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What’s Wrong With This Picture: One For The RAV-id Compact CUV Fans Edition
“The American people are willing to forgive and forget, but they would like a little gift,” AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson tells Toyota [via USAToday]. Toyota’s answer (other than possible warranty...
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Curbside Classic Outtake: Get More Shorties Edition
All right, I have a thing about short cars. I haven’t spoken to a therapist about it yet. Perhaps its just a reaction against the obesity crisis in modern cars and trucks. But where did they all go?...
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Toyota To Pay Money, Give Free Loaners To Chinese Customers Affected By Recall
A few weeks ago, we reported that the commerce bureau and consumer protection committee of China’s Zhejiang Province’s called on Toyota to compensate drivers for costs stemming from its recall of the...
View ArticleToyota Cries Uncle On GX460, Will Fix Problems In A Flash
That was fast: Two days after Consumer Reports slammed the Lexus GX460 with a “Do Not Buy” rating, and one day after ToMoCo halted the sale of said vehicle, Toyota already has a fix. Today at...
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Let’s Do it Again: Toyota and Tesla Build RAV4 EV
Finally something tangible out of the Toyota/Tesla-hookup: Tesla and Toyota will build an electric version of Toyota’s RAV4 compact crossover. According to a communiqué by Toyota, the two companies...
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Piston Slap: The budget is Tight, the Ranger is Right?
Ryan writes: I have a friend who just got her PhD and is moving to Texas for her post-doc. She has never owned a car, but now needs to get one so she can go out in the field to do research. I’ve...
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What’s Wrong With This Picture: Where’s The Tailpipe? Edition
I should go on vacation more often. No, really. Last time I took some time off, I accidentally caught a parade of BMW prototypes descending the Sellajoch in Italy’s Dolomite Alps. Then, just weeks ago...
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Pre-Production Review: 2013 Toyota RAV4 EV
With California’s Zero Emissions Vehicle mandate looming it is only a matter of time till we see an EV from each of the major players in the California market. Nissan has the Leaf, BMW has the Active...
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Living With an EV for a Week – Day Five
Day five in our week-long look at living with an EV started once again with a full battery. If you’re just checking in, catch up by going to Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 before coming back to the saga,...
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Living With an EV for a Week – Day Six (Don’t honk at me, I’m saving the planet)
Day six brought a typical Northern California morning: it was 41 degrees, foggy and raining in my forest. But because I was driving an electric vehicle, a squirrel greeted me at the doorstep to thank...
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Living With an EV for a Week – Day Seven (EV death and resurrection)
It was the end of the line for the orange creamsicle Fiat 500e dubbed Zippy Zappy. She and I covered some 675 miles together during our seven-say odyssey (if you don’t know what I’m talking about,...
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Deadly Threat: A Deer In The Headlights
The deer emerged from the forest and leapt into the roadway in a sudden swift movement. The sights and sounds of the busy two lane highway assailed the animal’s senses and drove it towards panic. In...
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A Deer In The Headlights: Update
Last week I wrote an article called A Deer In The Headlights about my parents hitting a deer a few days prior. In the story, I talked about the impact and reported that the RAV4 they were driving...
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Review: 2014 Subaru Forester 2.5i Limited
Between the A+ report card from Consumer Reports and a last-crossover-standing result for the IIHS small overlap test, even Tommy Callahan could sell somebody a Subaru Forester. “Here comes the meat...
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Crossover Sales Soar
If you want to know why Jaguar and Lexus are introducing compact crossover concepts at the Frankfurt Auto Show this week, all you have to do is check the sales data. Crossover sales are soaring,...
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Review: 2014 Toyota RAV4 (With Video)
When the RAV4 landed, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. In a world of unified corporate identity the RAv4 goes off script with a look all to its own. While the old RAV sold on mini-truck looks, the...
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Toyota Recalls 57K Over Takata Airbags
Toyota issued Thursday a global recall of 57,000 vehicles affected by the Takata airbag crisis. Reuters reports the majority of the vehicles — 40,000 — were sold in the automaker’s home market of...
View ArticleToyota To Build Next-gen RAV4 in Ontario, Other Cars To Follow?
Toyota will build the next generation RAV4 and RAV4 Hybrid on its new global platform in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada near the Lexus RX in 2019, the automaker announced Tuesday. The plant, which recently...
View Article2016 Toyota RAV4 Review – The Soft Soft-roader
Compact crossovers are big business and the Toyota RAV4 is one of the segment’s corporate all-stars. In 2015, the RAV4 almost outsold Mazda. I’m not talking about the RAV4 outselling the Mazda CX-5,...
View ArticleNo Fixed Abode: High-Low, High-Low, It’s Off To Work You Go
Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of editing Daniel Ho’s theories on crossovers as reflections of the zeitgeist. In his thoughtfully-written piece, Daniel argues that crossovers are chimeras,...
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