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I don’t know if this vehicle, a Toyota Prius Hybrid HEV, represented an upgrade. It’s just what I was assigned as a mid-size rented vehicle for 3 days. I had a general idea that this vehicle was recently refreshed and that it looked a lot better. As I got closer to it and got into it, I was able to get a better look. The new Prius looks a lot better than I recall a Prius ever looking. It looks sleek, sporty, and even sort of low-slung. Interesting exterior features show that they made this a priority. The front lights and fascia are thin and understated, working well with the more unified exterior. The rear fascia is definitely Prius’s own and it gives the car some interesting, angled vantage points. They even incorporated gullwing handles into the sedan’s rear doors and, having once had these in the last rendition of the W-body Buick Regal coupe, I like their look and just plain using them. Its low-slung aspect can present a slight demerit. The windshield and profile of the front doors is very raked and, as a person of average height, I had to duck a little more than usual to enter the car. Similarly, the rear backlite borders on almost being horizontal. This does give the rear storage area a little more usable height. Inside, the front pillars’ rake is mitigated by fixed renditions of what used to be vent windows in older cars. However, they still seem to block an instinctive sight line compared to more upright vehicles like the current Camry and Corolla. Inside, the feeling is more cockpit-like. Similarly, the rear view has the thicker pillars and flatter backlite that require more proactive work – looking over the shoulder attentively and using the amber traffic monitoring warnings in the outside mirrors. A complementary feature is the chime that assisted lane changes. The Prius has a 4-cylinder engine that seems to spend more time in EV mode than did the hybrid Camry. That means good fuel economy and, over 3 days, I only added 6 gallons for between 200 and 300 miles of motoring. In terms of power, handling, and roadability, the Prius gets mixed comments from me. It does have agility when the pedal is pressed and it moves from eco to power mode. It also eases upward to higher than anticipated highway speeds if not paying attention! The transmission is a CVT with a “faux” first gear and it works well. The Prius has a more noticeable wheezing sound when in reverse gear, which actually advises those inside the car and near it. However, when pushed, the powertrain gets buzzy, as in noisy. But at steady speed, any engine noise is not that noticeable. The vehicle’s handling, smoothness, and quietness vary. Handling is always nimble and, even at highway speeds, it maneuvers adeptly. The ride is mostly smooth. However, noise control could use some improvement. Some of that can come from the tires they equip the car with, fitted with aluminum wheels that hearken to the ones on Tesla products. That said, it’s hard to tell if the drone is tire thum or wind. However, if you prioritize handling among these, I was surprised to see how well the Prius handles … on the highway, on city streets, and even in tight parking spaces, where 3-point attempts are rarely necessary. The cockpit is unusual and very different from yesterday’s Priuses, which I’ve only seen and never driven or been a passenger in one. I remember how the first model had an oval main instrument pod set up on the cowl in the middle of the dashboard but angled toward the driver. Today’s Prius has thin and smaller pods, almost set on ledges that seem to staircase down as the cowl approaches the driver. The main panel looks like a small tablet that is set quite far from the steering wheel. Depending on how the wheel is titled, there could be some visibility issues seeing all the information. This required adjusting the wheel and the seating height. Also, the front seat can be very far from the pedals. So, while the door is low, taller drivers might like this potential distance. The infotainment center sits slightly forward of the main instrument screen and is conventionally placed atop the center stack. Thankfully, it continues with touch operation as opposed to being operated via a remote dial. Most functions are the ones you’ve known for a while, so setting things up doesn’t take long. I did struggle a little with the Android Auto, even though the Bluetooth pairing was quick. Note that, while the Camry has USB-C ports, the Prius does not. Further down on the center stack, the climate control is easy to work with (not the 3-dial type that so many exports and even domestics have) and the A/C blows colder a little quicker than in the last Camry I drove. The console deck is about the right height and its overall dimensions, including the box, are generous. The compactness of the shift lever is sort of fun … think of a small underpowered low-cost EV Corvette! When going into gear, it’s not about moving the selector linearly. A quick jog to the left and up toward the instrument panel is for reverse while that same quick jog followed by a rearward move puts the vehicle in drive. It doesn’t take long to get used to this. Also, the park feature is easy to work with. Just push in P when stopped and, whether in reserve or drive, the gear selector goes to park. The only thing is that it is not forgiving when shifting the lever … your foot must be firmly on the brake, so no slipshod maneuvers. The seating is comfortable and the buckets seem a little high, but this offers support from top to bottom. The same is true in the rear of the cabin and the headrests do intrude with an already thicker rear sail panel / C-pillar. Legroom in the rear also seems good and the length of the vehicle allows for that. Space is sensibly distributed in the 3 volumes from front to back. I always thought a Prius would have something daunting or different about it. Its look is different in that it lost its first-gen look that looked like an upright Nissan Versa of 2016 … sort of like the runt of the litter that is on the run because it has been kicked in the rump. This Prius looks planted. Upon pushing the prominent and easy to use “power” button on the dash, there will be no noise and the dash will literally tell you when it, and you, are “ready” to go. It's a smaller but roomy vehicle where the price isn’t a bargain, but not that steep in today’s terms. I find there are a few things that I wasn’t crazy about – the height, the main instrument pod sitting in the distance, and not the best noises suppression – but I liked most other things about it. With so many Priuses going the long haul, this one will probably do the same … and look a lot more presentable while doing it. - - - - - PHOTOS FORTHCOMING

