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Review: 2010 Toyota Tacoma 4×2 PreRunner is a troubled fish in a shrinking pond

Filed under: Truck, Toyota, Reviews, Off-Road

2010 Toyota Tacoma 4×2 PreRunner – Click above for high-res image gallery

There was a time when pickup trucks came in three sensible sizes; small, medium and large. That’s changed in recent years, as most pint-sized trucks have grown substantially to maintain distance compared to the similarly inflating half-ton pickup truck segment. The Toyota Tacoma is no different, as the second generation of the popular pickup is eight inches wider and over a foot longer than the 1995 Taco. And don’t even try comparing the latest Tacoma to Marty McFly’s stellar 1985 Toyota Pickup in the Back to the Future films, which could almost fit in the bed of a modern heavy-duty.

But while the Tacoma has adjusted to fit the growing whims of U.S. truck buyers, sales have dropped anyway. Over the past three years, nameplate sales have plunged by over 60 percent, and 2010 isn’t looking any better. Has the Tacoma – last redesigned way back in 2005 – become long-in-the-tooth, or are car buyers simply turning away from the mid-size truck? We spent a week reacquainting ourselves with a TR5 PreRunner Double Cab to find out.

Follow the jump to continue…

Gallery: Review: 2010 Toyota Tacoma 4×2 PreRunner

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Review: 2010 Toyota Tacoma 4×2 PreRunner is a troubled fish in a shrinking pond originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: 2010 Mercedes-Benz GL350 Bluetec lives large, treads lightly

Filed under: SUV, Mercedes-Benz, Reviews, Diesel

2010 Mercedes-Benz GL350 BlueTEC – Click above for high-res image gallery

Drop the term “Big Benz” in conversation and most people assume you’re talking about the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. While the full-size flagship sedan has – deservedly – earned that moniker over the years, when it comes to sheer size and volume, the GL-Class is truly Benz’ behemoth. But don’t take that as a negative. The GL350 Bluetec, the automaker’s diesel-powered variant of its seven-passenger full-size sport utility vehicle, has plenty going for it. Under the hood is a torque-laden, fuel-efficient diesel, and after a week pulling family duty, we emerged impressed. Find out why after the jump.

Gallery: Review: 2010 Mercedes-Benz GL350 BlueTEC

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Review: 2010 Mercedes-Benz GL350 Bluetec lives large, treads lightly originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 03 Aug 2010 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: 2010 Lexus ES 350 is soft-riding royalty that’s lost its crown

Filed under: Sedan, Lexus, Reviews, Luxury

2010 Lexus ES 350 – Click above for high-res image gallery

The entry-level luxury sedan segment doesn’t command the enthusiast attention of, say, the ultra-premium luxury sports sedan. But if you ask automakers to choose between the two, we’d wager that most would rather have a best-in-class $35,000 sedan than a world-beating $70,000 sports tourer.

The reason? Very few fortunes are made selling a few thousand highfalutin’ rocket launchers, but bottom lines can easily be bolstered or crippled based on the success or failure of a plush, high-volume cruiser. Luxury marques from Acura to Volvo have experienced varied levels of success at the low end of the luxury market, but few have enjoyed the consistent sales dominance of the Lexus ES. In the past decade, Toyota has cranked out over 600,000 copies in the U.S. alone, with another 650,000 units shipped around the world. And those sales have traditionally been overwhelmingly of the retail variety with little or no incentives. Not bad for what many consider a glorified Toyota Camry.

Enthusiasts take note: Lexus didn’t reach such lofty sales levels with a rear-wheel-drive architecture or pavement-punishing quantities of horsepower. The road map to success for the ES has been simple: a soft, compliant ride; a pampering interior; and unmatched quality. The fifth-generation ES350 has built nicely on those attributes with smoother power, a quieter cabin and more technology. But the competition is still striving to overtake the ES in sales, so Lexus has gone and given its top-selling sedan a mid-cycle refresh for 2010. We spent a week in a Starfire Pearl ES350 to see if it still had the goods to remain a top option in the entry-level luxury segment.

Gallery: Review: 2010 Lexus ES 350

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Review: 2010 Lexus ES 350 is soft-riding royalty that’s lost its crown originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: 2010 Honda Civic Si HFP not fast, is curious

Filed under: Budget, Sedan, Performance, Honda, Reviews

2010 Honda Civic Si HFP – Click above for high-res image gallery

There was a time was when any serious discussion of “hot hatches” – small, lightweight economy cars pumped full of go-fast parts and body modifications of dubious taste – always included the Honda Civic Si. Back in the day, the D16Z6-engined Si would routinely do battle against the Volkswagen GTI and Nissan Sentra SE-R for import tuner supremacy. Times, however, change.

