With the Camry’s 2021 model year, Toyota is celebrating the nameplate’s largest and most diverse lineup ever, which will now feature a new XSE Hybrid grade.
Suzuki has revealed the new Across plug-in hybrid SUV for the European market, the first product to come out of the company's partnership with Toyota.
With roughly 7.5 million sold in 20 years, it's safe to say people love the Honda Fit, or as it's called in Europe and elsewhere, the Jazz. "Elsewhere" would be the key term since Honda's versatile subcompact hatchback is not only sold all over the world, it has also been built in 10 plants in eight different countries, including China, where the authorities were so honored to have a Fit factory within their borders, they allowed Honda an unprecedented larger share in the joint venture.
A major reason is safety, which was highlighted from the very beginning. I attended the original launch at Honda's Tochigi R&D center in Japan, which started with a crash test. The 2,535-pound Fit was subjected to an offset impact with a six-year-old, 4,030-pound Honda Legend sedan at a closing speed of 62 mph. When our ears stopped ringing, the Fit's crash-test dummy passengers were shaken but intact, the doors opened and the passenger cell retained its shape. The Legend's passengers didn't fare so well, with the pedal box detaching from the firewall taking the driver dummy's feet with it.
We do our best around here to provide sound consumer advice, which is why there shall be no stone left unturned and no consumer unrepresented in our efforts to be fully inclusive of the car-buying public. Let's say for instance you're interested in buying an SUV, but would really prefer it to be a hybrid. Fair enough, there's a decent number of those. Good ones, too.
Now, let's say it really needs to be a shade of reddish orange, or perhaps, orangey-red. Either way, it's gotta be right there in the magma spectrum. OK, this has gotten trickier. Also, you have anywhere between $28,000 and $200,000 to spend, the result of being both the millionaire inventor of some internet widget thing but also really pragmatic with an eye for good value.
The ever-increasing demand in crossovers and SUVs has led to the development of many three-row mid-size models. Think of them as the modern alternatives to the once popular minivans, but with so many of them out there, how do you choose the one that's perfect for you and your family?
Nissan is launching an all-new version of the Kicks crossover in Thailand that features the brand's e-Power series hybrid setup. And while that powertrain setup is unlikely to make it to the states, the subcompact utility's new styling cues probably herald what's in store for the model that first debuted here in 2018 as a replacement for the polarizing Juke.
Let's focus on e-Power first anyway, because it's interesting technology, even if it's been around for a while. In the Kicks, it's comprised of a 1.2-liter, 12-valve three-cylinder engine that sends power to the electric-drive system; essentially, it's an EV you can't plug in that generates power for the battery from gasoline. There's also a 1.57 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery, and electric motor, generator and inverter, which offer up a maximum 95 kW (127 horsepower) of power and 191 pound-feet of torque. The system allows the ability to route power to the electric motor from both the battery and the engine when it's needed, like climbing a hill or passing on the freeway.
The Toyota Venza is back, but it's not the same Venture Monza vehicle it was when Toyota discontinued the car-like crossover after the 2015 model year. Instead, the 2021 Toyota Venza is much more SUV-like, and it's only going to be sold in hybrid form. Measuring in at 186.6 inches in total length, the new Venza aligns itself with mid-size two-row crossovers like the Ford Edge, Honda Passport and Chevy Blazer. Though, it is on the shorter side (by about half of a foot) when compared to all of its future competitors.
Toyota has chosen to go with a highly stylized and sharp design for the Venza, mirroring the approach of others in this segment. There's some Highlander in there, but the aggression has been turned up a few notches. The Venza shares plenty with other Toyotas, as it rides on the TNGA-K platform that underpins vehicles like the new Highlander and RAV4. We've had excellent experiences with new TNGA vehicles from a driving dynamics perspective, so we're similarly hopeful about the Venza.
There's a new minivan on the block. It's the 2021 Toyota Sienna, and the van is totally new from the ground up. Toyota hasn't given us a fresh new Sienna since the current-generation hit the roads for the 2011 model year, so this one is a long time coming. The big news here is the single hybrid powertrain choice Toyota is introducing to the new Sienna. There will be no gas-only option, and there will be no PHEV "Prime" option either.
