People will do some pretty stupid things for a TV, or so we're learning today. First, it was the idiot burglar with the alligator in his Buick Regal and now we have the story of a trio of not-so-bright Tennesseans who really wanted to get a television home. But there were three of them and a television, and not all of them could fit in the passenger area of their Toyota Corolla. Their solution? Put the kid in the trunk and the television in the backseat. They'd have gotten away with it, too, but someone called the cops after seeing the kid, who apparently consented, get into the trunk.

Everyone was okay, but the man and woman who were lucky enough to sit inside the car were arrested over what looks like a shitty television anyways. If only these idiots read books. Oh well, at least the sheriff seemed to get a good laugh out of it. Bonnie and Cylde were actually ratted out by a relative who saw the event unfolding. If that may seem cold just remember that most people in Tennessee are related. [WSMV]

Here's another in a long line of jittery Japanese-market car ads, this one showing how a pack of tie-wearing Toyota shoprats can whomp together an '84 Corolla for fashion-deranged monogloved chopsocky experts and fedora-wearing, flask-in-bottom-drawer newsies alike, all thanks to the mighty powers of the Munificent Plutonium Wrench.

After reading Paul Niedermeyer's (aka PaulN's) recent essay about the Corolla's 40th anniversary, it seemed only right for me to go with a Late Malaise Corolla for today's DOTS car. After all, the last generation of rear-wheel-drive Corollas really cemented Toyota's now utterly dominant reputation for reliability among North American car buyers, and sightings of these machines on the street have (finally) started to get somewhat rare.

Even after 26 years, this car doesn't look all that archaic. Nothing flashy, but also not Toyota Bland (the seriously bland Toyotas came a bit later).


Some of these cars are getting hooned drifted to death nowadays, but not in anywhere near the numbers of their younger AE86 brethren.


It's sad to think that we won't see many of these Corollas on the street in a few more years, as their engines all hit 300,000 miles and they get fed to the voracious jaws of The Crusher... and then only Bland Toyotas will remain.

First 200 DOTS

We love when readers send in their own spy photos, whether from a cameraphone, point-and-shoot or DSLR. OK, that's a lie — we absolutely prefer DSLR. But we digress. Automakers in the Phoenix, Arizona area better beware as Josh (who also grabbed the left-hand-drive Nissan GT-R) has spotted yet another out-of-place Japanese car wandering the streets. This time it's the Toyota Auris, which is the European five-door Toyota Corolla hatchback. A five-door Corolla testing in the desert, in winter, with Michigan manny plates, you say?

We've got some theories as to what's going on, but none of them are good enough to print (and at least three involve Charles Barkley). Does anyone out there have a good theory? (Hat tip to Josh!)

It's a little known fact that one of us Jalops spent the better part of our youth traipsing around the country in the back of a 1980 Toyota Corolla without so much as a radio installed. That first parental Corolla turned out to be a gateway Toyota and was followed by an unbroken chain of Corollas extending to this very day. This is why there is an A4 in the driveway and a Continental in the garage. Things would have been different had the Corolla of our youth been powered by a turbocharged BMW inline six sporting 400 bhp and 370+ lb.ft. of torque. Ah yes, smoky power drifts though the state of Nebraska would have made cross country trips far more palatable.

We saw a rear-drive Corolla GT-S a few months ago, but we haven't yet seen one of the front-drivers. Things involving the Corolla name in North America got a little confused in the mid-80s, what with the different platforms available at the same time and then the Corolla-clone Nova (and Toyota-branded Corollas as well) being built in California. The AE86 gets all the attention from the donuts-in-mall-parking-lot kids these days, which may be why even rarer GT-S FX16s like this one survive as reasonably original daily drivers.

Decal emblems? Plastic crypto-racy side trim? Paint the color of Cyndi Lauper's lipstick? Welcome to the 80s!


I spotted this car on the same East End block as the '82 Mercedes-Benz 380SL and a couple of DOTS cars I haven't posted yet, so we're talking about a DOTS gold mine second only to the block with the Morris Minor convertible, '69 Cutlass convertible, '47 Plymouth, and '54 Ford.


I've always thought this vent/window arrangement looked like something from a building rather than a vehicle. Which, of course, is cool.

