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Yesterday I was running a few errands and saw a new Venza for a few brief moments in the grocery store parking lot. I'm not totally sold on the grille, but it looks like a very reasonably-sized vehicle for a family with older children or a need for more cargo room than something like a Prius provides. TCH drivetrain, anyone?

That`s cool i really like the venza, unfortunately i moved out of the US before they came out so i havent gotten to see one yet.
You are completely right, they are incredibly practical seeming.
I dont know why station wagons arent more popular in the US.

I dont know why station wagons arent more popular in the US.

They don't use enough gas.

I know right, they have more room than SUVs, look better, more fuel efficient, more fn to drive, some are even better off road. Its got to be that, maybe the car inustry should look into technology that will worsen fuel economy, then they will sell.

crop of crossover SUVs are essentially SWs EXCEPT
1)The tires/wheels are too wide.
2)Too much ground clearance.
3) Too much frontal area-paritally because of the ground clearance
4) V-6 instead of a 4 cyl.

What we need is an extended Prius-extended about 15-25(190" to 200") to replace most crossovers, many minivans. It would be maybe 400 lbs more-and would give up about 5-8% of its city EPA but retain 99% of Hy EPA. It could haul 7 or 8 passengers, or it could haul 4 passengers and a lot of stuff for a typical USA road trip.
The current drivetrain would work fine. I would be tempted to just add an extension/overhang- but maybe that would hurt the handling too much. Actually adding the extra length in the middle(with a longer wheelbase for better handling) would be a lot more expensive,I suspect. Better handling would probably require a wider track also-which means more frontal area/drag etc.

Well, dream on.

Charlie

actually another huge disadvantage any suv has over a station wagon (funny that some SUVs such as the toyota LC are called station wagons by the manufacturer) is related to the ground clearance, it wastes space, anyone who owns a scion xb knows what i am talking about, by lowering the bottom of the car you can seat the passengers more upright and gain tons of space (usable space mind you)
the worst example of space utilization is the suv concept taken to extremes, the H1, its massive, yet is incredibly cramped inside

your idea is great, toyota should make a station wagon prius, maybe what they could do is combine the hybrid technology from the camry with the venza, and you could have the next best thing

and overhang is bad, you will find that in a lot of new cars to maximize usable space (like in my materia) they put the wheels in the very corners of the car but as a modification after the fact, it is still pretty good to extend i suppose

another clever way to gain more space in your car at little cost is to buy one of those plastic shell things to go on your roof, yes bad for fuel efficiency, but if you only use it when you need it its brilliant and completely justifiable

Tim, I think we may have seen the same vehicle was it in the NE?

Yup. It was in front of the Kroger on Two Notch. My memory could be faulty, but I think it was sort of a sandy brown color?

I think I saw it headed toward Two Notch, what a coincidence :D