Source: Motor Authority
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Toyota Going High-Tech With Its Interiors
Thursday, July 26, 2012
2012 Toyota Prius c hybrid is rated at 53 mpg in city
Not counting plug-in cars, the 2012 Toyota Prius c is the most gasoline-stingy auto on the U.S. market, with a combined city/highway rating of 50 miles a gallon, according to the federal government.
Better yet, the starting retail price of $19,710 means the Prius c has the second-lowest base price of any gasoline-electric hybrid in the country.
No wonder the 2012 Prius c small hatchback with four-cylinder engine mated to two electric motors and battery pack is a compelling offering for budget-minded consumers and environmentalists who want to reduce oil usage and air emissions.
The gas-electric hybrid with the lowest starting retail price in the United States is the 2012 Honda Insight hybrid, which starts at $19,290. But the Insight’s combined city/highway rating from the federal government is 42 mpg.
The new-for-2012 Prius c showcases its thrift, even including an onboard computer that can tally how many dollars a trip is costing while the car travels.
For example: A 62.2-mile trip at mostly highway speeds in a test car that didn’t get quite the federal mpg cost just under $5.50 at the going price of $3.67 a gallon for regular fuel. All the driver had to do was input the price of the gasoline in the tank and the dollars rolled up in the instrument panel as the miles passed.
Computers in most cars display miles-per-gallon but don’t offer a way to input the gasoline price to give the driver the continuous fuel cost of travel. A driver typically must multiply the price-per-gallon by the mpg on his own.
But be aware: The Prius c is a small, five-door hatchback.
It’s 13 feet from bumper to bumper — which is 19 inches shorter than a “regular,” five-seat Prius hatchback and 4.3 inches shorter than the small Honda Fit.
The five-seat Prius c also weighs a lightweight 2,500 pounds and can be buffeted by high winds.
The Prius c isn’t sporty, either. Combined horsepower from the engine and two electric motors is 99, which is 35 less than what’s in a larger, regular Prius.
But Consumer Reports expects above average reliability.
The manufacturer’s suggested retail price, including destination charge, of $19,710 is for a base, 2012 Prius c One hatchback with continuously variable transmission that maximizes fuel economy.
Price can rise to more than $25,000 with the top trim level, Prius c Four, and an option package or two added.
Prius c Four includes heated outside mirrors with turn signal indicators in them, alloy wheels, heated front seats with SofTex material, navigation system, and tilt and telescoping steering wheel with controls, among other things. A moonroof is an option even on the Four.
Besides the Insight, lower price, higher mileage, non-plug-in hatchbacks include the 2012 Scion iQ three-door hatchback with combined city/highway mileage rating of 37 mpg and starting retail price of $15,995. The 2013 Hyundai Accent five door with combined city/highway mileage rating of 34 mpg and 138-horsepower four cylinder starts at $15,570 with manual transmission. The iQ and Accent are not hybrids.
A traditional or regular 2012 Prius hybrid with bigger engine and larger passenger compartment than the Prius c has a starting retail price of $24,760.
The larger Prius has the same 50-mpg federal government rating of the Prius c in combined city/highway travel, in part because the Prius c isn’t quite as aerodynamic and has an older, slightly less efficient engine. But the Prius c outdoes its older, larger sibling in city mileage, where the federal rating is 53 mpg instead of the bigger Prius’ 51 mpg.
The test car, a top-level Prius c Four, was always above 41 mpg even when the driver drove hard. It easily averaged 44.5 mpg in combined city/highway driving without the driver trying to maximize fuel.
Most notable was how smoothly the Prius c moved from electric power to gasoline power. There was no telltale sensation of stumbling or hesitation.
The 1.5-liter, double overhead cam four cylinder operates on the fuel-saving Atkinson cycle, and acceleration takes a while — 0 to 60 miles per hour takes 11 seconds.
The gas pedal in the tester even seemed a bit stubborn to go down, providing resistance especially in “eco” mode, as if to ask if the power really was needed.
The Prius c has an older-technology nickel metal hydride battery pack, rather than lithium ion.
Body control is acceptable for such a small car. But the car’s interior can be noisy, with sounds from nearby cars readily coming into the passenger compartment and wind noise getting loud above 55 mph.
The turning circle is barely over 31 feet if the car wears standard 15-inch tires, but the tester had optional 16-inchers, which made the turning circle a larger 37.4 feet.
The Prius c steering wheel is small, and the steering felt numb at times in the test car. The car horn sounded wimpy. Certainly, this is not a sports car.
Passengers felt road vibrations much of the time, and bounced up and down a good bit when the small-wheelbase Prius c traveled over a lengthy highway bridge with expansion cracks.
Three adults in the back seat are a tight fit across the narrow Prius c, and they sit on short cushions.
Front seats needed more lumbar support in the tester.