First 150 DOTS Cars

Those missing the RWD Celica's of yore can take hold of some gossip based on a rumor about the dead coupe getting revived with some mechanicals from the Subie parts bin. Going chronologically, the exciting gossip last August was that Toyota was going to use its new stake in Fuji Heavy Industries (Subaru) to help it build a small RWD Coupe, which everyone took to mean a new Toyota Corolla AE86. Now AutoWeek.nl has it that the rumored AE86 might be a suspected Celica.

The speculation points to the next generation Celica being produced by Subaru and coming in two versions: Celica GT and GT-4. Both will get the 2.0-liter boxer out of the WRX, with the GT-4 getting the 300 horsepower version of out of the STI and four-wheel drive (with in-wheel electric motors, if you can believe that). If rumor is to be believed, the new Celica will come in coupe and three-door hatchback form. Where it's sold, what it costs and when it debuts is all a matter of intuition and random guessing at this point. [AutoWeek.nl via World Car Fans]
(Photo of the FT-HS Concept)

From loyal reader and Chicago-area superstar Joe, we have the pic above to point and laugh at. We'll let Joe spin the tale:

I was cruising down the highway at 70 mph and spotted this genius display of human ingenuity on how to carry cargo. The best part is the aero cargo box on top of the four mattresses; and all items being held down by a blue tarp and single piece of rope while dangling perilously off the back of the Toyota station wagon —or at least I think it's a Toyota wagon.

Adding to the fun, Joe ran the pic by his buddies at The Chicago Garage, who engaged in a little caption contest. We think you'll appreciate some of the entries in poll form, and feel free to add your own. Remember kids, rope is the loser's way out. Duct tape is the way to restrain beds to car roofs!

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I know it's been a while since our last Choose Your Eternity matchup (in which, incidentally, the Hayubasa-powered Honda 600 just barely edged out the Duramax-powered '47 Ford, for which I apologize; the cruel overlords at the salt mine my tech-writing job shipped me out to New York for a 4-day weekend of PowerPoint presentations. Aaah, PowerPoint, the magical tool that makes time slow to a crawl! To unwind, we were treated to free booze each night at corporate-sponsored parties, including one with an "Eighties Prom" theme. And, as I fought my way to the bar to get another French 75 (F. Scott Fitzgerald's drink of choice while in Paris), contemplating the spectacle of a bunch of 24-year-old software geeks shakin' it to the usual Billy Idol tunes (how come 80s parties never have good 80s dance music, like George Clinton or Grandmaster Flash? And, yes, I know the answer: MTV), I tried to recall how the rear-wheel-drive Japanese factory hot rods of the era appeared to those of us who cared about cars at the time. And, of course, that was the inspiration for today's pair of PCH choices...

As we all know, it's pretty tough to find a Toyota that's really suitable for this series. They're just too reliable and the parts are too easy to find, so the Hell component is weaker than we like. Still, the mid-80s Toyota Corolla GT-S does qualify, and not just because you know that every single one has had the absolute crap beat out of it by generations of lead-footed hoons. The real reason the flames grow higher as soon as you pick up an AE86, however, is that every single component of every single car has been thoroughly molested by clueless 19-year-olds with a $19.95 set of sockets and dreams of being the Drift King of the parking lots of (insert name of suburban shopping mall here). The surprises will never stop coming, no matter how long you work on it! Such is the likely case with this '86 Corolla GT-S coupe (go here if the ad disappears), which can be had for only two grand in American dollars. The car runs, but it "has low compression in the third and fourth cylinders" (probable translation: lean condition during application of HELLA NOSSSSSS has added speed holes to pistons and/or repeated overheating has blown the head gasket). There's the telltale litany of buzzwords (JDM, HKS, carbon fiber) that indicate both hoonage and tons of drifto-centric mods applied by a series of 19-year-old owners dating back to the early 90s. But... if you could clean up the mess and add engine sap via properly-done modifications, you'd be doing the 80s right- "Loopzilla" instead of "White Wedding."

