2014 Toyota Highlander Limited on 2040-cars

Auto blog

The techie choice | 2017 Toyota Prius Prime Quick Spin

The Prius nameplate has been inexorably tied to the green car scene for a long time now. When Toyota unleashed the Prius Prime upon the world, we said it was the best Prius yet. But this is no longer a world where Toyota's hybrids are automatically crowned king. Our recent time with the Hyundai Ioniq trio was a stark reminder that the economical, eco-conscious competition is getting stiffer. We put some miles on a Prius Prime to see how our recent Ioniq Plug-In Hybrid test colors our view of Toyota's prime contender. Our first impression: the Prius design is very clean and inorganic. As sterile as it feels, the design appears to have a lot of actual thought behind it. Our Advanced trim tester is spiritually in touch with the mobile gadget culture, with a huge touchscreen, digitization of seemingly everything, and white and black glossy plastic aesthetic. It's a tech-heavy design that will likely seem familiar to those of us who have been interfacing with Apple designs for the past 10 or so years. The Ioniq Plug-In Hybrid, on the other hand, remains truer to the look and feel most drivers expect from their commuters. It's less about user interface, modes, and drive data, and more about just getting behind the wheel and driving. The Ioniq Plug-In Hybrid hardly even distinguishes itself from its plugless counterparts, opting to go green under cover rather than the in-your-face futurism the Prius projects. It retains the traditional instrument cluster in front of the driver, too, which the Prius Prime lacks. In the Toyota, you'll have to look around the car for the right display with the information you're looking for – there's the huge central touchscreen with all its menus, as well as smaller displays above it on the dash – or you can find your speed on the HUD. The Prius is composed in its handling, but doesn't provide much of the sensory feedback that makes one feel connected to the chassis. The steering feels super artificial, but the car stays fairly flat in the corners without providing too much feedback through the seat of your pants. Hyundai's offering, though, proved to be a surprisingly willing dance partner in the corners. While feeling equally as capable as the Prius, the Ioniq's sense of connection through steering and suspension made the act of stitching one turn after another together enough to get our blood pumping. Sport mode makes the Prius Prime slightly livelier, though.

Recharge Wrap-up: New and old Audis get greener, as does US electricity

Audi has made environmental improvements to the its TT while boosting performance. The new TT sees an 11-percent reduction in emissions, and up to 14 percent more power. Audi says that each TT will save around 5.5 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over its lifecycle. Additionally, the TT's manufacturing process has been cleaned up a bit, reducing emissions by about nine percent. Read more in the press release, below, or see Audi's lifecycle assessment here. Speaking of greening up Audis, Al Swackhammer of Washington converted his 1960 Audi DKW 1000S to run on electric power. Swackhammer first fell in love with the Audi Ur-Quattro, became an enthusiast of Audi and Volkswagen cars, and has owned nothing else ever since. With his DKW, he combined his passion for the classic car with his responsibility to the environment. "I am pleased that I did this project," says the happy owner, "and I enjoy driving it very dearly." Meet the man and his beloved electric Audi DKW in the video below. Toyota has chosen a sustainable design firm, Corgan, as the lead architect for its new North American headquarters. The new campus will be built in Plano, TX, and will be the workplace of about 4,000 Toyota employees. Corgan, who has already done 47 LEED certified projects, is already designing a temporary office for the site while it finishes the project. Toyota expects to begin working from the site in late 2016 or early 2017. Learn more in the press release below. In July, all new electrical generating capacity in the US came from renewable sources. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Office of Energy Projects' newest "Energy Infrastructure Update" report says new electric generation put into service last month came from wind (379 megawatts), solar (21 megawatts) and hydro (5 megawatts). So far this year, 53 percent of new energy generation capacity has come from various renewable sources, and none from coal or nuclear. Currently, renewable energy accounts for 16.3 percent of the US electric generation capacity, providing about 14 percent of actual electricity. Read more in the press release from the Sun Day Campaign below. Positive life cycle assessment for the new Audi TT Compact sports car scores high for dynamic performance and efficiency Emissions reduced by 11 percent compared with predecessor Customer benefits from the very first mile Ingolstadt, August 18, 2014 – Dynamic performance and efficiency: The new Audi TT* impressively combines both qualities.

Toyota ready to design more heart-racing Prius

Long praised for its fuel economy and reliability, the Toyota Prius has been no stranger to less-than-flattering remarks about its styling and sense of excitement. In fact, the model is a regular movie punchline. For evidence, see Mark Wahlberg in The Other Guys or, more recently, Ice Cube in Ride Along. Apparently, Toyota President Akido Toyoda is getting the message and is pushing for what's been translated as a more "heart-racing" design for both the Prius and the Camry, the Canadian website Driving says. The Camry and Prius accounted for about a third of Toyota's US sales last year. With the Camry as the best-selling US model for each of the last dozen years, Toyota US head designer Kevin Hunter noted at the Detroit Auto Show last week that the Japanese automaker is looking for a "more emotional" design for the boxy sedan. The Prius redesign may have more constraints, as aerodynamics have to be factored in to ensure top-line fuel economy for the world's best-selling hybrid. Toyota used the Detroit show to show off the FT-1, a concept that many consider a preview of the new Supra. How this "Future Toyota 1" will affect the Prius and Camry redesigns, whenever they appear, remains in question but we like where things are headed.