Toyota Compact Cars

The Toyota GR Yaris made waves in the Euro market. As a pint-sized hatchback, its 1.6-liter engine is good for an impressive 257 horsepower and 266 pound-feet of torque. It even has a six-speed manual transmission and all-wheel drive. It’s the definition of a perfect recipe for a performance-oriented hatchback. Here in the States, our Yaris is based on the underpinnings of the Mazda 2 – another model that isn’t available Stateside – so a 257-horsepower GR Yaris will never call the U.S. home, unless you build it yourself, of course. However, that doesn’t mean Toyota has forgotten about the U.S. Market altogether, and a recent post on Twitter is clear cut proof that something good is coming our way.

Toyota has recently joined the hot-hatch market with the beefed-up GR Yaris, but it wants to expand to new segments now. With the GR Yaris aimed at the Volkswagen Polo GTI and the Ford Fiesta ST, Toyota wants a competitor for the larger and more popular Volkswagen Golf GTI and Ford Focus ST. So the Corolla is next in line for the Gazoo Racing treatment and the good news is that it will come to the United States.

Whenever a carmaker takes out the good stuff out of its know-how box and spreads its on a new car, well, that’s when you know you’re in for a treat. That’s exactly what Toyota did with the GR Yaris, its second global GR-badged car after the Supra GR and at the same time a homologation model that will sometime in the future spawn a fully-blown rally racer.

Originally arriving in 1994, the Toyota RAV4 is one of the Japanese brand’s older nameplates, especially within the crossover segment. In the quarter century since the debut of the original RAV4, demand for crossovers has grown substantially, and sales of the compact Toyota have grown with it, eventually becoming the Japanese brand’s number-one seller in the U.S. However, the RAV4 last got a redesign in 2013, so to keep it fresh, Toyota just pulled the sheets on a new fifth-generation at the 2018 New York International Auto Show, bringing updated exterior styling, a redesigned interior, the latest safety tech, and a new architecture under the skin.

Update 10/11/2019: Toyota has announced the all-new RAV4 PHEV that will debut at the 2019 Los Angeles Auto Show. Check out our new section below to learn more about it.

The Toyota Corolla is one of the last cars you’d think of as being special. But something about the new Corolla TREK variant qualifies as “special.” It’s the latest addition to the Corolla Touring Sports estate lineup, and it’s a promising showcase of the Corolla Touring Sports’ understated versatility as a personal ride and a family hauler for those weekend adventures away from the city.

The Corolla TREK comes as a result of a collaboration between Toyota and bicycle manufacturer Trek. It’s a partnership that stems from a recent partnership between the two companies at this year’s Vuelta a Espana cycling race where 16 Corolla TREK models were used as support vehicles.

Well, they’re not support vehicles anymore. The Toyota Corolla TREK is now available for public consumption. Pricing details will be announced in the coming weeks — it’s estimated to cost around £29,000 ($36,00) — but order books are now open with the initial batch of deliveries scheduled to begin sometime before the year ends. Unfortunately, the Corolla TREK isn’t headed to the U.S. market.

The Toyota Tacoma is a classic example of ’looks don’t matter’. This pickup truck is one of the most plain-looking models to have graced the industry, but even today, people swear by its durability and reliability. Despite the invasion of modern trucks, the craze for the Tacoma is still pretty high and it doesn’t seem like it will die anytime soon. Because of this, the Tacoma enjoys a high resale value. Tacomas that have clocked five-, or six-digit miles still manage to sell in the used market without any effort. The latest example of the same was a mint-condition 2000 Tacoma that had just 7,000-odd miles on the odo. Despite being a 19-year old model, the owner demanded $14,000 for it, and I’m guessing it was sold pretty soon because the original poster has already deleted the ad.

Ford has just launched an all-new, fourth-generation Escape crossover, a model known as the Kuga in Europe and some other markets. The vehicle enters one of the most competitive and hotly contested segments where all rivals are hugely talented (there really isn’t one bad car to speak of) and picking one above all others is by no means an easy task. But if you were to choose an important rival to compare the Escape to, then that has to be the aggressive-looking Toyota RAV4.

