RideLust

“The Other Guys,” starring Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell, seems to be one of those flicks that everyone has heard about, but no one has actually seen – which is a shame because it’s downright hilarious.

Yes, it may be just one of those ridiculously goofy Will Ferrell movies, but if you love stupid humor, it’s a total laugh riot.  Plus, Adam McKay, who directed “Talledega Nights” (another timeless Ferrell flick), is behind the helm of it.

One of the reasons why this movie is so originally epic is that THE true action star is a Prius police car – which gets shot up, doused in cocaine, and serves as the host of a homeless orgy.  If you have a few minutes for a laugh, check out the compilation below of the best Prius clips from the movie:

Source: YouTube

Thumbs Up: It’s roomy and comfortable.

Thumbs Down: Handling is not its strong point, faux-wood interior trim.

Buy This Car If: You want a full size, near-luxury sedan with a Toyota badge on the grille.

As much fun as sport sedans are to drive on a winding mountain road, most don’t offer the same level of enjoyment when the task is swallowing lots of interstate highway miles. If you throw in four adult passengers, plus yourself behind the wheel, I can’t think of a single sport sedan that I’d want to drive from New York to California. Such missions are best handled by the full-size sedan, long the staple of the U.S. auto industry. What’s a buyer to do if they prefer a Japanese automaker over an American one? Doesn’t any Japanese manufacturer, aside from luxury brands, offer a full size sedan? The answer is yes, and that car is the Toyota Avalon. Read More…

Toyota's Prius v Concept. Image: Toyota

Americans, generally speaking, don’t like hybrids. We ignore them like that day-old plain donut in the break room, which is good enough for consumption only when nothing else is around, or when we’re too frugal to spend money on what we really want. The exception to this rule seems to be Toyota’s Prius hybrid, which has enjoyed a healthy (bordering on rabid) following since the car was launched in 2000. In just eleven years, Toyota has managed to sell 1,000,000 Prius models in the US, and has delivered over 3,000,000 to date worldwide. Since launch, the Prius has consistently been the best-selling hybrid vehicle in the United States, and now accounts for over 60% of hybrid vehicles sold in 2011. The Prius has a brand awareness that other hybrid automakers would kill for. Read More…

Last week, Toyota faced their first jury trial for unintended acceleration of a Toyota product. The plaintiff, Amir Sitafalwalla, claimed that his 2005 Scion accelerated out of control when he attempted to shift the car into park, ultimately getting up close and personal with a tree. His attorney tried to argue that an unsecured floor mat was to blame, despite the fact that the Scion in question was excluded from the floor mat entrapment recall. His attorney also unsuccessfully tried to blame the Scion’s Electronic Throttle Control System, despite having no evidence to back up his allegations. In a rare display of courtroom sanity, the jury deliberated for less than an hour before returning a verdict that favored the defendant, Toyota. Read More…

As I was driving back from lunch today, I heard a radio spot for a program Toyota is offering called TRAC – Toyota Rent A Car. The gist is that you can go to your local participating dealership (per Toyota, in 85% of them) to rent one of several models either for traditional reasons (say, you’re going on a trip and need a minivan to haul your gear), for a short time if your car is in for repairs, or most interestingly, to try before you buy. In the last scenario, they’re offering terms as short as a few days or up to one month to be well and sure it’s the car for you. Read More…

Toyota has seen the inside of a courtroom several times relating to the unintended acceleration (UA) of their cars. To date, three causes have been found for unintended acceleration: a sticking accelerator pedal, entrapment of the accelerator pedal by a floormat and driver error. Of the UA cases tried thus far, none have been brought before a jury, but that’s about to change: a New York jury will hear the case of Sitafalwalla versus Toyota this week. Amir Sitafalwalla, the plaintiff, claims that his 2005 Scion accelerated without driver input until it struck a tree. Sitafalwalla’s attorney claims the incident started when his client attempted to shift the car into park, at which time the vehicle “took off”. Toyota denies the claim and points out that the Scion in question was never part of any UA recall. Furthermore, the accident happened in 2005 but the lawsuit wasn’t filed until 2008. Read More…

I received a phone call this weekend from a buddy who is in the market for a new car. He’s got three small kids and was wondering what would be the best choice for his next new vehicle. His current ride (believe it or not) is a 2006 Ford Crown Victoria and while it’s the size of a house, it just doesn’t offer the versatility that he and his family need. Now, while he admits to needing more space, he doesn’t want to go down the minivan road just yet as he simply feels that at 36 years old, he’s still to young. Over the course of our 45 minute call we went over the particulars of what he needed from a financial, utility and usability standpoint until we narrowed down his choices to either a new cross over, a full-sized SUV or the dreaded (not really) minivan.
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A 2010 Toyota Prius. Image: Toyota

Remember last month, when I told you that the NHTSA and NASA had issued their findings on the whole Toyota unintended acceleration debacle? To summarize, NASA reviews some 280,000 lines of code relating to acceleration commands, and could find no instance where a short or other malfunction could create an instance of unintended acceleration. The NHTSA (and even Toyota’s biggest opponent, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood) supported these findings, and agreed that there were only two causes of unintended acceleration in Toyota models. The first to be identified was “pedal entrapment”, caused when the accelerator pedal stuck in an open position, jammed by the floor mat. The final cause identified was a sticking acceleration pedal assembly, which Toyota has since corrected via a series of recalls. Other instances of unintended acceleration, based on the data available, were found to be caused by pedal confusion, which is a polite way of saying “operator error”. Read More…

Ever want a car so bad but are simply afraid to buy it because of what it is? For example, say you’ve always lusted after a Ferrari 308. Their performance by today’s standards is pretty dismal, in fact a new Toyota Camry will kick the shit out of it on any racetrack on the planet, but lets face it, a Ferrari is a Ferrari and that’s all there is to it. Price wise a new Camry (when maxed out) will run you around $32,000, about the same price as a used Ferrari 308. So… herein lies the dilemma. On the one hand, if you buy the Toyota you get a brand new car, with a full warranty and decent performance. However its styling is so bland that it will make you invisible the moment you set foot in it and you’ll feel like plain vanilla for as long as you own the car.
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My own FJ, playin' in the dirt.

Uh oh – this recall hits close to home, since I own a 2008 FJ Cruiser. Looks like I’ll be getting notice in the near future to bring my truck to the dealer for a tire pressure sensor recalibration. I have no idea what’s involved, but I imagine it’s just a software update to correct the minimum threshold tire sensor values. Since replacement parts aren’t involved, I suspect the recall will be executed quickly once Toyota kicks it off. Some 22,000 Toyota trucks are affected and the list of vehicles follows the jump. Read More…