Source: USA TODAY

Lately, automakers seem to be warring over which can create the most “aggressive” front end look. But has Toyota gone too far with the looks of its just unveiled 4Runner?

We’re not going to call it flat-out ugly. We’ll leave the nuance to Cars.com, which addresses the “less than stellar” new angularity and squinty headlights as looking like an “angry Japanese battle robot.”

The fifth-generation 4Runner shows what happens when automakers go overboard with a theme. In this case, it’s macho looks. The theme made sense when it showed up years ago on the Dodge Charger, which emphasized the point by coming in a police-cruiser version. But this is a kinder, gentler age. The war is over in Iraq and winding down in Afghanistan. It would stand to reason that styling would move in a new, less aggressive direction.

Apparently Toyota didn’t get the memo, which is surprising considering the transformative styling of vehicles like the new Toyota Avalon.

In announcing the new seven-passenger 2014 4Runner, Toyota couldn’t sound prouder of the four-wheeler’s new look. The looks are “more rugged and aggressive.” Like, duh. There is now a “muscular” grille and “edgier” smoked headlights for a “more forceful” look.

This isn’t an SUV. It’s the Intimidator. And the best days of that kind of look have already come and gone.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

Honda is recalling its smallest car to fix a problem with its electronic stability control system.

Honda says in a filing to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it will recall 43,782 Fits from the 2012 and 2013 model years. They were made between May, 2011 and last March.

The problem is the ESC may cause the car roll, or yaw, more than it should in sharp cornering in conjunction with certain tires. Honda plans to fix it with a software update.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

Driving into work today, we couldn’t help but chuckle at a bumper sticker. It was posted on the back of a Jeep near USA TODAY’s Los Angeles bureau.

Yes, we had seen this particular slogan before, but it’s been awhile. And yes, it’s not terrible politically correct. We couldn’t help ourselves. We just thought it was funny.

It reminded us that there are all sorts of interesting bumper stickers out there. With mobile phone cameras, it has never been so easy to capture them for posterity. So if you see an interesting one, please take a snap and email it to us here at Drive On — cwoodyard@usatoday.com. And if it’s not profane or showing the worst of taste, we’ll post it here.

Let’s find all of the USA’s most interesting bumper stickers!

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

Driving into work today, we couldn’t help but chuckle at a bumper sticker. It was posted on the back of a Jeep near USA TODAY’s Los Angeles bureau.

Yes, we had seen this particular slogan before, but it’s been awhile. And yes, it’s not terrible politically correct. We couldn’t help ourselves. We just thought it was funny.

It reminded us that there are all sorts of interesting bumper stickers out there. With mobile phone cameras, it has never been so easy to capture them for posterity. So if you see an interesting one, please take a snap and email it to us here at Drive On — cwoodyard@usatoday.com. And if it’s not profane or showing the worst of taste, we’ll post it here.

Let’s find all of the USA’s most interesting bumper stickers!

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

Of all the ideas to save gas, this is one of the ones that was straightforward and held some of the most promise. Yet no one could seem to make it work. Until now.

It’s the flywheel.

Volvo says it has figured out how a flywheel can recoup energy lost during braking by making a wheel spin at high speeds, then use that energy during acceleration. In city traffic, Volvo says the system could improve economy by 25% in conjunction with a six-cylinder turbocharged engine.

It’s certainly not a new idea. But what has held it back in the past as been weight. Steel flywheels are heavy. Volvo has figured out how to make it lighter and spin at higher speeds by making the wheel out of carbon fiber.

Volvo says the experimental system is fitted to the rear axle. During braking, the flywheel spins at up to 60,000 revolutions per minute. When the car starts moving off again, the flywheel’s rotation is transferred to the rear wheels via a specially designed transmission.

“The flywheel’s stored energy is sufficient to power the car for short periods. This has a major impact on fuel consumption,” says Volvo’s Derek Crabb.

It works best in stop-and-go traffic. It can add the equivalent of 80 horsepower during acceleration. The test car, a Volvo S60, could rocket from zero to 62 miles per hour in a measly 5.5 seconds.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

Every time we’ve driven a new diesel car lately, we’ve been amazed at how indistinguishable they have become from conventional gas cars. No clatter. No smoke. No rattling engine noise. Now it appears consumers are catching on: Registrations of diesel-powered passenger vehicles increased by 24.3% in the U.S. from 2010 through 2012, says an advocacy group, the Diesel Technology Forum.

The increase is not as much as for hybrids, at 33%, but far more than overall registrations of all vehicles at 2.7%, the group says, basing its information on data from compilers R.L. Polk and Company.