I'm laughing. There are always reasons why things are "discounted." With me, it's DFW and Austin that give me heartburn. San Antonio, too, even though I don't know it as well. I just don't like the look of the DFW area, whether natural or built. I don't like Austin for being the governmental engine of a big red place next to a massive university with over 50,000 students that is a big blue place. I'm more of a moderate and don't want extremes in either element. I also don't like the "way cool" leanings in Austin. Houston has its negatives, but I'd take it for nearby Galveston, and water in general, the extensive pinewoods, the dark red brick homes, an attractive downtown, and for being America's most ethnically diverse city that has always rolled with that spirit. There is no "you shouldn't be here" factor. IIR, I've heard of a saying about Madrid that goes, 'When you're in Madrid, you're from Madrid.' Having lived in various places, I pay attention to those subleties.

Very cool to see This Hyundai Ioniq 5 Owner Managed 413,991 Miles In Under Four Years, With One Big Catch

Removing tariffs that idiot47 caused so much pain with for getting nothing in return show how stupid a person can be in not understanding true business and how to negotiate. A real man with Business sense would have put together a package of tariffs to present to China to address specific areas that are an imbalance not just attack everything and see what falls out. As such, incompetence in not understanding the long road map to building greatness shows how foolish the current administration is and now they are going to sign an exception list for the auto industry. Destroy good trading partners just to cause Chaos! Never a sound business strategy. Trump to Sign Order Later Tuesday Easing Auto Tariff Impact

Ughhhhhhhhh UPS cuts 20,000 jobs, GM delays investor call as Trump's tariffs create corporate chaos | Reuters The Companies Lowering or Ditching Guidance Amid Tariff Chaos - Business Insider Trump tariffs: Pepsi, Chipotle, P&G cut earnings forecasts Major companies face a difficult task in estimating the impact of tariffs on their business | RochesterFirst Interesting reads on the auto industry. Cox Automotive Forecast: First Quarter New-Vehicle Sales Expected to Increase Year over Year as Market Momentum Shows Signs of Fading - Cox Automotive Inc. The rush is over from Q1, expect everything else to slow dooooooooowwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnn. Tariffs will lead to 2 million fewer auto sales in US this year, auto advisory firm forecasts | Reuters 5 Predictions For The Auto Industry In 2025

This will be interesting to see how it plays out now that a Banker is PM of Canada and has no respect for Idiot47. They now look to take a more central roll on the Global Stage and in Commerce. This will be an interesting time as the U.S. could find itself struggling especially from an Auto Industry stand point to continue the growth they had. Mexico is supporting Chinese auto companies, Canada is looking to embrace BYD and other imports, this does not bode well for the U.S. economic engine. 'Trump is trying to break us': Carney wins in Canada riding fury at Trump to victory This from GM along with others I am seeing in the news today pretty much tells us we are in for a recession. GM pulls forecast due to tariffs as nervous consumers rush to buy As company's pull their forecast, that speaks volumes about what they see for the rest of this year, long term future of growth as people pull back from spending money. GM pulls forecast due to tariffs as nervous consumers rush to buy

OUCH another CyberTurd fail, no so water capable even at the waterline. Instagram Story on it here: A driver believed Elon Musk's wildest Cybertruck design claim, and it didn't end well I hope the lady continues to win and keep Musk from taking an out of line pay package that he is not worthy to receive. Tesla Investor Fights With Musk Over Billionaire’s Pay in Appeal

Was wondering what the sales numbers are and I see since it came out, it has gone no where but down. Slowest selling auto for years now. Dodge Hornet Tops The U.S. Slowest-Selling Vehicle List Again - MoparInsiders That is pretty pathetic, I honestly have not seen any here in the wild for the PNW, so I do wonder where they are selling. WOW, just saw that they have a 428-day supply on hand. Crazy

Dodge can keep Hornet at pre-tariff pricing until 2027 at the rate they're selling.

