I don't know about where you live, but where I live almost every commercial break has at least one Toyota commercial featuring the 2009 Venza.
But what is it?
I went to the Toyota Website to research the Venza selecting the "Build Your Toyota" tab to check out the different trim levels available on this newest Toyota.
I clicked on the SUV & VAN tab expecting to see the Venza lined up next to the Highlander, FJ Cruiser and Sienna. I was perplexed as the Venza was nowhere to be seen. I was confused for a moment until I realized the Venza had been stuck into the CARS category.
My confusion continued as the Venza looks like an SUV - alright not a full blown SUV, more of a crossover. But crossover in my book still equates closer to SUV than it does car. And a car the Venza is not. It is tall like an SUV - I mean crossover, and it has similar proportions.
Is Toyota trying to pull a fast one on us.
Maybe they are smarter than us, maybe I am the one who is wrong.
It left me scratching my head, what exactly is a Venza.
If it looks like a crossover, but drives like a car...
Wait, I got it. It is a station wagon.
That has got to be it. A modern day Camry station wagon called Venza.
But why?
So I left the computer and made some tea, they say the anti-oxidants will help cleanse the system, perhaps it will help me cleanse my mind as well, allowing a Zen like approach to the Venza.
As the tea bag steeped and the flavors extracted, the Venza revealed itself to me, and I started to understand.
And as if a trance had fallen over me, I began to compare the Venza to a car that has caused a collective Yawn so extensive across the automotive landscape, that I don't even think I remember seeing one on the road.
The Ford Taurus X.
A car SO BORING that NOBODY took notice that this car went on sale, let alone is still on sale.
Well, not quite Nobody. Toyota took notice.
Perhaps they know something we don't , as the new Venza clearly has the Taurus X locked in the cross hairs with a product so similar, one might wonder why Ford doesn't ramp back up the marketing machine and start advertising the living daylights out of the Taurus X.
If Toyota has chosen the lowly Taurus X as the benchmark to improve on with the Venza, than Ford just might have a hit on its hands AND NOT EVEN KNOW IT.
And with the ability to offer incentives ranging from 0% interest for 60 months, to large cash rebates, Ford certainly can offer a better Venza with their Taurus X.
I know what you are thinking, I have lost my mind. Perhaps the Zen like experience the tea I made has made me mad, but look at the facts. Lined up together it is hard to distinguish the two.
Example, both come with 3.5 Liter V6 engines sporting 4-valve cylinder heads and 6-Speed automatic transmissions. In pricing the 2, the Toyota was $37,355 while the Ford priced out at $37,485, One Hundred and Thirty Dollars more expensive than the Toyota, but remember the incentives which has the potential to make the Taurus X considerably less expensive.
Both cars come in either front wheel or all wheel drive setups, and at a rated 268 horespower the Venza leads with a 5 horsepower advantage.
The list goes on and on with almost all critical items within a hair of each other, the only item that the Taurus X shows any significant difference on is overall length, besting the Venza by close to 11 inches measuring 200.3 inches in overall length to the Venzas 189.0.
So is Toyota onto something here?
Should Ford pull out all the stops and start advertising the Taurus X as the American Venza?
Or, will the Venza linger on dealer lots like the Taurus X?
Time will ultimately be the judge, but from my perspective if no one bought the Taurus X, why on earth would they buy a Venza?
Of course the modern day station wagon makes a lot more sense for most families than a full blown SUV and both Ford and Toyota know that.
They just don't want you calling them station wagons.