All Posts Tagged With: "toyota"
F1 teams spent over $3 billion
While we knew Formula 1 racing was an expensive venture, leave it to the 2008/2009 edition of Formula Money to spell-out the jaw-dropping finances for us. According to their latest guide, the supporting cast will shell out over $3 billion this year in team resources — with Toyota dropping more than $445 million of it alone.
Toyota & Suzuki Believe You Need A Personal Transporter
Unless you have some phobia that prevents you from going outside or something then you know just how crowded our streets are becoming. Go over seas to Europe or Asia and the problem is magnified dramatically. Well auto manufacturers Toyota and Suzuki think they have just the thing that everyone needs, Personal Transporters. Toyota introduced the i-Real (how original).
Following previous introductions dubbed the i-Unit and i-Swing, Toyota suggests the name of its new personal transporter indicates it’s close to production. i-Real uses an electric drive for its two front wheels, with the third, rear wheel for balance. i-Real has built-in social networking, so you can communicate with other i-Real drivers near by.
While Suzuki introduced a sexier Pixy.
Suzuki’s electric powered personal transporter uses four wheels instead of the i-Real’s three. We also like that is has a full canopy, which suggests it might be more comfortable during inclement weather than the Toyota machine. But Suzuki envisions the Pixy for use on sidewalks and inside buildings. Walking will be a thing of the past.
I dunno, leave it to the Japanese to come up with some crazy idea like this one. I wonder how it does on emissions?
via: Crave
2007 TRD Aurion 3500S - Toyota Gets Into The Automotive Porn Business
Toyota Australia has jumped into the automotive porn business with the introduction of the 2007 TRD Aurion 3500S. Sweet car, for a baby seat hauler.
Viewed as a step up from the Toyota Aurion Sportivo in terms of both equipment, appearance, and performance, the TRD Aurion’s greatest asset is its Eaton TVS (Twin Vortices Series) Supercharger, which sees its first production car application here. The blower gives the TRD Aurion over 323 horsepower and a torque peak of 296 lb-ft, which is channeled forward via a six-speed automatic with sequential shift. 0-100km/h (62 mph) takes 6.1 seconds, and the car is limited to a top speed of 155 mph. Neither number is particularly earth-shattering compared to other specialty models, but TRD says that the goal was to achieve all-around balance rather than all-out performance. Combined-cycle fuel economy for the TRD Aurion is 21.5 US MPG.
via: Autoblog
Google Bought Me A 2007 Toyota Tundra
Last year was a pretty good year and while I do have a “real job” I prefer not to use that money on “toys”. While this doesn’t exactly qualify as a toy because I do drive it back and forth on my daily visit to cubeland, it gets classed with the toys because it was bought on Google’s dime. Well not really and it’s not completely paid for, but thanks to Adsense it paid a good portion of it which is something I’ve never done before when buying a vehicle.
This makes my third Tundra and the new 2007 model is wickedly bad ass so I just had to have one. I didn’t completely go overboard though, it’s got standard options with a few upgrades. I opted out of the 4×4 this time because I never used it on my last one and the new models have Vehicle Stability Control with Traction Control (VSC+TRAC) so the couple times a year we get snow or ice and I’m forced to go out in it, I won’t be too worried.
It’s also got:
18″ Styled Steel Wheels P255/70R18 Tires - 271HP/313 Lb-Ft 4.7L DOHC 32V V8 w/VVT-i - 5-Spd Automatic Trans w/Sequential Shift - Automatic Limited Slip Diff (Auto LSD) - Coil Over Shock Double A-Arm Front Suspension w/Stabilizer Bar - Engine Immobilizer, Cruise Control - GVWR = 6700 lbs. Payload = 1535 lbs. - Multi-Leaf Trapezoidal Rear Suspension w/Staggered Outboard Mounted Shocks - Tow Equip/Capacity (Except when equipped w/Sport Appear Pkg): Tow Cap = 8100 lbs. Hitch Receiver, Supplemental A/T Cooler, 4.10 Rear Diff w/9.5″ Ring Gear, 130A Alternator, A/T Temp Gauge, 7 Pin Connector, Trailer Brake Prewire - TripleTech Frame: Fully-boxed Fr Section Reinforced C Under Cab, Open C Under Bed
Dr & Fr Pass 3pt Seatbelts w/Pretensioners & Force Limiters - Dr & Fr Pass Advanced Airbag System - Dr & Fr Pass Seat Side Airbags - Roll-Sensing Curtain Airbags (RSCA) - STAR Safety: Pwr Assist 4 Wheel Disc ABS w/Electronic Brakeforce Distrib (EBD), Brake Assist, Vehicle Stability Control with Traction Control (VSC+TRAC) - Tire Pressure monitoring System
6.5′ Double-Walled Bed w/Tailgate Assist - Black Handles and Outside Mirrors - Chrome Grille Surround, Fr & Rr Bumpers
40/20/40 Front Bench Seat w/8-way Dr & 4-Way Fr Pass Adj, Center 3pt Seatbelts - AM/FM/CD/MP3 w/6 Speakers & Aux Audio Jack (iPod) - Dual Zone Climate Control w/Sync Mode - Power Windows/Door Locks/Mirrors - Remote keyless entry system - Tilt steering wheel - Variable Intermittent Windshield Wipers
It’s pretty cool and for a full size truck it’s rock solid on the highway. The speedometer says it’ll do 120 but I doubt I’ll ever be able to report whether that’s true or not. It’s averaging right around 16.5 to 17 mpg which is on par with my 2004 Tundra, good thing too since gas seems to be headed for $3.00 plus here.
Not bad for this hobby I mess around with and yes, Google will be making the payments that are left on it. I did consider having “Google Whore” spray painted on the tailgate but that might be a bit much. 2006 was a pretty good year and with a bit of luck 2007 will be even better.
Here’s a few pictures of it, complete with the dust, dirt and yes, even a little mud from the driveway.
