2009 Honda Pilot vs. Ford Flex, Chevy Traverse, Hyundai Veracruz, Mazda CX-9, Toyota Highlander

2009 Honda Pilot vs. Ford Flex, Chevy Traverse, Hyundai Veracruz, Mazda CX-9, Toyota Highlander - Beat of a different Drummond: We compare six family haulers and, amazingly, drown none of them.

BY JOHN PHILLIPS, PHOTOGRAPHY BY AARON KILEY
November 2008


When we last visited Michigan’s Drummond Island [“Mud Puppies,” February 2008], we compared nine Lilliput SUVs and quickly found ourselves in over our heads. Which is to say, we sank a Jeep Liberty. See, the island—a short ferry ride from the eastern tip of the state’s Upper Peninsula—is a 25-mile-long series of limestone bowls (which hold water) and cedar swamps (ditto) surrounded by Lake Huron (ditto times a million). Drummond Island, thou art thine own soggy enemy.

This time, we asked Drummond Island Resort’s driving expert, Craig Hoffman, to sketch out a somewhat drier 16-mile loop, two-thirds of which comprised twisty, smooth pavement and one-third of which bumped through the resort’s private off-road facility. On any off-roader’s scale of difficulty, these private trails (notice we said “private” twice?) hover wholly in Wally Cox territory yet still represent pretty much the worst that any owner would throw at his investment. Along this route, we then ran the vehicles back-to-back until the local bowling alley’s neon “BEER” sign lit up.

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/comparison_test/crossovers_and_suvs/2009_honda_pilot_vs_ford_flex_chevy_traverse_hyundai_veracruz_mazda_cx_9_toyota_highlander_comparison_test

2008 Toyota Corolla CE

2008 Toyota Corolla CE - While other Toyota vehicles such as the Camry and RAV4 have recently received sleeker, more eye-catching redesigns, and something like the Yaris adds some youthful life into the automaker, the Corolla sits, year after year, gathering dust seemingly even while it's still in motion on the road.

For 2008, it once again comes in three trim levels (CE, Sport and LE), but adds a 20th anniversary package that includes such features as power doors and windows, keyless entry and a power moonroof. All nice additions, but keep in mind that the package is a little pricey, adding an extra $3,115 to the cost of the car. In fact, you really can't choose individual options on the Corolla CE; only three expensive options packages are available (ranging from about $2,000).

I would never accuse the Corolla of being a track-bred race car, but it handles well enough around corners and is tailor-made for zipping in and out of traffic on busy city streets (another reason why quick acceleration from low speeds comes in so handy). Despite how small and light it is, it also stays quite composed in adverse weather conditions. I've been blown around quite a bit on the highway while driving a Kia, but I never suffered from frayed nerves in the Corolla. Old reliable, indeed!

On the other hand, an area in which the Corolla is absolutely spectacular is fuel economy. In fact, it's even eligible for a new fuel efficiency incentive program started recently by the federal government. The list of vehicles eligible for the incentive program is full of hybrids and subcompacts, but the Corolla is one of the few compact cars that makes the grade. If there's one thing you can always count on with the Corolla, it is long stretches between visits to the gas station.

The 2008 Corolla isn't so much "bang" for your buck as it is "bore" for your buck. To be fair, it is one of the most durable vehicles on the road and it epitomizes the term "gets me from Point A to Point B." If your top priorities when considering a vehicle are its reliability, simplicity and affordability, consider this your dream car.

2008 Toyota Avalon XLS

2008 Toyota Avalon XLS - The car, which slots into the manufacturer’s lineup above the new Camry and Solara, is the most premium level Toyota you can get — anyone looking for a higher level of standard equipping or luxury touches must get into the Lexus line after this one.

The front end’s changes centre mainly on the new-look bumper and grille, and leave the Avalon with decent curb appeal for a big car, especially when approached from the front. The lights have changed for ’08 as well, with a more hawk-eyed cut to the shape.

The vehicle’s overall lines and angles lend it a stately look, classy enough to take anywhere without feeling like a potato in a diamond mine when the Acura and Mercedes drivers show up, and also enough everyday appeal to feel at home in the parking lot of the big-box stores.

