We just drove the 2020 Nissan Frontier with its new 3.8-liter V6 and nine-speed automatic transmission, and today Nissan reveals the truck's price. In 2019, the base price on a new Frontier was $20,385. That was for a King Cab rear-wheel-drive four-cylinder with a five-speed manual transmission. For 2020, a King Cab with rear-wheel drive (base truck) starts at $27,885 with the $1,095 destination charge included. The price of progress.

The comparison is hardly a fair one, though. A 2019 King Cab SV with the old V6, rear-wheel drive and five-speed automatic was $27,105. The 2020 in the same configuration costs $28,765. That amounts to a $1,660 increase in price for the new V6, new transmission and a few extra standard features — not a terrible price to pay for the modern powertrain.

Mazda has updated the CX-3 subcompact crossover in Japan by introducing a new engine and a new available body color.

One rumor about the revised 2021 Nissan Pathfinder has cropped up nearly once a month since the beginning of the year. When we covered spy shots of a camouflaged Pathfinder prototype in January, commenter Bryson wrote, "A little birdie told me that the 2021 Pathfinder is ditching the CVT for a 9 speed automatic transmission." In March, a NicoClub forum thread cited a Reddit post for the same intel. In April, Carscoops acknowledged the whispers. Now AllCarNews joins the crowd claiming the disagreeable Jatco CVT is out, a new nine-speed auto is in.

If true, this wouldn't be the nine-speed gearbox going into the refreshed Frontier pickup; a transmission fit for the Frontier's longitudinal engine placement wouldn't agree with the front-wheel-drive Pathfinder's transverse engine placement. The ZF nine-speed that serves Honda and Jaguar Land Rover products among others is a shoo-in for the role if the rumors come true.

Not long after the Toyota Yaris Cross was unveiled, reports have surfaced that Lexus will launch a new entry-level crossover of its own using the same underpinnings.

The 2020 Nissan Frontier marks the last in a particularly lengthy pickup truck generation that dates all the way back to the 2005 model year. Next year we'll get a completely redesigned model, but before that happens, Nissan is giving the old truck one last "hurrah" with a taste of the new one in the form of a fresh V6 engine and nine-speed automatic transmission, the only choices for this year. And the new combo is a mighty good sign of things to come.

Just on paper, the engine and transmission make strong cases for themselves. The 3.8-liter V8 makes 310 horsepower, which is 49 more than the old 4.0-liter and 158 more than the discontinued four-cylinder base engine. Its 310 horses also make it the most powerful midsize truck in the segment. Its 281 pound-feet of torque is unchanged, but that's still more than what you get from the V6s in the Chevy Colorado or Toyota Tacoma. Only the diesel Colorado and the Ford Ranger's turbo four-cylinder top the Nissan's torque rating. Combined fuel economy of 20 mpg with RWD and 19 mpg with 4WD improves upon its 4.0-liter predecessor by 1 and 2 mpg, respectively. Credit goes to the lighter more efficient engine and the additional gear ratios, however, fuel economy is still dead last in the segment among similar automatic V6 RWD trucks. The 4WD ties the V6 Gladiator and Colorado, and tops the Colorado ZR2 with a V6. Odds are the next-generation truck will improve this further.

Welcome to 2020, where once again, the Toyota Supra is back. We hailed its return last year when we slid behind the wheel of the first new Supra sold here in the 21st century, and Toyota has gone and changed things up just one year later. Now, there are two Supras: a new, less powerful four-cylinder Supra that'll serve as a base model, and a more powerful version of the previous solo entry that showcases the type of incremental improvements Toyota says we should expect every model year. So, although owners of the 2020 Supra might be miffed by this news, there's a good chance 2021 owners will feel the same way in 12 months. 

For now, though, the 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six produces 382 horsepower and 368 pound-feet of torque, increases of 47 and 3, respectively, from the 2020 version. We weren't exactly begging for more power, but aren't going to complain, either. This is the same engine spec that's found in the M40i version of the Supra's sister car, the BMW Z4, which shares a common block and crank as the "lesser" version found in the 2020 Supra. However, it features a totally new head and exhaust manifold design along with new pistons and a reduced compression ratio from 11:1 to 10.2:1 to better handle the boost. Peak horsepower is made at 5,800 rpm now (it was previously 5,000), and carried on to the same 6,500 rpm — redline is 7,000 rpm. The torque band also shifts slightly higher in the rev range, as all 368 pound-feet are available from 1,800-5,000 rpm — in 2020 that range was 1,600-4,500 rpm. Theoretically, this should make the car happier in its mid- and upper-rpm ranges.

Japan's health authorities say the country saw 70 new cases of the coronavirus and nine deaths on Sunday.

The number of confirmed infections stands at 15,847.

Japanese health officials confirmed 114 new cases of coronavirus infection on Saturday, including 36 in Tokyo.

Japan now has 15,777 confirmed infections. The list includes people tested at airport quarantine stations.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government sources say 15 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed on Monday.

The total number of infections in Tokyo now stands at 4,883.

Japan's health authorities say the country saw 65 new cases of the coronavirus and eight deaths on Sunday.

The number of confirmed infections stands at 15,842.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government says 36 more people were confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus on Saturday. That makes it the seventh straight day that the number of new cases in the capital was below 100.

Japan now has a total of over 15,700 confirmed infections. The list includes people tested at airport quarantine stations.

Japan is giving its medical workers another weapon to fight Covid-19. The health ministry has taken a new step by approving an antiviral drug as a treatment.

Japan gave fast-track approval to remdesivir.

A government panel of experts on Monday reaffirmed that the rate of newly confirmed coronavirus cases is on the decline in Japan, but that a resurgence could overwhelm medical systems. They agreed that it is desirable for the current restrictions to remain in place for the time being.

But the panel also worked out a set of proposals for what it calls "new social behavior" that should become new norms in regions where the spread of the virus appears to have been limited.

Ikimonogakari's Yoshioka Kiyoe has launched a YouTube channel for her new project called 'Yoshioka Kiyoe no Mainichi ga Douyoubi ~Kazoku de Utaou!~'.

Through the project, Yoshioka plans to introduce nursery rhymes and others songs she sang as a child. The first song revealed is "Koinobori" sung by Yoshioka accompanied by eji on the piano. Shirokuma Nanami was in charge of the illustration.