Editors' Most Wanted Vehicles for 2007

Most Significant Vehicle of the Year

Most Significant Vehicle of the Year: Toyota Tundra

Toyota is about to spring a "gotcha" on Detroit and its since-the-dawn-of-time domination of the most American of automotive segments: full-size trucks. Oh sure, they've had a nearly full-size truck on the market since the 2000 Tundra was introduced in 1999. But the original Tundra was merely the second step in Toyota's methodical toe-in-the-water approach to entering a new segment. It went something like this....

Step 1: Introduce a "midsize" V6-powered T-100 (not T-150, mind you) that few will take seriously.

Step 2: Unveil a modest 7/8-scale Tundra with a small V8. Sell to Toyota owners who want a personal-use pickup sitting next to their Camry. Sneak in a larger cab and wheelbase midcycle.

And now we come to...Step 3: Bring everything you've ever learned to bear on a legitimate half-ton contender and go after blue-collar truck users. Give the development responsibility to the U.S. arm of the company and design it based on customer needs, rather than benchmarking the competition. Build a second plant in a truck-happy state in the middle of the country — like Texas.

Oh, don't forget Step 2.5: Enter the NASCAR Truck series. Win races and a championship with the help of the Waltrips, thereby softening middle America for Step 3.

The new Tundra is now fully in the pool and has what it needs to go head to head with Detroit. An all-new 5.7-liter V8 vaults the Toyota to the upper reaches of the performance charts, with a maximum tow rating north of 10,000 pounds. Three engines, three cabs and at least two bed lengths and wheelbases blanket the work-truck and personal-use spectrum with more than 30 different models. Those cabs are now a full 4 inches wider inside than the outgoing model, while the whole truck now sits among the segment leaders in overall size.

And the Tundra ups the ante with features such as a six-speed automatic for the new V8, a standard tailgate damper, an available backup camera that should enable do-it-yourself trailer hook-up, and other clever touches we would expect to find on a Toyota.

The new 2007 Toyota Tundra, American designed and built, is now a full-fledged competitor in the last segment the Big Three had essentially to themselves. Toyota is now positioned to swim toward that deep end.

Honorable Mention: Mazda CX-9

Anyone who drops their kids off at school can see it. Folks who could really use a minivan and the third row and cargo-carrying flexibility they offer in bucket-loads don't buy one because they can't stand the stigma. So instead they wind up in a large truck-based SUV that has more off-road capability than they'll ever need, and more thirst than they really want. Mazda's new CX-9, a large, sleekly styled crossover SUV with a very usable, and standard, third-row seat, aims for the space between the two segments and hits it dead on. Despite being Mazda's largest-ever offering, with just over 100 cubic feet of cargo capacity, the zoom-zoom factor is here with an all-new 3.5-liter V6, light and nimble handling and available 20-inch wheels. Starting quite well-equipped at just over $29,000, CX-9s will start populating your neighborhood soon.

Honorable Mention: Mercedes-Benz GL-Class

The all-new full size Mercedes-Benz GL450 is an excellent first effort in the segment, and is sure to cause discomfort in the boardrooms of the competition. Of course it had to have the all-important third-row seat, and this one not only folds flat into the floor, but does so via the touch of a button. An Escalade's third-row seats must be manually removed and stored¿somewhere. And despite the 68-horsepower deficit the 4.7-liter Merc engine has compared to the 6.2-liter Escalade, the Benz manages to be almost a second faster to 60 mph while returning better combined fuel economy (16 vs. 15 mpg). In early 2007, a much anticipated diesel engine will be offered in 45 states, said to return 24 mpg combined. But the real eye-opener here is that you can get a technology-laden Mercedes and all of the cachet that goes along with it, for less money than the leading domestic competitor.

Honorable Mention: Toyota Camry Hybrid

Hybrids have been creeping into the fringes of the automotive market for some time now. Most of those vehicles have been either narrowly focused quirk-mobiles (Toyota Prius, Honda Insight), or mild series hybrids used to boost performance rather than economy (Honda Accord). The significance of the Toyota Camry Hybrid is that, well, it's a Toyota Camry, the best-selling midsize family car on the road. And it's a gen-u-ine full parallel hybrid, too, meaning that the engine can shut down and cease rotating while the electric motor purrs away, just like a Prius. Fuel economy is rated at 40 city/38 highway, which we came within 3 percent of in our own tests. Compare that to the 24 city/33 highway mileage of a regular four-cylinder Camry, which gets to 60 mph in about the same amount of time as the hybrid. In putting the Camry Hybrid on the road, Toyota has put true hybrid virtues in a midsize mainstream package.