“Clean diesel and hybrid cars are showing consistent and impressive growth patterns in the U.S.,” said Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the forum, in a statement.

Don’t get to worked up, however. Although the increase is impressive, only 796,794 new vehicles were sold in the last year, 2012, they still only comprise about 3% of vehicle sales.

Showing that the message that the new breed of diesels have low emissions and are as quiet as gas engines may be getting through, California was the fastest growing state for car and SUV diesel sales. Massachusetts and New York were next.

Texas remains the nation’s top state for diesel sales of vehicles of all kinds. Diesels are at their fuel-conserving best when it comes to long, steady highway drives. Hybrids are more effective in city driving.

For fastest growth of pickup trucks alone from 2010 to 2012, the top state was Montana, followed by Nebraska and Maine.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

The race is on to see which falls faster: gas prices or Toyota’s Prius sales.

Toyota had hoped to sell 250,000 Priuses hybrids in its four various configurations this year, an impressive figure that would demonstrate how Americans are embracing the need for fuel savings.

But Toyota’s top executive in the U.S., Toyota North America CEO Jim Lentz, says the goal may be endangered. The cause: falling gas prices.

“It’ll be a challenge,” Lentz said of meeting the goal in an interview with Bloomberg News in New York. “We’ll continue to push Prius and Prius family, but if it ends up that demand is less than the sales forecast, that may be adjusted.”

What’s interesting is the reason he thinks the goal may be hard to attain: falling gas prices. As prices fall, people are less inclined to buy a high-mileage hybrid.

Even though families may hold on to their new car for at least four years, as long as they are typically making payments, buyers apparently still react to whatever the prices are on the pump at the time they buy. Low gas prices hurt Prius just like high gas prices imperil sales of large, fuel-thirsty crossover SUVs and performance cars.

Bloomberg points out that Toyota sold about 236,000 Priuses in the U.S. last year, so its goal this year isn’t all that far out of reach. It has four versions: The original hybrid, the plug-in hybrid, the V wagon and the C sporty small car.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

HAWTHORNE, Calif. — If endless hours are a requirement to become a business icon, Elon Musk has put in his share.

Nearly every week, he shuttles 400 miles between electric-car maker Tesla Motors in the San Francisco Bay Area and rocket maker Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) in this Los Angeles suburb. He is CEO of both.

His bruising seven-days-a-week schedule means heading for Tesla on Monday nights, returning on Thursdays to run SpaceX — as the rocket business is commonly called — then often spending the weekends at Tesla. All the while, he juggles responsibilities that go with being father to five young boys.

Musk looks the part of a jet-setter — he showed up to the interview at SpaceX in a sleek black leather jacket — but he talks like the lifestyle is grinding him down.

“I definitely would not recommend it. It is not the path to a happier life,” he says.

As fatiguing as his life may be, Musk is establishing himself as one of America’s pre-eminent high-tech entrepreneurs. Sure, Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook and Sergey Brin and Larry Page introduced the world to Google. But Musk not only co-founded online payment service PayPal, he doubled, then tripled down by taking on two entirely unrelated, high-risk tech businesses.

His bet is starting to pay off. SpaceX grabbed the nation’s attention last year when its Dragon spacecraft became the flying delivery van to the International Space Station. It dropped off 1,673 pounds of supplies then splashed down in the Pacific. A second mission last month proved just as successful.

Musk says SpaceX has been profitable for five years, serving not only the government but myriad businesses that need its Falcon 9 rocket to deliver satellites into orbit.

Then there is Tesla. Musk is one of five co-founders in the company and later took control as it developed a small plug-in sports car. He ordered a raft of changes to the Tesla Roadster that slowed the path to market. But the company ended up selling 2,500, making it one of the first big sellers of plug-in cars.

The company’s next and only current product, the Model S luxury sedan, marked a huge step up in size and sophistication when it hit the market last year. The performance version can jet from zero to 60 miles per hour in 4.2 seconds and is EPA-rated for a range of up to 265 miles per charge, the most of any plug-in electric. Motor Trend made the Model S its coveted Car of the Year, lauding its quickness with looks that will wow valets at swanky hotels “like a supermodel working a Paris catwalk.”

Despite a starting price of $70,890 for the cheapest version with shipping, Tesla has boosted production. It made more than 4,750 of the sedans at the former Toyota-General Motors factory in Fremont, Calif., in the first quarter, and Musk is predicting Tesla’s first quarterly profit. The company says it plans to repay its $465 million federal loan early.

If you’re expecting Musk, 41, to take a bow, think again.

