venza

As all the automakers of industry, Toyota in a funk. U.S. sales fell 16 percent in 2008, hot models like the Prius are cooling, and the company has idled some assembly lines to keep unsold vehicles from piling up. The question is:

Will the Venza, its only all-new car for the 2009 model year, help the company ride out the recession? "It's a crucial vehicle for Toyota," says Ed Kim, director of industry analysis for the consulting firm AutoPacific.

While its striking resemblance to a station wagon doesn't necessarily add to its cachet, its roominess and comfort -- without the SUV weight and mileage -- are important draws.

Part Camry sedan, part Highlander SUV, with a little Avalon luxury thrown in, the Venza is a kind of automotive stew cooked up from Toyota's parts bin. Toyota says it was designed for empty-nest baby boomers -- folks who no longer need third-row seating or want to climb up into an SUV.

Hanging on to the boomers is critical to Toyota. As young adults they catapulted the brand to success in America, and Toyota can't afford to lose them as they downsize to smaller vehicles. "The boomers we're targeting are coming out of SUVs," says Bob Zeinstra, a national marketing manager for Toyota. "We think the Venza is a new genre of vehicle."

Call it what you will, the Venza is classic Toyota comfort food: filling for the buck, but not very spicy. Compared with the top-selling Camry, it comes with extra rear leg room, a higher roof and wider seats. All that gives the interior a generally airier feel, while curved seat backs let you double-date comfortably.

(Hey, the back seats even recline.) And Toyota added some practical touches, such as multiple storage compartments, beverage holders in the rear seat armrests and three 12-volt power outlets. Toyota also raised the seating to provide more of a bird's-eye view of the road and lowered the trunk load-in height -- a nod to boomers with bad backs.

Out on the road, drivers (including us) say the Venza's six-cylinder engine feels more than adequate for hauling around the car's 4,000 pounds.

Its relatively low center of gravity keeps it well balanced on winding roads, and the six-speed automatic transmission shifts smoothly. One high-tech touch: The Venza is the first Toyota to offer headlights that automatically adjust from high to low beams (though the beam genie was a little slow at the switch when we tested it on Maryland's dark back roads).

For all its charms, the Venza faces stiff competition from other curvy wagons and crossovers, like the Ford Edge and Volvo XC-70. The Edge, for one, has a more flexible interior, including a center console that can be reconfigured to hold items like a laptop. And the XC-70 includes roof rails for hauling unwieldy items, a feature the Venza lacks.

Meanwhile, some rugged all-wheel-drive wagons like the Subaru Outback may offer a better deal, starting around $24,000 for a four-cylinder model with automatic transmission (about $3,000 less than the Venza). With 8.4 inches of ground clearance (slightly more than the Venza's) the Outback may also be a better choice for folks going off-road.

Toyota knows the Venza won't appeal to everyone, especially those who need more of a hard-core SUV. Starting at $26,695 for a front-wheel-drive four-cylinder model and ranging to just over $40,000 for a six-cylinder all-wheel-drive that's fully loaded, the Venza costs about the same as the Highlander SUV but has less cargo space and towing capacity.

And Toyota is setting modest expectations, targeting sales of 60,000 units a year, a level that Zeinstra acknowledges "won't rock the world." Still, initial buyers seem pleased -- even if they see it as a spiffed-up Camry wagon on stilts. "I'm a big aficionado of station wagons," says David Meredith, an owner in Garland, Texas, "even if they aren't cool."

2009 Toyota Venza Gallery