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Toyota Bumping Up RAV4 Production By 50,000 Units Annually
Not really a fan of the RAV4 myself but the V6 is a gem (269hp, 26mpg) and the chassis is very fun to drive. With a redesigned model around the corner, hopefully Toyota will improve the interior which I think is the weakest spot.
Camry and Camry Hybrid increased 30.5 percent year-over-year with its best-ever March, leading monthly passenger car sales with 42,567 units. :surprise:
They also sold 28,7xx Prius models! That's better than a slew of conventional midsizers!
Wow.
Great looking car! Not as frumpy as the current one. :shades:
I think what I like the most about this one is how they extended the roofline to minimize the rear overhang that I notice everytime on the current one.
I am not a buyer of large cars but I like this one if I were shopping in this class. Up until now it was the Taurus, but this new Avalon makes the Ford look a bit "butt heavy"
I see some new Impala in the Avalon too.
High gas prices = skyrocketing Prius sales.
Now is the time to sell a Prius if you own one, actually. In CCB an older one was going for $12k. Stupid money.
It's crazy, you can save $800 a year on gas but everybody panics and prices jump up $4,000.
So many decent B-segment cars now, too.
Aston/Ford lower grille
Camry upper grille
Audi A7 greenhouse
Hard to be truly original nowadays.
Looks better from rear 3/4ths angles. Too much chrome up front for me.
Gramps also gets paddle shifters now.
Also saw a Harrier, Allion, Skyline, Starlet...names that don't exist here.
Toyota pretty much owns the market in Jamaica. Put it this way - a few cars are not Toyotas.
19 years ago I went for my honeymoon, and saw TONS of Lada Samaras and Nivas.
Not one left that I saw.
No wonder Toyota took over.
Will grandpa know what do do with a shift lever not coming out of the steering column? :shades:
Rental car forum I read called the 2012 model a "Toyota Town Car"...
I'm not a fan of chrome, and that front has lots of it, so yeah...hopefully not all models get the brace-face look.
From the rear it looks like a poor man's Audi A7.
The Audi rear hint caught my eye too. It's inoffensive from that angle, anyway.
By younger I mean 67 instead of 73 median age.
http://www.autoblog.com/2012/04/16/next-gen-lexus-is-mule-caught-circulating/
Can you imagine Lexus dealers trying to sell boxer engines? Hard to think of a bigger mismatch.
To be fair, slap the badge on it and it will sell, just like the competing makes.
There's no front half shafts, so all they need is a longer/taller nose, and it'll fit. It would not have the same front-mid engine balance, but it's less important in the IS.
I wonder if they'll really use that platform. I guess they need economies of scale.
Or they could keep the FA20 as is, and the numbers could represent the HP output. For example:
IS200 = 200hp, FA20 DI, N/A
IS300 = 300hp, FA20 DI turbo
etc.
I guess a boxer would be no more out of place at a Lexus dealer than in a Scion dealer...
We should get a diesel IS as exists elsewhere.
The cabins are so well insulated, the glass laminated and multi-layered, so they're quiet inside even if they're noisy outside.
I bet the boxer's overall NVH would fall between a DI gas engine and a diesel. Par for the class nowadays.
The EJ25 you're used to listening to is probably noisier than the new FA series, plus the compact Impreza has much less sound insulation.
FWIW I like the sounds a boxer makes...
The boxer noise is cool for the 25 year old wannabe racer in his WRX...maybe not for the 50 year old latte swiller in an IS.
I wonder why they think it's such a good idea to lean on their partnership with Soob so much. The two companies really are quite different, and the quirkiness of the boxer should stay exclusive to the Subaru brand as much as it possibly can. I do get that they are trying to leverage their investment in the FT-86 project as much as possible here, but developing Lexuses from it is a mistake. Why not make another Scion or two? Or perhaps a (gasp!) sporty Toyota from it??
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Leaving the boxer with Scion might be the better plan though.
The newer FA engine is quieter than the EJ series despite the DI.
The big question is what to do with the FB engines. Subaru just launched them and Toyota stepped in and changed the bore, stroke, and added DI to create the FA series.
May as well just drop the FB now.
The 2.5l boxer you don't like (though I do) is now 2 generations old.
Yes, you have made it abundantly clear you like the boxer - but no matter, most of the market does not, or more makers would adopt the layout. Is it some kind of "underdog" engine? For the average IS buyer, who can't drive stick, can't parallel park, who thinks a bowl of wintergreen flavored ice milk is an exotic dessert, a boxer with its inherent iffy to poor NVH qualities and tendency to get louder and rougher with age, it would be very unwelcome. I can't imagine Toyota would go that route, and I would wager it won't - it has the knowledge to develop better normal engines.
Of course this is with steel wheels, knobby tires, vinyl interior. A real SUV, in other words. He did project appraisals in undeveloped areas so he used it as the designers intended, too.
Yes, I like a good boxer growl. Too many engines sounds the same, or worse, make almost no sound at all.
Said he doesn't tow any more, since his boat stays in the water year-round now.
The T-reg was a major gas guzzler, high teens mpg on premium fuel, plus he got tired of the repair bills (last one was close to $5 grand).
I was surprised he didn't get a Touareg TDI, but they had an unreliable Passat so that made 2 bad experiences with VW, so he's done with those.
Wife went from a Passat to an Odyssey, which she still has.
His T-reg was *really* nice inside but VW has to get its quality act together if it wants to maintain customers.
(edited to fix name of vehicle)
I like some noise too, but I also like smooth, in a modern car especially. The NVH ideal would be damning for the boxer in a Lexus,. I don't know if 95% of Lexus buyers want to hear a single peep from under the hood.