The interior is where the car shows off its upscale tendencies, with all materials and surfaces showing quality and well applied esthetics when you sit down in the driver’s seat. Cupholders and stereo controls are covered in flush-fit plastics when not in use; even the seat-heater controls are pop-up buttons that recess into the console after adjustment.

The Avalon runs with a 3.5-litre V6, pumping adequate horses (268 of them) to the wheels, with 248 lb.-ft. of torque available at a mid-range 4,700 rpm. As you might imagine, the car, while in no way underpowered, is no sport-sedan either. Acceleration will feel a little weak to anyone looking for hot zero-to-100 numbers, though I doubt the tire squawker crowd would shop this car anyway.

The six-speed automatic tranny is quite fluid, and its sport-shift component allows a driver to get the most from the drivetrain when you slide it into manumatic mode. The transmission also boasts a lockup torque converter, and Toyota’s traction control system and vehicle stability control are standard on the XLS.

My tester was optioned up with the Premium Package (which adds $3,280 to the MSRP), one of only two option levels available for the Av, the other's being premium with navigation system. Premium trim tops off the already-excellent level of equipment with more speakers for the sound system (12, total) and rain-sensing wipers, and gives the front seat passenger the aforementioned eight-way power seat the driver enjoys.

While the price is a little steep for the Avalon — it starts higher than either of its main competitors, the Maxima and Accord, and a couple of the people I showed the car to pointed out that the car is creeping into entry-level Lexus territory — I would suggest comparing prices to any of those vehicles after adding a similar level of equipping to the competitors to see how the bottom line stacks up.

2008 Toyota Sequoia Platinum 4WD

2008 Toyota Sequoia Platinum 4WD - This is a bit unfortunate, as we were hoping to help Toyota find a new name for its largest SUV, the all-new 2008 Sequoia, which is so big that keeping the Sequoia name seems slightly modest. But if the Sequoia is already the largest tree, then it looks like we, and Toyota, are stuck with it.

The biggest news is under the hood, though. Previously, the best we could do in the Sequoia was the standard 273-hp, 4.7-liter V-8 and five-speed automatic transmission. That powertrain remains, but it’s supplemented by the Tundra’s beefy 381-hp, 5.7-liter V-8 with a six-speed automatic. The Sequoia can now tow a maximum of 10,000 pounds, up from 6500.

The 2008 Sequoia is offered in three basic flavors: the base SR5, the Limited—previously the premium model, now midlevel—and the absolutely loaded Platinum. The presence of the Platinum made us wonder why Toyota needed that model as well as the newly refreshed, Japanese-built Land Cruiser, and the answer is that they seem to appeal to two separate markets: Land Cruiser buyers have an average household income of $237,000; Sequoia buyers average “only” $106,000.

Toyota figures that 55 percent of 2008 Sequoia sales will be the SR5, 35 percent the Limited, and just 10 percent the Platinum. Rear- and four-wheel-drive sales should be split evenly. And Toyota has high expectations for the 5.7-liter V-8, figuring it will account for 90 percent of the product mix. One reason: It actually gets better fuel mileage than the 4.7. Neither will get kudos from the Sierra Club, though: EPA estimates for the four-wheel-drive models are 13 mpg city and 16 highway for the 4.7, and 13 and 18 for the 5.7. We averaged 12 mpg, which included some light towing.

The Sequoia is one of the roomiest eight-passenger SUVs you’ll find, even in the third row: There’s only 1.1 fewer inches of legroom than in the second row, and about an inch less headroom and shoulder room. The seats fold flat, even the front-passenger seat. One neat touch: The Platinum has an optional center-row console that opens 180 degrees to create a tray for passengers and also allows for a flat cargo floor.

The Platinum, of course, has leather upholstery, but even the cloth seats in the SR5 are nicely done. In fact, unless you just like spending money, a well-appointed SR5 may be your best buy in the Sequoia lineup. If you want the power third-row seat, though, you’ll have to get the Limited or Platinum.

