Toyota recalls two, just two, 2010 Tundras
18th Mar 2010

The troubles keep mounting for Toyota as the company announced that the number of Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles that have been recalled will be going up by two. No, not two million... just two. That means the company has now recalled 8,500,002 vehicles in the past several months. This most recent recall involves a pair of four-wheel-drive Toyota Tundra pickups that may have an improperly welded front propeller shaft.
No word on whether or not these two are also covered by the frame rust i...

Contemporary furniture designer Thonet takes on Volvo C70 gearshift duties
18th Mar 2010
Thonet shift knobs for Volvo C70 – Click above for high-res image gallery
We'll be honest – when we heard that a European contemporary furniture designer would be creating something specifically for Volvo, our first thought was, well, IKEA. (Very funny, we know.) However, the folks at Thonet (based in Germany, not Sweden) have created special wooden gearshift knobs specifically for the 2011 C70, in partnership with Volvo tuner Heico Sportiv.
The shift knobs, made out of oak, beech or walnut, are said to reflect the design language of Volvo's floating center console. Thonet has a long history of creating wood furniture designs, so it was a natural fit for Volvo to select them to create this specia...

Porsche and Lincoln climb to top of J.D. Power 2010 Vehicle Dependability Study
18th Mar 2010
Click above for results of the 2010 J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study
J.D. Power and Associates has just released its 2010 Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS)... and Porsche, Lincoln and Buick have climbed on the podium (Buick, Jaguar and Lexus occupied the top spots in last year's 2009 Vehicle Dependability Study). The German automaker demonstrated a significant jump in quality (up ten spots) with Ford's brand hot on its heels (up six positions). While Buick dropped down, its score was indicative of improved quality – however, the bar had been raised.
This year's VDS found that several brands that perform well in the firm's dependability study are avoided due to pu...

American Idol finalists team with Ford designers to create their own Fiestas
17th Mar 2010
Aaron Kelly's Ford Fiesta – Click above for high-res image gallery of all Top 12 American Idol Contestant designs
In case you hadn't noticed, Fox's hit show American Idol is back in full swing, and this is the first week that the competition has been narrowed down to the top 12 finalists. As you might expect, then, it's high time that the annual Ford sponsorship of AI goes into high gear as well.
Each of the Top 12 Idolists teamed up with four of Ford's brightest up-and-coming designers to come up with their own unique take on the Blue Oval's well-regarded Fiesta hatchback. Fans of the show (or fans of the car, we suppose) can enter the Ford Music Video Challenge...

Canadian Kia customers get new dealer-installed Forte Koup "R" performance package
17th Mar 2010
Kia Forte Koup with "R" package – Click above for high-res image gallery
In our initial review of the Kia Forte Koup, we were very impressed with the car's overall style and levels of standard equipment, but we wished that the car were a bit more potent on the street. One remedy for that is the "R" package of dealer-installed accessories that Canadian customers can now spec on either the SX or EX model.

Sadly, the R treatment doesn't aim to churn out any more power from the Forte Koup's four-cylinder mill, but it does add things like a performance exhaust, AIM drop-in performance air filter, stiffer spring...

Lease the Lexus LFA for $12,400 per month, $298,000 due at signing
17th Mar 2010
Lease-only Lexus LFA – Click above for high-res image gallery
The rich are very different from you and we, now more than ever. First off, we don't have the mental fortitude for jumping through all of the hoops that Lexus is making potential LFA customers limbo beneath. Let alone the cash. Thing is, the rigamarole involved never mattered because Lexus is only making 500 examples of the LFA and we're simply not going to lose sleep over the process it takes to park one in our garage. However, a potential LFA owner sent us a copy of his order guide, and like any good train wreck, we can't look away. Also, remember, this info ain't intended for pu...

Report: Nissan Leaf priced at U.S. $38,500+ in Japan
17th Mar 2010
Nissan Leaf – Click above for high-res image gallery
Interest in, and "pre-orders" for, the Nissan Leaf remains high, but a report from the Japanese newspaper the Mainichi Shimbun might put a damper on things. Apparently, the price for the all-electric car in Japan will be somewhere between 3.5 million and 4 million yen, which is about $38,667 to $44,191 U.S. at today's exchange rates. Granted, even if these prices are accurate, they certainly don't automatically equal the MSRP for the U.S. market, but they are higher than what we've been expecting – i.e., ...

Funny Car Commercial of the Day: When life gives you lemons...
17th Mar 2010
Where's Orville when you really need him? – Click above to watch the video after the break
When life gives you lemons... make lemonade. So goes the ol' saying, at least. But what if the curveball life happens to be throwing your way (and the rest of your small Brazilian town) is an active volcano? Well then, make popcorn.
And we can think of no better vehicle with which to climb the fire-spewing peak than a Volkswagen Saveiro, which is sadly one of VW's made-in-Brazil, non-U.S.-market offerings. The little trucklet features a flex-fuel 1.6-liter engine underhood that offers up 101 horsepower on gasoline or 104 when drunk on ethanol.
Check out the video after the break, and visi...

Report: Detroit automakers head to Congress to talk Japanese, Korean currency manipulation
17th Mar 2010

We can't even pretend to know the first thing about currency manipulation, so we won't bother trying to explain how artificially depreciated currency can help imports into the U.S. market. But American manufacturing groups have long accused the governments of China, Japan and South Korea of manipulating their currency to gain an bigger foothold in the U.S. market, and domestic automakers say Japan and South Korea in particular have been artificially depreciating their currency for years. Earlier this month, The American Automotive Policy Council, which represents General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, met with Obama Administration auto task force head Ron Bloom about...

Scion xB restyled and repriced for 2011
17th Mar 2010

2011 Scion xB – Click above for high-res image gallery
The Scion brand's poster car, the boxy xB, gets a freshened face for the 2011 model year, as well as some minor interior upgrades. Overall, the exterior changes give the econobox a more aggressive appearance – a good thing, since the second-generation xB wasn't appealing to the young, hipster crowd nearly as much as the automaker would have hoped. (We much prefer the first-generation car, for what it's worth.)
Up front, the revised fascia features slightly redesigned headlamps, as well as a honeycomb grille and larger outer vents on the bumper. Around back, the single rear backup lamp has been integrated into the taillamps, which cleans up the car's ba...