Scion FR-S Named Best Sports Car for the Money by U.S. News & World Report

The 2013 FR-S beat out its competition to earn the Best Sports Car for the Money from respected publication U.S. News & World Report. The annual award recognizes value, quality and critical acclaim across 21 vehicle categories.

To evaluate the FR-S, U.S. News & World Report judges looked at the sports coupe’s safety record, reliability and opinion from industry experts. Additionally, the expected five-year total cost of ownership and average vehicle price at the time of publication contributed to overall scores. 

“The Best Sports Car for the Money award is a testament to the incredibly fun and accessible sports car experience offered by the Scion FR-S,” said Scion Vice President Doug Murtha. “We are proud the FR-S continues to impress industry enthusiasts and drivers, while also representing the passion behind the Scion brand.”

The FR-S comes standard with 17-inch alloy wheels, a limited-slip differential and 2.0-liter flat boxer engine that produces 200 horsepower and 151 pound-feet of torque. Its distinctive lightweight design and impressive handling have built a following since its introduction last year.

Also winning awards were the Toyota Tacoma and Toyota Tundra, winning “Best Compact Truck for the Money” and “Best Full Size Truck for the Money” awards, respectively. It is the second year of top honors in a row for the Tacoma.

Courtesy of Toyota Pressroom 

We Are Collecting Items for Troop Care Packages

We are working with members in our community to collect items for care packages for our troops overseas. If you would like to help us collect items for our troops, please drop them off at our dealership.

Here is a list of items that we are collecting:

Care / Share Package Items for Soldiers

General Items

• Snacks and non-perishable food items, particularly tuna kits, beef jerky, canned fruit, dried fruit, nuts and other healthy snacks
• Undershirts (white, short sleeve)
• Socks (bootcut, black, green, or white)
• Cigarettes, Copenhagen and Skoal
• Single-use cameras (disposable style)
• Pre-sweetened flavored beverage mixes
• Letters of support (letters from you, from children, or from your business, office, school, or other organization in support of our troops)
• Phone Cards

Food and Snack Items
Pork and pork by-products are not allowed to be shipped to most Middle East combat locations. Please send non-perishable foods only. Single-serving package sizes are preferred; large packages won't stay fresh and are harder to ship. If you can stuff it in your pocket and it's not going to spoil or melt during the summer season, it's a good thing to send!

• Gum, Lifesavers, Mints (blister pack gum is best because of the intense heat)
• Fruit: individual serving size cans of fruit, dried fruit
• Nuts, sunflower seeds, peanuts, trail mix
• Power bars, protein bars, nutritional bars
• Beef jerky, beef summer sausage (non-perishable; labeled USDA Beef)
• Single-serving bags of snacks, crackers, chips, snack mixes
• Pop Tarts, cereal bars, "milk & cereal" bars, granola bars
• Ramen Noodles, Cup-O-Noodles serving cups
• Ravioli and other canned ready-to-eat meals (canned or styrofoam single serving are best)
• Tuna lunch kits (includes foil pouch of tuna, crackers, and condiments in each single-serving kit)
• Canned sardines, smoked oysters
• Torengos® nacho-style chips and canned nacho cheese dip
• Jalapeño Velveeta® and crackers
• Taco Bell® Sauce Packets
• Seasoning salts, flavoring salts

Beverage Items
We cannot ship liquids. However, they do need flavors to add to the drinking water provided to them. Please send pre-sweetened or sugar-free flavoring mixes in small or single-serving packages. During the colder months, hot beverages are in great demand. Please do not send glass jars.

• Coffee, coffee mixes, tea
• Hot cocoa mix
• Lemonade mix, Kool-Aid mix, Tang, Iced Tea mix
• Gatorade mix (powdered only)
• Crystal Light (or other brand) "On The Go" flavor packets (these come in a box of several sleeves of flavoring that can be added to a 16-20 oz. water bottle; see photo to the right)
• Sweetener, sugar and creamer packets for coffee

Recreational Items

• Frisbee, Nerf Footballs, Hacky Sack, Tennis Balls
• Deck of cards
• Hand-held games
• Gameboy Advance games
• Movie DVDs (new or used; original only)
• Music CDs (new or used; original only)
• Paperback books, novels (new or used)
• Magazines (new or used, but fairly current)
• Portable DVD Players
• Portable CD Players
• Board Games

Clothing
Color of underclothing and socks is not as important as 100% cotton. Send fingerless gloves and stocking caps during winter months only.

• Cotton socks
• Underwear and T-shirts
• Military-green cotton boot socks (try military surplus stores)
• Sunglasses, goggle-style sunglasses, goggles

Communication Items

• Small cassette player and small cassette tapes
• Disposable cameras
• Envelopes, paper, pens
• Small pads of paper
•  Notebooks (a size they can keep in a pocket and keep dry)
• Drawing pads
• Small, blank journals
• Blank holiday cards (Christmas, Easter, Valentines, Birthday, Anniversary) that they can fill out and send back home to their family and friends
• Personal Supply Items
• Batteries (AA are most requested, then AAA)
• Cigarettes, chew, cigars
• Tactical Duct tape: military green, tan or black
• Electrical tape
• Super glue
• 72" Bootlaces (brown or tan preferred)
• Leatherman All-in-One Tool (see photo)
• Flashlight with a red lens
• Quart-size, 1- and 2-gallon ziploc plastic bags
• Sheets - for those at a base
• Small travel pillow or inflatable pillows
• Disposable, instant hand warmers (during the winter months only)

Foot Care Items
Foot care is critical and the demand for quality products is very high. Be sure that all items are in the original, sealed packages.