The AE86 is a pretty cool car, of course, but these days it's akin to what the '69 Camaro was to my generation: just about the only old car that every high-school kid can identify. What if you want a hot Eighties Japanese machine without having to listen to 16-year-olds tell you all about it? And you want a car that's already set up for turbocharging, because you have a (probably unfounded) belief that you'll thereby be able to stuff more boost into it? In that case, this 1988 Mitsubishi Starion (go here if the ad disappears) is the correct infernal choice for you! Actually, this car might be a Dodge Conquest, as the seller doesn't quite make the make 100% clear in the listing. What is clear, however, is that this Mitsu has had the hood and headlight panel painted "SUNBURST ORANGE, 07 CORVETTE/HHR OTHER KNOWN AS MANDARIN ORANGE METALIC IT WILL LOOK REALLY NICE ONCE FINISHED." The turquoise air dam is a nice touch, too. The car doesn't quite, you know, run at the moment, but when you "spray starter fluid into the intake it runs and idles really nice it might have a bad pump and relay or something." Yeah, a turbocharged Astron motor, with its funky injector setup- you have to figure the problem is just a relay. No sweat! Nervous Nellies might shy away from statements such as "it would be a waste to just let it go to crap with the rebuilt motor by previous guy," but everyone knows that engine rebuilds done by the "previous guy" are always up to manufacturers' specs. Don't worry about those minor details, though; you need to picture yourself behind the wheel of this Starion with a nice paint job and 450 turbocharged Astron ponies under the hood.

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Last night, we showed you the hardy souls of Oregon-based Team Dirty Drifters, who were sending a guy on a six-hour round trip to pick up a replacement engine for their rod-knockin' Corolla. Well, the engine showed up, and they got it installed and running... by 7:30 AM. These bleary-eyed- yet intrepid- racers will now be in full effect on the track when the race starts at 1:00 PM. Good work, Dirty Drifters!

Back in 1984, car-shopping Aussies might consider a V8-powered ute, but what if the gears of industrial society stopped turning and the juice stopped flowing? Why, they'd be burning up too much fuel roaring about the wasteland in gas-sucking bombs- better to go for the reliability and fuel economy of a Corona or Corolla! Once Super Toyota Man offered you a $250 government grant, all you'd need to do would be to check the box for the Quad Crossbow option and you'd be ready to roll!

From the bolt up a TRD supercharger department comes the 2009 Toyota Corolla XRS in blue. The new Corolla will be available in everything from the standard volume leader to the XRS shown here. The XRS packs the 158 horsepower version of the 2.4 liter engine under the hood with choice of five-speed manual or sequential shift automatic. And even though we prefer our Toyotas older with rear wheel drive, we're sure some enterprising individual will soon figure out how to graft the all-wheel drive Matrix and Corolla sequential transmissions together with a turbo the size of a watermelon in a base Corolla.

In celebration of Halloween and 50 years in America Toyota revealed the stock versions of the 2009 Corolla and Corolla Matrix. We looked for the aforementioned scantily clad sirens and nitrous bottles, but all we heard were scary noises. Both cars were said to have super aftermarket potential! The MillenWorks Matrix was over in another hall, but we did catch the stock XRS.

The new 2009 Toyota Corolla and 2009 Toyota Matrix were just unveiled here at the SEMA show in Vegas. For some reason the folks from the super number one best awesome automaker from the land of the rising sun decided to show off one set of vehicles, un-pimped ones, to the press at the Hilton across the street. Fear not, the mighty Mike Bumbeck was covering those. But here at the convention center, we were "treated" to some heavily modded versions of the new Corolla and Matrix. That's what you see below. Press release below the jump.