Toyota went for a dramatic visual reinvention of the RAV4 for its fifth generation since the model had really become rather boring to look at in its previous incarnation. Frankly, no subsequent RAV4 had anywhere near the visual flair of the first generation model, a car that looked better without painted bumpers and side trim - that’s how quirky and cool it was. Now, thankfully, the latest RAV4 tries to rekindle that flame, albeit with fresh, edgy styling that makes it look contemporary, although it doesn’t look visually related to the original RAV4 in the way older generations did.

The Blue Oval, on the other hand, didn’t want to risk anything with its new Escape, so it made the vehicle look pretty much exactly like a puffy high-riding Focus. That’s literally all there is to its design, so in this respect, the RAV4 is already starting to look like the more daring, flamboyant option, yet being a Toyota, it doesn’t automatically have associated shortcomings.

The Toyota Corolla Sedan has long been a torchbearer in the compact four-door segment, and the latest 2020 model year continues that tradition with a long list of standard safety technology features as part of the Toyota Safety Sense 2.0 suite. Read on for details on what makes the Corolla a leader in this space, and how the competition stacks up.

Toyota just introduced the twelfth-generation Corolla Sedan for the 2020 model year, and while the latest generational changeover brings a long list of updates, one of the biggest is the addition of a hybrid powertrain option. But why would the hybrid be our pick when there’s a new, more powerful 2.0-liter offered as well? Read on to find out.

First rolling off the production line in 1966, the Toyota Corolla has been around for over five decades. In 2013, Toyota celebrated an astonishing 40 million units sold for the nameplate, which makes it the most popular car in history. Now there’s a new twelfth generation for the 2020 model year, and it offers refreshed styling, a new interior stuffed with a wide variety of technology and features, a new architecture, and a new Hybrid trim level, all at a reasonable price point. However, with SUVs and crossovers dominating the sales charts, does the 2020 Toyota Corolla have what it takes to carry the torch for the sedan segment? To find out, I flew out to Savannah, Georgia, to experience it first hand, all courtesy of Toyota.

Toyota launched the 2020 Tacoma model at the 2019 Chicago Auto Show. Although its sibling, the Sequoia TRD Pro, stole its thunder at the, one cannot sideline the Tacoma. After all, it is the best-selling mid-size pickup truck currently on the market. The 2020 Toyota Tacoma does not bring a lot of changes to the table; mechanically or cosmetically. Do you think there is enough to differentiate it from the 2019 model and keep up with the rising competition?

Toyota is carefully charting their next steps in the performance car market. The Supra is just around the corner, finally, and this is only the beginning as the Japanese manufacturer plans to increase the footprint of the Gazoo Racing performance brand, and the Corolla might be one of the favorites to receive the added steroids to make it a proper hot hatch.

Toyota is now playing around with a number of performance-oriented sub-brands. There’s the Gazoo Racing nameplate that designates both the automaker’s works racing teams in the WRC, the WEC, and elsewhere in motorsports and a series of modified road cars. Then there’s also the GRMN - Gazoo Racing Masters of Nurburgring - sub-brand that offers a similar treatment, but in very limited quantities. Finally, for the U.S. market, there’s the Toyota Racing Development (TRD) brand that’s now offering a sportier version of the Avalon, the Camry, and the 86 with more set to come. So, where does the peppered-up Corolla fall in this complicated puzzle? Read on to find out!

The Corolla is a true benchmark for the compact segment, with over 46 million units sold over the course of five decades since its release in 1966. Now, the Corolla enters its impressive twelfth generation for the 2020 model year. Earlier in 2018, we got behind the wheel of the new 2019 Corolla hatchback and loved its raucous styling and shift-happy manual transmission. Now, the Japanese automotive behemoth is offering a brand-new sedan version, and it promises even more refinement, more technology, and a new look to boot.

Not only is the Toyota RAV4 a critical model in Toyota’s lineup, but it’s also the benchmark for the compact crossover segment as a whole. First introduced in 1994, the RAV4 now enters its fifth generation and twenty-second year of production for the 2019 model year. Highlights for this latest update include a fresh look, a revamped interior, the latest tech goodies, a new platform under the skin, and the new off-road-ready Adventure grade. The hybrid powertrain returns as well. Overall, the 2019 Toyota RAV4 looks to keep its spot at the top of the crossover heap - but does it? To find out, Toyota flew me out to Carmel, California to give it a drive.

