Toyota Rav-4 hybrid wins Gary Gastelu’s car of the year
Fox News’ Gary Gastelu explains why the Toyota Rav-4 hybrid is the best-selling car in America.
With major auto shows postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Toyota has introduced a couple of its upcoming models through an online Spring Showcase information drop.
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The 2021 Venza is a successor to a model that was discontinued in 2015, while the 2021 Sienna is set to be Toyota’s first hybrid minivan offering in the United States.
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The Venza will only be available as an all-wheel-drive hybrid when it goes on sale this summer. The two-row, five-passenger midsize utility vehicle slots between the Rav4 and Highlander in the automaker’s lineup and shares their modular platform. It uses the Rav4 Hybrid’s powertrain, which is comprised of a hybrid unit anchored by a 2.5-liter four-cylinder driving the front wheels and a separate electric motor for the rear wheels. Toyota estimates that the 219-hp setup will be good for a 40 mpg EPA rating, the same as the Rav4’s.
Standout features include a standard electronic driver aid system with radar cruise control and automatic emergency brakes, an available 1,200-watt audio system and a panoramic sunroof equipped with a Star Gaze function that uses electrochromatic technology to adjust its opaqueness, instead of a physical shade.
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The all-new Sienna is also built on the modular platform with the hybrid powertrain, but it gets the Highlander's 253-hp version and comes in both front-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive models. It’s dramatic styling features heavily sculpted flanks and a tailgate that mimics the rear of the Toyota Supra sports car’s as much as a minivan can.
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Toyota expects it to deliver a combined 33 mpg rating when testing is complete ahead of its launch late this year. That would make it the most fuel-efficient minivan without plug-in charging capability.
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The seven-to-eight-passenger Sienna features the full suite of Toyota safety tech and is available with a 360-degree camera system and digital rear view mirror, plus a built-in vacuum and refrigerator on some models.
The Sienna is available with legrest-equipped second-row reclining seats. (Toyota)
Pricing for the Venza and Sienna will be announced closer to when they arrive in showrooms.