Toyota unveils all-new, 10th generation 2009 Corolla at 2007 SEMA Show

LAS VEGAS, Oct. 31 /CNW/ - The all-new 10th generation Toyota Corolla was
unveiled at a press conference today during the 2007 Specialty Equipment
Market Association (SEMA) Show.
Originally launched in Japan in 1966, the Corolla first arrived in North
America in 1968 to instant success. For nearly four decades, Corolla has been
synonymous with Toyota quality, style and value. Since 1988, the ever-popular
Corolla has been manufactured right here at home at the Toyota Motor
Manufacturing Canada (TMMC) facilities in Cambridge, Ontario. To date, over 2
million Corollas have since been built at TMMC, while more than 1 million have
been sold in Canada.
"Almost 20 years after the first Corolla rolled off the line at TMMC, the
new 2009 Corolla marks the beginning of a new generation of quality and value
for which the brand has long been known," said Tony Wearing, Managing Director
of Toyota Canada Inc. "The strong, new identity of the tenth-generation
Corolla will continue to strike a chord with Canadians."
The 2009 Corolla compact sedan offers an all-new body with a lean,
stylish shape, and it delivers increased interior and luggage room, more
power, two new engines and an all-new chassis and suspension.
The 2009 Corolla will come in four models - CE, LE, the sporty S, and the
performance-driven XRS.
The Corolla's wide, low profile was developed by Toyota Design in
collaboration with styling studios in Turin, Italy. Its foundation was set by
the search for a lower, sportier shape than that of the previous Corolla. That
search drove the decision to move the bottom of the A-pillar forward and the
bottom of the C-pillar back to increase the angle of the window glass and to
improve the Corolla's aerodynamic performance.
The standard body kit on S and XRS models helps to modify aerodynamics
and enhance the Corolla's sporty look - these include a front underbody
spoiler, fog lamps, rocker moldings, upper and lower rear spoilers, and for
improved air management under the car, sound insulating engine covers.
The 2009 Corolla's interior is sporty and distinctive - with
roomy-feeling comfort. While Corolla maintains the same headroom, legroom and
shoulder room as the previous model, it feels larger, thanks to a design that
enhances comfort and improves utility, usability and storage.
A variety of easy-to-reach storage spaces add convenience and usability
to the 2009 Corolla's interior. These include centre console side pockets, an
upper and lower glove box, front and rear door pockets that can hold water
bottles, and a console box with a large-capacity main tray and a smaller
accessory tray.
Available map lights that illuminate independently are supplied for both
driver and front passenger. And to aid ingress and egress, retractable
handgrips are supplied above each door opening.
The CE, LE and S models will be equipped with an all-new 1.8-litre
engine. The 16-valve, DOHC four-cylinder engine with Dual VVT-i (Variable
Valve Timing with intelligence), produces 132 hp at 6,000 rpm and 128 lb-ft of
torque at 4,400 rpm. A five-speed manual transmission is standard with the
1.8-litre engine, and a four-speed automatic Electronically Controlled
Transmission (ECT) will also be available.
For those who crave even more horsepower and torque, there is the
2.4-litre engine. This engine is completely redesigned for use in the new
Corolla XRS model. The 16-valve DOHC engine with VVT-i produces 158 hp at
6,000 rpm and 162 lb-ft of torque at 4,000 rpm. The 2.4-litre engine will be
paired with standard five-speed manual and optional five-speed automatic
transmissions.
Safety features on the all-new Corolla include standard driver and front
passenger airbags, front seat-mounted side airbags and two-row side curtain
airbags. Front seats employ active headrests as standard equipment. When the
vehicle is struck from the rear, a cable-actuated mechanism in the active
headrest moves the headrest upward and forward to limit the movement of the
seat occupant's head. Toyota's Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) is standard on
all models of the Corolla, and Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) is standard on
the XRS.
The all-new Corolla will be loaded with a comprehensive list of standard
performance and convenience features. All models will be equipped with a heavy
duty rear window defogger, a satellite-ready AM/FM/CD audio system with
MP3/WMA capability, auxiliary audio input jack, tilt and telescopic steering
wheel, 60/40 split folding rear seats, and much more.
The sporty S model will feature standard P205/55R16 tires with alloy
wheels and covers, colour-keyed front and rear underbody spoilers, fog lamps,
leather-wrapped steering wheel, coloured rear spoiler, tinted headlamp
housing, and a satellite-ready AM/FM/CD audio system with MP3/WMA capability
and six speakers and steering wheel audio controls.
In addition to S model features, the XRS model adds P215/45R17 tires with
alloy wheels, VSC, stainless steel scuff plates, leather-trimmed shift lever
and knob, cruise control, front sport seats, a chrome exhaust tip and metallic
dash accents.
The all-new Corolla will reach Toyota dealerships in February 2008.

<<
2009 COROLLA PRELIMINARY SPECIFICATIONS
—-—-—-—

POWERTRAINS
—-—-—-—
1.8-litre four-cylinder engine
132 hp @ 6,000 rpm
128 lb.-ft. of torque @ 4,400 rpm
Five-speed manual and four-speed automatic transmissions

2.4-litre four-cylinder engine
158 hp @ 6,000 rpm
162 lb.-ft. of torque @ 4,000 rpm
Five-speed manual and five-speed automatic transmissions

DIMENSIONS (inches)
—-—-—-—-—-—--
Overall Length: 4,540mm (178.7 inches)
Overall Width: 1,760mm (69.3 inches)
Overall Height: 1,465mm (57.7 inches)
Wheelbase: 2,600mm (102.4 inches)
Ground clearance: 135mm (5.3 inches) (XRS model)
147mm (5.8 inches) (Standard, S, LE, and XLE models)

Here it is folks, just a day before it's officially unveiled here at the 2007 SEMA show — the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Sort of anyway. We mean, that's the Toyota Corolla right there, just like we'd heard it would be, waiting to be officially unveiled tomorrow. Except, well, it's all covered up in a white sheet — like a Corolla dressed up for Halloween. Which, come to think of it, is what Wednesday will be. Ha! What fun — or something.

Since the AE86 family of Toyotas tends to contain some of the most hacked-up, hot-rodded, and generally butchered cars you see in California, it's beyond my abilities to guess the exact year of this particular example. I can't check the state's Smog Test History site to get the year of the chassis because it's sporting Washington plates, and I can't see the VIN under its aftermarket dash mat. This one probably contains bits of a dozen cars from the 1984-87 period; we can only hope it has the right engine... and that it's not spitting busted valves out the tailpipe during some drifting madness tomorrow night.

Hey, a JDM Sprinter emblem above the taillight...


...and US-market GT-S emblems on the driver's-side door.


I tend to think of this era as the final hurrah for really interesting Toyotas; sometime in the mid-80s, the company apparently decided to sell its soul in exchange for impossible build quality and reliability. Was it worth it?


But if they ever bring back the AE86, I hope they also bring back a retro-ized version of the '83-86 Tercel wagon.

First 100 DOTS Cars

It's a color some call orange flake — a deep tangerine overlaid with metallic sparkles. Others call it Hysterical Blindness Chrome, though when applied to the JDM version of the new Scion xB, it looks rather fetching indeed. Japan's Kanto Auto Works decked out this model with all manner of SEMA-grade orangeness, and a folding roof of its own design. Understated it's not. And no, mom, those are Japanese maple leaves embossed on the side.

A wonderful reader of ours (but aren't you all?) named James wrote in with today's query:

"I was ready to answer [yesterday's] PCH question by stating how clearly the '77 Corolla obviates today's model and how much fun it would be to
demonstrate that to an owner of the latter."

"I was about to say that no model has evolved so disgracefully when I considered the New Beetle. Granted the Beetle / New Beetle is more a case of the evolution of marketing than of a car, but you can see what I'm driving at. What about today's top-end F-150 vs. the '48 F-1? Does the addition of 149 make it a better truck?"

Tell it to the mountain! And this isn't to say that all cars get worse over time. Just look at the Corvette. Or Nissan's Altima. And let's not forget the awesome new Wrangler. But, as James points out, the new MINI Beetle is pretty much a slap in the face of the old one. So, in your estimation, which car has the persistence of time been the cruelest to? And hells yes that's an Anthrax reference.

After watching the Borgward beat the 4x4 Checker in Friday's Choose Your Eternity poll, we figure the victory margin may have come from the (well-deserved) love we feel for station wagons, not the carefully reasoned factors we normally consider when choosing a Hell Project. So today we're going to have a common theme and a philosophical split. Do you go for the good ol' Detroit muscle or the pre-Boredom Era Japanese screamer? Both can be made insanely quick, both might be kludged together using all manner of driver-killing shortcuts, and both have rollcages! The best part about this matchup is that the Nova eventually became the Corolla in 1985, a classic example of "if you can't beat 'em, license-build 'em" logic.

First off we have a tried-and-true formula that's helped generations of hoons hit the guardrails at countless dragstrips and telephone poles on countless back roads, at speeds double or triple anything GM's designers ever intended for the car: the big-block early Nova. This 1964 2-door hardtop Chevy II is all set up with a full tube chassis, tubs, cage, the works (and it was done "professionally," which means "someone got paid to do it"), and it even comes with a 454! Well, OK, the engine needs rebuilding (let's hope that doesn't mean rod-shaped holes in the oil pan) and it has a no-doubt-tired 4L80E transmission (which will immediately turn into a fine mist of hot steel shavings as soon as it has to deal with the kind of power this car deserves), but what do you expect for just $3200? There's no word on the rear end, but the blurry photo suggests it might be a Ford 9". Also no word on anything else. Electrical system? Rust? Paperwork? Hey, this is Hell!

At least the seller of this 1977 Corolla has a clean title for the car, so there's one thing you won't need to worry about. And with a DOHC 2T-G head on a 3TC block and all sorts of go-fast goodies, you shouldn't have to worry about power. What you will need to worry about is whether the engine was actually built correctly, because something rings kinda suspicious about the seller's statement "After I brought it home I made an adapter plate and installed a single downdraft Weber just so I could hear it run." Come on, you bring a hot-rod engine home and you don't move heaven and earth to get the car driving that very day, so you can at least hoon up and down your street a little and enjoy the sound of it bellowing through open pipes? So you might want to take that into account when negotiating around that $4500 asking price (but just imagine that engine with lots and lots of boost). There's a fair amount of suspension modification in addition to the cage, so you'd be able to have the kind of twisty-roads fun that you could never have with the Nova... and with enough boost you might be able to take the Nova in a drag race as well.

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The Geo Prizm - a California-built Toyota Sprinter (aka Japan-market luxo-Corolla)- was a great car and all, but (like so many front-wheel-drive subcompacts) it suffered from the lack of a truck bed. Luckily, the world is full of ingenious folks with Sawzall in one hand and Master Cylinder of Schlitz in the other, and thus: Prizmino!

Y'all can thank our friend PeteJäyhawk™ for these grainy, overexposed cellphone shots. Mr. Jäyhawk™ doesn't provide much info about the mighty Prizmino, but he does state that the area around the rear window is sheetmetal, not the plywood we thought it was. First class all the way for the Prizmino's builder, of course. Keep those tips a-comin', folks!

While Toyota's been following the US-market line of boring car buyers into a vegetative state, then taking their money, in Japan they're playing mix-and-match with stuff in their parts bin to quicken buyers' collective pulse. In Japan, Toyota's offering a hotted-up version of its Blade hatch — itself a sportier variant of the Corolla-based Auris hatch. Removing the Blade's standard 2.4-liter four, ToMoCo replaced it with the same 3.5-liter 2GR-FE V6 as powers the Lexus IS350 in the US. The result is the Blade Master G. The hot hatch produces 276 horsepower and 254 lb-ft of torque. The engine swap puts an modest extra 176 lbs on the Blade's front section, which Winding Road surmises will likely give it the nose of a 1989 Barolo Monprivato, though not quite in those terms. A six-speed sequential auto with paddle shifters, 17-inch alloys and a deeper-inset grille complete the package. Nodding off is likely not an option. [Winding Road]

The WRX is getting re-clutchified, so for the past three days we've been tooling around the greater Los Angeles area in a 2007 Corolla. Our impressions are thus:

• Features the world's most legible instruments.
• Comparing the Corolla to Wonder Bread isn't fair — to Wonder Bread. The Corolla is more like a sack of flour, and not that fancy King Arthur stuff, either.
• Still, surprising power. Another reason why modern engines are amazing; even a pair of brown shoes like the Corolla has both DOHC and variable-valve timing.

• Enjoys going around corners. Even so, negative feedback from the tiller. It's like turning the hollow plastic steering wheel attached to your kid's crib.
• Rock solid at 70 mph. Becomes 20-times more sketchy at 75-80 mph. Puny wheelbase doesn't help matters.
• We will never bitch about cheap GM/Ford/Chrysler interiors again without mentioning el Corolla. Way to cut corners (and fingers), Toyota.
• Worst driving position of any modern car in memory. The seats are overstuffed and feel like bad dorm furniture. Frankly, just terrible.
• After taking my friend out to lunch in the Corolla she asked, "What kind of car was that?" I told her it was a Toyota Corolla. She answered, "Really?"
• Has a simply cavernous trunk
• Easy to lose in parking lots, as it looks like a lumpen gray blob with wheels.

Last week's champions, the Enzed dopefiend Kiwi Laser Leapers, stunned the competion with a best-yet 52% of the Hoon of the Week vote tally. However, our short-term-memory-challenged Ford-thrashers had the advantage of facing neither Arabs nor Scandinavians; this week's hoon crop features an entrant from each of the two hoonic epicenters. Make like a Volvo 244 and jump...

Why You Need A Good Ramp

Gravity's Corolla

BMW + Volvo Thrash In Redwood Country

Two-Wheeling, Qatar Style

Gnarly Gnorwegian Volvitude

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So who's it gonna be? Remember, Hoon of the Week winners go on to next week's intergalactic Hoon of the Month poll, so vote like the future of civilization depended on it! – Murilee Martin

Related:
4/20: Who's the Hoon of the Week? You Decide! [internal]

The front office in Toyota City appears to have said "Hai!" and green lighted the NorAm branch of the super best number one awesome automaker from Japan to raise prices on seven ToMoCo models. According to the Associated Press,

"The average price increase on the models was $136, or about 0.7%.

Among the changes, the suggested price of the Corolla compact sedan will rise $100, or 0.6%; the FJ Cruiser sport utility vehicle will rise $200, or 0.9%; and gasoline-powered versions of the Camry midsize sedan will rise $200, or 0.9%.

Prices also will rise on the Yaris subcompact sedan and hatchback, Matrix crossover utility vehicle, RAV4 compact SUV and Tacoma pickup truck."

This is a move we can only assume is meant to boost numbers on the automakers already sky-high profit levels. Unless of course it's to help prop up flagging sales at US automakers — which isn't entirely speculative, considering it's CEO said as much a year and a half ago. Either way, Happy Hanukkah from Toyota! – Ray Wert

Prices on 7 Toyota models to edge up [AP via Freep]

Related:
Lexus, For Some Reason, Announces LS 470 Limited Edition Pricing; Breaking Records! Toyota Likes To Be On Top Of Ford, Sales Up A Super Best-Ever 15.9% [internal]

You can read quite a bit into where a company debuts its brisk selling models. This past weekend, Toyota launched its new-generation Corolla at Auto China 2006, a move that indicates the company isn't quite ready to cede that expanding market to General Motors, Volkswagen and its Korean competitors. Also true, subsequent debuts are all about sub-messaging, and thus Toyota's choosing of the Helsinki Motor Show in Finland for the model's European premiere either indicates a Nokia tie-in, or expresses the company's fondness for salmon, hard grains and drinking large quantities of vodka in the dark. Or they're just fans of World Car Fans.

Related:
Big in Japan: The 2008 Toyota Corolla Hatch? [internal]

The headline of this scan of Japan's Driver magazine piece reads SCOOP!! and that it may be, but we've already seen such scans of the likely next-gen Toyota Corolla hatch — which rumors have indicated may be coming to the US in 2008. In this particular article, however, the mag purports to have the inside line on a new Toyota model due to be unveiled this October in Japan. It'll be called the Orius, which shares its name with a prediator beetle that eats small caterpillars, aphids, whiteflies and spider mites (this has been Pirate Bug minute), and will likely be the model Europeans (at least) see as the Corolla hatch. We'll see.

New Toyota Corolla or ORIUS? [Nihon Car and Bike]

Related:
First Look? Toyota Corolla Hatch for Europe [internal]

Our favorite Extra of the Hollywood variety posted magazine scans of what may be the coming Toyota Corolla hatch for Europe. As he says, it looks like a big 'ol Yaris (who knew the design direction was coming from the bottom up?) No word on whether the three- and five-door models will migrate across the pond, but if this wacky test mule is any indication, we may just see a little line expansion product of our own in 2008.

Next Euro Corolla [The Hollywood Extra]

Related:
Spy Photos: 2008 Toyota Corolla? [internal]