Way back in the early Nineties, Toyota made their first foray into the North American style of work trucks with the T100. Traditional truck buyers were less than enthused by the T100’s lack of V8 power and lesser capabilities and few buyers switched showrooms. Toyota followed up the T100 with the first generation Tundra, which was much better received. It was a true full size truck. This new truck was still down on power when compared to the traditional domestic work horses, but the driving experience was beyond the competition. With the latest redesign, Toyota has brought the Tundra to the forefront of truckdom with true 2 door work trucks and high end 4 doors for the boss and his family.

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I have often said that a great car reviewer is one that can place themselves in the shoes of a potential buyer of any vehicle they may be handed. This week, I truly feel like a duck out of water. The 2008 Lexus LS460 is a magnificent ride, one suitable for shuttling executives and their wives to the opera or the theater. While I do enjoy the finer things in life, I’d rather enjoy them in jeans and a tee shirt, not a jacket and tie. The LS is definitely a jacket and tie kind of car.

The ride is supple and beyond smooth. Power delivery through the 8 speed automatic is silky and shifts are almost imperceptible under normal driving. Press the gas a little harder from a light and the 385 horsepower V8 growls and shifts become a bit more crisp. The character of the LS460 is a little more sedate than that though, which is just fine as few owners are likely to be looking for a stoplight battle.

Much has been said about the techno wizardry that Lexus has brought to the silver hair crowd, including the trick ability to park itself. While we haven’t tried the self parking mode yet, we have figured out just about all the other stuff. To be honest, it took 2 industry guys, with a combined 50 years experience, about a half hour and many tries for some buttons to figure it all out. Perhaps this may be a bit too much tech for the target audience.

So far, we can’t help but be a bit overwhelmed by the level of comfort offered in the 2008 Lexus LS460. The car certainly draws attention, as we’ve had waves from old and young alike and even got chased by a Lexus owner from New Jersey who just wanted to give us a wave.

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While we had the Toyota FJ Cruiser here in The Garage, our good friend Neil Caton was picking up his own FJ Cruiser in Connecticut. Neil has been so happy with his FJ that he agreed to give our readers of his impressions of his big red beast:

My SUV experience first began with an ’89 Pathfinder that didn’t have working brakes, or working lights. That truck lasted a week until I ended up in a 2002 Pathfinder. In a short amount of time that Pathfinder had been lifted, and graced with an ARB Bullbar on the front, guard in the rear, and various other modifications done myself. It was a passion I thought I couldn’t give up. Unfortunately the Pathfinder and I went separate ways when the fiancée didn’t get along with her, and I ended up driving a Hyundai Tucson for 18 months.
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Looking back, I usually find that I can tell from my notes how excited (or not) I was by any particular vehicle. Sometimes there is just one page, hastily scribbled down just so I don’t forget the car. In the case of the 2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser however, there is a whopping 4 full pages! Most of these notes relate to cool factor or utility, two things which the FJ has in abundance.

When climbing up into the cabin, there are a lot of details to take in. The first design element to jump out at you must be the body colour center dash stack. Our tester was clad in Sandstorm beige, which prompted Mrs. Grant to exclaim: “The dash looks like the enamel stove my Mom used to have”. From this nostalgic foodie, that was a compliment of the highest order. Cool, in your face design was obviously a priority for engineers and it shows in other elements like dash vents and a really cool shifter. The killer stereo is backed up by a rear mounted sub woofer that looks like it might have been taken from the set of a space flick. Toyota has also included an aux jack for mp3 inputs, a must in today’s world.

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Have you ever had a first impression of something only to find your perception changes after getting to know it? Sure you have and I just had that very experience with the 2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser. I suppose a bit of an explanation is in order here. Last fall, when I visited the IMPA Test Days, I had 3 vehicles I was psyched to check out on the off road test track. The H3, the Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon and the FJ Cruiser. The Rubicon is a full on off road beast and the Hummer folks had brought an H3 with all terrain tires and fancy paint straight off the SEMA show floor. The FJ Cruiser that that Toyota sent was wearing plain old all season tires. Talk about bringing a knife to a gun fight. Needless to say, the impression left by the FJ that day was severely hampered by tire choice. Fast forward 8 months and I’d just spent a week in a Rubicon and had the opportunity to get it dirty for the camera. When I picked up the beige FJ from Toyota Canada, it was wearing some all season boots. So much for our planned photo shoot in the mud! I was disappointed.

