News & Reviews- Make: Toyota

The idea of a luxury pickup would've been laughable decades ago, but not so anymore. Times change and today's light truck buyer is much more varied in wants and needs than those who stepped up to half-ton haulers in the previous millennium. Now there are at least as many families looking to trucks like this premium-level Tundra Limited for solving their multidimensional lifestyle challenges in style and comfort, as there are commercial users choosing more basic Tundras for hauling construction equipment, farming implements, or whatever business requirements a heavy-duty workhorse can be used for, and for 9,769 consumers and commercial buyers last year the Tundra was the truck of choice.

The exact number of luxury trucks decked out in Limited or Platinum trim is not included in this figure, with many no doubt selling in base, SR and SR5 trim levels. What matters more to Toyota and its ever-watchful rivals is the considerable sales growth this truck has enjoyed since last year's Read Full Story

When Toyota brought the larger Prius V to market in late 2011 I took part in the launch program and was duly impressed. The car made sense then and still does today, especially here in Canada where the larger Prius V has outsold the regular model by a wide margin every year since introduction.

For 2015 Toyota has given the Prius V a fresh new face. It's totally different from its predecessor that looked a lot like its smaller sibling, and early sales numbers affirm that fans of the big hybrid like what they see. Year to date deliveries are on track to once again hit last year's total of 2,292 units, whereas the regular Prius is trending towards its 2014 total of 1,819 units.

I won't have to go out too far on the proverbial limb to guess that many of these sales are to fleet buyers, particularly taxi companies and independent owner operators that previously bought the regular Prius in hoards and have now switched over to the more accommodating Prius V for obvious reasons. Read Full Story

Toyota's Sienna has been Canada's best-selling import branded minivan for five straight years, and at least as impressive it's outsold one of the two domestic minivan brands by a wide margin for the last 11 years. What makes it so popular? One look at its attractive styling followed up by a test drive will explain it all.

Before I get into the looking and driving portion of this review, I used the term "import branded" instead of "import" because the Princeton, Indiana-built Sienna is more chicken noodle miso than purely Japanese. In fact, you can't even buy the Sienna in Japan let alone in any other market outside of North America. Instead, global markets get too many van variations to list in every size and shape imaginable. Subcompact, compact, mid-size and full-size MPVs are still incredibly popular all over the world despite vans with side-sliders giving way to car-based crossovers here in North America. A few trips to Asia over the last year and a half have made this quite Read Full Story

No matter which angle you see it, whether coming or silently whisking past on EV power, the Prius C is a great looking little hatchback. It rides on Toyota's B platform that also underpins the Yaris and current Corolla, but visually you'd never know it.

The Prius C is wholly distinctive, made even more so for 2015 thanks to sportier new front end styling that adds a larger looking all-black grille with a glossy black bumper cap, integrated LED headlamps at each side, new vertical LED driving lights with tiny gloss black rimmed LED fog lamps just below, and a much more aggressively shaped lower fascia, along with a less obviously updated rear end design featuring a sizable rear spoiler up top and revised taillight lenses with integrated LED brake lights wrapped around each corner just below.

Yes, you heard me right. Just like the aforementioned Corolla this latest entry-level Prius, the most affordable hybrid model on the new vehicle market, comes standard with lighter Read Full Story

You could be forgiven for mistaking Toyota's Avalon for the new redesigned Camry. Such a comment wouldn't have been made a year ago, but the new Camry's design team certainly took inspiration from the brand's full-size flagship sedan for its 2015 redo.

The current Avalon has been with us since 2012 when it arrived as a 2013 model, and for the most part remains unchanged for the 2015 model year. In my opinion this is a very good thing, as today's Avalon is not only the best looking, most impressively finished and best equipped of its kind to ever hit the road, but it's also one of the more appealing full-size luxury models offered within its class.

Well-appointed large sedans aren't as plentiful as they once were, at least here in Canada where models like Hyundai's Azera and Volkswagen's Phaeton no longer exist, not to mention cars like the Mazda Millenia and Mitsubishi Diamante which are no longer offered anywhere, but then again today's mid-size sedan is now so large Read Full Story