Editorial: Goodnight, Sweet Prince

Earlier this month, Toyota announced that it was giving the axe to its youth oriented Scion brand in August of this year. What happened? This is supposed to a brand that is marketed towards the millennial generation which, in theory, should have been a very profitable gamble. Scion also prided itself on a very straight forward pricing plan (what you see on the window sticker is what you pay), which also meant that Scion vehicles were generally very well equipped without having to spend all day negotiating with a salesperson. People hate dealing with shady salespeople, so this should have been great, right? I will tell you what happened that led to Scion's demise, or at least what I believe to be the reasoning behind Toyota's decision.

Test Drive: 2016 Scion iM 6MT

Image courtesy of Scion

What do I think of James Franco as an actor? Well, he is certainly eclectic. The man is not a terrible actor, as long as he applies himself to whatever role he is in. I think his off screen antics are what make people question his ability and talent as an actor. Nonetheless, his IMDB page still shows him getting plenty of work. About two weeks ago, while watching TV, a Scion ad for their new iA sedan and iM hatchback appeared and it stared none other than, James Franco. Normally, when an actor resorts to shooting these sorts of TV commercials, they are either at the end of the career and desperate to get work, or are just bored. It is hard to tell what the case is with Mr. Franco, but needless to say, it was this TV commercial that oddly piqued my interest in the Scion iM.

Editorial: Why do Responsible People Have to Suffer Due to the Stupidity of a Few?

Keyless ignitions are starting to become the norm in more and more cars these days. Is it a necessary technology? Probably not. We have survived decades without keyless ignitions by simply sticking the key into the ignition and turning it. As technology advances though, keyless ignitions, and their wireless key fobs, are soon going to replace the good old fashioned keyed ignition in short order. Is this going to end up being a problem? For some, it apparently already is.

Those of us that keep up with the latest news in the automotive world have probably already heard about the lawsuit against 10 automakers over keyless ignitions. The reason behind the lawsuit? Apparently the plaintiffs claim the system is dangerous because drivers, for whatever reason, believe the engine is supposed to automatically shut itself off after leaving the vehicle. Because engines do not shut themselves off, a car parked in a garage can cause carbon monoxide build up, leading to carbon monoxide poisoning. The plaintiffs are asking auto manufacturers to implement an auto shut-off feature on all cars and are seeking damages from the 10 automakers listed in the suit. Also of note, the lawyers working with the plaintiffs are seeking class action status from this law suit.

I have been around keyless ignitions since 2004, when my folks brought home their 2004 Acura RL. At the time, keyless ignition was very uncommon, and Acura was one of the first companies to implement it into the second generation RL. Since then, at least one vehicle in our household has always had keyless ignition, and not once did my parents, myself, or East Brother ever make the assumption that the engine would shut itself off when we left the car. Why? First off, the sales people we worked with never once mentioned "auto engine shut-off" as a feature. Two, at least one person in our family does what I like to call "RTFM," which is short for "read the f***ing manual," when we get a new car. In all of the cars with keyless ignition my family has owned since 2004, not once in any of the manuals does it ever mention that the engine will automatically shut off if you leave the car.

But OK, let us say that you do not believe that the engine automatically shuts off, but you forget to shut the engine off. For starters, all cars with keyless ignition systems have a warning system if you are about to leave the car with the engine still running. This could range anywhere from a series of beeps and squawks to the car straight out honking at you. The noise is often times supplemented by flashing lights for those that need visual cues along with the audio ones. If all else fails, let us not forget, THE ENGINE IS STILL RUNNING! If you are driving a conventional gasoline or diesel powered vehicle, you will most likely still hear the engine running when you exit the vehicle. That alone should be your first indication that you forgot to turn the damn thing off. "Oh, but I drive a hybrid or electric vehicle, so I won't hear the engine." For starters, if you drive an electric, what are you complaining about? Your car does not produce carbon monoxide. At most, you will end up with a dead battery when you go to start your car again. As for hybrid drivers? Just listen for the audio cues basically screaming at you to turn the damn thing off.