SpaceX is “doing pretty well these days,” but Tesla is “a couple of years behind that,” with the goal of making it profitable as a top priority, he says. A gull-winged electric SUV called the Model X is next up and a smaller, cheaper sedan is another three or four years out. So it’s easy to see why he might seem distracted.

Just keeping the issues he needs to track — he calls them “mental balls in the air” — with both companies would be enough to overwhelm many executives. But Musk says he is able to keep the two separate, although he occasionally needs to be reminded what company he will be talking about at a meeting. He says he can manage the occasional crisis at one of his companies, but when it is two at the same time, “then it is really difficult.”

It has happened. No year will beat 2008 for sheer difficulty, Musk says. SpaceX had seen three failed rocket launches. “If there had been a fourth failure, the company would have died,” he says. (It succeeded.) At Tesla, a round of financing fell apart as lenders scattered as the nation’s financial crisis heightened. Unable to pay the rent or make payroll without the new financing, Tesla’s future came down to the wire. Musk says at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve — “the last hour of the last day” when it could close — the money came through.

Now, having developed what he terms “a high pain threshold” when it comes to business, Musk is able to once again look longer term. He not only makes electric cars but crusades for their place on the highway. The nation, he believes, needs to stop denying that global warming exists and develop more sustainable transportation.

“We’re running the most dangerous experiment in history right now, which is to see how much carbon dioxide the atmosphere … can handle before there is an environmental catastrophe,” Musk says.

Besides running the two companies, Musk is chairman of Solar City, a solar-power provider to residential and business customers.

Musk, born in South Africa and educated at the University of Pennsylvania, cares as well about immigration reform. Preventing talented immigrants from taking a chance in America only means more of them will set up shop in their home countries, he says.

Musk is living proof of the value of immigration. Despite finding multiple ways to invest the fortune he made out of PayPal, Musk still is worth $2.7 billion, according to Forbes magazine. He’s wealthy enough that he held a press conference this month and personally vowed to back the resale value of Tesla cars — even if the company fails.

He doesn’t seem to mind putting his own money at risk. He says he would feel terrible if one of his companies died — and he still had cash in the bank that could have saved it.

These days, he allows that he occasionally thinks about creating new companies, but that he knows his limits. In fact, he set a goal for himself this year: to have more fun and less stress. “I’d like to dial it back 5% or 10% and try to have a vacation that’s not just e-mail with a view,” Musk says.

Asked what he has left to accomplish in life, the answer certainly is fun: He’d like to visit Mars.

“I think it would be a great adventure,” he says.

Then again, at least when it comes to business, Musk has had no shortage of adventures.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

HAWTHORNE, Calif. — If endless hours are a requirement to become a business icon, Elon Musk has put in his share.

Nearly every week, he shuttles 400 miles between electric-car maker Tesla Motors in the San Francisco Bay Area and rocket maker Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) in this Los Angeles suburb. He is CEO of both.

His bruising seven-days-a-week schedule means heading for Tesla on Monday nights, returning on Thursdays to run SpaceX — as the rocket business is commonly called — then often spending the weekends at Tesla. All the while, he juggles responsibilities that go with being father to five young boys.

Musk looks the part of a jet-setter — he showed up to the interview at SpaceX in a sleek black leather jacket — but he talks like the lifestyle is grinding him down.

“I definitely would not recommend it. It is not the path to a happier life,” he says.

As fatiguing as his life may be, Musk is establishing himself as one of America’s pre-eminent high-tech entrepreneurs. Sure, Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook and Sergey Brin and Larry Page introduced the world to Google. But Musk not only co-founded online payment service PayPal, he doubled, then tripled down by taking on two entirely unrelated, high-risk tech businesses.

His bet is starting to pay off. SpaceX grabbed the nation’s attention last year when its Dragon spacecraft became the flying delivery van to the International Space Station. It dropped off 1,673 pounds of supplies then splashed down in the Pacific. A second mission last month proved just as successful.

Musk says SpaceX has been profitable for five years, serving not only the government but myriad businesses that need its Falcon 9 rocket to deliver satellites into orbit.

Then there is Tesla. Musk is one of five co-founders in the company and later took control as it developed a small plug-in sports car. He ordered a raft of changes to the Tesla Roadster that slowed the path to market. But the company ended up selling 2,500, making it one of the first big sellers of plug-in cars.

The company’s next and only current product, the Model S luxury sedan, marked a huge step up in size and sophistication when it hit the market last year. The performance version can jet from zero to 60 miles per hour in 4.2 seconds and is EPA-rated for a range of up to 265 miles per charge, the most of any plug-in electric. Motor Trend made the Model S its coveted Car of the Year, lauding its quickness with looks that will wow valets at swanky hotels “like a supermodel working a Paris catwalk.”

