Toyota introduced a new four-cylinder Supra for the 2021 model year and improved the six-cylinder model, too. You can read about what's new and how the two drive in our First Drive story, but here we're going to talk about how they sound. The video clip mashup is at the top where you can get a taste of what it's like to be on the bumper and inside the respective Supras one after another. 

The Supra 2.0 is the entry-level option now, and the 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder produces 255 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. We know it's going to be cheaper, but we're not sure how much cheaper yet. One big step up from the 2.0 brings us to the 3.0, equipped with a 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six engine. Toyota added power for 2021, bringing the output up to 382 horsepower and 368 pound-feet of torque — it previously made do with 335 horses and 365 pound-feet of torque. Both engines are pulled directly from BMW and are used in the Supra's platform mate, the BMW Z4.

I hadn't been doing much driving, so the Forester had spent a good chunk of the rainy/snowy spring week relaxing in my driveway. Finally, it came time to pick up a birthday dinner — Indian food, curbside to-go. As soon as I sat down, I noticed something new: a small crack in the windshield. That fix will have to wait until more businesses reopen. As I eased out of my driveway, another issue emerged. I heard what sounded like water sloshing. Braking for the stop sign at the end of my street … yep, definitely liquid. It sounded like it was below or in front of me.

Later, I was parked in the alley behind the restaurant waiting for my order, and I accidentally dropped my phone down into the black hole on the righthand side of my seat. I reached down and groped for it, but instead of a rectangular personal computer, my fingers found nothing but carpet, seemingly soaked to capacity. My first instinct was to use a disinfectant wipe on my wet digits, but then I got out to inspect the underside of my seat from the second row. There was my phone, sitting in a fabric swamp under the seat.

If you're one of the early 2020 Toyota Supra owners, you probably don't think too highly of the Japanese automaker right now.

The Acura NSX has been a special car as long as I've been in the business. The first one came out in 1990, the same year I started my career in automotive engineering. I vividly remember driving one briefly back then when we brought one in for benchmarking. I'd drive it again 22 years later when my previous employer bought a used 1991 example for a long-term test. Reader interest was sky-high and the car was still gorgeous, but the march of time and automotive engineering had clearly left it behind.

Then, in 2016, a second-generation NSX emerged, and it was packed with bleeding-edge thinking. It has a 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6, but this new NSX is a hybrid with an electric motor-generator sandwiched between the engine and its nine-speed DCT transmission. Two more electric motors – one for each wheel – power the front axle. There they can add traction, regenerate electricity under braking and dole out hyper-accurate levels of torque vectoring.

The 2020 Nissan Frontier marks the last in a particularly lengthy pickup truck generation that dates all the way back to the 2005 model year. Next year we'll get a completely redesigned model, but before that happens, Nissan is giving the old truck one last "hurrah" with a taste of the new one in the form of a fresh V6 engine and nine-speed automatic transmission, the only choices for this year. And the new combo is a mighty good sign of things to come.

Just on paper, the engine and transmission make strong cases for themselves. The 3.8-liter V8 makes 310 horsepower, which is 49 more than the old 4.0-liter and 158 more than the discontinued four-cylinder base engine. Its 310 horses also make it the most powerful midsize truck in the segment. Its 281 pound-feet of torque is unchanged, but that's still more than what you get from the V6s in the Chevy Colorado or Toyota Tacoma. Only the diesel Colorado and the Ford Ranger's turbo four-cylinder top the Nissan's torque rating. Combined fuel economy of 20 mpg with RWD and 19 mpg with 4WD improves upon its 4.0-liter predecessor by 1 and 2 mpg, respectively. Credit goes to the lighter more efficient engine and the additional gear ratios, however, fuel economy is still dead last in the segment among similar automatic V6 RWD trucks. The 4WD ties the V6 Gladiator and Colorado, and tops the Colorado ZR2 with a V6. Odds are the next-generation truck will improve this further.

