should be among that smallest group, providing 16.5 cubic-feet of space when the third row is raised. The Highlander is 16 cubic-feet, while the Palisade has 18 and the Atlas 20.6. In practice, however, the Pilot turns out to be far closer to those class leaders. Let's see why.

The 2020 Toyota Highlander is bigger than the model it replaces, growing some 2.36 inches in overall length. All of that pretty much went to its very end, as the cargo area aft of the third row sees the only significant increase of interior space, growing to 16.0 cubic feet from 13.8. 

Sounds good, but when you look at the 2020 Highlander versus these primary competitors, you'll see that 16.0 is still smaller than them all. And it's behind that third row where extra cubic feet can really make the difference, where one bag might be left behind or you'll have to resort to a rooftop carrier. By contrast, the Highlander's space with the third or second rows lowered is seemingly on par for the segment, as by those metrics, all entries are basically various degrees of enormous.