Next-Generation Toyota Sequoia SUV Branches Out Toward Modernity
With the introduction of the 2022 Toyota Tundra, we began to wonder when we'd see the next Sequoia SUV come out. Considering the full-size three-row SUV is loosely based off of the full-size pickup, it'd make sense that a new Tundra might beget an updated Sequoia. Sure enough, it looks as though a new Sequoia is finally happening, as Toyota has begun to tease out the look of the next-gen large SUV. Even better? It looks like there might be a few stylistic references to early Sequoia models in the new one.
What We Get To See, So Far
From the looks of the teaser image above, the 2023 Sequoia's design is going to depart from the current, second-generation model, which has been around since 2007. The rear end shows just how much change to expect: Where rounded, doughy, early naughts bodylines once meandered there now live more muscular, straight edges. The tail lights also show a new "T" design fast growing familiar across the Toyota SUV lineup. They draw not only further forward and into the rear quarter panel, but also further across the liftgate.
The teaser also shows that the C-pillar has adopted a piece of black trim (instead of a body-color treatment) and brings the rear quarter window closer—physically, as we can tell thanks to some exposure editing—to the back of the rear doors. Toyota also gives the rear quarter windows a new arrowhead shape with a gray, silver, or chromed piece of trim between it and the body. Also getting some potential chrome treatment on this teaser image are the door handles.
The New Liftgate Design Is A First Gen Sequoia Callback
The bumper has also changed from a straight body separation on the body to now an angular one from the lower portion of the tail light to the molded overfender, however this separation does not continue into it. With our enhanced exposure edit, we also get a look at how the rear gate blends into the quarter panels, seemingly like the piece on the first-generation XK30/XK40 Sequoia. Instead of being completely encased into the liftgate, the rear window now curves around the gate and into the body, just like the 2001-2007 models' did.
Unfortunately, we can't see how the glass separates to form the liftgate as its separation is not evident in the edited image. It's possible that the last bit going into the body is just a piece of trim—either black plastic or darkly tinted glass bonded by adhesive—and the separation follows the line seen in the rear spoiler and taillight just as it did with the first generation Sequoia. Or it could be one whole piece that lifts up with the rest of the liftgate. Finally, we also get a quick tease of the wheel, which on the surely up-level trim highlighted here looks to be a black-painted aluminum wheel with a machined face.
Anything Else Teased?
For the moment, this is all Toyota is giving out. There is no news on available engines, drivetrains, suspension, TRD versions, or the like. We imagine that the new Sequoia will get the same engine and drive treatments as the newest Tundra short of the live axle rear. Despite the Tundra's change to coil springs, we just don't see the Sequoia backsliding from its multilink, independent rear suspension setup—recently adopted by segment heavyweights from General Motors, the Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon, and long a staple of Ford's Expedition—to the Tundra's live axle, however improved it might be.
Given how the Sequoia's teaser train has left the station, figure on the big SUV making its formal debut sometime soon.
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Welcome to MotorTrend's inaugural Performance Vehicle of the Year (PVOTY) competition. A quick history: We've awarded our Car of the Year title since 1949. In 1978, we added Truck of the Year and then SUV of the Year in 1999. Alongside Person of the Year, these have been our automotive Of The Year awards for decades. Until now.Why, and why now? It's instructive to look back at MotorTrend's old Import Car of the Year. First awarded in 1970, the idea of ICOTY was to finally acknowledge an indisputable truth: Cars from auto manufacturers outside of America were here to stay and should be celebrated, at least for a while.We awarded ICOTY alongside COTY until 1999, when my predecessors decided to fold the former back into the latter because shifts in automotive manufacturing and global economics challenged the notion of what constitutes foreign and domestic vehicle production. What is a car's country of origin if the engine is made in Brazil, the body panels are stamped in Canada, the transmission and wiring harness are produced in Mexico, and final assembly occurs in Michigan? Or if multiple factories around the world assemble the same vehicle? Our editorial forebears ultimately decided none of this matters and that the inherent goodness of the car, the breakthrough experience it delivers, and how history would view it were much more important.They read the room and made the right call, which is what we are doing here with our focus on performance. I submit to you the following:We live in a golden automotive age. Thirteen