Featured Next Gen Toyota Harrier (Venza)

Are they going to build them in Georgetown KY?

Bob Wilson

 

I don’t think they’ll be happy till the headlights are under a centimetre tall.

 

Then they'll go back to big round ones, then square, then triangle, then some other silly shape.

Why? Because all cars are becoming the same CUV shape. Look at a car as a silhouette and you won't be able to tell any of them apart. So they have to draw lines on it somewhere to distinguish it from the competition. And using the headlights as accent lines seems to be the popular thing right now.

This is probably the main reason I actually like the Cybertruck. It's different. So is the Aptera, and I really like the Aptera. But if I'm getting a new SUV of any sort it needs to be a Ford Bronco.

 

Note that Harrier is what Toyota had planned next for PHEV offerings.

 

It’s not half bad looking

 

Japan already has it.
Japan’s Toyota Harrier Updated With Plug-In Hybrid Option | Carscoops
Spreading the PHEV option to the Rav4 siblings wasn't a big stretch.

We'll have to make do with the Rav4 and NX.

 

The headlights are so much better now that they are LED vs when those old designs existed for normal incandescent headlights. Halogen was the big step improvement, but LEDs as standard give designers freedom to shape the headlights anyway they want. Not a beautiful design in this model but LEDs give freedom to make beautiful or fugly lighting on cars.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/g6631/ten-cars-with-incredibly-cool-headlights/?slide=15

 

While replacement headlight prices rise logarithmically. Or is it exponentially? Anyway…

 

LEDs will only need replacing in the event of a crash or other damage. A hypothetical, standard sized headlight would start at $20, and likely need replacing every year.

 

True, but how often does that happen? Then making components easier to replace can make the unit less reliable over all. Batteries inside the phone allow the whole unit to be less susceptible to damage from water and dust.

 

Well, we would hope so. They might start dying once engineers figure out how to make them as cheaply as possible for them to last "just long enough" which in many cases might not actually be long enough.

While quit different from things like engines and transmissions, It does seem that things are often designed to last "just long enough" any more. Sometimes manufacturer's cut it too close and the next thing you know you have to replace it much more often than should be necessary. Toyota generally isn't like that, but sometimes I do wonder about where they're headed as far as quality goes.

 

The Toyota Crown is also available as a PHEV in Japan, but not here. If it was, that'd be a serious contender for me.

 

Yes, this is a problem with the car designers not the technology. This is evidenced by the fact that aftermarket LEDs can replace older headlight, indicator light, and daytime running light technology.