Toyota at the 2007 New York Auto Show

Toyota has prime spots at the New York Auto Show for their cars (and Scion); the Scion exhibit with the huge wallstand of cars is right at the front entrance, before the main show floor. For trucks, though, Toyota is all the way on the side wall on the lower floor (where the trucks congregate), in its traditional place. Upstairs, Lexus takes up the far wall.

Toyota's exhibit is, like most others, a bit short on data; if you were looking for comparative data among the truck line on payload, towing capacity, etc., the information is highly variable from line to line. Other than featuring their new hybrid Highlander, their truck exhibit was fairly blasé. Lexus and Scion made up for it, with their hot new Lexus concepts and the Scion car-wall; and the Toyota car exhibit on the main floor had a good number of attractions, and was crowded with members of the press throughout the show. The Toyota NASCAR Camry was on display downstairs, adding color to the truck section.

While Jeep had the outside entrance areas wrapped up, Lexus covered the inside entrance hall with tastefully spaced out Lexus cars - new releases and concepts. In person, these cars are every bit as impressive as they are in photos.

The new Lexus concepts were displayed in the main entrance hall and at the main floor exit.

About the Javits Center

The Javits Center is a big ramshackle structure, with a roof that's far too high, making the center cold and drafty; the roof leaks, and the bathrooms are, not surprisingly, fairly dirty. Navigation signs are few and assume you've already been there, and outside entrances aren't especially convenient (nor is parking, unless you like paying the Show Surcharge). The Javits Center is hardly what one would expect of a city like New York in terms of size or polish; the average subway station was created with much more care and is in better shape, and, by the way, is on a subway line, unlike the Javits Center. After being at Cobo Hall, the deficiencies of Javits are even more clear. Architecturally, it looks like an unfinished airport inside, and is almost as functional. However, this year, on the show floor, the lighting has at least been greatly improved, so some of our photos actually look good.

Toyota truck impressions (by Kate Zatz)

The RAV4 appears to be the best deal among Toyota SUVs, with 23/27 mpg, $22,000 base price, and $23,000 as equipped at the show. It has a clean, attractive interior.

The Sienna minivan, with 19/26 mpg is a leader in gas mileage, cost $25,680 base, $27,139 as equipped, has a very interesting dashboard which includes a mirror to see the interior without turning around. It seats seven, with comfortable seats but no legroom for the people in the back due to the wheel wells. In this case, they did mark how to move the seats around well, so access is better than on their SUVs. There is quite a hunk of space behind the rear seat for storage.

The 4Runner starts at $29,000 base, $32,000 as equipped on display; again it had cloth seats, 17 city mpg, 21 highway. It's like a big box inside; the seats are uncomfortable, and there is no elbow room for the driver. For the true off-roader it's a dream; for a casual driver, it's not.

The Highlander Hybrid was on display, with its impressive power and even more impressive gas mileage figures, more than double most of the other SUVs on display.

The Land Cruiser, at $56,000 base, doesn't say much about Toyota's stated environmental goals, with 13 city miles per gallon and 17 highway. It has a very luxurious leather interior with a well integrated dashboard; it's a seven passenger vehicle, but there's no obvious way to get into the third row, and if you do pop the seat to move it to get there, the headrest hits the roof. There's no legroom in the rearmost seat. One nice feature, however, are the grab handles in the first two rows. Frankly, it hardly seems worth the money, but then again, people buy far less for more money - the Lincoln and Land Rover SUVs come to mind.

The Tundra-based Sequoia starts at about $36,000 base, $40,575 with this particular configuration. It also has seven seats, covered in cloth, with an automatic transmission. In this case, trying to flip the seat forward to get to the back row was too difficult; and it only gets 15 city, 18 highway miles per gallon.

There are a Tacoma and Tacoma Sport on display, the latter from the TRD (Toyota Racing Development) program. It's interesting in this case that they did not list the payload or towing on the price sheets; on investigation, it's 1,360 pounds of payload. The Tacoma has three cupholders for the driver, making it ideal for the true coffee hound. Tacomas are getting 16 mpg city, 20 highway. One difference between the standard and Sport was the back seats; the Tacoma has a bench that folds to make a level floor but isn't comfortable, while the Sport has buckets. The Tundra was also on display, with multiple vehicles. The Tundra 4x4 got 14 mpg city, 18 highway with the automatic, putting it on par with American trucks. Though a tough truck under the skin, the door handles were fairly cheap and weak feeling; they felt as though they would not work well when frozen.