The Toyota Tundra has been a massive--some say failed--experiment in changing American truck buyers' tastes. Toyota spent a billion and a half dollars to reinvent its nearly-full-size Tundra into a true gargantuan truck with more hauling and towing capacity than any other pickup, and moved its production from the Midwest to Texas, the heart of pickup truck territory.
The interior may be a letdown in quality, but the 2011 Toyota Tundra is every bit as big and tough as the other full-size trucks.It hasn't worked, and Tundra sales once estimated at 200,000 units a year haven't even met half that goal.
Despite all that, the Tundra still does what Toyota said it would do, when it was redesigned for the 2007 model year. It planted the truck in the heart of the full-size segment; it won, if only briefly, the kudos for the highest towing capacity in the class; and it changed the fundamental assumption that trucks have to look completely boxy to be butch, even if the Tundra's looks don't exactly win us over.
Since truck sales have dropped precipitously in the past few years, the 2011 Tundra is essentially the same as last year's model, with an updated base engine and now, far fewer versions to offer buyers. Once it was a poster child for do-it-yourselfers who needed a custom truck; now Toyota ships only 28 distinct versions to dealers, leaving a raft of accessories to be installed at dealers, much like the company does with its Scion cars.
You'll probably be happier in the long run with a more fuel-efficient Ford F-150, or a better-riding Ram 1500, but there's nothing perfectly wrong with the Tundra, while it does a thing or two perfectly right.
Huge interior room and a choice of bodies and beds gives the 2011 Toyota Tundra all it needs to challenge the Big Three trucks--but its interior can come off stark. See details and best of the Web Great V-8 engines and six-speed automaticMore standard features than many full-sizersLots of storage cubbies insideCrewMax has exceptional leg roomGet Dealer Price Quotes Even the V-6 isn't great on fuel economyStyling is gimmicky, inside and outA huge truck that can be hard to maneuver
Editor-in-chief Angus MacKenzie observed a paranormal event in the BMW hatch. "There's a ghost in the machine. Every time I work the steering wheel as I maneuver the 5GT in and out of the garage, there's a faint squeak from the steering column. It's like a mouse crying for help. It's only noticeable when you crank the wheel past 90 degrees and at low speeds; it's noticeable because you don't expect a modern BMW to, well, squeak." He also noted that the weighting in the 5GT's power steering system feels gluey in comparison with a previous-generation 7 Series 730d he drove in England that felt much lighter on its feet and more agile. He likes the 5GT as a freeway commuter, though, because it's quiet and quick, with comfortable seats.Motor Trend Rating: 
Turns out the Toyota Sequoia can get glammed up if it wants. Although it's far from the prettiest sport/ute out there, the 2011 Toyota Sequoia Platinum is at the beck and call of consumers looking for an upscale alternative in the full-size SUV market (a field that has long been a domestic specialty). We'd posit the hypothetical flannel-wearing lumberjack enjoys the simpler things in life. But for $17,150 over the base SR5, Toyota will throw in an all-inclusive Platinum package that should satiate any wood-splitting feller with more discriminating taste. Opt for the stout Multi Mode (part-time) four-wheel drive system for another $3225 and you get our Silver Sky Metallic, $61,380 Sequoia Platinum (includes $975 destination charge) test vehicle.
That's a considerable amount of money, but Toyota isn't using all of it to line its corporate coffers. It's obvious the Sequoia is an immediate sibling to the Tundra pickup truck, though the big SUV gets its own unique rear suspension. Work trucks ritually use simplistic, yet stout, leaf springs in the rear for load-bearing purposes. Toyota presumably couldn't fathom such devices on its upmarket SUV, and put an order in for independent rear double A-arms with dampers and a 0.91-inch anti-roll bar. Matching the back end is a set of front dual A-arms. 
The payoff is much better ride quality compared to the hop-happy Tundra, but the Sequoia still pales in comparison to the pricier and more refined Land Cruiser. Adaptive Variable Suspension alters the shocks' damping profile to suit the available Comfort, Normal, and Sport modes, while Electronically Modulated Air Suspension helps the Sequoia withstand bottoming out when it's acting as a beast of burden. (Platinum 4WD carries 7000-pound towing and 1235-pound payload ratings.) Both suspension-assist systems are specific to the Platinum, as are the 20-inch diamond-finish alloy wheels with 275/55/20 rubber. Motor Trend Rating: 
The Toyota Corolla should be any automaker's dream car, especially for the accounting department. The basic formula is this: Start with a tidy but not extravagant package that has earned a reputation for safety, value, and reliability. Then, make only the slightest of changes to limit superfluous development costs that would significantly affect the consumer price. Is that a brand-new powertrain and a totally redesigned suspension sitting in the lab? Maybe they'll see use in a couple more years, buddy. Understand that Toyota has little reason to break the trend. Through March 2011, the Corolla was the top-selling C-segment car in the United States. It's up 18.7 percent for the year, and comfortably leads the Honda Civic by close to 12,000 units. And guess what - it's not incentives solely driving sales. According to TrueCar, Toyota isn't even in the top five for manufacturers offering the biggest discounts this year. What makes this little car a sales success?