TOKYO — Nissan Motor Co plans to cut $2.8 billion in annual fixed costs as part of its restructuring plan, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, as it braces for a drop in sales that could complicate its recovery from years of poor profitability.

Following a three-year spell of tumbling profits, Nissan will announce its restructuring plan on May 28, its latest attempt to slash costs after a strategy of aggressive selling to chase market share has pummeled its bottom line.

Welcome to 2020, where once again, the Toyota Supra is back. We hailed its return last year when we slid behind the wheel of the first new Supra sold here in the 21st century, and Toyota has gone and changed things up just one year later. Now, there are two Supras: a new, less powerful four-cylinder Supra that'll serve as a base model, and a more powerful version of the previous solo entry that showcases the type of incremental improvements Toyota says we should expect every model year. So, although owners of the 2020 Supra might be miffed by this news, there's a good chance 2021 owners will feel the same way in 12 months. 

For now, though, the 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six produces 382 horsepower and 368 pound-feet of torque, increases of 47 and 3, respectively, from the 2020 version. We weren't exactly begging for more power, but aren't going to complain, either. This is the same engine spec that's found in the M40i version of the Supra's sister car, the BMW Z4, which shares a common block and crank as the "lesser" version found in the 2020 Supra. However, it features a totally new head and exhaust manifold design along with new pistons and a reduced compression ratio from 11:1 to 10.2:1 to better handle the boost. Peak horsepower is made at 5,800 rpm now (it was previously 5,000), and carried on to the same 6,500 rpm — redline is 7,000 rpm. The torque band also shifts slightly higher in the rev range, as all 368 pound-feet are available from 1,800-5,000 rpm — in 2020 that range was 1,600-4,500 rpm. Theoretically, this should make the car happier in its mid- and upper-rpm ranges.

Lexus is working on a new IS, but it might not be a completely redesigned model.

If you want a cheap, rock-and-stick-simple, gas-sipping car that can handle mud and snow without flinching, you'd have a tough time surpassing the 1983-1988 Toyota Tercel 4WD wagon. Known as the Sprinter Carib in Japan, these cartoonish-looking little wagons proved quite popular in North America, despite their tippy handling and patience-building double-digit horsepower, and I still find plenty of them in junkyards to this day. Here's a first-model-year example with the luxurious (by early-1980s Tercel standards) SR5 top trim level, found in a Denver yard last winter.

Toyota announced it's expecting an 80 percent profit drop this year, the company's lowest in nine years, after estimating the impact from the coronavirus pandemic in its business.

TOKYO — Toyota Motor Corp said on Tuesday it expects profit to drop by 80% to its lowest in nine years, as Japan's biggest automaker grapples with the impact of the novel coronavirus which has sapped global demand for vehicles.

Honda Motor Co on Tuesday posted its lowest operating profit in four years and refrained from releasing an earnings outlook for the current year because of uncertainty about the longer-term impact of the coronavirus on global car demand.

The Lexus ES is a comfy cruiser, but it's no off-roader. One woman found that out the hard way as she managed to get her car stuck on a median.

The 2020 Infiniti QX50 is a comfortable five-seat luxury crossover that competes with the Audi Q5, Acura RDX, Volvo XC60, Lexus NX and others. If you're interested in a QX50, it's probably got something to do with its impressive, technologically advanced VC-Turbo variable compression engine.

It also has sumptuous swales of bodywork, a long list of driver-assist and safety features, and a solidly luxurious interior with a two-screen infotainment setup. The window sticker for the QX50 we drove recently in Essential trim says the seats were leatherette; if true, it's the most buttery fake leather out there.

Toyota is marking the 20th anniversary of its groundbreaking Prius hybrid by officially announcing a sportier-looking commemorative edition of the car called the Prius 2020 Edition. It'll be a 2021 model, and Toyota will limit production to 2,020 units.

Also, Toyota divulged that it plans to introduce a pair of all-new hybrid models via a livestream unveiling from its North American headquarters near Dallas on May 18. More on that in a moment.