Safety features abound, all standard. They include front-seat side airbags, three-row curtain airbags, anti-lock brakes with brake force distribution and brake assist, and stability control. The four-wheel-drive system operates via a dash-mounted rotary switch that takes you from rear-drive to high range with either a locked or unlocked center differential, and to low range with a locked or unlocked center diff. We took a Sequoia off-road, and aside from the surprisingly tight 39-foot turning circle, it’s what you’d expect: big. Very big. One feature we like a lot: the optional backup camera.

No complaints about the 5.7-liter engine and six-speed transmission, though. This is a monster motor, and a problem we’d experienced with a couple of Tundras—very aggressive, abrupt transmission downshifts as we slowed to a stop—wasn’t apparent here.

We can certainly see how a big, active family could embrace the Sequoia’s room and huge towing capacity, and if one of these vehicles were to show up again at the office during auto-racing season, count on its being signed out every weekend. But the vast majority of our day-to-day tasks could be handled easily by Toyota’s less-enormous offerings, such as the Highlander and 4Runner. That’s just us. If you need what the Sequoia offers, Toyota has packaged it nicely.

2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid

2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid - The first Toyota hybrids in 1997 were wheezy little boxes, interesting technically but pathetically ill-suited to American driving. No foul — they were models for the home market.

The Camry has been America’s bestselling car eight of the past nine years, and this all-new 2007 version comes with three powertrain choices: four-cylinder conventional, V-6 conventional, or hybrid. Call ’em vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. You can’t get more mainstream than strawberry on the Camry starting roster.

The Camry’s hybrid operation continues the pattern set by the Prius sedan and Highlander and RX400h sport-utes, albeit with new hardware. The engine is a 2.4-liter Atkinson-cycle four of 147 horsepower, coupled to a continuously variable transmission and supplemented by up to 45 horses from an electric motor.

There’s nothing wheezy about this hybrid. Holding the pedal down brings a high-revving purr from the engine room and a surge to 60 mph in 7.7 seconds, almost a full second quicker than a four-cylinder, five-speed Camry SE (March 2006). The quarter finishes in 16.3 seconds at 92 mph, compared with 16.9 at 86 mph for the four. This is punchy strawberry.

Still, if performance were all that mattered, you’d opt for the 268-hp V-6, which will be quicker still, and save (we estimate) about $3000 on the sticker. You pay extra for the hybrid’s promise of performance and fuel savings, as seen by the EPA’s ratings of 43 mpg city and 37 highway. We find it easy to get 33 or 34 in mixed metro driving.

Hybrid or not, there’s a lot to like about this new Camry, starting with its intriguing shape. It crouches with its nose low, ready to pounce as you approach from the front. The side glass arcs inward as it rises, suggesting a canopy. Inside, the feeling is spacious, with the windshield and dashboard pushed forward and out of your face. The driving position is excellent. Even with the optional navigation system, remarkably few buttons are needed to operate this complex machine. The new instrument cluster, with large white-on-black markings, is wonderfully legible. Instead of a tach, the hybrid features an instantaneous-mpg gauge that swings a long, well-damped needle over a broad arc marked from 0 mpg to 60, and then into a blue range beyond the numbers — the zone of infinite mileage that the Camry enters when it drives without engine power.

Although Toyota has not yet released Camry hybrid prices, we expect you’ll have to drive some six-digit distance to save enough gas to pay back the extra cost. You’ll enjoy the trip.

2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid

2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid - The Camry has been America’s bestselling car eight of the past nine years, and this all-new 2007 version comes with three powertrain choices: four-cylinder conventional, V-6 conventional, or hybrid. Call ’em vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. You can’t get more mainstream than strawberry on the Camry starting roster.

The Camry’s hybrid operation continues the pattern set by the Prius sedan and Highlander and RX400h sport-utes, albeit with new hardware. The engine is a 2.4-liter Atkinson-cycle four of 147 horsepower, coupled to a continuously variable transmission and supplemented by up to 45 horses from an electric motor.

Still, if performance were all that mattered, you’d opt for the 268-hp V-6, which will be quicker still, and save (we estimate) about $3000 on the sticker. You pay extra for the hybrid’s promise of performance and fuel savings, as seen by the EPA’s ratings of 43 mpg city and 37 highway. We find it easy to get 33 or 34 in mixed metro driving. Then again, it’s easy to drop down toward 25 mpg if we romp on the power often. As with conventional cars, how you drive determines mileage. Overall, we averaged 33 mpg.

