Toyota Compact Cars

You probably know by now Toyota’s electric vehicle (EV) plans for the future, which includes 16 new EVs in the near term. By 2030, Toyota (including Lexus) will have a total of 30 EVs, and that includes this interesting concept that looks like an electric FJ Cruiser.

Japanese sports cars from the 1990s are some of the most recognized ones amongst the car culture. As described by Jeremy Clarkson, in a movie about the Nissan Skyline GT-R, Japan took over the world…and then lost it. While the latter is a topic for another time, what is true for the Skyline also goes for these three – the Toyota Supra, Nissan 300Z, and Mazda RX-7. Our colleagues from “EverydayDriver” - Todd Deeken and Paul Schmucker - take us on a spirited drive with these three JDM legends to determine the pros and cons of each and why they are so desired.

The folks at ‘The Fast Lane Truck’ conducted a drag race with not two, but five different pickup trucks. They had trucks across segments, starting from the Ford Maverick and the Hyundai Santa Cruz, to the Nissan Frontier, the Toyota Tundra, and the Ford F-150 Raptor. This wasn’t a conventional race wherein you just had all five trucks go at it together. It was more of a gauntlet match wherein the winner of a race faced a new truck in the next round and the loser got eliminated. Sounds a little like Squid Game, doesn’t it?

First making its debut in the ASEAN region, the first-ever Toyota Corolla Cross has finally reached Europe. While it looks largely identical to what America gets, the European version is actually superior in more ways than one.

The RAV4 was presented for the first time back in 1996, and since then it has been one of the most successful compact crossovers on the U.S. market. Now, for its 25th anniversary, Toyota is celebrating this huge success by adding a new trim level to the 2022 lineup. Next to that, the entire 2022 RAV4 lineup will receive both exterior and interior updates.

Toyota Gazoo Racing recently announced the reproduction of spare parts for the AE86 Toyota Corolla Levin and Sprinter Trueno as part of the company’s GR Heritage Parts Project. Don’t expect Toyota Gazoo Racing to reproduce every single spare part of the AE86, though. For this project, Toyota’s motorsports and tuning arm will only reproduce the AE86’s rear brake calipers, steering knuckle arms, and rear driveshafts.

Toyota revealed the BZ4X concept back in April of 2021, and now we’re getting our first look at the production model. Luckily, the production model looks a lot like the concept, all the way down to the aggressive body lines. When it hits the market in mid-2022, it’ll be offered with FWD or AWD and will serve as a stepping stone into the future. It’s the first of seven models planned over the next nine years, and this is what we know about it.

If you follow the tuner scene, you are, most likely, familiar with the Rocket Bunny body kits. Originating from Japan, the Rocket Bunny body kits are as striking and as aggressive as possible for a road-going car. Kei Miura’s wide-body designs can make even the most docile-looking car look like a road-going predator. As soon as we learned of the new Toyota GR 86, we knew it was a matter of time before a dedicated Rocket Bunny kit was in the making. Now, we finally have images of the Rocket Bunny 86, and we like what we see.

If you look at sales figures for the Toyota RAV4 in both Europe and the U.S. you will see that it is a very successful model. Back in 2020 the RAV4 was the best sold SUV in the States for the fourth year in a row, while in Europe it is in the top 3 best sold Toyota models.

So, it was to be expected to see that Toyota is doing its best to further improve the model and come with more ways to attract more customers. Its latest attempt is called "RAV4 Adventure" and, according to Toyota, it "reinforces the model’s “go anywhere” spirit with stand-out rugged styling that’s ready for life in the great outdoors."

There’s no denying that we are spoiled for choice when it comes to hot hatchbacks. The Honda Civic Type-R, Hyundai Veloster N, and VW Golf GTIare currently some of the most popular global models out there, but now there’s another one on the way. It seems Toyota Gazoo Racing is not done with launching hot versions of boring cars and a GR Corolla is on the way. However, it’s not going to arrive when initially expected.

Until recently the name "Corolla" made you think about Toyota’s compact sedan that is giving the Honda Civic a lot of headaches. Well, as of June, 2021 Toyota added a new version to the Corolla lineup: a compact crossover that will go after cars like Kia Seltos or Subaru Crosstrek.

The 2022 Corolla Cross will go on sale in October, 2021 and prices will range from $22,195 to $27,625, depending on the trim level and driveline.

The Toyota bZ4x electric crossover concept made its global debut a couple of months back. Now the automaker has revealed it in the U.S. The bZ4x is roughly the size of the RAV4 and will be launched in the production form later this year. The company hasn’t revealed a whole lot of details about it yet, but did mention that it will come with an all-wheel-drive configuration, which means it could have a dual-motor setup. The all-electric crossover will go on sale from early 2022.

The folks at Carwow brought the Yaris GRMN to the drag strip to take on the new GR Yaris. But, little did anyone know that the GR is playing on a different field altogether. This came as quite a shocker because you would consider the flagship GRMN, which stands for Gazoo Racing Meisters of Nurburgring, to be the better one on a drag strip. I mean, it literally has “Meisters of Nurburgring” in its name. But, that was not the case here.

Toyota has taken the engine from a Toyota GR Yaris and modified it to the extent that it burns hydrogen as opposed to gasoline – a strange move for a company that insists that cars like the Mirai that convert hydrogen to electricity will be the future. This engine is aimed at endurance racing first, but could eventually find its way into production road cars. This new development got me thinking: can hydrogen-powered engines delay the continuous shift to an EV only future?

Toyota is in the midst of reorganizing its lineup and the Yaris Cross will be the next one to step in, as the brand’s newest compact crossover. With the Yaris Cross being positioned under the C-HR, Toyota will now have a complete portfolio of crossover vehicles. The model is aimed specifically for Europe, where compact dimensions, combined with a high seating position and rugged design are valued. The model will be assembled in France, where more than 150,000 units per year will be made. Here’s why Toyota is betting so much on it.

Remember earlier this year when it was revealed that the Toyota Supra actually produced more power than Toyota advertised? Well, it looks like it isn’t the only Toyota that’s more powerful than we thought.

A recent dyno test conducted on the GR Yaris revealed that Toyota’s firecracker of a hot hatch comes with a 1.6-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine that produced more than Toyota’s claimed output of 268 horsepower and 272 pound-feet of torque. A video of the GR Yaris getting tested on a dyno shows just how much more power the turbocharged three-cylinder can crank out, and without dumping any spoilers, it’s a lot of extra power that we didn’t think the GR Yaris had at its disposal.