As I sit down to write this, it's dawning on me that I have owned all three of these vehicles at one point or another. The Toyota 4Runner TRD Off-Road is the one that currently shades my driveway. You've seen it before. Twice.

But I actually brought my wife and newborn daughter home from the hospital in a 1996 Toyota RAV4, a four-door model with a manual transmission, lockable center differential and a Torsen rear differential. It may have looked like a hiking boot, but it handled like a rally car on my dirt road commute, which was so utterly deserted I could fully exploit the route's numerous corners and float over its perfectly-shaped jump.

Autoblog wasn't around for the literal first drive review, but as they say, it's better late than never. Take a trip down memory lane in our latest retro first drive.

 "Designed to be an aggressive sports coupe with superior handling, the Prelude is intended to appeal to drivers who will appreciate its high level of performance and refinement," the press release for the 1997 Honda Prelude reads.

If you're on the hunt for a modified off-roader that could deal with the most treacherous conditions imaginable and survive a zombie apocalypse, this is it.

DETROIT — Toyota is recalling about 752,000 gas-electric hybrid vehicles worldwide because the engines can lose power and stall.

The recall covers certain 2013 to 2015 Prius and 2014 to 2017 Prius V hybrids.

The outlet Tire Meets Road spotted a leaked document from Toyota on Reddit, sent to the automaker's dealers and general managers in the Southwest region. According to the memo from Toyota's western comms manager, "The Yaris sedan and Yaris Hatchback will not be available for model year 2021. Model year 2020 will be the last year for Yaris. June 2020 will be the last month of production for the Yaris sedan and Yaris Hatchback for the US." Reddit deleted the document, but when AutoWise reached out to Toyota, the same comms manager confirmed the information to the site. And just for good measure, when CarBuzz reached out to Toyota, the response was, "The Yaris sedan and Yaris Hatchback will not be available for model year 2021. Model year 2020 will be the last year for Yaris in the U.S."

So ends a 15-year run in the U.S. of what has, at times, been one of America's spunkiest hatchbacks. In our review of the 2019 Mazda2-based sedan, we called it slow but "pretty entertaining to drive," one of the "better-looking cars in this diminutive class," and were surprised "at how grown up it feels." Such accolades haven't been enough to convince the buying public; since 2008, when shoppers took home 102,328 Yaris models, the Yaris has posted steep declines in all but three years. A burst of sales in 2017, after Toyota absorbed Scion and turned the Mazda2-based Scion iA into the Yaris iA, fell back into substantial declines in 2018 and 2019. Last year, the Yaris hatch and sedan sold a combined 21,916 units. The Honda Fit did 35,414 sales, the Hyundai Accent 25,628. 

TOKYO — Toyota holds a $293 million stake in Uber, as it partners with the ride-hailing company to further expand into new mobility services, Toyota's latest corporate governance report released on Wednesday showed.

The Japanese automaker has also unloaded shares in some of its suppliers, adjusting its portfolio to reflect partnerships with rival automakers and technology firms as it transforms into a mobility services company, the report showed.

Nissan has introduced the facelifted Kicks to its home market, where it will go on sale from June 30, priced from 2,759,900 yen ($24,845).

The nightshade family of plants includes eggplant and potatoes, which have been used to feed humanity. In deadly nightshade form, the plant's uses have included killing people, or seducing them. Toyota has the latter purpose in mind yet again for the 2021 C-HR and Avalon; based on a document CarsDirect says the automaker sent to fleet managers, the dinky crossover and the big sedan will join the Nightshade Edition family next year. The 4Runner, Camry, Corolla sedan and hatchback, Highlander, and Sienna already offer the dark-themed package. The Sequoia, Tacoma, and Tundra are going to join the dark side this summer for very limited engagements. Nightshade versions of the C-HR and Avalon will take the tally to an even 10 models.

The fleet document didn't detail the package changes for the two new fraternity members. On the Camry, Nightshade means a black grille, window molding, mirror caps, door handles, shark fin, spoiler, badges, and 18-inch black wheels. The Corolla twins expand that with black rocker panels and diffuser inserts, and the Corolla hatch goes all the way with a black inner headlight frame and black lower spoiler.

The 2020 Acura RDX is considered a compact luxury SUV, but there's actually very little that's compact about it. When lined up against its competitors, you can see that it enjoys a clear dimensional advantage. In fact, the RDX is pretty close to the Lexus RX, with an identical rear legroom figure and considerably more cargo space with the back seat raised. Obviously, I'll be addressing the latter here.

On paper, Acura provides several cargo numbers calling out specific SAE measurement standards for each one. Basically, it has 31.1 cubic-feet behind its back seat when you include its underfloor storage and 29.5 cubic-feet when you don't. Even that smaller number is superior to everything in the segment save the Volvo XC60 (29.7), while the Lexus RX apparently has a seems-way-too-small 18.4.  

The Toyota GR Yaris is perhaps the most promising hot hatch to launch since the Hyundai i30 N, and while it won’t be sold in all markets, it has the right ingredients to put its rivals on notice.

Before Subaru became best-known in North America for outdoorsy all-wheel-drive machinery (but after it was best-known for extreme cheapness), we got some wild-looking Subarus with strong overtones of science fiction over here. First, the wedge-shaped XT, XT Turbo, and XT6 arrived during the mid-1980s through early 1990s, with their video-game-style digital instrument panels and fighter-jet-joystick gearshifts. Starting in the 1992 model year, we saw the XT's replacement: the joyously weird SVX. The SVX cost plenty, especially when viewed against the backdrop of the super-cheap Subarus of the past, and not many were sold. Still, Coloradans love old Subarus, and I manage to find discarded SVXs here every now and then. Here's a screaming red '96, found in a self-service yard about 50 miles from Cheyenne.

The 2021 Toyota C-HR and 2021 Toyota Avalon are both set to be offered in Nightshade Special Edition forms.

TOKYO — Ryota Kawamata hadn't driven for more than a decade, but as Japan's COVID-19 crisis worsened in May, his employer near Tokyo rented him a car so he wouldn't have to use public transport.

The 32-year old engineer, pictured above, now wants to buy his own car despite describing himself as a "poor driver."

While the 2021 Toyota Supra doesn't really look any different than the 2020 model year car, it does benefit from a series of upgrades that have considerable impacts on how it performs, as Matt Farah recently discovered.