Autoblog

Review: 2009 Toyota Venza is one surprisingly slick wagonoid

Filed under: In the Autoblog Garage, Crossovers/CUVs, Toyota

2009 Toyota Venza - Click above for high-res gallery

The wagons we all know, love and grew up with gradually fell out of favor as the minivan took hold in the '80s. Led by Chrysler's practical little boxes, the van became the king of Mt. People Mover, only to be usurped by the SUV, which took the wagon formula and added a heaping dose of machismo. The wagons have all but vanished, and today, both SUVs and minivans resemble Hollywood stars whose salad days are clearly behind them.

The so-called "crossover" is the new king, at least according to marketers who coined the maddeningly broad term, which now applies to everything from large, car-based pseudo-SUVs to what are - by all rights - traditional wagons, albeit with tall roofs and occasionally all-wheel drive. When Toyota elected to make the Highlander a substantially larger vehicle with three rows of seating, it left a void in its line-up for people seeking a utilitarian five-seater. The lack of a Camry wagon, which has been dead for ages, meant there was an opportunity for Toyota to fill-in the blank with something to compete against the Ford Edge, Nissan Murano and rest of the CUV set. And so we have the Venza.

Gallery: Review: 2009 Toyota Venza