Continue reading to learn more about the 2019 Toyota RAV4.

This is the all-new Toyota Corolla sedan that is set to reach no fewer than 150 different markets as of next year. It looks better than before, drives better than before, and packs plenty of new tech features lacked by its predecessor - it is expected to reach showrooms around the world as of Spring 2019.

The sedan version of the new Toyota Corolla will officially debut this Thursday, November 15, according to a tweet from the Japanese automaker’s American account. Unveiled in hatchback form at the 2018 New York Auto Show, the four-door Corolla will make its first public appearance at the Los Angeles Auto Show on November 30.

Toyota is once again rolling out a lineup of special edition Nightshade Editions, this time at the 2018 Los Angeles Auto Show. Months after introducing Nightshade SE versions for the 4Runner, Tacoma, and Tundra, the Japanese automaker is giving the Camry sedan and the Highlander SUV the same treatment. Both special edition models will be in attendance in Los Angeles before going on sale in 2019.

The Toyota Racing Development division, or TRD, has finally set its sights on Toyota’s Camry and Avalon sedans. The TRD-seasoned sporty versions will drop at the upcoming L.A. Auto Show confirming Toyota’s drive towards performance cars and trucks.

The Avalon and Camry sedans are really good cars in their own way but they never really had any claim to performance. Now, however, with the involvement of TRD, that’s all about to change. Both the mid-size Camry and the full-size Avalon have been peaked at in an announcement released by the Japanese manufacturer which states that the new models will drop at the end of the month.

Keep reading to learn more about the TRD Avalon and Camry

Toyota RAV4 has been around for almost 25 years now. It has been one of the most stable products for the Japanese giant, raking in sales numbers consistently since its launch. At a time when sedans’ sales were booming, Toyota offered customers with a car that could be taken on any terrain, had the looks of an SUV, and could be handled like a hatch. While this sounds like a success formula now, it was quite a big risk two decades back.

The automaker showcased the fifth-generation RAV4 Hybrid, at the Paris Motor Show this year. Toyota has used a new underpinning, called the TNGA (Toyota New Global Architecture) platform. With increased body rigidity, The RAV4 now boasts a low center of gravity and better handling when compared to the previous iterations. As for the dimensions, the SUV is 4,600 mm long - shorter by 5 mm compared to the previous gen, but the wheelbase is 30 mm longer. This is because there is reduction of 35 mm in the bonnet and boot overhangs. It is 10 mm wider, and 10 mm shorter.

The Toyota Yaris GR Sport is the more down-to-Earth version of the limited-run GRMN. It features some sporty styling, but much of the oomph of the GRMN is gone, akin to a sheep in wolf’s clothes.

Last year, at the Geneva Motor Show, Toyota unveiled the Yaris GRMN hot hatchback to the world. A run of only 600 units was slated for 2018 for the car that was inspired by the Yaris WRC but, confusingly, presented itself with GRMN logos all round. GRMN stands for Gazoo Racing Masters of the Nurburgring – so not really related to rallying. In any case, the 209-horsepower pocket rocket was fun to drive and powerful enough to excite.

Now, a year later, Toyota brought to the Paris Motor Show a GRMN for the masses: the Yaris GR Sport. It’s based off the hybrid Yaris, so the figures are, frankly, negligible, but you do get great economy. What is more, the car comes in the usual Gazoo Racing white with red and black inserts and black wheels. It isn’t a hot hatch, but it’s sort of a stepping stone, a ”warm hatch.”

Keep reading to learn more about the Toyota Yaris GR Sport.

Toyota hasn’t offered the Camry sedan in Europe for well over 10 years, relying on the Avensis as its top three-box car for the Old Continent. However, at this year’s edition of the Paris motor show, Toyota brought the new eighth-generation model, which it intends on selling here again in the near future.

Toyota Supra fans, rejoice! The new Toyota Supra A90 will be unveiled at the Detroit Motor Show in January 2019. As one of the most expected cars in the past couple of years, the Toyota Supra has been under development for more than four years. Thanks to our thorough research and all the details we could pick up at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and during the BMW Z4 unveil (on whose architecture the Supra is based), we know quite a bit about the car. The confirmation for the Toyota Supra unveiling in Detroit came from the Toyota Germany. It was actually announced at the official Facebook page.