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First Drive: 2012 Toyota Prius C

March 22, 2012 by Gary Grant 3 Comments

As is often the case for Canadian new model launches, our first taste of the 2012 Toyota Prius C came this week, a full month after the US media launch. Unlike some other manufacturers though, when Toyota Canada invites the press out to an event, they put considerable thought into the location of the event, relative to the product they are showing. This week’s Prius C event brought us to Seattle, Washington.

As the birthplace of Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Starbucks and the home of Microsoft, Seattle could be considered one of the hippest cities in North America not to mention being green in a few senses. The historic downtown area from Pike Place to Seattle’s infamous red light district provided a perfect combination of old world sights and steep hills to put the C for City moniker to the test. From there, we headed out to the lovely countryside around Lake Washington, where we got to see how the C handled a wind swept causeway and some twisty country roads.
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Chevy looks set to bring back small car performance with Aveo RS “show car”

January 12, 2010 by Gary Grant 1 Comment

Big honkin’ V-8’s are great fun, but they can be a little bit on the expensive side to operate as a track car. They tend to go faster (duh) and weigh more which means that disposable items like tires and brakes are, well, disposable. Also, their point of entry tends to be a pricier than a little car. All of my competitive driving has been done in teeny, tiny little things which tends to cause chuckles when people see my rather large presence next to a pocket rocket.

For some time now, Chevy has been absent from the sub compact performance market. With yesterday’s unveiling of the Aveo RS show car, it would seem that we are about to see small performance from Chevrolet.

The Aveo RS is said to hint at the next generation Aveo’s appearance and adding some sport visuals to it. Backing up the look is a 140 horsepower 1.4l four banger breathing through a turbo. That power will make it to the wheels through a 6 speed manual transmission.

While at this point the Chevy folks are not committing to the future of the RS, there is a lot of knowing smiles when they are asked pointed questions. Beat around the bush a bit and the smiles get bigger and the discussion gets more optimistic. Somehow I think it would be a safe bet to expect that we might see the RS model on North American streets by 2011. When that happens, you can be sure to see some active in grassroots racing!

Chevrolet press release and photos after the break.
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