2014 Toyota Tacoma Base on 2040-cars

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Toyota spotlights Amy Purdy in new ad ahead of Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is still days away, but companies can't seem to help revealing their spots ahead of the big game. We already know a little of what Toyota, Mercedes-Benz and BMW have in store for us, and now the Japanese automaker is premiering one of its inspiring commercials for the refreshed 2015 Camry. The ad stars Paralympic snowboarder and former Dancing with the Stars contestant Amy Purdy as she works through life's difficulties to succeed. Titled How Great I Am, the true highlight of the commercial is the rousing and humorous speech from Muhammad Ali over the action that fits the theme of perseverance perfectly. While this spot is supposed to run before the Super Bowl actually begins, Toyota also has another ad for the second quarter of the game showing fathers and their children. It's all part of the brand's One Bold Choice campaign for the updated sedan.

2014 Toyota Tundra to debut at Chicago Auto Show

The fullsize pickup market is dominated by trucks from Ford, General Motors and Ram, but this segment could get some hefty competition in coming years. We've already reported that Nissan is planning a redesign of its Titan truck for 2015, and now Toyota has announced that it will be revealing the 2014 Tundra next month at the Chicago Auto Show.
In the brief press release posted below, Toyota says that the 2014 Tundra will be "redesigned," but it's unclear as to whether this means we'll be seeing an all-new truck or just an extensive refresh. The current Tundra design has been around since 2007 and sales are hardly worrisome to the Big Three, so a new design would be a logical guess.
In any case, we only have to wait a couple more weeks for the new Tundra to debut on February 7, and we'll be on hand to bring you plenty of live coverage from the show.

2020 Hyundai Palisade vs. Ascent, Pilot, Highlander and CX-9: How they compare on paper

We've finally had our first drive of the 2020 Hyundai Palisade and found it to be well-equipped for sales success. It nails the formula that some of the most successful three-row crossovers have, the aforementioned seating capacity, high driving position, all-wheel-drive availability and a V6 engine. Of course, it also offers a unique and menacing-looking exterior that ought to stand out in the parking lot. To dig deeper into how it compares to other three-row family crossovers, we've fired up the old Autoblog Comparo Generator 3000 (™) and lined the all-new 2020 Palisade up against the 2019 Subaru Ascent, 2019 Honda Pilot, 2019 Toyota Highlander and 2019 Mazda CX-9. Besides being two of last year's best-selling three-row SUVs, the Pilot and Highlander are also the closest in general concept to the new Palisade, while the Ascent and CX-9 also offer a comparable turbocharged four-cylinder powertrain. The CX-9 is also one of our favorites in the segment, and the Ascent is one of the newest entrants on the scene. There are of course numerous other worthy contenders, including the Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia, Volkswagen Atlas, Nissan Pathfinder, Hyundai Santa Fe and the best-selling Ford Explorer, so if you want to see their specs, check out the Autoblog compare tool. Performance and fuel economy The Subaru, as is so often the case, is the oddball. It has a 2.4-liter turbocharged horizontally opposed four-cylinder (aka a flat-four or a boxer-four) that produces a comparatively modest horsepower rating, but a greater amount of torque. That's typical for turbocharged engines such as Mazda CX-9's turbo inline-four that produces 250 horsepower on premium fuel (227 hp on 87 octane) and 310 lb-ft of torque (the VW Atlas also offers a base turbo-four). The Hyundai, Honda and Toyota, meanwhile, go about it the old-fashioned way, with naturally aspirated V6 engines displacing 3.8 liters in the Hyundai, and 3.5 liters with the two Japanese crossovers. The Toyota and Hyundai lead the pack in horsepower, with the Toyota taking top honors by just 4 horses. The Honda weighs less, though, so their acceleration should be comparable. The Subaru actually accelerates on par with its V6-powered competitors, probably due in part to its continuously variable transmission. The fuel economy trophy goes to the Ascent.