To me, this whole situation screams of "cash grab." For as long as keyless ignitions have been available, never has any manufacturer claimed that their car will automatically shut off if you leave the vehicle and walk a certain distance away from it. In the past, before keyless ignitions, most people were smart enough to remember to shut off the car and take the keys with them. Why is it that as technology becomes more advanced, people seem to become more and more careless and stupid? And why is it that the careless and stupid ones are always the most vocal ones?

Editorial: These Auto Manufacturers Wants to Make It Illegal to Work On Your Car

Image courtesy of Eric Peters Autos

For most gear heads, one of the best parts about owning an automobile is the satisfaction you get from working on it with your own two hands. Whether it is doing something as simple as changing the oil, or something far more complicated like an engine swap, nothing beats the feeling you get once you have completed working on a project on your car. As cars get more and more advanced technologies though, working on them has proven increasingly difficult. More and more, cars are controlled by complex networks of computers, managing every aspect of the vehicle including how the engine performs. Even the level of sophistication continues to increase for even the most amateur of mechanics, it does not mean gear heads cannot learn to adapt and find ways to modify the car's computer.

Image courtesy of  Tricks Guide

Unfortunately, there is a group of auto manufacturers that do not want gear heads to be able to work on their own vehicles anymore, and to make tampering or modifying your vehicle a punishable offense. How do they plan to do this? Because cars are so computer dependent now, this group of manufacturers want to declare modern cars as "mobile computing devices." So these manufacturers want to basically call cars rolling computers, but how does that prevent us gear heads from working on our own cars? By using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA for short. Sounds insane, right? This group of manufacturers wants to declare modifying a car's computer software or anything that could have an effect on the car's computer a violation of the DMCA. I understand that there are safety issues involved in working on a car, but as the owner of the vehicle, should not that be owner's problem to worry about?

It gets worse though.

Review: Initial D Final Stage

Last year, I reviewed the much anticipated, but extremely disappointing Initial D: Fifth Stage. It was disappointing because the animation was iffy, and the creators tried to cram hundreds of chapters of Shuichi Shigeno's work into 14 episodes. As mentioned in my earlier review, the final race between Initial D's main protagonist, Fujiwara Takumi, and his theoretical half brother, Shinji Inui, would take place as a final four episode arc. Here is what happens when the final 100 or so chapters gets crammed into four episodes.

Initial D: Fifth Stage ended with Takumi's teammate, Takahashi Keisuke and his FD3S Mazda RX-7, victorious in his race against team Sidewinder's Hojo Go and his NA1 Honda NSX. Final Stage picks up with the final race in the Initial D series: Takumi in his AE86 hatchback versus 15 year-old prodigy, Inui Shinji in his AE86 coupe. This is not the first AE86 versus AE86 race to occur in Initial D, but what makes this race different is that Shinji resembles Takumi at the very beginning of the series: apprehensive about racing and driving purely based on intuition and years of home course experience.

This race seems completely unfair at first. Takumi's AE86 is basically a race car, with its Group A
spec 20 valve 4A-GEU racing engine, full roll cage, and racing tuned suspension. Shinji's AE86 on the other hand is still sporting the standard 16 valve 4A-GEU engine (heavily tuned though), bolt on roll bars, and tuned suspension. Based on the specs of both cars, and Takumi's experience, he should have wiped the floor with Shinji and his AE86. But just as everyone thought Takumi would have gotten his ass handed to him by his numerous opponents with more powerful cars and experience, Takumi still manages win after win thanks to his experience on his home course. With years of experience driving the local mountain roads with his mother, Shinji manages to give Takumi a run for his money, and even causes Takumi to struggle to keep up throughout the first part of the course.

What this race really boils down to are the differences between Shinji and Takumi, not their cars. At first, Shinji did not want to participate in the race versus Takumi and Project D at all. While roaming through the spectator galleries, Shinji encounters the two women who form the racing team Impact Blue, driver Sato Mako and navigator Sayuki (whom Takumi met and defeated in the first season of Initial D). After listening to how passionate Mako and Sayuki were about racing, Shinji decided to race so he could, in his own words, be a "hero" and impress his friends as well as Mako and Sayuki. During the actual race, while Takumi is struggling to keep up, Shinji becomes overconfident and lets Takumi pass part way through the race. Shinji sees his gesture as innocent, wanting merely to watch Takumi drive from behind and see his "wings." Instead, Shinji's overconfidence spurs Takumi to drive even harder and faster, causing Shinji to panic and have to resort to bumping Takumi's car to maintain his driving line and retake the lead.

Takumi and Shinji trade positions a few more before times approaching the final section of the race. This is where we learn in a flash back that Project D leader Takahashi Ryosuke had intentionally re-tuned the engine in Takumi's AE86 for better low end torque, giving a more consistent power delivery. This meant Takumi was able to change gears at around 9,000 rpm instead of at 11,000 rpm like when his car was first equipped with its racing engine. Takumi is also informed that while he can shift past 10,000 rpm, the engine is not making a lot of additional power, and prolonged use of the higher rev range of the engine will strain the engine. Considering the timing of the flashback, it became obvious Takumi saw no other option put to push his engine to ragged edge in order to get in front of Shinji. Using his "blind attack" technique (where Takumi shuts off his headlights to confuse his opponent), Takumi is able to surprise Shinji and squeeze next to Shinji, throwing Shinji off his line. With Takumi now about half a car length ahead and in a position to overtake at the last corner, Takumi turns his lights back on to see his tachometer approaching 13,000 rpm. His engine blows, spewing oil all over the place. The wheels in Takumi's AE86 lock up, causing him to spin and forcing Shinji to spin out as well. Rather than letting the car keep spinning, Takumi waits for the car to turn 180 degrees, disengages the clutch, and lets the car roll backwards into the finish line. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how Takumi wins his final race.


Watching Final Stage sort of reminded me of the good old days of Initial D, where the average race lasted three to four episodes. As expected, the art work did not change at all since Fifth Stage, since the animation team did not change. On the other hand, the storyboard team seemed to do a much better job of incorporating that last few chapters of the manga into the four episodes that make of Final Stage. Perhaps they were given more leeway since they only needed to compress 100 or so chapters into four episodes, rather than attempting to compress over 600 chapters into 14 episodes. Either way, Takumi and Shinji's race felt much more complete than the races in Fifth Stage.

Whereas the manga ended with Project D disbanding and Keisuke getting offers from professional racing teams, the Final Stage team was clearly given some leeway into changing some final material to the end of Initial D. Rather than scrapping the AE86 like in the manga, Takumi offers to use his income to repair his beloved car little by little until it runs again. Also, instead of just Keisuke getting professional race offers, Takumi also gets them as well. There is one final scene that is clearly added as complete fan service though. While Takumi is doing his nightly tofu delivery in his father's Subaru WRX STI Type R, he encounters a brand new Toyota GT86. As the two cars drive past one another, things go into slow motion as Takumi stares at the passing GT86. I suppose this was added, not just to help Toyota advertise the car, but to imply that the spirit of the AE86 is alive in its spiritual successor.


Overall, I had a lot more fun watching Final Stage than I did Fifth Stage. It may have only been four episodes long, but the nostalgia factor, especially the last episode, made it worth watching. Unfortunately, you cannot simply skip Fifth Stage and jump right into Final Stage (unless you have already read the manga), so you will have to suffer through Fifth Stage in order to understand what is going on with Final Stage. It would have been nice if the art team made some improvements, but I honestly did not expect it. There are also a few plot points left hanging at the end as well. For example, "Bunta's last favor," which is mentioned in Fifth Stage, is never revealed. If you can get over these details, you will enjoy the end of a series that has been on going for nearly 20 years.

Guest Post: Two Months with the 2013 Toyota Yaris LE

West Brother's friend, Eric L., just spent the last two months in Bloomington, Indiana on a business trip, where he was issued a 2013 Toyota Yaris LE hatchback for his daily use. Here are his thoughts on Toyota's subcompact hatchback. If you too would like to contribute an article, just contact us.

Hi everyone! So I drove a Toyota Yaris 2013 LE for about two months during my business trip in chilly Indiana during March and April. The weather was a mixture of snow, rain, thunder, and 15-20 mph winds. I was bit skeptical of driving the little car at first. My initial impression was, "it's so tiny! Will I be safe?" Over two months of use, I definitely discovered what this tiny car could and could not actually do.

The more I drove the Yaris, the more I realized the benefits of the car. During my first few trips to the gas pump, I confirmed that the Yaris gets well over 30 mpg on the highway. One of the best attributes of the car is the compact size, which makes parking and backing up a breeze. You would have to try hard not to get within the parking lines. The Yaris' interior has an intuitive design, so learning the controls and getting comfortable with them is easy. Even though this is a smaller vehicle, it has a rear window wiper, which makes it very convenient in snow belt states such as Indiana.

Events: The New York International Auto Show

The Big Apple put on a good show this year. I drove into town on Friday afternoon and had a nice time catching up with a friend I had not seen in a while. With an early start on Saturday, I got to take advantage of New York's world class public transit system, including the fairly recently installed Citibike bike-sharing service, and arrived at the Javits Center bright and early. Waiting in line, I had a chance to chat with a lovely couple, who also had come down from Boston to attend the auto show, and observe the chaos that was caused by the governor deciding that he wanted to make an appearance. Taking advantage of early entry, I was able to spend some quality time with a number of cars, shoot a lot of photos, and generally enjoy my long day.

Toyota wins the prize for being the most ADD at the show, with not only a huge number of cars, but also all sorts of entertainment options such as racing simulators, distracted driving simulators, fuel cell car ride-alongs, and much much more. GM looses points for figuring out how to get stuck in its own wing away from the rest of the show, making it less crowded, but also less inviting, although their display was quite plentiful. The biggest losers were supercars, which were poorly represented with only one local dealer bringing a few to show. The biggest winners were almost certainly consumers, who got to see just how good cars of gotten in the last decade.

Below, we take a look at a number of the significant vehicles from the show and I offer my thoughts about each. You can also view the full gallery of photos from the show in our Photo Gallery.

THE BEST CAR EVER! 2013 Toyota Camry SE

Look at that sexy beast...so sexy

Have you ever driven a car that makes you think, "This is the best car I have ever driven in my life, yo!" Well, I've got two words and two letters for you: TOYOTA, CAMRY, S, E. Boom! This car is so awesome, they should have added an X and Y to the end of the name and called it the Camry SEXY.

I have to admit, when my fiancee first brought this car back from the Enterprise lot, I thought, "nah, bro, this car is gonna be whack." After spending a few hours with it though, I'm all like, "dude...this car makes me feel super mellow." So here's my review of the 2013 Toyota Camry SE(XY).

Editorial: Do we really need dealerships?

The car buying process has not changed in decades. If you wanted to buy a car, you find your local dealership, negotiate with a salesperson, likely argue with them a bit, sign the paperwork and take delivery of your vehicle. This was pretty much the same regardless of buying a new or used car. Oftentimes, especially in recent years, a bit of researching online likely meant you, as the buyer, knew more about the car than the disinterested salesperson trying to sell you the car. Most dealerships, especially those that do not serve luxury car buyers, no longer place as much emphasis on training their personnel about the details of the products, instead focusing on the process of selling and convincing buyers to buy. All of this culminates in a buying process that feels rather sad and disappointing, putting a bit of a damper on what should be a pretty exciting purchase.

But what if that process could be different? What if there was a way to buy a car with no pressure? What if there were people who were extraordinarily educated about the product and were able to help you answer questions that you had? What if instead of you walking into a dealership knowing more than the salesperson, you did not go to a dealership at all? What if the car you bought could be delivered to your door, fully tailored to you specifications, by a knowledgeable person who would walk you through all the details of the car?

Test Drive: 2013 ES300h

Update: See how the Lexus ES300h performed in our entry luxury hybrid head-to-head.

We continue our look at luxury hybrids with an entry from Lexus. Falling into a similar price as the MKZ we tested earlier, the ES300h is also a platform shared vehicle, developed off of the newest version of the Toyota Avalon. The advantage to stepping up to the Avalon's platform from the Camry's is that it offers a much longer wheelbase, allowing for greater interior volume and potentially greater comfort. However, as with many platform shared vehicles, it becomes a challenge to differentiate the "luxury" branded vehicle from its lesser brand platform sibling. So has Lexus managed to pull this off and produce a platform shared car that can truly justify the price premium? Let us take a closer look.

Editorial: The death of common sense behind the wheel

Image courtesy of motoringtv.com

I have often written about some of my on-road experiences on this blog, detailing the foolish things I have seen from the driver's seat. Over the course of the last few months, the feeling that things are getting progressively worse has been hard to shake. The number of miles I drive each year continues to drop as my personal commuting needs are increasingly met by two-wheeled and public transportation options, but the number of incidents of, what I can only classify as, pure stupidity I observe when I am behind the wheel continue to increase in frequency.

Take the incident I observed earlier this week while I was out to get groceries. The road that I was traveling on was two lanes in each direction with nothing separating opposing traffic aside from a set of double-yellow lines. This road, especially during rush hours, is exceedingly busy in both directions and, given the rather narrow lanes, is a bit crowded to say the least. Approaching an intersection, it widens ever so slightly to include a left-turn only lane in each direction that can accommodate about 5 to 6 cars before it meets back up with the travel lanes. On this day, I came up to the intersection in the left travel lane and am about 8 cars back from the light. I can see that there are 2 cars in the left-turn lane as the light turned green to allow cars proceeding straight to go, but the left turn signal remained red.

All of a sudden, a flash of light in my driver's side rear-view door mirror caught my attention. A beige Toyota Camry about another 8 cars back behind me had pulled into the opposing traffic lane and was trying to rush up to the left-turn lane. Opposing traffic was already beginning to cross the intersection as the Camry whizzes by my car, all the windows down, allowing me to see a father driving with a small child in the rear seat, gazing out the side window. Horns blared, lights flashed, and tires screeched as the Man in the Camry just barely avoided a head-on collision in what, I am almost certain, was a sphincter-clenching moment of utter imbecility.

News: Near collision between motorcycle and SUV on GMR caught on film

This is probably one of the more absurd things that I have seen this week. A near collision between a motorcyclist and a couple of high school kids in a purple Toyota FJ cruiser was caught on film by both vehicles involved. Not sure what the kids in the SUV were thinking, but crossing a double-yellow on a blind corner is just not acceptable behavior. A further justification for why we need better driver education curriculum in this country? Watch both videos after the jump and judge for yourself.

Test Drive: 2011 Toyota Prius

The Prius looking at home at a beautiful house on Oahu

My wife and I had the good fortune to travel to Hawaii a while back for a friend's wedding. We were going to spend our entire time on Oahu so we took the opportunity to rent a car and drive around the island. Of course, being the gearhead that I am, I wanted to rent something fun and impractical, but unfortunately, since we had a decent amount of luggage and would be traveling with a few friends, we needed something practical and at least somewhat spacious. In looking down the line at the rental car location, I first spotted a 2011 Jetta among the various GM detritus littering the lot. Rushing over to it before anyone spotted it, I found that it was locked, indicating that someone had beat me to the punch. Damn....