These days, the battle for hot hatch supremacy starts and essentially ends with turbocharged beasties like the Mitsubishi Evolution and Subaru WRX/STI, with a dash of MazdaSpeed3 or Mini Cooper S thrown in for flavor. The Sentra SE-R is little more than a sad shell of its former self (a fact we find odd considering just how much cache Nissan has built up for the brand with its exotic-destroying Godzilla GT-R) and the Volkswagen GTI has evolved into an entry-level Audi – lots of interior and NVH refinement, but lacking the kicked-in-the-you-know-where power necessary to keep up with the all-wheel-drive Japanese kids. But what about the Civic Si? Where does it fit into the import tuner lexicon, especially when loaded up with lots of Honda Factory Performance (HFP) parts? Make the jump as we attempt to find out.

Gallery: Review: 2010 Honda Civic Si HFP

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Review: 2010 Honda Civic Si HFP not fast, is curious originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: 2010 Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback Ralliart takes aim at the competition

Filed under: Performance, Hatchback, Mitsubishi, Reviews

2010 Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback Ralliart – Click above for high-res image gallery

There has always been a glaringly obvious gap in Mitsubishi’s current Lancer lineup. On the bottom is the… Lancer, a biggish-for-its-class economy car that no one particularly likes – at least that’s what the sales charts would indicate. It’s slow, filled with cheap plastics and dull. It hasn’t even proven to be all that reliable by Japanese small-car standards, but at least it looks good. At the top of the heap and on a wholly different plane sits the Lancer Evolution. It’s the giant-slayer, David, the little car that humbles supercars. It’s also the hottest of the rally-inspired all-wheel-drive turbocharged pocket rockets. The Evo’s only real competition is the Subaru WRX STI and, let’s be honest, the Evo has been the better car for years now (Subaru has just updated its warrior for 2011, so a new comparison is in order). Its handling is more precise, yet at the same time more insane. The Mitsu is rawer, rougher, tougher and most importantly faster, even though it’s down half a liter on the WRX STI in terms of displacement. Don’t read this wrong, the STI is a fine backroad killer. But the EVO is more homicidal.

It looks like a toned down Evo, which is exactly what Mitsubishi wants you to think.

Back to that gap. In the middle of its arch rival’s portfolio has long lived the WRX, Subaru’s Goldie Loxian sportster, which is very fast, very nimble, but very well priced (it still starts at under $25,000). The WRX has long threaded the needle between excellent all-around performance and the customer not being able to afford a higher monthly payment. Subaru, therefore, has sold a ton of them, for not only does the WRX offer all that power and rally-bred oomph at a low price, it can be had as a wagon. Mitsubishi had nothing until this year, when the Japanese industrial powerhouse brought over two new flavors of its hopped-up Lancer, the Ralliart and the Ralliart Sportback.

Today we’re taking a look at the supposedly more practical of those two additions, the five-door Sportback. When the pictures of the Lancer Sportback Ralliart started spilling onto this here internet, Yours Truly was especially excited. The main reason being that for the past eight years, I’ve owned a WRX wagon in one form or another. Biased? You could say that, but at that same time, I’ve been driving Evos against STIs and have remained aware (perhaps painfully aware) that the Evo is the sharper blade. Perhaps, then, the Sportback Ralliart could be my next fast and furious wagon, or at least go wheel-to-wheel with its competition from Fuji Heavy Industries? Hop the jump to find out.

Gallery: Review: 2010 Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback Ralliart

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Review: 2010 Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback Ralliart takes aim at the competition originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: 2010 Ural Patrol T takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’

Filed under: Motorcycle, Reviews

2010 Ural Patrol T – click above for high-res image gallery

I was still moving at a fairly good clip when I slammed into the fallen tree. I’d be more than happy to share the exact velocity that I was moving, but I can’t. You see, I was kinda busy at that exact moment trying my darnedest not to plummet 50 feet down the side of a cliff in the mountains northeast of Seattle, Washington.

How and why did I end up in this harrowing predicament? For starters, I should explain that I was out in the beautiful Pacific Northwest testing out Ural’s latest sidecar motorcycle, the Patrol T. Similar in concept to the standard T model that we rode not too long ago, the Patrol model differs from its sibling by featuring two-wheel drive and a deep, woodsy green paint job in place of matte black.

Having two driven wheels on a sidecar bike such as the Ural Patrol T offers a rather unique set of capabilities not seen anywhere else in the motorcycling world. We wanted to know just what the Patrol T was made of, and so sought out the most difficult terrain we could find. And we brought along two expert sidecar riders, including one that is arguably the single best Ural mechanic in the United States.

Now, getting back to nearly launching myself off the side of a cliff in the middle of nowhere…

Gallery: 2010 Ural Patrol T: Review

Continue reading Review: 2010 Ural Patrol T takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’

Review: 2010 Ural Patrol T takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’ originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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