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Corolla/Tacoma/GX/EV9 rated tops at Colo. Auto Show
Toyota strengthened its leading role at the 2025 Colorado Auto Show in the Colorado Convention Center in Denver in mid-April.
Several hundred persons were lined from the second-floor doorway, down the stairs and out to the street when the show officially opened at noon on Thursday, April 17.
Among the first few showgoers into the main hall were Ryan and Heather Murphy of Silverthorne. After a glance at a Toyota, they were lured a few feet away to a Dodge Charger Daytona EV all-electric two-door, finished in “peel out orange” color, with 670 horsepower. Ryan Murphy said he is well-satisfied with his Range Rover, but both he and Heather were impressed with the variety of products on the show floor.
Earlier Thursday morning, among several press conferences was one in which members of the Rocky Mountain Automotive Press (RMAP) announced winners of “best models” in four categories.
The long-successful Toyota Tacoma compact pickup edged the popular Ford F-150 as Truck of the Year. Improved ride and handling, attained through a redesigned multilink, coil-spring rear suspension, are noticeable with the new Tacoma.
Car of the Year is “a hot hatch that is just plain fun to drive – the Toyota GR Corolla,” said Sara Lacey, president of RMAP. One I tested last fall had excellent presence with a black matte grille, supersonic red exterior and triple exhaust – a pipe for each bore. Yes, it was a turbocharged 3-cylinder.
The dominance continued in SUV of the Year competition, won by a mainstay of Toyota’s luxury division, the Lexus GX. Even with the GX’s offroad prowess, that choice surprised many showgoers.
The Electric Vehicle of the Year honors went to the roomy Kia EV9. Last year’s electric choice was the smaller Genesis GV60. Accessing I-25 is a snap with the instant torque and quick acceleration of the EV9; its lane correction system is firm and very effective.
The big show received strong attendance over the Easter weekend. Hosting the affair was the Colorado Auto Dealers Association (CADA), headed by Matthew Groves, CEO and president, and Eric Beutz, chair of the auto show.
Toyota’s 19,000-square-foot display area, right up front to greet showgoers as they entered the main hall, was largest of all the individual areas.
Toyota outsold all other brands in Colorado in 2024 and its positive sales pace continued through the first quarter of this year, when it registered 7,166 in the sales column, followed by Ford with 5,932. Others in the top 10 were:
- Subaru with 4,802,
- Nissan 3,791,
- Chevrolet 3,363,
- Hyundai 3,039,
- Honda 3,032,
- Kia 2,701,
- Tesla 2,366 and
- GMC 2,103.
Nissan’s rise from 11th place to 4th during the first quarter is more remarkable in that almost 70 percent of its sales this quarter were of battery electric models, their owners taking advantage of government incentives.
Oh, those Chevys! Put dent in “T,” just kept going
During my boyhood, I developed a strong loyalty for brands of Ford/Mercury and Chrysler/Plymouth, for which my father, Dale Wells, had franchises at Wray. Chevrolet, I knew, was chief rival, and I perhaps was a bit aloof to the rosy reports on both style and sales on the Chevy side, particularly in 1955, the year I graduated from high school.
I carried a more balanced mindset as I began writing of automobiles and automotive events 50 years ago; and Chevrolet personnel and products very quickly earned my respect, regard and admiration.
The headline, borrowed from a chapter in my book, “2,600 Cars and a Dog Sled,” refers to the fact Chevrolet passed the aging Ford Model T sales way back in 1926-27 and has been a constant strong competitor.
Here are a few of many Chevrolet-related events and associations I’ve been involved with:
A Chevy Monza Coupe out west on Colfax at Chuck Stevinson’s Chevrolet store on a spring day in 1978 was, under my control, turned back to the east all the way to Lincoln and on to Union, Neb., for interviewing one of the few remaining Studebaker dealers. With Jan beside me and 13-year-old son, Brent, in the tight rear seat, the quality of the Monza ride was okay. A 4-cylinder engine, 4-speed manual transmission and 29 miles per gallon, and only $4,085.
A piano-hauling trip to Texas in April 1980 provided a test for an ‘80 Chevrolet half-ton pickup with a 250-cubic-inch inline-6-cylinder engine and 3-speed automatic transmission. It also was loaned by the Stevinsons. The dirt was blowing on the climb over Raton Pass, the wind trying to remove the plastic cover over the piano. With the load in the back, the wide-seated C10 rode good through New Mexico and Texas. Destination was Fort Worth, where daughter Kim was employed. Fury in the form of a Texas-sized windstorm bucked the pickup on the return from Fort Worth to Amarillo. The truck’s fuel mileage ranged from 12.8 to 17.2, depending on the wind. Unleaded-fuel price was highest at Amarillo, $1.21.8.
