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One year ago was the nadir. February 2009 was the low point last winter, when auto sales all but ground to a halt. So the fact that February 2010 sales are up versus last year is good, but it's not saying much. What's more encouraging is that the percent gain over one year ago was pretty healthy: 13%. That's much better than January's 6% increase over similarly sickly 2009 totals, and close to December's 15% gain over year-ago figures. But while December sales are always goosed by the year-end deal-a-thon, February's boost seems more organic. Particularly since it was achieved despite an ongoing publicity nightmare for Toyota and, for much of the country, several days of bad winter weather. The only real qualifier for February is that it did reflect increased fleet sales (up from a very low level last winter) - and the fact that the February's annualized sales rate of 10 million vehicles is still far off the 17 million of just a few years ago.inline_mediumwraptextright24626542/features/news/1003_2010_february_auto_sales0908_04_z+2010_ford_fusion_sport_aWD+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue

The Venza is a perfectly nice five-passenger tall wagon, as far as space, appointments, and utility are concerned. I just don't understand why Toyota is building it. The company already had an overfull quiver of hatchback crossover things, so why add the strange-looking Venza to the bunch? Well, it turns out that Toyota sold a very respectable 54,410 Venzas last year (nearly as many as Scion's 2009 brand total), so I guess there's the answer. It saddens me, though, that consumers apparently prefer the bulky Venza alongside competent RAV4s, Highlanders, Matrixes, 4Runners, et al. instead of a more carlike, more efficient, and no longer offered Camry station wagon.inline_mediumwraptextright27087650/reviews/editors_notebook/1003_2010_toyota_venza_awd1003_01_z+2010_toyota_venza_aWD+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue