Thursday, February 11, 2010

Still more bad case of Toyota's mass recall



The Toyota Prius (in regular and Plug-in hybrid variants)


The Lexus HS 250h


and the Toyota SAI.

All of these Toyotas shown were hybrids. As of that ever since the mass recall of the third-generation Prius' braking problems, they also included the Lexus HS 250h and the Toyota SAI in the list of recalled Toyotas. First, from the gas pedals that happened in the American and European roads, and now the worldwide panic over the Toyota hybrids' braking troubles.


Aside from the never-ending mas recall, the official website of Toyota Motor Corporation made its announcement. The announcement can be found at this link:

As for those Filipinos who own the Prius, there is good news: Toyota Motor Philippines got you covered with special repairs. 

If I wonder if there is a Muntinlupa resident who drives a Prius, I'll tell that driver there is a braking problem and bring it to Toyota Alabang for a special repair.

Hope this nightmare will be temporary for Japan's number one automaker.

In the lighter side, Toyota made a facelift of the 13th-generation Crown (Athlete, Royal, and Hybrid series) and the long-wheelbase version of the RAV4, known as the Vanguard.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Toyota 13th Generation Crown Series Minor Change

2011 Toyota Crown Royal Saloon



2011 Toyota Crown Athlete


2011 Toyota Crown Hybrid
Back in February 2008, the thirteenth-generation Crown was launched by Toyota Motor Corporation, giving the brand's most legendary sedan truly living it up by its legendary name. Aside from offering the sporty Athlete and the premium Royal Saloon, a Hybrid version is included to bring its green factor to its rival luxury hybrids.

Two years later, all three Crowns (the Athlete, Royal Saloon, and Hybrid) received a major facelift to keep this legendary Crown name updated, and relinquish the glory days of Toyota's legendary JDM executive sedan. On the outer side, three Crowns gained a refreshed look while remaining a status of being a thirteenth-generation model.

The Crown Royal Saloon boasts exceptional luxury on the front and back, with its elegant radiator grille, new wheels, and new rear lamps. The Crown Athlete gets even more aggressive with its new aggressive front grille, new bumper, sportier rims, and a sportier rear lamps, giving this sports executive vehicle something to bring a favor. The Crown Hybrid now looks more the same as the Crown Royal Saloon, but both the Crown logo and the Toyota logo shines in trademark Synergy Blue color, that is the trademark of Toyota hybrids. The interior remains the same in my opinion but updated to keep it fresh and alive for all three Crowns. The Athlete's interior gets even darker, the Royal Saloon's interior gets even lighter, and the Hybrid's interior, um, well, you'll do the rest.

The only change happened is the fuel efficiency of both the Athlete and the Royal Saloon, but only the 2.5L variants offered. At first, the 2.5L V6 (4GR-FSE) engine offers a fuel economy of 12.0km/L, but now, due to the "eco-car genzei" system, the fuel economy of the 4GR-FSE engine is improved with the new fuel economy of 12.4km/L, about 4km/L of increase to meet the regulations of being an eco-car under Japan's "eco-car genzei" system. The Athlete's 3.5L V6 (2GR-FSE), the Royal Saloon's 3.0L V6 (3GR-FSE), and the Hybrid's 2GR-FSE engine pretty remains the same, meaning nothing is new to those. Still, the Crown Athlete and Royal Saloon offers a 6-speed Automatic while the Hybrid offers only the CVT.

My thoughts about the Crown:
New look, same features. That is how I described the recently facelifted Crown Series (Athlete, Royal Saloon, and Hybrid) in a bold kind of way. Even the outside is new, nothing's really new about what's inside except the 2.5L V6 engine of both the Athlete and the Royal Saloon is updated to be more fuel efficient. My favorite Crown of the three Crowns is the Athlete series because it suits my likes for sports executive sedan, but still no sign of turbo yet until Modellista came up with the tuned version of the Crown Athlete, dubbed +M Supercharger.

Still, this Japan-only executive sedan truly living it up to its name as the most legendary executive sports sedan offered for the wealthy Japanese businessman. If it set worldwide, the Crown can outperform the likes of the Nissan Fuga, BMW 5-Series, MB E-Class, Lexus GS, or even the Hyundai Genesis sedan. I hope that Toyota Motor Philippines bring back the Crown name with that look or find it as a surplus in Subic, Cagayan, Davao, or Cebu very soon.



Photo: Toyota Motor Corporation

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Another bad case of Toyota's mass recall

Another article I saw on the internet:

I am not really sure why the latest-generation Prius gets recalled due to some braking problems. Is it physical or technological? i think it's technological because of the software malfunction that causes braking problems for this so-called Super Hybrid Car.


Another news that the latest President & CEO of Toyota Motor Corporation (Japanese main HQ), the grandson of Sakichi Toyoda (the founder of the brand), Akio Toyoda held a press conference at Nagoya and deeply apologizing to the world that this brand is in the state of trouble. Therefore, he unveiled the brand's six point brand to bring Toyota Motor Corporation back to the game.

Full details at:

Every day, this brand used to be the world's largest automaker that defeated General Motors, but defeated by the Volkswagen Group,  recall and recall some more cars. Who knows if someone in the newspaper is doing the editorial cartoon, he'll draw a editorial cartoon regarding Akio Toyoda writing names of Toyota owners in his Death Note and die by fatal car accidents? Or is he dreaming that Toyota owners will die and soon that this dream happened? (Note: The dream part I wrote in this part is a reference to Rico from the famous teleserye that was recently ended last week, May Bukas Pa, as for those who watched the ending, Thank You, and God Bless You)

Now back to the recall hysteria, there is a possibility that most of the Toyota owners in the Philippines might suffer the setbacks from accelerator problems to the Prius' braking problems. Just when the article found via TV Patrol said:



Acknowledgement: I would like to thank my relatives who used to own a Toyota or recently driving a Toyota. I thank Kuya Jun (the service driver when I was at Elementary, used to drive a Toyota Tamaraw FX), Mang Johnny (another FX driver since I was high school), Davick Datul (driving a Toyota Corolla), Tito Danny (used to drive two Toyota cars, the Tamaraw FX and the Corolla, later switched to a Mitsubishi Adventure AUV), and Tita Charito (saw a Toyota Land Cruiser, recently drived by Kuya Bilog) for such feelings. Take Care.

In conclusion, that's why my cousin named Prolan (Prolan, if you are reading this, you're right) told me that Toyota means prisoner. And by prisoner, I contrasted this by the TV commercial titled "Human Touch" which is funny.



or the Toyota RAV4 commercial which is mostly funny to see.