On other Lexus news, somewhere lately I read about the new ES. Looked very much like a GS, seemed to be 90% of the car for 60% of the price.
Given how much Toyota changed the 2l boxer in the FT-86, we should expect even more tinkering if Lexus uses a boxer.
Is the next ES still Camry-based? Looks can be deceiving, I'm sure they'll keep it FWD and far from sporty to keep loyal ES buyers happy.
At first I thought the IS was going to be a SWB GS....we'll see.
Interesting take:
Scion's intent wasn't to be a youth brand at all – it was to be an experimental division, an incubator for product and marketing techniques
I've always said that. Scion isolated risky models, insulating Toyota.
Good idea to discontinue the 2 boxes. Heck, bring something like the original xB back while you're at it. The Kia Soul is selling briskly and remains unchallenged.
I don't know if enough tinkering exists to make a boxer work in a Lexus, which as a brand is supposed to be 100% smoothness and refinenement - something impossible from any boxer I have seen. For the ES, I recall no technical data, just pics - looked a lot like the GS to me. I wonder how "sporty" the GS really is, especially as the screamer ad lease specials (not a remarkably good price) are all AWD.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Yeah, but with FWD. That's inherently neither good nor bad, but it makes it difficult to compare the ES and GS. While similar in size and style, the driving dynamics are different. I'd prefer the ES for Monday-Friday commutes, etc. and the GS for weekends and long drives. Would find it difficult to choose one over the other for 365 days/year use. For a sport sedan, I'd choose a German model over the GS, but I can't think of anything that beats the ES for luxury and comfort in the entry-level luxury category.
Indirectly, I'm sure - they would order straight from the factory, but I'm sure Toyota wants to keep the image of blazing fresh trails in frontier countries alive.
Yeah, ES got the new spindle face, all Lexi will get it I suppose, the whole family resemblance thing.
Similarly priced, one would hope.
I saw a comparo with the new 3 series where it was $15 grand more than the cheapest car. Come on...that's pushing the limits of sanity.
Did you see the base 5 series now comes with a 4 banger turbo? And it's the engine that clatters like mad when you start it cold.
It may not even be that the GS is vastly improved, but perhaps the Germans falling asleep behind the (electrically assisted and numb) wheel.
Base 5ers and Es etc have been 4 bangers at home for decades. Hasn't hurt them there. Clatters like mad, DI noise, or it can rumble and vibrate and moan 100% of the time like a boxer engine...
I'd expect the GS to be very much improved. The previous model was invisible and really not close to the competition, who have all moved on since. It has to be improved.
Well you made me just curious enough to go and actually look.
They tested an M37S, which is the Infiniti M-car with the sport package.
They tested a 535i with the M Sport Package.
And of course they tested the GS350 with its own F-sport package.
So the answer to your question is mostly yes, they were. The only one that didn't explicitly say it had a sport package was the A6, which was a 3.0T Quattro. However, it had almost $7000 in options and 255/40/19 PZeros, so I am thinking it probably did have whatever passes for a sport package in that model.
They called the Audi tinny and uninvolving, that you might just as well be the passenger as be the driver. And they (and many other reviews I have read) simply hate the steering in the new 5-series, which they call numb, and also disliked that the 535i feels like an only-slightly-downsized 7-series - too big and heavy.
So by contrast, the GS came out on top, as an involving and fun car to drive. It was also about the same price as the Audi and about $5000 less than the 535i, as tested.
The old GS was a car that no-one thought worth buying, and I figured it might just take a hiatus when its model run was over, so I guess they figured that instead of putting it to rest, they ought to really make it competitive in its class this time around.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I think Lexus took a brow beating over the previous GS, and worked 110% to make this new one better. If I was shopping in that category now, I would certainly give it a chance - the one I sat in was impressive.
Some people want that. Plus, having it allows them to play with the IS.
Agreed 100%, but in the comparo I'm referring to they put an over $50k Bimmer with the base 4 banger engine up against a $35k Infiniti.
Fair fight?
There was a time where the base BMW had the power deficit but had better handling and steering feel, so C&D would rave about how it had "soul" and it would still win.
Now it's the nearly half-priced Infiniti which had the better handling and superior steering feedback, and was named most fun to drive, yet the winner is .... BMW, even with the nose-bleed price.
C&D has always loved BMW and Honda, no doubt.
Spec chart from the comparo, with pricing:
http://media.caranddriver.com/files/2012-bmw-328i-vs-2012-audi-a4-20t-2012-infin- - iti-g25-2012-mercedes-benz-c250-sport-2012-volvo-s60-t6-awd2012-bmw-328i-vs-2012- - -audi-a4-20t-2012-infiniti-g25-2012-mercedes-benz-c250-sport-2012-volvo-s60-t6-a- - wd-comparison-tests.pdf
A G37 Sport at $39,750 would still have been the cheapest (!) car tested.
I agree...the new 5 has gotten too big/heavy to be the true sports sedan it used to be.
Heck, the one I drove, a 535i, felt a bit laggy. The E350 is more linear even if it's not as fast. The 550GT's V8 was much more satisfying, particularly off the line.
I can't imagine the lag in the still-heavy 528i would be much fun.
IS needs some playing with, getting really long in the tooth now. I know the big engine has been tuned and is nice, but LEDs don't hide age.
Now there's a car that needs to move on to a new cosmetic generation, the G. I think the current one dates back to just before the Franco-Prussian war, with barely any updates. The lowly $299 screamer lease G25 and the cars being very popular in fleets now doesn't help. G has to be cheap to make up for some other traits.