Hybrid or not, there’s a lot to like about this new Camry, starting with its intriguing shape. It crouches with its nose low, ready to pounce as you approach from the front. The side glass arcs inward as it rises, suggesting a canopy. Inside, the feeling is spacious, with the windshield and dashboard pushed forward and out of your face. The driving position is excellent. Even with the optional navigation system, remarkably few buttons are needed to operate this complex machine.

Brake feel, always a hybrid bugaboo, is good here, if not quite up to nonhybrid-Camry standards. Although Toyota has not yet released Camry hybrid prices, we expect you’ll have to drive some six-digit distance to save enough gas to pay back the extra cost. You’ll enjoy the trip.

2008 Toyota Highlander

2008 Toyota Highlander - Now, this is entirely intentional. Since its introduction, the yawn-inducing Highlander has been a key part of Toyota’s everything-to-everyone strategy of world domination, which seems unlikely to end soon unless Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe decides to invade Russia. Among other tactics, Toyota’s U.S. strategy now includes selling no fewer than six SUVs, three of them mid-sizers: the Highlander, the rugged and trucklike 4Runner, and the retro FJ Cruiser.

Clearer in person than in pictures is the fact that the Highlander has grown—a lot. Wheelbase, height, and width are each up about three inches, with overall length up four. Say what you want about the billowing skin itself, but Toyota claims the sheetmetal offers improved aerodynamics (the coefficient of drag is 0.34) while ensconcing a truly massive interior.

Not only is the 2008 Highlander spacious, but it also has many clever solutions for interior flexibility. As expected, the standard third-row seat folds flat, but the second row consists of two individually sliding and reclining buckets (complete with skinny little inboard armrests) with a small center jump seat to hold a third person. When not needed for three-across seating, the center pad can be folded, removed, and handily stowed into a space under the front center armrest. A storage console can then be installed in its place.

Also on the Highlander’s features list is a rearview camera display on mid-grade Sport and top-shelf Limited models. It utilizes the standard 3.5-inch screen in the center of the dash. Naturally, navigation-equipped Highlanders use the large screen instead, leaving the small screen to convey only climate and vehicle data.

Should you order nav, a nice 11-speaker JBL sound system comes along for the ride. And of course, no modern SUV is complete without at least twice as many cup holders as there are seats, and true to form, the Highlander has 14, counting the door pocket bottle holders. That’s a lot of sippy cups and bottled waters—owners would be well advised to use that center-seat area for an onboard Porta Potti.

The 3.5-liter engine brings even base Highlanders up to speed—literally—with the hybrid version that was added for 2006. The new Highlander hybrid carries over the old powertrain, which is also rated at 270 combined horsepower. Now that the power scales are even, we definitely prefer the gasoline model on account of its silky five-speed automatic, which offers manual shift control (hybrid models have a CVT) and far superior brake feel than the touchy hybrid’s.

Toyota Tacoma Double Cab 4X4 V-6

Toyota Tacoma Double Cab 4X4 V-6 - We had several such epiphanies over the 15 months and 40,000 miles we spent with this mid-size Toyota Tacoma. The first came about five months and 15,000 miles into the test, when then road warrior Jared Gall and the Tacoma were dispatched to New York to retrieve a 3744-pound Mercedes 300SD that we had purchased and entered in our diesel-beater cross-country race to Los Angeles [“Battle of the Diesel Beaters,” C/D, April 2006].

We had the longest model in the lineup, the Double Cab with the long bed. It had four forward-hinged doors, almost as much interior room as a Camry, and that exceptionally long, 73.5-inch bed. Although the Tacoma is not as wide or tall as a full-size pickup (and thus is categorized as mid-size), our stretched version’s 221.3-inch length was in full-size territoy. Thanks to that $2965 SR5 package that also included cruise control, a leather steering wheel, and a limited-slip rear differential, our four-wheel-drive Tacoma rang in at $29,389 and was not hurting for features.

Further evidence was provided at the fuel stops. At the 15,000-mile mark, the Tacoma had averaged 18 mpg, 26 percent better than we averaged over 40,000 miles with a full-size Nissan Titan. What’s more, the Tacoma was quicker than the V-8 Titan. When new, the Tacoma ran to 60 mph in only 6.9 seconds, 0.4 second sooner than the Titan.

