True. That being said, at some point, I’d take the additional risk in exchange for actual driving enjoyment and outward visibility.

I’d love one of these if Porsche’s Exclusive Program could lower the beltline by about four inches around the entire car.

I love articles like this. We are one of the few people on the planet who off-road our Toyota Highlander Hybrid. It serves as the family station wagon 95% of the time and handles fire roads, rock, sand, and clay spots, and fords creeks 5% of the time.

Love the low profile, off-road tires. /s

With is the Crown Prime coming to the U.S.? What will its range be?

Job posting: outward visibility engineer.

Don’t forget the higher beltlines and thicker pillars, all in the name of safety.

Yeah - it seems like a race to who can be the first to develop a car with a the armor and outward visibility of a battle tank.

I mostly like it. Too bad the beltline isn’t lower, and completely horizontal like Hondas of yore. This would enlarge the five rear/side windows behind the front seat, and improve outward visibility, and you know - enjoyment of driving.

Agree with all of the above. How about better outward visibility while we are at it?

My brother and his wife have one of these (it’s their third Subaru). It’s as slow as heck... and we grew up with a Ford Model A as our sole car.

This, no. The subsequent Nissan Axxess, yes.

I wanted to love this, I really did. But between the price increase and since it no longer qualifies for the U.S. tax credit, that’s a tough pill to swallow. Good luck, Audi.

This.

Toyota Medusa EV would be a more appropriate name. 

Or a strong plug-in hybrid with say 50 miles of electric range.

Grandpa Simpson knows:

You’re right. One point to dig deeper on is the weight similarity between the diesel (and the rest of the powertrain) and say a strong plug-in hybrid (and the associated bits).

Weird stat without some time piece. Daily? Monthly? Annually? Over the customer’s life?

This is exactly what the California rules say - strong plug-in hybrids with a 50 mile electric range count toward the “ZEV” requirement. This is for vehicles up to and including Class 2a. Class 2b fall under the Advanced Clean Truck rule which I believe is similar but with a 30 mile range.