We'll get into powertrain specifics in a second, but the Sienna's new design inside and out is another huge change. Toyota describes it as a minivan with SUV styling characteristics. One look at RAV4 sales is all you need to know why Toyota wanted to make the Sienna remind people of SUVs. Still, the traditional minivan shape is still very much intact with the short hood and long boxed-off body. The muscular flair and lines arcing down the side, though … that sculpting gives this minivan a much more crossover-like look and an air of aggression not seen in the minivan market today. As we bend around to the back, those taillights catch our eye immediately. The way the bottom black trim piece droops sharply downward, it reminds us of the Atlanta Falcons logo. That rear hatch is full of curves and things that pop out at you, too. The little tail that juts out above the "Sienna" logo even reminds us of the Supra's tail. Bravo, Toyota.
There are a few parallels to be drawn between the all-new Honda Jazz and the Honda-powered Red Bull or AlphaTauri F1 cars. For example, they all have four wheels, and do their best work on dry stretches of asphalt.
In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzweniewski and Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder. This week, they're driving a Jeep Gladiator Mojave, Acura MDX A-Spec, our long-term Subaru Forester and a Honda CR-V Hybrid. A little stir-crazy from quarantine, they also derail the conversation for a little bit to talk about beer before launching into this episode's "Spend My Money" segment.
Toyota's largest hybrid SUV, the Highlander, will go on sale in Western Europe next year, marking the first time the nameplate becomes available in the region.
The marriage seems so right you wonder what took so long. Honda's hybrid powertrain is excellent and the CR-V is its best-selling model, yet the 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid is only just arriving in dealers now. That's four years after this current CR-V generation was introduced, three years after the hybrid powertrain debuted in the Accord, two years after it was applied to the Insight (which is basically a Civic Hybrid) and five years since the first-generation Toyota RAV4 Hybrid was introduced.
The current RAV4 Hybrid is now Toyota's best-selling hybrid, and it would be shocking if this new CR-V Hybrid doesn't do the same trick for Honda. The powertrain is available on every trim level, effectively an option commanding a $1,225 premium over a comparable all-wheel-drive CR-V. That's impressively reasonable given its fuel economy advantage, added performance, agreeable drivability and lack of practical drawbacks.
When Lexus launched the fifth-generation LS at the end of 2017, the Japanese luxury maker predicted its once-brand-defining sedan would sell 12,000 units per year in the U.S., a threshold the model hadn't reached since 2010. The LS managed 9,301 transactions here in 2018, its first full year on sale, falling back to 5,528 units in 2019. Through the first three coronavirus-affected months of this year, Lexus dealers have sold 801 LS sedans, compared to 1,404 units in Q1 2019. There's a mid-cycle refresh supposedly due for release in the fall of 2021, and the June issue of Japanese magazine Mag-X (translated), via Lexus Enthusiast, claims we're due for a couple of big surprises that could jolt the sales figures. The first shock is that Lexus is supposedly bringing back the LS 600h moniker for an LS with a V8 hybrid powertrain.
Lexus debuted the LS 600h L in 2007 for the 2008 model year, retiring the hybrid trim in 2016. Its heart was a 5.0-liter naturally aspirated V8, and when combined with an electric motor, combined output came to 439 horsepower and 385 pound-feet of torque. The fifth generation introduced the LS 500h that switched to a naturally aspirated 3.5-liter V6, producing a combined 354 hp and 369 lb-ft., taking second place in output to the twin-turbo V6 in the non-hybrid LS 500 with 416 hp and 442 lb-ft.
Toyota waited over a month to introduce the pint-sized crossover it planned to unveil at the 2020 edition of the Geneva Motor Show. Called Yaris Cross, the smallest and most affordable member of the company's growing range of high-riding models was primarily developed with the needs of European motorists in mind.
Built on the same basic platform as the newest Yaris, the Cross stretches 164.5 inches long, 69.4 inches wide, and 61.4 inches tall, dimensions that make it approximately seven inches shorter, an inch narrower, and about as high as the C-HR. It's less spacecraft-like thanks in part to a tall, upright front fascia, squared-off wheel arches covered by plastic trim, and a relatively high amount of ground clearance. The fully-loaded model defies its entry-level label with 18-inch alloy wheels, LED lighting on both ends, and two-tone paint.