Snow and ice and subzero temperatures at Christmastime 1990 were perfect for testing the downsized ’91 Chevy S10 Blazer, a highlight of the 1½ years I spent at the Pueblo Chieftain. Engage the front axle, the Blazer becomes sure-footed and a persistent road-hugger.
Just before Thanksgiving 1997, the snow was soon measured in feet, rather than inches, as I drove a ’98 Blazer four-door I had picked up earlier from Lisa Fleischman at Luby Chevrolet. An electronic push-button made it easy-shifting into and out of four-wheel drive mode. Insta-Trac’s 4-Lo got us away from the house, through 2½-foot-deep snow and into the middle of the street; 4-Hi got us through 1½-feet in the driving lanes. I averaged 12.8 miles per gallon in four days of deep-snow driving.
Turn-of-the-century, Jan. 1, 2000, the 1958 Chevy Impala Sport Coupe was revealed as “best-looking car of all time” in a contest I conducted in the Rocky Mountain News.
“I’d be happy to provide all the local historical material and photos for a special section of our own for Chevrolet’s 100th anniversary in October 2011, if there is interest from Automotive Advertising (in The Denver Post), I suggested in a note to my superiors. There was interest, and I included the all-time favorite Chevys of A.J. Guanella, who worked more than 70 years for Burt Chevrolet, first for the Burt family, then for Lloyd Chavez, finally for Todd Maul after the John Elway name went in place of Burt. Guanella’s choices were 1941 Chevy coupe, ‘51 Chevy pickup, ‘60 Impala coupe and ‘68 Corvette.
Tromp it, the ‘12 Chevy Camaro ZL1 will quickly approach 3-digit speed while still in 3rd gear. We were out east in July 2012 on some fairly wide-open highways, testing the 580-horsepower, 6.2-liter supercharged V-8 with 6-speed manual transmission. Shifts and throttle response from a revised short-throw shifter were smoother than most performance models with manual trannies.
In out of the rain in January 2013 at the old Russell Industrial Center in Detroit for unveiling of Chevrolet’s seventh-generation 2014 Corvette. “The soul of our company is sitting right here tonight in the seat of this new Corvette,” said Mark Reuss, president of General Motors North America. A half hour later, during a “strolling dinner” as part of the Corvette splendor, I bumped into Bob Lutz, former top car guy for GM, who asked immediately upon seeing me, “How is Dean Singleton,” (then publisher of The Denver Post). Lutz, Singleton and I had enjoyed lunch together nine years previously at the Brown Palace in Denver.
The chance to drive the famed, 7th-gen Vette came 19 months later, August 2014, a two-passenger coupe finished in velocity yellow tintcoat. A drive-mode dial selector in the center console lends the Corvette Stingray driver access to five modes, including weather, eco, tour, sport and track. Sticker price: $62,465.
The updated ‘23 Chevy Colorado ZR2 midsize pickup, driven in early September 2023, was my selection as Truck of the Year for its improved power and suspension. The performance boost came from the turbocharged, high-output 2.7-liter 4-cylinder engine, shared by Chevy’s big truck, the Silverado.
2nd-gen Rivian offers 3-motor trim, gear tunnel
Impressive performance and style, to a higher degree than I expected, shone brightly as the second-generation 2025 Rivian R1T all-electric pickup was delivered to me in February.
Rivian, based in Irvine, Calif., with manufacturing plant in Normal, Ill., was launched as an electric-car company in 2018.
Coming my way was the Rivian truck’s Ascend Tri Max trim, with a three-motor setup of 835 horsepower and 908 lb.-ft. of torque, standard all-wheel drive, air suspension and oval-shaped headlights.
As good as it was, I was somewhat perplexed by the intricacy of the learning curve to drive such a new vehicle as this. No buttons, no switches, “anything you need to know, adjustments, etc.,” are in the touchscreen, I was told as I was handed a key card used to unlock the driver’s door and to start the pickup. Need to adjust a side mirror? Scroll through the touchscreen. The key card unlocked the driver’s door on first try about half the time.
Drive time, though, was a delight. After an overnight charge in our garage created an expected range of 351 miles from the lithium-iron-phosphate battery pack, we drove the new midsizer on Monday west on U.S. 34 through Loveland and into the foothills. We jogged to the right a bit into Sunrise Canyon, where the truck handled the smaller, tighter roads very smoothly. A turnaround took us back through Masonville, then east with the Riv remaining well-planted with sharp steering and excellent grip into and out of the many curves and twists, thanks to its low center of gravity. We passed by the former town of Stout, continued through Fort Collins and on home to Greeley.