years ago, we reported the horsepower wars were over. We were wrong. To twitch an eyebrow these days, you need at least 500 hp, if not four figures for tongues to really start wagging. This inflation is not just limited to hyper-expensive exotic cars. For $37,000, you can buy a Ford Mustang GT with 460 ponies. Need more vroom? Try the 505-hp Alfa Romeo Stelvio. Or if you need to move a couch, in a hurry, up a sand dune? The 702-hp Ram 1500 TRX has you covered.These power and torque increases, along with all the fancy systems that allow their delivery, have resulted in a golden age of performance, as well. Those who monitor lap records at the vaunted Nürburgring Nordschleife know what I'm talking about. It used to be that a stock production car lapping the iconic German test track in less than 8 minutes joined an exclusive club. Now, a hot hatch like the Honda Civic Type R is quicker than that, and we see Porsches, Mercedes-AMGs, and Lamborghinis running in the 6:40 (or quicker) bracket. Our own testing bears this out; in the past two years, we've seen our 0-60 record fall twice—first to less than 3.0 seconds and then to almost less than 2.0. This is bonkers.Megawatt advances in automotive tech are responsible for a lot of this golden-era shine. While one of the highest-horsepower production cars is still a 16-cylinder, quad-turbo, gas-burning Bugatti Chiron Super Sport, you can order our electrifying 2022 Car of the Year Lucid Air with up to 1,111 hp, or a Tesla Model S with 1,020 hp. On the truck side, the Hummer EV pickup is also available with 1,000 hp, and our 2022 Truck of the Year, the Rivian R1T, comes standard with 835 hp. Oh, and the two vehicles that broke our 0-60 record? Electric all-stars from Porsche and Tesla.As we continue to cover the evolution of the automobile and the automotive industry, we believe our electrified future is inevitable, so we're going to walk a second, parallel path with all the existing, mostly gas-burning vehicles we know and love.Internal combustion technology has never seen higher outputs, greater efficiency, or more thrills per cubic inch than right now. But as more carmakers trumpet about going all in on EVs, we receive quietly distributed notices about their final run of internal combustion engines, starting with the burliest V-10s and V-8s. Exiting right alongside: manual transmissions.We know some of you mourn the coming loss of dropping the clutch, mashing the gas, and ripping your right hand through six or seven gears. You loudly curse this transition; we hear you and understand. Every year, for more than a decade, we sent dozens of staffers on the road for two weeks, testing and driving the world's top sports cars in search of the Best Driver's Car. But that BDC program has run its course; PVOTY is Version 2.0, built upon the belief it's possible to be excited for the future, embracing all the broken barriers to come, while celebrating the end of an era. That is what we set out to do with our Performance Vehicle of the Year. We're applying our decades of experience and rigorous, industry-leading Of The Year framework to the realm of performance machines, whatever body style they happen to come in.Time is short. The world is changing. So let's round up the stickiest-tired whoop machines—whether gas- or electron-powered—and smoke 'em while we got 'em (and can still drive 'em). Please enjoy our first MotorTrend Performance Vehicle of Year competition.
WHAT IT IS: A sibling to the Ford F-150 Lightning full-size electric pickup truck, expanding the Ford F-Series family with a new electric Ranger pickup.WHY IT MATTERS: Demand for the Ford F-150 Lightning has exceeded the automaker's wildest dreams, with demand far outstripping supply. Not surprisingly, Ford CEO Jim Farley said there is another electric truck planned. When you strike gold, it makes sense to mine a similar vein. High-volume vehicles are key to Ford's aspirations to become the leader in EVs and scale will also help to reduce cost.PLATFORM AND POWERTRAIN: Farley and his team are not sharing details of the EV addition to the F-Series family, but Farley ruled out an electric F-250, F-350, or F-450 for now, and has also said it the truck is different from the next-gen Lightning. Which means Ford is most likely going smaller.Recent trademark filings for Maverick Lightning and Ranger Lightning may reveal Ford's hand. A Ford Ranger Lightning is the most logical next move, and would give the company a fresh EV in a segment that continues to gain popularity. Ford has said the new, next-gen, electric pickup will be made at the new Blue Oval City plant in Stanton, Tennessee, which will also make next-gen Lightnings, starting in 2025.We can't rule out a performance F-150: an electric Raptor, on the new, dedicated EV platform for the next-generation Lightning, which would mean more than the 580 horsepower and 775 lb-ft of torque already available on the current Lightning. But that will probably come down the road, after the smaller trucks.As the trademark filing and previous speculation indicate, at some point there will also be an electric version of the Ford Maverick, the car-based small lifestyle pickup that is currently available with a hybrid powertrain. But we think this is further out, given its role as an affordable, entry-level vehicle for the brand that no longer has entry-level cars. The Maverick has the least in common with the body-on-frame full-size F-Series family; the car-based truck uses the same platform as the Ford Escape. While Ford is protecting the trademark now, that's not necessarily an indication that it's imminent.ESTIMATED PRICE: $35,000EXPECTED ON-SALE DATE: 2025
