Berkeley Auto Repair

If you take a broad look through Toyota’s model lineup, it would be easy to quickly classify Toyota’s primary audience as families or those looking for a great value. At the end of the day, the mass-market sedans, crossovers, and minivans are Toyota’s bread and butter. But where’s the fun?   Near the turn of the century, the Japanese automaker pivoted away from its auto enthusiast-ready offerings. Sports cars such as the Supra, MR2, and Celica dissipated with time. After the demise of these vehicles, Toyota’s core identity took on a more subdued look.   Over the past few years, the automaker has grown out of its family-friendly shell and started offering vehicles like the FR-S (now GR86) and the exciting Supra revival. More recently, Toyota has made surprising announcements catering to the auto enthusiast crowd.   Saving The Manual While many Toyotas are known for their subdued nature, the upcoming GR Corolla is everything but. An ins ... read more

         On February 23, 2021 in the shadow of Mount Fuji Toyota Corporation broke ground on a city of tomorrow.  The 175 acre property once home to Toyota’s Higashi Fuji plant where the highly successful Toyota models AE86, Mark II and Century were designed and produced will become a “Living Laboratory”.            Named “The Woven City”, the prototype is a place where people, vehicles and buildings are connected by sensors and data.   This connectivity will allow Toyota to test their A1 (artificial intelligence) technology with minimal risk in the real world. The plan includes three types of streets; one for pedestrians, one for people with personal mobility vehicles and one for automation driven vehicles.   Delivery of goods throughout the city will be done using the Toyota e-pallet autonomous transport vehicles they designed for the Tokyo Olympics. This ... read more

Beginning life in 1992, the Subaru WRX was a chance for everyday drivers to experience a world championship rally car. The WRX, short for “World Rally eXperimental,” displayed all the hallmarks of a rally winner. It had a powerful engine, a light body, and a tremendous all-wheel-drive system for off-road use. Creating an outlier from the list of economy sedans and family station wagons, Subaru built the Impreza WRX. Already the most exciting car in Suburus offerings, it was eventually one-upped with the STI variant just a few years later. The WRX and its suped-up STI sibling were consistently great choices for any auto enthusiast wanting an agile and relatively cheap sports car capable of handling less-than-ideal weather. The WRX continued to find success in its niche until critics pointed out that the cars lack of evolution. While it was a great car in its time, its competitors were catching up. The Beginning of the End? The second-generation WRX made its debut in late ... read more