The first was the spongy brake-pedal feel that plagued the Tacoma throughout the test. As is our procedure, we ran the Tacoma through our standard battery of performance tests when it was new and after 40,000 miles. While performing the 70-mph-to-standstill test soon after the Tacoma arrived here, we could not get the brakes to release after we took our foot off the pedal until we had pumped the pedal several times.

We visited the dealer often, not because the Tacoma didn’t live up to Toyota’s reputation for reliability, but because it required a service every 5000 miles. The minor services — an oil and filter change and a tire rotation — ran about $50; the more involved services at 15,000 and 30,000 miles cost $77 and $182, respectively. We spent a total of $527 for this maintenance, which was $209 less than the service for the Titan’s five stops. Other than the two unscheduled stops for the brakes and a windshield wiper that came loose, the Tacoma was trouble-free.

There was praise, however, for the large rear seat that has a slightly reclined seatback and accommodates adults in comfort. The truck bed drew positive remarks, too. It’s lined with a durable-feeling, slightly textured plastic that kept items from sliding around and has handy movable tie-down points.

Drivers of this pickup never reached a unanimous verdict. Those who could look past the squeaking door seals and squishy brake pedal thought the Tacoma’s size was a good compromise; others noted it was such a pain to maneuver that you might as well have a full-size truck.

Still, the Toyota got better fuel economy than any full-size pickup we’ve shepherded for 40,000 miles, and over the course of the test, it retained a 17-mpg average.

Toyota Echo 2000

Toyota Echo 2000 - For the past two decades, Toyota has covered the small, cheap end of the market with the competent but generally uninspiring Tercel. Its virtues were a low price (the most recent Tercel sedan cost just a bit more than an entry-level Korean sedan) and the promise of Toyota reliability and resale value (a three-to-five-year-old Tercel brings about five percent better resale value than a Hyundai Accent or Kia Sephia). In terms of performance and driving fun, however, the Tercel was frequently trumped by its Korean and American competition. But with this new Echo sedan, Toyota plans to change all of that.

That height allowed Toyota to include an interior package that's not as tight as the Echo's small footprint might suggest. The front interior volume is 49 cubic feet, and in the rear, the Echo offers 39 cubic feet of space. That puts it midpack in its class and affords reasonable space for four people, although five adults are a definite crowd.

The Echo promises to be cheap to run as well. The EPA estimates fuel economy will run between 34 and 41 miles per gallon. Even under the lead foots around here, it averaged 35 mpg. The engine only requires regular 87-octane fuel despite a lofty 10.5:1 compression ratio. And Toyota does have a great reputation for building reliable cars.

We won't repeat the host of small refinements we wrote about in our October 1999 issue that account for its overall hustle. All you need to know is that the little engine revs to its 6500-rpm rev limiter eagerly and smoothly. Unfortunately, you won't know how fast the engine is spinning -- a tachometer is not offered. We think a tach is a must, given this motor's revvy nature.

On the downside, the shifter has a lifeless, stuck-in-the-mud feel. Although the Echo can compete in acceleration with compacts like the Neon, it doesn't corner as well as the big boys. Skidpad grip, at 0.77 g, ranks squarely in entry-level territory. The body roll isn't offensive, however, and the Echo doesn't bob around when you lift off the gas in a turn; rather, it obediently tucks in the front end.

As for its styling, we didn't notice pedestrians and other drivers, young or old, swiveling their heads to get a better look. But let's give Toyota credit for coming up with an original shape.

As small, low-priced cars go, the Echo is excellent transportation -- provided you don't load it up with every option, at which point the bigger compacts may make more sense. It's relatively quick and comfortable, and it fully utilizes every inch of its small dimensions.

COUNTERPOINT

These cars say more about their manufacturers than do prestige and sports cars. How much importance, for example, is placed on packaging? Does it come at the expense of attractive design? The Echo tells me Toyota thinks its customers expect decent power, room, and refinement from their econoboxes and that they'll be willing to compromise a bit on styling, fuel economy, and price to get those virtues.