A standout feature is the Gear Tunnel, which runs full width of the pickup beneath the rear seat of the cab and the lower front of the truck bed, offering 11.7 cubic feet of space. It will haul luggage, skis, camping gear, hunting gear, fishing gear, or an overload of groceries from Costco. It can be unlocked from inside the truck (find it on the touchscreen).
The truck bed is small, 4.5-foot length, though a front trunk (or “frunk”) provides 11 cubic feet of storage. The truck bed, with a power tailgate, has a tightly fitted tonneau cover. R1T’s tow rating is up to 11,000 pounds.
Sticker price on the R1T is $101,900. Cheaper trims are dual-motor models at $72,000 and $85,000. Rivian officials have said they expect to offer three new models in the $50,000 range in 2026.
The ’25 Rivian R1T is rated tops in its class by U.S. News & World Report, followed, in order, by Ford F-150 Lightning, GMC Sierra EV, Chevy Silverado EV, Hummer EV and Tesla Cybertruck.
Honda’s 1st electric SUV, the Prologue, tied to GM
A collaborative effort with General Motors, which put the 2024 Honda Prologue into the U.S. auto market a generation earlier than would have been possible otherwise, paid immediate dividends to the Prologue’s Japanese carmakers.
From its introduction last March to its end-of-year sales boom in December, the Prologue was one of the five best-selling electric SUVs in the country.
While its styling was by Honda’s design studio in Los Angeles, the midsize SUV EV was based on GM’s Ultium architecture and BEV3 platform, shared with the Chevrolet Blazer EV, Cadillac Lyriq and Acura ZDX.
The partnership has since been dissolved, though will continue production of the Honda through the first generation.
The Prologue delivered to me is the standard two-row with seating for five, a third row is optional. It operates smoothly and quietly, handling impressively.
The all-wheel-drive Prologue uses an 85-kWh battery pack with dual electric motors generating 288 combined horsepower. Twice last week, I charged the Prologue overnight, producing a fully energized battery pack of an estimated 271 miles of range. Following the first charge we drove to Sterling and back with temperatures in the 20s and low-30s, some light winds and rain on the return leg. We drove 208 miles, using 250 miles off the battery pack. Half the distance was on state highway (65 mph), the other half on Interstate (75 mph).
The move to a lever for shifting the electric is an improvement; Honda’s current push-button shifter for its internal-combustion models is a bit awkward, never seemed intuitive.
With most all safety features, including lane-change assist, the 2024 Prologue AWD Elite carries sticker price of $59,295. Its MPGe is 99 city, 84 highway, 92 combined. It is built in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico.
Longtime Denver metro car dealer Dean Dowson dies
Dean David Dowson, 81, a highly regarded Denver-area automobile dealer for more than 50 years, died at his winter residence near Ocala, Fla., Sunday, Feb. 2. Services were planned for Feb. 21 at First Presbyterian Church, Golden, followed by a celebration of life at Rolling Hills Country Club, Golden.
Dowson was a national Time Quality Dealer award recipient for Colorado in 2001 and was among the first class of inductees into the Colorado Automotive Hall of Fame in 2021.
Born March 2, 1943, in Denver to Harry and Halcyon Dowson, Dean spent four of his teen years at Wentworth Military Academy in Missouri, then attended the University of Denver with hopes of becoming an attorney. His father, however, redirected him to the family business of automobiles.
Harry Dowson and Ralph Schomp were sons-in-law of Roy J. Weaver, and joined Weaver in the 1930s and ‘40s in operation of Oldsmobile dealerships he brought to Denver after opening his first auto store in Pueblo in 1912.
Dean Dowson and his older brother, Stephen, and cousin Lisa Schomp beginning in the 1960s and ‘70s, followed their fathers Harry Dowson and Ralph Schomp and made successful careers of the car business, with Oldsmobile, Honda, Nissan, BMW and other brands.
Dean served on the National Dealer Advisory Board, was president of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association, spent many years as a Rotarian, was a member of Round Up Riders of the Rockies and was a volunteer at Copper Mountain Ski Resort.
He is survived by his wife, Tracy, and his son, Roy (Kristen).
I enjoyed a good visit with Dean several months back at a book-signing event by Tim Jackson in south Denver.
5 decades of minivans
From this. . .
. . .to this
Time-tested into a fifth decade, four remaining automotive brands producing minivans are waging keen competitiveness for the shrunken market in the U.S. Most of the kinks have been straightened, many following suggestions from among the millions of “soccer moms” who’ve, since the early1980s, hauled their kids here and there in 2nd and 3rd-row seats.
The entry and exit of minivan occupants, due to lower step-in height, are much easier than today’s popular, high-riding SUVs and full-size pickups, and they’ll carry loads of luggage or groceries or a lawnmower, in addition to the youngsters.
I’ve spent the first week of the new year in the 2025 Honda Odyssey, highlighted by a smooth-shifting 10-speed automatic transmission and a relatively simple access of the 3rd row of seating.
The fancied-up Chrysler Pacifica, for the third year in a row, led the four minivan brands with 107,356 sales in 2024, followed by the Odyssey with 80,293, Toyota Sienna 66,547 and Kia Carnival 49,726.
The 303,922 minivan sales in 2024 were a slight decrease from the 310,789 in the year previous. A total of 550,000 minivans were sold 10 years ago and more than 1.1 million were sold 20 years ago in 2004.
Delivered to me was the well-finished Odyssey Elite, sticker-priced at $52,275.04 (every penny counts for Honda). Lesser-equipped trim levels are EX, EX-L, Sport and Touring. The Honda, by an inch or two, is the longest of the four minivans sold in the U.S. It is 205 inches overall on a wheelbase of 118 inches, with curb weight of 4,590 pounds.
The Odyssey performs adequately in highway passing from its 280-horsepower V-6 engine and is noticeably precise in its steering, with firm handling. Second-row seats can slide sideways, clearing a path for climbing into the 3rd row.
The Odyssey is built at Honda’s Lincoln, Ala., plant; the Toyota Sienna is assembled in Princeton, Ind., the Chrysler Pacifica in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and the Kia Carnival in Seoul, South Korea, and West Point, Ga.
Word from a reader
Bud, I hope all is going well for you and Jan. During your book-signing at Wray in September, I took from one of your comments that you perhaps were wanting to retire at the end of 2024. God knows you have earned it if you choose to fully retire. Thus, I was really tickled to find your column in today’s Post (January 4). I’m glad you’re continuing to write, and when you choose to step aside, my congratulations for a job well done. – Tim W., Wray.
Thank you, Tim, a few more columns yet.
For ordering the book The book, “2,600 Cars and a Dog Sled, Bud Wells’ 67 Years in Newspapering and Automobiles,” can be ordered through BudWellsBooks.com or budwellscars@comcast.net or by phoning or texting Bud at 303-549-4464.
’25 Audi Q7 quattro faces challenge of GLE, X5
The Audi Q7, based in Germany and built in Bratislava, Slovakia, is perhaps the finest midsize luxury SUV crossover sold in the U.S. Stiffest challenge to that honor comes also from Germany – the Mercedes GLE and BMW X5.
My drives in the autumn of 2024 were aboard a samurai gray 2025 Q7 55 TFSI quattro, sporting redesigned headlights and new grille up front. It is barely a half-inch short of 200 inches in overall length; that is noticeably longer than its BMW and Mercedes competitors.
Parking and other low-speed maneuvering tasks are assisted very ably by the Audi’s all-wheel steering, in which the back wheels turn up to 5 degrees in the opposite direction to the front wheels. The $1,350 optional cost is a worthy one.
An earlier Q7 caught my attention seven years ago with its leading technology in lane guidance; this new one is far beyond that today with advances in adaptive cruise, pre-sense forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking and rear cross-traffic warning.
The Audi Q7 55 trim level gets excellent, smooth performance from combining turbocharging and direct fuel injection in its 335-horsepower, 3.0-liter V-6 engine and 8-speed automatic transmission with quattro all-wheel drive and a 48-volt mild-hybrid system. It is particularly more quickly controlled when sport mode has firmed up the air suspension for improved handling. A downside to this setup is the EPA fuel rating of 18/23 miles per gallon. I averaged 21.4 during my week with the Q7.
A Q7 lower trim level uses a 261-hp, 4-cylinder, but it lacks the guts to adequately move the big, seven-passenger SUV, which weighs just a few pounds under 5,000. Audi’s permanent AWD system delivers between 40 and 60 percent of available torque to the front or rear axle.
The new Q7 offers a quiet ride in a nice, elaborate interior, with Bang & Olufsen premium sound, heated/ventilated/massage front seats and heated steering wheel. Space is tight in the third row, which is most suitable for kids.
Loaded with options, the sticker price for the Q7 reached $83,890, about $15,000 higher than the model I drove seven years ago.
The Audi’s dimensions are 117.9-inch wheelbase, 199.6 overall length, 77.5 width, 68.4 height.