The Crank: The silver lining in Toyota’s latest troubles

By John LeBlanc Ho-hum. Another—the sixteenth this year—Toyota vehicle recall. This time for the bland-yet-popular, Canadian-made Corolla and Matrix models. If you happen to work for Toyota, at the corporate or dealership levels, this is yet another left-right jab to your company’s image. No doubt. And as Tony Alphen’s piece in the Toronto Star reads, […]

Road Test: 2010 Toyota Camry Hybrid

[svgallery name=”2010_Toyota_Camry_Hybrid”] Vanilla ice-cream, sans vanilla Are the Camry Hybrid’s gains in fuel economy worth the loses in the wallet and driving experience? By John LeBlanc If you want to tell the world you’re driving a gasoline-electric hybrid – and all that it speaks to, good or bad – then buy a Toyota Prius, the […]

Comparo: 2010 Honda Accord Crosstour/Subaru Outback/Toyota Venza

[svgallery name=”2010_Car_Crossovers_hirez”] Crossover confusion Are the new Accord Crosstour, Venza, and redesigned Outback cars or crossovers? By John LeBlanc Just as new-car buyers were getting used to the idea that crossovers were car-based sport-utility vehicles, automakers have started morphing vehicles from the opposite end of the evolution cycle — turning some of their cars into […]

The Trouble with Toyotas: Silver lining found in latest round of recalls

By John LeBlanc Ho-hum. Another week, another batch of troubles with Toyotas found. I don’t know about you, but I’m becoming a bit desensitized to all these Toyota recalls. This week its stalling engines. The week before that, it was post-crash-test fuel spillage issues. Previoulsy, it was luxury sedans that couldn’t steer straight. And before […]

The Crank: Toyota needs to lighten up

By John LeBlanc Like a ketchup stain you can’t get out of your favourite shirt, Toyota’s woes caused by this year’s recall crisis just won’t go away. Last week, company head cheese, Akia Toyoda, kept on laying on the apologies at a shareholders meeting.

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