Toyota

2018 Hyundai Ioniq: Serious challenger for Toyota Prius

Since the debut of the Toyota Prius in 2000 as the first mass-marketed hybrid in the United States, several manufacturers have tried to infiltrate the odd-looking green car leader’s dominance. All have failed. Now, there’s a legitimate contender, the Hyundai Ioniq. The unusual name is the combination of the words ion and unique, and the vehicle’s title works. The Ioniq’s specs outdo the Prius numbers in multiple categories. Key Takeaways First car offered in three electrified flavors: Ioniq Hybrid, Plug-in Hybrid, and full Electric — something not even Toyota’s Prius lineup matches in a single nameplate. 58 combined mpg tops the Prius: The Ioniq Blue is rated 57 city / 59 highway mpg, a few miles per gallon better than

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2018 Toyota Land Cruiser: luxury, power, gas sucker

The Toyota Land Cruiser has been manufactured for 67 years, and it’s geared toward a niche audience of SUV buyers seeking ruggedness and off-road durability. It’s the second-largest and oldest vehicle in the manufacturer’s lineup. For 2018, the Land Cruiser remains much the same as last year. It seeks a market share with the Land Rover Discovery, Lexus LX 570 and Lincoln Navigator in the behemoth SUV category. The auto industry’s gas guzzlers are the easiest segment to dismiss. How can anyone justify an $87,000 SUV that averages 13 and 18 miles per gallon respectively in city and highway driving? For the few thousand Toyota Land Cruiser buyers each year, the answer is simple: They know what they want and

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TheWeeklyDriver.com’s 2017 Best Cars of the Year

TheWeeklyDriver.com presents its 11th annual best cars of the year list. For the past two years, we selected 12 vehicles instead of 10 because we couldn’t decide what cars to leave off the lists. The selection was more clear-cut this year, so we’ve again chosen 10 vehicles. Volvo is the only manufacturer with two vehicles on the 2017 best cars list. Bentley, Genesis, Honda, Kia, Lincoln, Mazda, Volkswagen and Toyota are also represented. As editor and publisher of TheWeeklyDriver.com since 2004, I reviewed 38 cars and trucks in 2017 model years for at least a week. Most of the vehicles I drove in the calendar year; some 2017 models in 2016. I also drove at least a half-dozen other vehicles

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2017 Toyota Highlander Hybrid redefines SUV market

The Toyota Highlander Hybrid debuted in 2005. It attracted immediate attention as a midsize, three-row sport utility vehicle achieving 30 miles per gallon in city driving. Not much good has happened in sales since. But Toyota can blame itself. It’s obsessed with hybrids. A year after its debut, the Highlander Hybrid had its biggest year with 31,485 units sold, about 25 percent of all Highlanders purchased that year. A decade later, the Highlander had its biggest year with 191,379 gas models sold, but only 5,976 hybrid models were purchased. The increased popularity of the Toyota RAV4 greatly reduced Highlander sales. The smaller SUV had total sales of more than 352,000 in 2016, including 45,070 hybrids. Toyota also has seven additional

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2017 Toyota Corolla: Enduring sedan keeps getting better

The 2017 Toyota Corolla marks the enduring sedan’s 51st year. Through 11 generations, the former econobox-on-wheels has lifetime worldwide sales of 43 million through last year. Since 1997, when it surpassed the Volkswagen Beetle, the Corolla remains the best-selling car in history. A new generation arrived in 2012, with yearly updates since. In 2016, Toyota began to offer a limited special edition to celebrate the car’s 50th anniversary. While competition remains intense, the 2017 Toyota Corolla keeps up with new safety and driving improvements, some not standard on luxury sedans. A rearview camera, forward collision warning, lane departure intervention and adaptive cruise control are now standard on all models. The Weekly Driver Test Drive The compact sedan market may be

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NEW CAR PREVIEW: Many changes for 2018 Toyota Camry

A higher sticker price and appreciably better gas mileage are among several big changes in store for the 2018 Toyota Camry. The top-selling sedan in the United States will make its nationwide debut later this summer. The eighth generation of the re-engineered Camry LE will be priced at $24,885, including shipping, about $900 more than the 2017 price. The L “value” version of the 2018 Camry, with smaller wheels and fewer convenience features, will be priced at $24,380. Fuel economy with the new four-cylinder engine is estimated by the EPA at 29 mpg in the city, 41 mpg on the highway and 34 combined. That’s 26 percent better than the current base model’s 24 mpg city/33 highway/27 combined. The new

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2017 Kia Forte worthy compact option beyond Honda, Toyota

The 2017 Kia Forte is the 10th year of the South Korean compact. It’s among the best of several cars in different segments trying to find a market against some of the country’s long-standing, best-selling vehicles. Matched against the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Ford Focus, Volkswagen Jetta, Hyundai Elantra, Mazda3 and others, the Forte remains unheralded. It’s in the sixth year of its second generation, but for 2017 has a restyled exterior, including more modern crafted headlights and taillights. Available as a sedan in LX, S and EX trim levels, the Kia Forte also has a hatchback variant, the Forte5, in LX, EX and SX trims. The two-door Forte Koup was discontinued after the 2016 model. For my test vehicle,

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2017 Toyota Prius Prime: Efficient new hybrid shines

The 2017 Toyota Prius Prime, a plug-in gas-electric hybrid, is a new addition to the country’s largest selling hybrid family. It replaces the Prius Plug-in and it’s the most ambitious Prius on the market. Its exterior design, full of sharp angles and a unique narrow exterior light design in the mainstream automotive industry, removes the stodgy image of previous Prius models. The Prime is chock-full of technology, most visibly the navigation system and infotainment center. It’s an 11.6-inch vertically oriented high-resolution touchscreen, and it dominates the dashboard. It’s standard on the Prime Premium ($29,965) and top-line Prime Advanced ($33,965). It’s not available on the entry-level Prime Plus ($27,100). I drove the top-line Advance trim recently for two weeks during the

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2017 Toyota Prius Prime: Into the mountains with ease

Eleven days into coverage of the Amgen Tour of California, I’ve surpassed 1,000 miles while driving the 2017 Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybrid. My trip began May 10 in Sacramento, and the race just ended in Pasadena. The women raced for four days, including two days in South Lake Tahoe and two days ending in Sacramento. The men raced for seven days from Sacramento to today’s concluding high-speed finale from Mountain High to downtown Pasadena. As the newest and most technologically advanced Prius since the hybrid debuted in the United States in 2000, the Prius Prime is among the few affordable green vehicles that can change the automotive industry. It joins the all-electric 2017 Chevy Bolt and the luxury Lincoln

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Consumer Reports’ 10 2017 Worst Cars To Buy

Consumer Reports has published car and truck lists for decades. Among its recent compilations is its worst cars for 2017 in 10 popular segments, subcompacts to luxury sedans, compacts to hybrids. The list is based on the lowest overall score in each category and based on a complete overview of each vehicle. The criteria combine a road-test score, predicted reliability, owner satisfaction and safety — including government and insurance industry crash-test results. In conjunction with each worst car in each category, Consumer Reports lists its suggested best choice in each category. Here’s what the publication said about 2017 Chrysler 200. It’s the lowest-ranked sedan in the most popular car category: “This category is overflowing with competent, and even excellent, alternatives

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2017 Toyota Prius Prime has short shift, not short shrift

The transfer today for stage 4 of the Amgen Tour of California took me from Morro Bay to Santa Clarita, California, and I’ve now driven a 2017 Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybrid for a week. I’ve covered 775 miles and averaged 55.9 mpg, nearly two miles per gallon more than plug-in hybrid’s rating. The route from Morro Bay was a coastal trek on Highway 1 and then a diversion to Highway 101 south for about two hours. The route then turned inland on 154 through small hamlets before rejoining 101. The final short stretch into Santa Clarita was a switch to smaller inland roads on state route 126. The drive covered 184 miles. With two brief stops to stretch and

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2017 Toyota Prius Prime: Fuel efficient, safety galore

After nearly six full days of driving the 2017 Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybrid during the Amgen Tour California, I stopped for my first refuel about two hours into a 3 1/2-hour evening drive from San Jose to Morro Bay, California. The route was primarily a long, straight haul north-south along Highway 101 before an undulating, often single-lane finishing 17-mile trek on Highway 41 into the ocean resort city. I stopped with about 90 miles left in the drive. I filled up the Prius Prime with 9.3 gallons at $3.09 per gallon for a total of $29.00. I’d driven 499 miles. The 2017 Toyota Prius Prime is rated at 54 miles per gallon. I averaged 53.3 mpg on my first

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2017 Toyota Prius Prime fares well on the long, winding road

After two days of brief, round-trip commutes of only a few miles each way from Harvey’s to Heavenly Mountain Resort, I returned today from South Lake Tahoe to Sacramento in my test vehicle, a 2017 Toyota Prius Prime. It’s a plug-in hybrid. I’m driving the new vehicle, the most upscale Prius ever made, for the entire Amgen Tour of California. The women’s race began May 11 in South Lake Tahoe and ends May 14 in Sacramento. The men’s race begins May 14 in Sacramento and will advance to its May 20 conclusion in Pasadena. Driving the reverse route of the 103-mile haul from my home in Sacramento to South Lake Tahoe, I made two brief side stops on the way

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2017 Toyota Prius Prime: Cool technology for modern hybrid

The 2017 Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybrid is the most upscale addition to the Prius family. Its exterior design removes the stodgy image of many of the models in the country’s best-selling hybrid lineup. The Prime’s interior is chock-full of technology, most visibly the JBL navigation system. It’s an 11.6-inch vertically oriented high-resolution touchscreen. While not available on the entry-level Prime Plus, it’s standard on the Prime Premium ($29,965) and the top-line Prime Advanced ($33,965). I’m driving the Advance trim for two weeks during the Amgen Tour of California, May 11-20. It will take the women’s field from South Lake Tahoe to Sacramento over four days. The men’s race will begin in Sacramento on May 14 and progress to Pasadena

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2017 Toyota Prius Prime named Green Car of the Year

For the second straight year, Toyota has been awarded World Green Car honors at the New York International Auto Show. The Toyota Prius Prime was named this year’s winner after its sibling, the Toyota Mirai, earned the award last year. The Prius Prime was chosen from an initial entry list of 12 new vehicles from around the world. Tailpipe emissions, fuel consumption, and use of a major advanced power plant technology (beyond engine componentry), aimed specifically at increasing the vehicle’s environmental responsibility, were all taken into consideration. Toyota is no stranger to the World Car Awards program, now in its 13th year. In addition to the Mirai’s win last year, the Toyota Prius earned “Top Three in the World” status

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2017 Toyota Avalon Hybrid: Stylishly efficient

When your older sibling is the most popular hybrid vehicle in history, the pressure is on. Could the Toyota Avalon Hybrid hold its own while its ever-expanding Prius family members thrive? The answer is a resounding yes. Introduced in late 2012, the 2017 Toyota Avalon Hybrid further separates current hybrids from their debut more than 15 years ago. Once awkward-looking and awkward-functioning sedans comparable to futuristic vehicles featured in movies and television programs, hybrids are now mainstream. Their superior gas mileage is equaled by overall attractive styling, performance and functionality. The 2017 Toyota Avalon Hybrid is an exemplary example. It’s a continuation of last year’s model, but the formerly optional Safety Sense package, which includes forward collision warning, automatic pre-collision

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