Beautiful scenery abounds throughout the island

Looking down the line again at the sad collection of GM products, I spotted a 2011 Toyota Prius. Figuring that since the fuel was expensive ($3.73 a gallon for regular was the norm on the island) and that we needed some practicality, the fuel sipping hybrid with its hatchback shape might just do the trick. So we quickly rushed over and claimed this one, before anyone else could beat us to it.

Getting into to Prius, the layout of the interior felt odd and somewhat disconcerting, with the instruments way out towards the base of the windshield and centered in the car, rather than in front of the driver. While I had driven with this layout before, it is something that I have never really been 100% comfortable with. After getting situated in the seat, my hand fell to the nub of a shifter that looked like some sort of candy colored vestigial limb. I am still not quite sure why Toyota bothered with keeping this feature. Perhaps it was to make people feel like they were in a car and not some spaceship?

Foot on the brake, push the start button, and the dash begins its dance, but not a peep to be heard. It is an odd sensation getting nearly no aural feedback when starting a car. Looking up at the dash and checking to make sure that we were "Ready" to go, I slide the shifter into reverse and am greeted by the shrill cry of annoyance that I would be intimately acquainted with during the next week. Yes, the Prius beeps every time you put it in reverse. That sound made me want to crash the thing every time I heard it just so I would not have to hear it again.

Out on the road, I began playing around with the different buttons on the console and steering wheel, quickly discovering the 3-D overlay effect used for every press of a button on the wheel. It is mesmerizing and a totally unnecessary distraction to the driver. Maybe if Toyota would take some of that engineering time to sort out the rest of the rather blah interior, all might be forgiven. Getting onto the highway, with the car set in Eco mode, I ever so slowly managed to crawl up to the 50 MPH speed limit. Holy crap this thing is slow. I swear there were bicyclists passing us by accelerating up to 25. As much as I wanted to squeeze the entire trip in on a single tank of fuel, I knew I could not tolerate using this mode the entire time.

Weather was highly unpredictable,  but added to the
character of the island

Hit the button and switch off Eco mode and get on the throttle again. Hmm....better. Ever so slightly more responsive to throttle inputs, less resistance to additional throttle pressure, and we were getting going at slightly better than the glacial pace while in Eco mode. Let's try the PWR mode. Another slight bump in responsiveness and the damn thing finally was starting to pick up speed like a slightly anemic Toyota Corolla. I guess there would not be much in terms of tire spinning antics on this trip...

 Over the course of the next several days, I got to acquaint myself with the characteristics of the Prius even more, playing with the different settings and learning a sense of the chassis. Oahu is a driver's dream during the off-peak hours. There are miles and miles of windy twisty roads for one to explore and are lined by lush green vegetation on one side and sparkling blue oceans on the other. Driving around in this environment makes even the Prius tolerable.

Windmills are present throughout the island

To be honest, the Prius actually tracks surprisingly well, despite the skinny tires and tiny wheels. While the steering is clearly overboosted, there is adequate feedback for the amount of speed that can be attained. There is certainly little engagement for the driver, but as an appliance for getting from A to B, it really is quite easy to get comfortable with. In fact, it is almost relaxing since without even the capability to compete with most cars on the road for position, it is easy to just stay in the middle lanes and cruise.

So while over the course of week, where we saw a wide variety of weather conditions and enjoyed the fantastic scenery, I gradually began to understand why people like the fuel sipping hybrids. Even with driving around the island and traveling over 400 miles, we averaged close to 50 mpg driving normally. And while I still would never purchase a hybrid for myself, I have finally come to realize why there are people who like these contraptions and why they drive the way that they do. Definitely not an experience I plan on repeating anytime soon. The next trip we have lined up, I am looking to work a proper sports car into the plans.