It's certainly the antithesis cutting edge. Let's examine why. First off, it's not fast. The Corolla LE you can buy here is powered by a 1.8-liter inline-four developing 132 horsepower and 128 pound-feet of torque. In my past, I've spent extensive time with a 2002 Corolla LE. It also had a 1.8-liter, though it made slightly less power -- 125 horsepower and 125 pound-feet. It wasn't fast then, and it isn't fast now. Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised the two mills sound so similar to each other.
Back in 2002, I enjoyed the normalcy of a four-speed automatic, complete with an overdrive button (remember those?) on the side of the shifter. Nine years later, there are still four gears. This time around, the transmission is called an "Electronically Controlled automatic Transmission with intelligence." The overdrive button is gone. But the shift gate design is modern and the auto seems to swap gears more quickly than its elder model. There's some progress. Motor Trend Rating: 
The ever-expanding Porsche 911 family tree has a new member, a wild child born of a tryst between the 911 GT3 RS road car and the GT3 RSR racer. The 2011 911 GT3 RS 4.0 is a halo performance machine, limited to just 600 units worldwide. It will likely be the last 997 series variant, as a new 911 is waiting in the wings. Porsche set the stage for the RS 4.0 as nothing less than an all-out performance machine, noting that it packs the largest displacement engine ever to come in a factory-baked 911. As the name suggests, that engine is a 4.0-liter version of Porsche's flat-six, equipped with forged pistons, titanium connecting rods, and the same crankshaft as found in the GT3 RSR racer. The result is a solid 500 horsepower at 8250 rpm (and an eyebrow-raising 125 horses per liter), with 339 pound-feet of torque available at 5750 rpm and a power-to-weight ratio of 5.99 lbs/hp.
The car is, natürlich, fitted only with a six-speed manual transmission, which has gear ratios specifically designed for track work. Porsche says the car can hit 60 mph in 3.8 seconds and 124 mph in 12.0 seconds, with a maximum velocity of 193 mph. Of course, those are the exact same benchmarks as Porsche specifies for the standard GT3 RS, which offers 450 horsepower from its 3.8-liter flat-six. That means the 4.0's quoted times may be on the conservative side, but we'll have to wait until we're offered some track time with a RS 4.0 to know for certain. Body Style: Convertible, CoupeSum Up: THE ANTIDOTE FOR dull DRIVES.Motor Trend Rating: 
Compact sedans are all the rage, with a host of new entries from both domestic and import manufacturers reaching showrooms recently. Nissan will cash in on that popularity with the 2012 Versa sedan, debuting today at the New York auto show with refreshed styling and tweaks to improve fuel economy. The 2012 Versa rides on an evolution of the last car's platform called V, for Versatile. The sedan's wheelbase and width are unchanged from the current model, but it loses about an inch of length and height. Despite this, Nissan says that packaging improvements for the engine and transaxle mean there is more trunk space. The new car also should be marginally lighter than before.
Styling-wise, the new Versa takes cues from the larger Altima and Maxima sedans, starting with a new grille design and oval-shaped headlights, and continued with a smoother rear and reshaped taillights that sweep from the rear bumper to the Versa's rear haunches. The hood and sides are broken up by an assortment of creased character lines akin to those seen on the Hyundai Elantra. Whereas the old Versa had a more conventional flat roof and steep rear window, the new car's roofline gently slopes toward the trunk, following the coupe-like trend. The exterior changes reportedly help achieve a low 0.31 drag coefficient. 
Nissan claims the Versa's rear seats offer more legroom than a BMW 5 Series or Mercedes-Benz E-Class, and says much effort was spent making the seats comfier and the interior more spacious and appealing. The new dashboard has rounded, contoured controls in place of the drab flat-plastic layout in the old car, a simpler dual-gauge instrument cluster, and a redesigned steering wheel. That said, the interior continues to showcase expanses of plain plastics and fabrics (in either Sandstone or Charcoal color schemes) that don't look particularly upscale. 
A long-neglected segment in the U.S. market, the subcompact scene has suddenly gotten very interesting. First came Honda's second-generation Fit, which set the bar for the other contenders. Then, Ford's Euro-cutie 2011 Fiesta made its stateside debut, followed shortly thereafter by its distant cousin, the Mazda2. All along, Hyundai's Accent soldiered on as competent, if somewhat unremarkable, contender in the segment. Its competitiveness in the U.S. market was also hampered by the lack of a five-door configuration. 
