The weather seems to have improved this week! All that smog seems to have lessened considerably, while the occasional rain showers help keep things cool in the day or night. This week in motoring seems to have replicated that pleasant climate, with exciting new-car launches and even a rumored new Toyota in the works. Here are your five favorite stories from Oct. 2 to 8, 2023 in this edition of the AutoFun Philippines Rearview Roundup. Toyota Land what? The Toyota Land Cruiser is a name that is a

Even with the dozens of cars that we write about each month, it’s hard to forget a striking face. This was what we discovered when Audi Philippines posted on Facebook about an electric vehicle (EV) that it will launch on Aug. 5, 2023 at the 30th East B Open Parking area in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City. The car on the poster has Audi’s familiar pointed LED headlights with four strakes that form part of the LED daytime running lights. But distinctive features of this upcoming EV are the pian

The Toyota Land Cruiser J70 series has been on the market for 39 years and has steadily received upgrades to keep it up-to-date and modern. While it officially exited other markets in 1990 when the new Land Cruiser J80 came along, other places such as Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand have kept the SUV alive and on sale. The last update to the J70 series Land Cruiser was in 2007 when it received the 1VD-FTV, a 4.5-liter turbodiesel V8 engine. The new engine gave the SUV 205 horsepower and

Bentley announced in a February 2023 press statement that it is stopping production of the hand-built W12 engine on April 2024. Bentley said it has produced over 100,000 motors since it was first introduced in 2003 in the Continental GT coupe. “The decision comes as part of Bentley’s acceleration towards a sustainable future through its Beyond100 strategy which will see the company’s entire model line fully electrified by the start of the next decade, reducing fleet average emissions to 0 g/km C

The all-new 2023 Lexus RX crossover was launched locally on January 16, 2023. Besides riding on the more rigid Lexus GA-K platform, the major headline for the five-seat luxury crossover is its all-hybrid lineup. The RX 350h drops the old 3.5-liter V6 for a turbocharged 2.5-liter, twin-cam, 16-valve inline-4 gasoline engine. Together with the electric motor, the new powertrain has a combined output of 250 PS and 316 Nm of torque, paired with a continuously variable transmission. All RX 350h varia

Larger vehicles like sport-utility vehicles generally fare better in road crashes because of the sheer size of the things. In the case of the Range Rover and the Range Rover Sport, these two have the numbers to back that theory up. Land Rover Philippines announced in a December 2022 press statement that the two ultra-luxury SUVs got five out of five stars in the European New Car Assessment Programme’s (Euro NCAP) latest crash tests. A five-star rating signifies that a vehicle possesses “overall