Reader Review of the Week: 2010 Toyota Sienna

“Audifan” from northwest Connecticut went looking for a minivan or SUV that could haul a family for long distances and trek through the heavy snows of New England’s winters. She settled on the 2010 Toyota Sienna with all-wheel drive. How did things work out? The minivan had an immediate test when the family took a trip from Connecticut to Tampa, Fla., along Interstate 95. Read the full review to find out how the Sienna fared, and then write your own review here.

Redesigned Toyota Sienna to Debut at L.A. Auto Show

Suburbanites everywhere will be keeping a close eye on our auto show coverage from Los Angeles this year because that’s where Toyota is taking the wraps off the 2011 Toyota Sienna minivan. The family-hauler will be completely redesigned, and you’ll be able to see it here on Dec. 2.

There’s no word on specifics, but we’d hope it will keep the all-wheel-drive option as that seems to be a major selling point for many buyers. The current Sienna (above) is no slouch either; it recently won a Cars.com faceoff against the Honda Odyssey and Chrysler Town & Country.

Hymotion Conversion Plug-In Prius: First Drive

All the talk these days about plug-in cars and plug-in hybrids is mostly that: just talk. If you want a pure battery-electric car, your only choice is the Tesla Roadster — a $109,000 two-seater. If you want a plug-in hybrid, you can wait about a year for the first automakers to roll out models -- or you can go the conversion route. I went for a spin in a 2009 Toyota Prius outfitted with an L5 conversion module from Hymotion. The conversion is good for any second-generation, 2004- 2009 Prius; a 2010 version is in development.

So how does it drive?

ABC News Questions Toyota's Floormat Recall

Citing reports of drivers who have experienced unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles, ABC News will air a segment tonight calling into question Toyota’s claim that improperly sized floormats are the only culprit.

Safety analysts claim to have found roughly 2,000 cases of Toyota owners reporting their vehicles surged to speeds of 100 mph while they applied the brakes, according to ABC News. This includes reports of 16 deaths and more than 200 accidents.

In August, Toyota issued a recall of 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles due to floormats that could pin the accelerator pedal. This was supposed to be the end of the controversy as Toyota said it would develop a permanent fix as soon as one was available working with the NHTSA. But Toyota owners have called the automaker’s findings into question. Some think a glitch in the electronic computer system, which controls the throttle, is to blame. Several owners have come forward to swear that their runaway vehicles had no floormat issues whatsoever.

For its part, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has conducted six investigations of the acceleration issues since 2003 and found no problems with Toyota’s electronics.The NHTSA now says it is still investigating the issue, and it is not resolved.

Owners of Toyota Cars in Rebellion Over Series of Accidents Caused by Sudden Acceleration (ABC News)

Consumer Reports' Top 10 Automakers

Today, Consumer Reports released the results of its annual car reliability survey, which includes more than 1.4 million vehicles. This is one of the most important publications of the year for consumers interested in a car’s reliability. There were few surprises in terms of which makes are most and least reliable, with Scion maintaining the top spot. Porsche, Saab, Suzuki and Pontiac saw the biggest gains while Lincoln and Mini took the biggest hits. Check out Consumer Reports full report if you’re a subscriber. We list the top 10 most and least reliable automakers below.

2010 Toyota Prius vs. 2010 Honda Insight: The Commute

Last week, we ran our latest Mileage Challenge featuring four ultra-fuel-efficient cars, and before that we rounded up six fuel-sippers to see which one was the best daily driver. But none of these reports put a brutal, real-life morning and evening commute to the test.

That’s exactly what I did in the new 2010 Honda Insight and 2010 Toyota Prius, the two most affordable hybrids on the road. We hear a lot of car shoppers say they buy hybrids to help save on their gas costs and cut down on emissions during their commute. But how did the two do in terms of fuel efficiency, comfort and entertainment for my often 90-minute morning commute and 45-minute afternoon commute? Let’s find out.

Mileage Challenge 5.5: Final Thoughts

Beyond the numbers that we so diligently broke down yesterday, driving four different cars for six hours can be telling in many more ways than just fuel economy. Our editors share their thoughts on the cars and pick which car they’d log another six-hour trip in.

Mileage Challenge 5.4: The Results

Our latest mileage challenge had editors logging more than 300 miles each in three hybrids and a diesel: the 2010 Honda Insight, 2010 Mercury Milan Hybrid, 2010 Toyota Prius and 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI. We tallied up all the numbers and corrected for a brief photography stint between Legs 2 and 3. (Angling cars around for the camera — complete with rapid stops, starts and idling — has a way of dinging your mileage, and it’s not representative of real-world driving.)

The results were striking.

Catching Up on the 2009 Tokyo Auto Show

Across the Pacific, the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show is in full swing. As usual there are dozens of elaborate concept cars with little chance of making it to market. We’ve already covered some of the most important vehicles slated for these shores and recap them below. The U.S. auto-show season roars to life the first week of December in Los Angeles, and Cars.com will be there reporting live.

Honda CR-Z Concept Gets Fleshed Out
Toyota FT-86 Sports Car Concept
Lexus LF-A: First Look

Mileage Challenge 5.3: Dizzying Displays

Most people think all of the advanced technology in today’s hybrid cars is under the hood. While automakers continue to enhance new engines, batteries and drivetrains, they’re also working on ways to wrangle the one factor they can’t control — the driver.

To gain maximum efficiency in a hybrid, a driver must be taught to drive properly so fill-ups are few and far between. In the crop of cars we tested on our mileage drive, there were a dazzling array of displays to teach people to drive as green as possible.