Despite a starting price of $70,890 for the cheapest version with shipping, Tesla has boosted production. It made more than 4,750 of the sedans at the former Toyota-General Motors factory in Fremont, Calif., in the first quarter, and Musk is predicting Tesla’s first quarterly profit. The company says it plans to repay its $465 million federal loan early.

If you’re expecting Musk, 41, to take a bow, think again.

SpaceX is “doing pretty well these days,” but Tesla is “a couple of years behind that,” with the goal of making it profitable as a top priority, he says. A gull-winged electric SUV called the Model X is next up and a smaller, cheaper sedan is another three or four years out. So it’s easy to see why he might seem distracted.

Just keeping the issues he needs to track — he calls them “mental balls in the air” — with both companies would be enough to overwhelm many executives. But Musk says he is able to keep the two separate, although he occasionally needs to be reminded what company he will be talking about at a meeting. He says he can manage the occasional crisis at one of his companies, but when it is two at the same time, “then it is really difficult.”

It has happened. No year will beat 2008 for sheer difficulty, Musk says. SpaceX had seen three failed rocket launches. “If there had been a fourth failure, the company would have died,” he says. (It succeeded.) At Tesla, a round of financing fell apart as lenders scattered as the nation’s financial crisis heightened. Unable to pay the rent or make payroll without the new financing, Tesla’s future came down to the wire. Musk says at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve — “the last hour of the last day” when it could close — the money came through.

Now, having developed what he terms “a high pain threshold” when it comes to business, Musk is able to once again look longer term. He not only makes electric cars but crusades for their place on the highway. The nation, he believes, needs to stop denying that global warming exists and develop more sustainable transportation.

“We’re running the most dangerous experiment in history right now, which is to see how much carbon dioxide the atmosphere … can handle before there is an environmental catastrophe,” Musk says.

Besides running the two companies, Musk is chairman of Solar City, a solar-power provider to residential and business customers.

Musk, born in South Africa and educated at the University of Pennsylvania, cares as well about immigration reform. Preventing talented immigrants from taking a chance in America only means more of them will set up shop in their home countries, he says.

Musk is living proof of the value of immigration. Despite finding multiple ways to invest the fortune he made out of PayPal, Musk still is worth $2.7 billion, according to Forbes magazine. He’s wealthy enough that he held a press conference this month and personally vowed to back the resale value of Tesla cars — even if the company fails.

He doesn’t seem to mind putting his own money at risk. He says he would feel terrible if one of his companies died — and he still had cash in the bank that could have saved it.

These days, he allows that he occasionally thinks about creating new companies, but that he knows his limits. In fact, he set a goal for himself this year: to have more fun and less stress. “I’d like to dial it back 5% or 10% and try to have a vacation that’s not just e-mail with a view,” Musk says.

Asked what he has left to accomplish in life, the answer certainly is fun: He’d like to visit Mars.

“I think it would be a great adventure,” he says.

Then again, at least when it comes to business, Musk has had no shortage of adventures.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

Call us old fashioned, but we can’t understand why automakers try to outdo each other in making infotainment and audio systems that are overly complicated.

Sure, the world is still of audiophiles, the know-it-alls born with golden hearing who think far more about tweeters than tweets. But that’s not most of us.

The issue of confusing car stereos comes to mind because of the experience that our friends at Cars.com’s Kicking Tires blog are having with their Subaru BRZ test car. They write that after five months of testing, “the stereo and navigation system have been a thorn in drivers’ sides. The 6.1-inch touch-screen lacks the refinement of other factory systems with its aftermarket style. Worst of all, there’s no avoiding the inconvenience because every 2013 Subaru BRZ comes standard with the problematic stereo and navigation.”

The big issues is the lack of a “skip” button to breeze through tracks or radio presets. Other Subarus fix the problem with steering-wheel controls. Not the BRZ.

As a result, drivers are forced to hunt and peck among virtual buttons on the touch screen. One editor says he almost rear ended the car in front of him while trying to perform a basic function on the screen.

Drive On was impressed recently by the basic audio controls on the new Chevrolet Impala, which we took for a test drive in San Diego. A big volume knob on the left. A station select knob on the right. Yes, the car skews older and we know the controls are aimed at keeping Boomers happy. But there’s nothing wrong with simplicity, especially when that simplicity eases the use of an otherwise complex and completely up-to-date device. Consider the latest smartphones these days, especially the iPhone 4S or 5. They don’t even need an instruction book because they are so intuitive.

Hopefully, other automakers will come to see that there’s nothing low-tech about intuitive controls.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.