Now that Hyundai has finally gained respectability with consumers and critics with such models as the Genesis, Equus, Sonata, and new Elantra, the automaker is looking to dominate the subcompact segment with its all-new 2012 Hyundai Accent. No longer an also-ran, second-tier competitor, the new Accent has upped its game substantially. In equipment, style, and pricing, it poses the most serious and credible threat to the Fiesta and Fit to date. The one casualty of this re-imagining is the three-door hatch. In fact, the only three-door models in the segment are a version of the Toyota Yaris and Fiat's recently introduced 500 subcompact, which isn't offered in any other style. 
So what's there to get excited about with Hyundai's new entry-level offering? Try the segment's only direct-injected engine, which also now happens to be the most powerful, at 138 horsepower and 123 lb-ft of torque. That bests the next-most-powerful Fiesta by 18 horsepower and 11 lb-ft. The 1.6 liter DOHC engine also features dual continuously variable valve timing on the intake and exhaust camshafts. With all this technological wizardry, the Accent still manages a segment-leading 30 mpg city and 40 mpg highway. True, certain trims of the Fiesta manage the big 4-0 on the highway, buy Hyundai is proud of and quick to point out that the Accent's fuel economy ratings apply across the board, regardless of body style, transmission, or trim level. Speaking of transmissions, it's six speeds for everyone, whether you're of the shift-it-yourself or slushbox persuasion. Automatic models also include an Active Eco button that further optimizes fuel efficiency up to 7 percent in real-world driving, Hyundai claims. However, the fuel frugality in this mode usually comes at the expense of throttle response and overall driving enjoyment.
Seven years ago, General Motors executives wore lapel pins bearing the number “29.” Market share had just dipped behind that number, and Rick Wagoner was trying to encourage his minions to work harder and push market share back above that number. 
Who cares about market share? GM made money as gasoline in the U.S. crept up toward $4 per gallon. Like everyone else in the U.S. market, GM still has way more margin on body-on-frame trucks and SUVs, but Wagoner promised us years ago as CEO that the company would make money on the Chevy Cruze, thanks to reduced fixed costs and the 2007 United Auto Workers contract.
GM Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson, though he’s no stranger to victory lap hyperbole, called the Q1 results “steady progress, but with more work to do.” On Tuesday, GM reported that it has as 48-day supply of cars, a 52-day supply of crossover utilities and a 111-day supply of trucks. By Thursday, Automotive News reported GM would cut production of its full-size pickups to reduce stock. That means some variable cost cuts, potentially reduced incentive expenditures and lower net revenues. It can’t be overemphasized how profitable big trucks and SUVs are. Even with big incentives GM can make big money on Chevy Silverados, Tahoes, Suburbans, GMC Sierras and Yukons, etc.
While Jaguar toils away at designing a new and "proper" C-segment car to replace the unlamented X-Type (it's three to four years away), the XF ranks as the volume model. As such, the company has been clucking and fussing over it almost constantly since its 2008 launch. For 2012, the interior and exterior get a good going-over. Exterior enhancements were predicted by the CXF concept that appeared just prior to the production launch, and they leverage technology that now makes some of that concept's styling cues production feasible. Examples include the LED daytime running lamp treatment (which has come to be expected on cars in the class), and the "Tron"-look light-blade taillamp illumination that now extends onto the decklid. 
The whole nose is new, including the fenders, fascia, grille, and the aluminum hood, which features a longer, taller power bulge and a little flick on the trailing edge to get the air up and over the wipers for reduced wind noise. (XFRs also get functional hood vents.) The crosshatch grille is set an inch deeper and stands slightly more upright to better resemble the XJ's, and comes in a chrome or gloss black finish (XFR only). The hood cutline above the headlamps lends the visage a slightly more sinister scowl. The little chrome blades in the lower fascia have a more sculptural twist, while the XFR gets a much more aggressive jutting chin with two chrome-ringed air inlets. (The one on the driver side is now blocked off for improved aerodynamics, as it proved unnecessary for cooling.) 
Fender ornamentation trades the vertical graphic for a sleeker horizontal one atop a sail-shaped "vent" like the CXF's. Around back, the chrome plinth that conceals the trunk release, reverse camera, and license-plate illumination no longer spells out Jaguar, and hence has been visually slimmed with a strip of piano-black. A leaping cat centered above this chrome strip now provides the brand identity, and new oval exhaust outlets replace the more difficult to align trapezoidal ones. R models get a new spoiler to aerodynamically balance the more aggressive front chin, and the lower fascia features a venturi look (they're never very functional with this much ground clearance). New wheels for all models complete the exterior transformation.