This shows that we must never forget the history of how lying men can destroy a country. Kill others all to justify a personal blindness to the multi-cultural society that the planet is and will always be. It was interesting to see the Mercedes Benz, BMW and Volkswagen logos all over. Clearly these three companies played a big roll in arming Germany and hurting the world. Yet we also can see some amazing technology that was created and used in the auto industy.

That is a tough question, GM has stopped importing and those that have come in are being kept at the ports till this issue gets resolved. I honestly can see plenty of auto's from Europe, Asia sitting at our ports for months and eventually having to be discounted at the end of the year to be sold due to this stupidity. In regards to Mexico and Canada, I have not seen any clear message on how the auto companies are dealing with the models that are built there to come here. As far as I can see, they have paused production, but not 100% sure on all of it as it is such a birds nest mess. Hopefully Drew might have some other insight I have not seen yet.

He just visited Mexico and had some time looking at the products. I will, say that all my coworkers in other markets where BYD sells autos have pretty positive impressions of BYD as they go Global. I can see BYD surpassing Toyota as the world's biggest auto builder.

How do you know they make great products? They don't sell anything here, yet. Spec sheets can be amazing and it still not be a good overall product or it could be unreliable as fck.

Prices on all these will go up. I see ads from manufacturers saying they are protecting MSRP though May or 2025 model year. But they probably all had 60-100 day supply of vehicles which almost gets them to when 2026 models would start. And they are going to pull incentives in the short term. I suspect 2026 MSRP’s are going way up.

Interesitng post WW 2 footage of Germany, non censored. Houston strikes me as one of the last places I would want to live in the USA.

Stellantis makes a lot of interesting fashionable giant paper weights for your driveway. Building actual reliable vehicles might help them. Also, not pricing everything in the stratosphere.

I think Forester production was supposed to move here...before the trade war. Not sure though. BYD makes great products, I don't think they would face a lot of resistance.

Toyota makes money through and Stellantis kind of struggles and has a lousy stock price. @Drew Dowdell @G. David Felt Question on the Buick Encore and Lincoln Nautilus, are they 25% tariff die to imported auto or 145% tariff due to Chinese goods?

Yes, and we will likely see Subaru shift more crosstrek production to the US for US market with that capacity. It might mean that Forrester production moves here too.

I don't know about that. People still have to want to buy a Chinese owned and built vehicle. That's a pretty big sell here unless it were to be vastly cheaper than the competition.

Subaru will be building a ton of stuff apparently for the Canadian and Mexican markets in Japan that was formerly built in the USA. It will only get worse. BYD builds buses, SUV's and all sorts of other stuff. They are killing it in every market outside of the USA. If they were alowed to sell inside the USA Tesla would go bankrupt. Quickly. BYD is also the biggest selling electric in Brazil, a huge market.

To clarify, CX-50 production will remain in the US but will only be for US market customers. The pause is only for Canadian market builds. Mazda is increasing US market builds to make up the difference, likely because they know that other imported models will take a sales hit from the additional taxes and Mazda can capture those with a domestically manufactured CX-50. Mazda very specifically said in a statement that overall production volume is not expected to change.

The Mazda CX50 is a compact that built in the U.S. for Canada and is now paused for production and jobs as they will import them from Japan to avoid the idiotic tariffs. Then we also have Subaru, Honda and Stellantis that has all paused production of select models that are exported to Canada, Mexico or outside North America for sale that have been paused with temp layoffs due to the tariff's stupidity.