• Cotton socks, black, green, or white
• Boot liners/insoles
• Odor eaters for boots
• Lotrimin AF or Tinactin for athletes foot (tubes of ointment or cream, or the bottle of drops; please do not send the aerosol spray type)
• Medicated Foot Powder, Medicated Foot Swabs
• Moleskin (for pads on sore feet, you'll find it with Dr. Scholls type things at Wal-Mart or drug stores)

Personal Care Items
Lip balm is in high demand in desert areas. The lipstick-style tubes that you apply directly to your lips are preferred over the "tub" style. Eye drops are to relieve dry eyes; please avoid sending eye drops designed to remove redness as those will increase dryness and irritation caused by sand and storms in a desert climate.

• Sunblock, Aloe Vera
• Throat Lozenges
• Gum, Lifesavers, Mints
• Eye Drops (to relieve dry eye, not redness)
• Blistex, Chapstick, Carmex (in stick-tubes rather than tubs)
• Aspirin, Motrin, Tylenol, Pain Relievers
• Saline spray/drops for sensitive nasal passages
• Q-tips
• Eyeglass wipes
• Jock itch spray
• Laundry soap tablets

Body Wipes and Hand Sanitizers
When the Soldiers are out in the field, facilities for showering and taking care of personal hygiene are infrequent and in many locations non-existent. Portable-sized packages of non-alcohol based baby wipes are in high demand for these Soldiers.

• Baby wipes for personal hygiene
• Waterless soap
• Liquid body wash
• Liquid hand sanitizers
• Disposable hand sanitizing wipes

Toiletry Items
Toiletries are not in as high a demand as they once were; however, we do have units at forward operating bases that still need the toiletries listed below:

• Toothpaste (in hard-side tubes rather than traditional tubes)
• Toothbrushes
• Nail clippers
• Shampoo
• Deodorant
• Liquid bodywash soap, liquid anti-bacterial soap (liquid is easier to use than bar soap)
• Waterless soap
• Lotion
• Disposable razors
• ShaveMan™ Battery Powered Shaver, Mach3 Razors, and replacement blades
• Kleenex (travel-size packets) 

  Thanks for all your support as we help those who are proudly serving our country!

Take Advantage of Our February eCoupons!

February is a great month to show your Toyota just how much you care. Visit our “Offers” tab to take advantage of our exclusive eCoupons!

Service Specials

New TV Spots, Mini Documentaries Advance the ‘Scion Story’ Brand Campaign

Bryant Terry – an Oakland, Calif., chef, author and activist – driving the iQThe real lives of five young entrepreneurs form the backbone of Scion’s newest national ad campaign, “Make Every Second Count,” that launched today at www.scion.com and will continue with broadcast, print and online content developed with creative agency ATTIK. The new ads and online mini documentaries build on the “Scion Story” brand campaign launched last fall to showcase the company’s longstanding commitment to individual passions.

“We began telling the story of Scion’s history and core beliefs; now we’ve given the stage to individuals who embody that same passionate spirit in the ‘Make Every Second Count’ campaign,” said Doug Murtha, Scion vice president. “By showing how Scion fits into real lives and real goals, we shine a spotlight on the brand’s unique approach to empower its customers.”

The five people featured were each given a handheld video camera and a Scion vehicle for two weeks. After beginning to film their daily activities, they worked with award-winning documentary filmmaker Doug Pray (Hype, Art & Copy) for suggestions and content. From the authentic content, Pray and Scion created three national broadcast spots and five, online mini documentaries for the Scion YouTube channel.

The broadcast spots are built from one-second video segments of each participant’s story, passion and Scion experience. As the five individuals demonstrate dedication to pursuing dreams and careers, the campaign concept “Make Every Second Count” was born.

The participants were:

• Travis Hayes Busse – a San Francisco music promoter, talent buyer and manager – driving the tC
• Daniel Farahirad – a Los Angeles bicycling activist and retailer – driving the xB
• Levi Maestro – a Los Angeles filmmaker, entrepreneur and web personality – driving the FR-S
• Lisa Nativo – a Los Angeles food truck founder and owner – driving the xD

 “I truly enjoyed working with these personalities and helping them film themselves in spontaneous one-second shots that captured their lives and a larger story,” Pray said of directing the project. “I’ve always been impressed by the magnitude of Scion’s support for the creative community in the 10 years I’ve worked with the brand. This project is no different with the broader pursuits featured in this campaign.”

Courtesy of Toyota Pressroom 

Toyota announces Geneva plans including droptop FT-86 Open concept

Automakers from around the globe are gearing up for the Geneva Motor Show next month, and Toyota is giving us a couple teasers of what will be in its display. In addition to what appears to be a single-seat concept called the i-Road, Toyota will also give us our first look at a droptop Scion FR-S courtesy of the FT-86 Open Concept.

All we have to go on right now is this sketch shown above, but we do see that this car will retain its rear seats, which could be a potential advantage over one of its key rivals. Toyota says that this concept will be used to gauge public interest in such a convertible, but we've already heard that a Scion convertible is already planned to go on sale as soon as early next year. As far as Toyota's other concept, there also isn't much information about the i-Road except that it will be a zero-emissions vehicle and it will have seating for two passengers, which based on the drawing will have the driver sitting in front of the passenger.

Toyota will also show off the European version of the new RAV4 as well as its new Auris Touring Sports, which it refers to as a "medium-size estate." 

Toyota will take the wraps off two contrasting new concepts at the Geneva motor show and also pave the way for two new model introductions that will strengthen its European model range in the coming months.

The FT-86 Open and Toyota i-Road concepts will be sharing the spotlight with the new, British-built Auris Touring Sports and the fourth-generation RAV4 compact SUV.

Courtesy of autoblog.com