ProsEngine apparently runs on TanneriteBalanced chassisStupid quick ConsToo many drive mode settings for someAWD adds some heftThat faceThere are two places where you'll probably never catch a glimpse of the new BMW M3's garish front end: from its driver's seat and, anyone sharing the road with one, from another car. Why? Because it'll take some fairly exotic machinery to keep up with, let alone pass, the BMW M3 Competition.Even when the M3 is coming at you, it'll streak by so fast, those big ol' vertical nostrils will seemingly blur into wider shapes that recall BMW's kidney grilles of yore. Whatever your thoughts about it, BMW did ensure the M3's sniffing schnoz shovels a ton of air into the engine bay, where its fierce 3.0-liter twin-turbo inline-six lies.BMW says the engine produces 503 hp and 479 lb-ft of torque. But man, it seems like there's no way this I-6 punches below 600 hp. Equipped with BMW's available xDrive all-wheel drive, the M3 Competition we tested shoots to 60 mph in 3 seconds flat. The quarter mile is dispatched in 11.1 seconds at 124.7 mph. That's Porsche and performance electric vehicle territory.The 630-hp Lamborghini Huracán STO bests it by just two tenths to 60 (2.8 seconds); the advantage of the 720-hp Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series is even slimmer—just 0.1 second. How can we reconcile that the M3, despite loading each of its horsepower with 7.8 pounds, somehow keeps up with those supercars, which carry 5.1-5.4 pounds per hp? We can't. BMW historically has underrated its beefier engines, but this is egregious.As features editor Christian Seabaugh summed things up, "It's just hilariously unhinged." There exists a drive mode where power is only sent to the rear axle, with predictable results. But you needn't activate the RWD setting for lurid oversteer. Forget chucking the M3 into a corner; you can just as easily induce drifts by pressing harder on the gas with the steering wheel turned. BMW's xDrive seamlessly sends so much engine torque to the rear wheels that you'd swear the car is rear drive.Speaking of, compared to the rear-drive M3 Comp he'd driven previously, senior features editor Jonny Lieberman bemoaned the heft, which he swore he could feel the M3's AWD gear added to the front axle. Indeed, some judges found it was often necessary to briefly lift off the gas or dab the brakes to get the M3's mass to transfer to the front for optimal turn-in, especially on the Streets of Willow Springs—a behavior Lieberman insisted was the result of the hundred or so extra pounds the AWD M3 Competition carries up front. But without a rear-drive M3 Comp on hand for comparison, most didn't find it disqualifying.More noticeable are the personality shifts from the previous M3 to this one. Gone is the sensation that the M3 tries to pummel the earth into submission with its overly firm suspension and heavy controls. In its place is a pleasant new delicacy to its dynamics. The suspension seems to have more travel and compliance, the body is allowed to roll and pitch slightly rather than remaining stiffly dead-level at all times, and even in the sportiest modes its steering is almost light.This smidge of movement lends the M3 a more natural feel, and you can easily detect where you are in its grip envelope by dint of the body lean. Our shoulders like the transition to the less weighty steering, which, along with the suspension's newly up-on-its-toes feel, gives the M3 Competition a furtiveness to its responses that's nearly Alfa Romeo-like.This harmonic lightness let several editors settle into a satisfying, fast-paced flow. On the Angeles Crest portion of our evaluation, where the M3 changed several judges' minds, Lieberman was able to keep pace with features editor Scott Evans driving the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series. Of the two, only Evans could spot the M3's awful nose—in his mirrors—as it bore down on his 720-hp über-sled. Alexander Stoklosa 2022 BMW M3 Competition (xDrive) Specifications Base Price/As tested $77,895/$108,545 Power (SAE net) 503 hp @ 6,250 rpm Torque (SAE net) 479 lb-ft @ 2,750 rpm Accel, 0-60 mph 3.0 sec Quarter-mile 11.1 sec @ 124.7 mph Braking, 60-0 mph 105 ft Lateral Acceleration 1.03 g (avg) MT Figure Eight 23.3 sec @ 0.89 g (avg) EPA City/Hwy/Comb 16/22/18 mpg Vehicle Layout Front-engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door sedan Engine, Transmission 3.0L Turbo direct-injected DOHC 24-valve I-6, 8-speed automatic Curb Weight (F/R DIST) 3,899 lb (54/46%) Wheelbase 112.5 in Length x Width x Height 189.1 x 74.3 x 56.4 in On Sale Now Show All
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