Meantime, the uplevel SofTex material in the test car was black and got hot in summer sun. Thank goodness the air conditioning came on fast.
The Prius c dashboard also was black, with the less-textured, less expensive-looking plastic pieces up near the windshield and better-looking plastic closer to passengers.
Source: Washington Post
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Thank you for this great review. Kudos team!
Click here to read more reviews.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
Thank you for sharing your experience.
"This is my family's fourth new car purchased from Day Toyota in the last twelve years. It is always a great experience and the service department is first quaility." - Maya 2012.
Click here to read more reviews.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Toyota Announces 2013 Prices for Corolla, Matrix, Sienna, Tacoma, Scion xD and iQ
The popular Corolla compact sedan carries over with a new front grille design on all grades. The LE grade receives a chrome accented beltline along with its new chrome front grille. Inside, an upgraded Display Audio system is standard on the LE and S grade. The audio unit includes a 6.1-inch touchscreen, AM/FM CD player with MP3/WMA playback capability, six speakers, auxiliary audio jack, USB port with iPod® connectivity and control, vehicle information with customizable settings, hand-free phone capability, phone book access and music streaming via Bluetooth® wireless technology. The MSRP for the 2013 Corolla will range from $16,230 for the L grade with a five-speed manual transmission to $19,060 for the S grade with a four-speed automatic. The MSRP’s reflect an average overall increase of $239 or 1.3 percent.
Source: Toyota
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
It's time for our weekly car care tip - A dirty air filter drops gas mileage
Our tests show that driving with a dirty air filter no longer has an impact on fuel economy, as it did with older engines. That's because modern engines use computers to precisely control the air/fuel ratio, depending on the amount of air coming in through the filter. Reducing airflow causes the engine to automatically reduce the amount of fuel being used. Fuel economy didn't change in the family sedan we tested, but it accelerated much more slowly with a dirty filter.
Source: Yahoo Autos.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Do you have an older junker just sitting around? Do you have a vehicle that you think is worthless? Do you want a newer pre-owned vehicle?
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE
Day Toyota is here to help!
Day Toyota Scion is offering $3,000 minimum for your trade, until July 14, 2012:
Push, Pull, or Tow!
We will give your $3,000 towards your trade on a pre-owned vehicle in stock on our lot. Stop by today to take advantage of this great deal!
Cannot be combined with any other offer or Credit Acceptance Program.
Not valid towards the purchase of a NEW vehicle.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Toyota to Strengthen its Global, Internal SNS-based Communications
Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), aiming to encourage greater and more fluid communication between Japanese employees based in Japan and non-Japanese employees at overseas affiliates, will add a translation service to its global, internal social networking service (SNS) on July 10.
The new translation service, SNS Translation Center(1), will be added to Toyota Chatter(2), which was launched in January this year. The service will initially be run on a trial basis through to the end of July, before full-scale operations begin in August.
The SNS Translation Center will feature drastically improved accuracy over normal machine translations, due to added real-time translation assistance by operators. In addition, the center's vocabulary database includes a wealth of Toyota-specific terms and phrases to help improve accuracy.
Operators will be on hand to rectify the machine translation when necessary. Meanwhile, the translation software learns terms and phrases corrected by operators, ensuring that the machine translation becomes more accurate the more it is used. The service will be offered round-the-clock to Toyota employees registered on Toyota Chatter.
With sales and marketing personnel at the forefront, some 8,400 employees worldwide (including 3,200 in North America and 1,700 in Europe) have registered to use Toyota Chatter, increasing the need for seamless and speedy translation services.
TMC believes that the translation service will enhance communication among Toyota employees around the world, leading to quicker decision-making and information-sharing. It is envisioned that this enhanced communication will ultimately help to make products and services best suited to consumers.
Going forward, TMC plans to increase the number of languages serviced by the Center and to extend the service beyond the scope of SNS.
(1) Developed and operated by Toyota Media Service Corporation, a TMC IT subsidiary.
(2) An in-house global SNS platform designed to allow prompt information sharing among sales and marketing personnel that is based on a platform created by salesforce.com, inc., which entered into a strategic alliance with Toyota in May 2011.
Source: Market Watch
Thank you for sharing your experience.
"We went to see a truck that we were interested in and ended up purchasing it on the spot. The salesman made us an excellent offer on our truck and away we went!" - Keeps vehicles forever
Click here to read more reviews.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid Gets Royal Treatment in Europe
The first production Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid in Europe was delivered to His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco, as the Japanese automaker employs some royal cachet to market the car.
The prince will use the Prius Plug-in Hybrid for "private purposes," said Toyota in a statement. The prince has a two-month loan on the car from Toyota, which notes that he currently has a standard Prius in his automotive stable.
Prince Albert may be Toyota's best unofficial salesman in Europe. A one-off Landaulet edition of the Lexus LS 600h hybrid took center stage at his 2011 wedding to Charlene Wittstock.
