Nik J Miles

Posts Tagged ‘Toyota’

Toyota will begin selling the RAV4 EV in the southern California market late this summer.  The electric RAV4 is the first Toyota vehicle that will be powered by the Tesla battery pack, which was developed through a joint venture between the innovative electric car builder, Tesla, and Toyota. The pair worked together to develop the integrated RAV4 system, rather than having Tesla simply supplying a ready-to-go system.  The resulting front-wheel drive RAV4 EV was unveiled at the Electric Vehicle Symposium in Los Angeles in May.

The RAV4 uses a 41.8 kilowatt-hour battery pack, which is smaller than any battery Tesla is using currently, but it is expected to have a real-world range of about 100 miles.  The EV has two operating modes, a Sport mode, which accelerates the crossover from 0 to 60 mph in 7.0 seconds and to a top speed of 100 mph and the Normal mode, which takes 8.6 seconds to make the 0 to 60 mph run, with a top speed of 85 mph. Read the rest of this entry »

Toyota pulled the wraps of the secretive 2013 Avalon premium mid-size sedan in early April at the 2012 New York International Auto Show.  Re-conceived for a new assault on the premium mid-size sedan segment, the all new Avalon will offer improved dynamic performance, refinement and a spacious, comfortable interior with a new level of convenience technologies.

The striking Avalon design was created by a young team of designers from Toyota’s Calty Design Research Inc. facilities in Southern California and Michigan.

Structural and chassis improvements with improve ride quality, straight-line stability and handling should make it more of a driver’s car. Read the rest of this entry »

By Barbara & Bill Schaffer

Toyota may have gone through the wringer the last year or two with recalls, earthquakes and Tsunamis, but if the new generation Camry is any indication, the company is better than ever.

The Camry may have been the number one selling car in the U.S. for the last nine years, but it has never had a strong emotional appeal for us.  It’s a great car, and probably one of the best cars built, but from a styling standpoint, it was like – vanilla — in a world of chocolate ripple and Chunky Monkey.  In fact, if we are not mistaken, Toyota invented vanilla. Read the rest of this entry »

By Barbara Schaffer

There are certain areas of the country that I am familiar with, for example the Bay Area in California and Portland, Oregon, where there seems to be an overabundance of the Toyota Prius hybrids.  I guess that’s to be expected with more than 2.5 million of them sold worldwide.

With gas prices on a rise again, the idea of getting 40 or 50 miles per gallon or better continues to have a strong appeal for many new car shoppers.

To take advantage of the Prius popularity and the prices, Prius planners added two new models in 2011, the larger Prius V Liftback and the super-efficient Prius Plug-In.  Now early in 2012, they have added a fourth Prii, the Prius c, with the “c” standing for city. Read the rest of this entry »

By Barbara & Bill Schaffer

Hybrids have been around for more than a dozen years now, but we’ve never taken one on a road trip, so we thought it was about time.  With a possibility of snow and ice along our intended route, we decided it would be best to try a hybrid that offered four-wheel drive capabilities, too.

Enter the Toyota Highland Hybrid.  First introduced to the U.S. market in 2001, the Highland, which is based on a unibody frame derived from the Camry, became an instant success, especially with families.  In 2005, the Highlander was “hybridized” making it the world’s first seven-passenger hybrid SUV.

Our Highland Hybrid road trip took us from Portland, Oregon, south on Interstate 5 to central California and then to the Monterey Bay area, where our grandchildren are located.  The route is not the most exciting, but it’s typical of what a family might drive.  Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the roads were all clear and dry, so our only tests were drivability, comfort and fuel economy along with a hands-on demonstration of how a hybrid excels in stop and go traffic. Read the rest of this entry »

“Toyota Prius c brings Hybrid Synergy Drive to subcompact market”

Since the first generation Prius made its appearance just over fourteen years ago, more than two million Prius vehicles have been sold globally,986 percent of which are still on the road, and Toyota has continued to evolve the iconic hybrid by introducing significant new model variants, while ever improving and enhancing existing models.

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“Toyota’s Camry lineup undergoes reinvention”

Toyota’s Camry is all new for the 2012 model year. The Camry has been America’s best-selling car for nine years running, and for 13 of the past 14 years. This latest iteration Camry represents the seventh generation of the iconic Toyota model, which was first introduced in 1983 and has since sold over 15 million Camry models globally.

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 Prius dealers are now receiving two additions to their Prius menu, a new wagon-like-like Prius v and a Prius Plug-in.

 Prius v

The Prius v is designed to meet the needs of growing families with active lifestyles while providing the same attributes traditionally found in the Prius DNA including Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive.  With 58 percent more cargo space than the Prius Liftback (a total 34.3 cubic feet), the v approaches the capacity of small SUVs.   It could also be a good addition to taxi fleets with the extra rear seat and cargo room.

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When you’ve had the best-selling car in America for 13 of the last 14 years, you don’t want to stray too far from the winning combination, and Toyota appears to have done just that.  It’s a bit more sophisticated looking, perhaps, but your neighbors won’t likey know that you have the new generation Camry.

The seventh generation Camry’s evolutionary design has a more spacious interior, with better driving dynamics and an even quieter ride.  They also boast class leading safety, fuel economy and multi-media technology with Toyota proclaiming this is the best Camry every, which it should be, after 28 years of improvements. Read the rest of this entry »

Ford CEO Alan Mulally

A chance meeting between Ford CEO Alan Mulally and Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda in an airport lounge appears to have resulted in an agreement for the two companies to jointly develop a new gas-electric hybrid fuel system for pickups and sport utilities.  They have also agreed to work on standardizing telematics systems and technologies.

Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda

The two companies announced last week that they signed a memorandum of understanding on the product development and expect to ink a formal agreement on the pack next year. Read the rest of this entry »