Tariff Tuesday is the day where we cover how President Trump’s tariffs, if fully enacted, will impact the auto industry, increase costs, and limit consumer choice. We started this series on April 15, Tax Day for those in the United States, because Trump’s tariffs amount to one of the largest single increases in taxes on the American People. The tariffs which, if fully implemented, will raise $1.4 trillion in revenue, an increase per household of $1,900 to $7,600 per year. Last week we discussed Buick’s Tough Spot - Killing it in China, Killed in the U.S. and one of our readers brought up an excellent point: Big Trouble in Little Crossovers The little crossover segment is one of the hottest and most competitive segments in the industry. So much so that even before tariffs, a few models were already driven from the market without replacements. The Fiat 500X, Jeep Renegade, Nissan Rogue Sport, and Ford EcoSport were all models competing in this segment in the U.S. that just couldn’t quite make it and were canceled after a single generation, though the Jeep Renegade lives on in other markets. The commentator above is right. With few exceptions, nearly all of the little crossovers available in the US are imported. Because there is a lot of fuzziness in the size of vehicles in this class, for this list we will generally be looking at the smallest crossovers a particular brand offers. We are also including vehicles regardless of price as the tariff impact in this size class appears to transcend price. Acura ADX - Mexico Alfa Romeo Tonale - Italy Audi Q3 - Hungary Audi Q4 eTron - Germany Audi has indicated they may move production of some models to the U.S., likely through partnership with parent company Volkswagen and their production facility in Tennessee. Audi has paused all imports of their vehicles to the U.S. due to the tariffs and is holding vehicles already in the U.S. at ports. BMW X2 - Germany BMW X3 - United States Buick Envista - South Korea Buick Encore GX - South Korea Buick Envision - China Cadillac XT4 - United States (model canceled) Cadillac Optiq - Mexico Chevrolet Trax - South Korea Chevrolet TrailBlazer - South Korea Chevrolet Equinox - Canada Chevrolet Equinox EV - Mexico Dodge Hornet - Italy Ford Bronco Sport -Mexico Ford Maverick - Mexico Ford Escape - United States Genesis GV60 EV - South Korea Genesis GV70 - South Korea GMC Terrain - Mexico Honda HR-V - Mexico Honda CR-V - United States Hyundai Venue - South Korea Hyundai Kona - South Korea Hyundai Ioniq 5 - United States as of 2025 model year to take advantage of EV Tax Credit eligibility from the Biden Inflation Reduction Act. Eligibility for the tax credit is still in limbo. Hyundai Tuscan - United States Infiniti QX50/QX55 - Mexico Infiniti has announced they have suspended all new orders of these models in the U.S. due to Trump’s tariffs. The models remain in production for other markets. Jeep Compass - Mexico. Kia Soul - South Korea Kia Seltos - South Korea Kia Niro - South Korea Kia Sportage - United States Kia EV6 (exc. GT) - United States as of 2025 model year to take advantage of EV Tax Credit eligibility from the Biden Inflation Reduction Act. Kia EV6 GT - South Korea Range Rover Evoque - United Kingdom Discovery Sport - United Kingdom Lexus UX - Japan Lexus NX - Canada Lexus RZ - Japan Lincoln Corsair - Mexico Lincoln Nautilus - China Maserati Grecale - Italy Mazda CX-30 - Mexico Mazda CX-5 - Japan Mazda CX-50 - United States The Mazda CX-50 is produced in the United States, and until the tariffs, was exported to the Canadian market. Mazda has since shuffled production and will now supply the Canadian market from Japan. Mercedes-Benz GLA - Germany Mercedes-Benz GLB - Mexico Mercedes-Benz EQB - Hungary Mercedes-Benz GLC - Germany Mini, Mitsubishi, Porsche - Austria, Japan, and Germany respectively Nissan Kicks - Mexico Nissan Rogue - United States Polestar 2 - China Polestar 3 - United States Rivian R2 - United States (not in production yet) Rivian R3/R3X - United States (not in production yet) Subaru Crosstrek - Japan and starting in 2024 United States for select trims Subaru Forrester - Japan Tesla Model-Y - United States Toyota Corolla Cross - United States Toyota RAV-4 - United States and Canada Volkswagen Taos - Mexico Volkswagen Tiguan - Mexico Volkswagen ID.4 - United States Volvo EX30 - China Volvo EX40 - Belgium Volvo XC40 - Belgium Volvo C40 - Belgium Of this list of 70-ish small crossovers, only eleven models plus some versions of a twelfth are assembled in the United States. For the sixteen that are assembled in Canada or Mexico, they may possibly qualify for reduced or exempted tariffs if they can prove compliance with the USMCA. However, meeting the USMCA regulations is an arduous process for a product with as many components as a vehicle. A vehicle with a significant amount of components produced outside of the USMCA zone will likely fail to qualify for a tariff exemption. For example, a vehicle assembled in Canada may lose its tariff exemption if the steel used in its construction was purchased from China or the stamping took place outside of the USMCA zone. It’s a complex process for manufacturers to calculate, and some, such as Audi and Infiniti are simply opting to stop shipments for now. It’s likely that EVs built in Canada or Mexico that currently qualify for the tax credit from Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act will also qualify for a USMCA exemption. Some manufacturers are hit harder than others. Ford's recent smash hits, the Bronco Sport and Maverick truck are both built in Mexico and represent a significant portion of Ford's recent sales. Dodge, already struggling to move the Hornet crossover, will face significant price increases as it is not able to be exempted from tariffs via the USMCA. Toyota will gain an unusual prices advantage here with the RAV-4 and Corolla Cross being built in the United States, but can also afford to not discount prices much as demand will be higher. All of the burden of Trump's tariffs trickles down to the consumer eventually. Consumers will either pay higher taxes on imported vehicles, pay higher prices for manufacturers to comply with the USMCA, or lose choices and supply with lost model availability driving up the costs of the remaining options on the market. For one of the most competitive segments of the auto industry, this signals a time of turmoil with consumers taking the brunt of it. View full article