Of course, with the handover of the keys to the Prius Plug-in Hybrid, Monaco also gets to strengthen its position as one of the green leaders in Europe. Even though the principality is just 48 acres with a population of 35,000, it is also home to 424 free charging stations.
The link between European royalty and cars is a strong one. Witness the media frenzy that ensued after England's Prince William and commoner Kate Middleton celebrated their nuptials last year with a joyride in an Aston Martin DB6 Volante.
Source: Insideline
Thursday, July 5, 2012
CLINT collects first win in a Camry!
In Sunday afternoon’s Toyota Save Mart 350 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at the road course in Sonoma, Calif., Camry driver Clint Bowyer collected his first victory as a member of Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR), as well as his inaugural victory driving a Toyota.
Bowyer, who joined MWR at the beginning of the 2012 season to drive a Camry, dominated the race at the 1.99-mile, 11 turn road course. He led the field three times for a race-high 71 laps (of 112) in the MWR No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry.
Bowyer started sixth and moved into first-place for the first time on lap 25 -- leading the field for nine circuits. The Emporia, Kansas-native then led again for 23 laps (48 to 70), before being at the front of the field for the final 39 laps (74 to 112) -- including a green-white-checkered finish -- en route to victory lane.
Rather than drive his Camry into the Sonoma winner’s circle, Bowyer walked into the first-place ceremony after his victory ‘burnout’ left him short of enough fuel to make the drive. It was his only misstep of the day.
“Super excited for everybody involved to be in victory lane with this group so early in the season,” said Bowyer, after the race. “It’s a dream come true. I’m very proud of all our partners, especially everybody at MWR. To switch teams like I did was a huge risk and a chance for me, and it was obviously a chance for me to showcase my talents. I’m proud of everybody back home at the shop -- thank you guys for building us real good race cars. What a wonderful opportunity at this stage in my career to make this jump -- and make it work. I’m proud of everybody -- Brian Pattie (crew chief) and everybody on this 5-hour ENERGY Toyota. This is just awesome.”
Bowyer’s MWR teammates also had strong showings in the first NSCS road race of the season. Brian Vickers registered a fourth-place finish in the No. 55 Camry and Martin Truex Jr. ran among the leaders throughout the race and led the field for 15 laps -- before he ended up 22nd after contact on the track late in the final laps.
“We’re all working together at MWR,” added Bowyer. “That’s something that I’m very proud of. All these guys work together and the crew chiefs and the engineering staff -- and everybody at TRD (Toyota Racing Development) -- that’s what it takes. All of our cars ran good today and it’s because everybody works together.”
The victory also moves Bowyer closer to securing a spot in the Chase championship playoff.
“It’s huge towards the Chase and everything else,” added Bowyer. “This is big for our team’s confidence level. It’s a young organization that’s going to be in this sport a long time and I’m proud to be a part of it.”
It marks the first NSCS win of the 2012 season for Bowyer and the first NSCS victory of the year for MWR. It was also Bowyer’s ninth top-10 finish of 2012.
In addition, Bowyer’s victory was the fifth win for a Camry driver this season. Besides Bowyer picking up the Sonoma first-place trophy, Denny Hamlin has two wins (Phoenix and Kansas), Kyle Busch has one victory (Richmond) and Joey Logano also has one win (Pocono).
Since the start of the 2007 season, Toyota drivers have now accumulated 44 wins and 37 poles.
Logano (10th-place) was the third Camry driver to register a top-10 at Sonoma.
Other Camry drivers in the field included Busch (17th), Bobby Labonte (24th), Landon Cassill (31st), JJ Yeley (33rd), Hamlin (35th), Travis Kvapil (36th), Chris Cook (42nd) and Joe Nemechek (43rd).
In the unofficial NSCS point standings, Bowyer moved into seventh-place -- 67 points behind leader Matt Kenseth. Hamlin (eighth) and Truex are also among the top-10 in the standings.
The Sprint Cup Series returns to action next weekend at Kentucky Speedway, June 30.
Toyota NSCS Driver Finishing Positions -- at Sonoma, Calif.
1st, CLINT BOWYER
4th, BRIAN VICKERS
10th, JOEY LOGANO
17th, KYLE BUSCH
22nd, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
24th, BOBBY LABONTE
31st, LANDON CASSILL
33rd, JJ YELEY
35th, DENNY HAMLIN
36th, TRAVIS KVAPIL
42nd, CHRIS COOK
43rd, JOE NEMECHEK
Toyota Drivers in NSCS Point Standings -– following Sonoma, Calif.*
7th, CLINT BOWYER, 529 points
8th, DENNY HAMLIN, 523 points
9th, MARTIN TRUEX JR., 520 points
12th, KYLE BUSCH, 459 points
15th, JOEY LOGANO, 441 points
*unofficial point standings
Source: Toyota Racing
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Monday, July 2, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)