What happened during our week with the FJ Cruiser was very interesting. Every single time I got behind the wheel, I found something else that I liked. The truck grew on me in a way that no other vehicle ever has.
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Utility on the inside. Truth be told, there is so much utility here that I don’t know where to start.

First off, the interior is visually typical Toyota. No crazy patterns and no instruments that look like something out of The Jetson’s, just tasteful, traditional and attractive surfaces and shapes. Most media testers come with seats clad in leather. In the real world though, a good portion of the buying public choose cloth seats and Toyota supplied our Highlander with just that. Warm, comfortable cloth seats that warm up nice and quickly on cold days, so heated seats aren’t really needed.

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2008 has brought the most snow southern Ontario has seen in years. As a result, I’ve been pretty happy to be sampling a pretty wide variety of AWD and 4WD vehicles this winter. Every one of those vehicles has done a decent job getting off the line in the white stuff, but none of them were able to beat the laws of physics when it came to stopping. As I mentioned before, Toyota realizes that all season tires are really 3 season tires and have equipped their media fleet with true winter tires. What a treat!
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A good friend of mine told me about a lunch with Bob Lutz and I have to say I love the way Lutz’s mind works. Not only do we both agree on many points of view but he also has the same strong feelings as I do with regards to global warming. Now here’s a guy who doesn’t hold back when he’s got something to say. Recently he said, “One of the big three will die but not us.” Bob Lutz, General Motors’ vice chairman who made a name developing cars like the Dodge Viper says he loves doing the unexpected and acting “contrary to the conventional wisdom, forcing people to re-think their beliefs.” Lutz is very excited about the fuel efficient Chevrolet Volt which is going to run on a lithium-ion battery. “The Volt thrills me because it’s the last thing anybody expected from GM,” he said at a private lunch in Arlington today.

During lunch Lutz said, Hybrid cars like those made by Toyota “make no economic sense,” because their price will never come down, and diesel autos like those touted by Chrysler are also uneconomic. The only place in Europe that diesel-driven cars are big, he said, is where diesel fuel is half the cost of regular gasoline; in most places there, the costs are comparable and diesel has little market penetration.
Global warming is a “total crock of s#it. I’m a skeptic, not a denier. Having said that, my opinion doesn’t matter. I’m motivated more by the desire to replace imported oil than by the CO2.”

With more and more good-quality cars on the market these days, “you’ve got to look at the business artistically, too. Part of our business is creating blockbusters just like the movie business yet we never think of ourselves that way. A car is an exciting mobile sculpture that you want to own, drive and be seen in. That’s why auto industry comeback stories are always design driven. One GM car that fills that bill is Cadillac’s CTS.”

“The best car dealers will thrive even in a sluggish economy. They’ve got to isolate themselves from the economic forecasts and say, I make my own prosperity. ”

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We’ve spent a lot of time lately in traditional domestic family movers, now the time has come to sample what the Big T has on offer. Our tester this week is a 2008 Toyota Highlander SR5. The first thing that really got my attention was the fact that the Toyota folks have gone to the trouble of installing Toyo Observe snow tires on their media vehicles. Thanks for realizing that it is winter here in Ontario. One thing about testing different vehicles every week is that one doesn’t always become accustomed to how a vehicle handles in slippery conditions. It’s good to know that the Highlander is ready for anything winter can throw at it.

Out on the road, the Highlander feels much smaller than it actually is, and actually feels more car like than some of the competitors. With 270 horsepower, the Highlander is only 5 up on the Taurus X we had a couple of weeks ago, yet the Toyota feels much more powerful. It will be interesting to see how the fuel economy compares.

Will the Highlander pass the 3 hockey bag test? Stay tuned!

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If you like abusing your internet privileges at work, here’s a great Thursday diversion.

To ensure all media and fans do not miss a minute of the official unveiling of the new Toyota F-1 TF108 car, the event will be shown live on www.toyota-f1.com from 10.30 CET until around 11.10 CET. If my time calculations are accurate, that seems to translate to 3:30pm eastern time.
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