Aug 06 Crossing the European continent in the GT86

Continental Drift!

Nino Karotta crosses Europe in a Toyota GT86 to put it up against his now "vintage" AE86 on a racetrack to see how they compare.

This is the ultimate road trip.

Unlike most of the video reviews of the 86 we've seen so far, this one delves well beyond the fact sheet to give us a glimpse of what the car is actually like to operate. Karotta takes the GT 86 from the twisting mountains of France across Germany via the Autobahn and into Austria for a date with his own AE86.

With a stellar soundtrack, beautiful videography and insightful commentary, the video is what all reviews should strive to be. How does the newcomer stack up against its ancestor? We won't spoil it for you.
Check out the clip below. You'll be glad you took the time.

Jul 16 Motueka Prius Challenge winner Kelly Barclay

We have a winner!
After a successful month of Prius Challenges on the course in Motueka we have found the greenest driver, who just happens to also be a pilot as well.
Meet our winner, Kelly Barclay - clearly excited about flying, and winning!

Kelly wins the Prius challenge

Young Kelly Barclay is very happy to be the winner of the Bowater Toyota Prius Challenge in Motueka, he now has got the bragging rights and gets to drive the Toyota Prius C for a week in spring, all topped up with a full tank of petrol.
He might have a hard time trying to finish the free tank in a week though, as it will enable him to to drive around 1000 kms.

Kelly stopped by to get the official winners photo so we chatted with him about the Prius Challenge, and theToyota Prius C.

Jul 11 Nelson has got heaps of talent as large numbers make the 2nd round of NZGT

This is not a huge surprise to discover that Nelson and the top of the south really has got a whole lot of talent.
The Toyota Talent Tour rolled through Bowater Toyota in May this year, and we got a sneak peek of some of the talent that was trying out the next day at the New Zealand's Got Talent auditions.
Overall we were blown away by the acts, and made a couple of videos, you can check them out in the links under "you might also like this....." in the menus to the right.

It was no surprise then for us to read in the Nelson Mail today about the large volume of Nelson act's going through to the second round filmed in front of a live studio audience in Wellington in a couple of weeks time.

talent-tour-jake

As it turns out they were very successful on the whole, as the following article posted on the Nelson Mail website testifies...

Jul 11 Toyota Motueka gets a makeover

Our Bowater Toyota branch in Motueka is currently getting a make over and a fresh new look.

New salesman and recent Dutch import Michiel Overweel has breezed into town, taken up the new position and set about making himself known to the locals.
He has also been lucky to arrive in the midst of some exciting, and some may say long overdue changes to the Bowater Toyota Motueka branch to bring it into the 21st century.
The new showroom will be a lot lighter and more open and integrated than before.

The renovation has been brought about in part by the moving of the Lube Bay hoist from alongside the new Z Station shop to inside the actual bowater Toyota workshop. This created a need to shuffle some bits around, and before we knew it a full makeover was on the cards!
It has been exciting times in the showroom, here is Andrew Clark the service advisor in Motueka happily enjoying what will be the new reception front desk!

andrew

Rebuilding and updating the Bowater Toyota Motueka branch is in 'full swing' and all going according to plan! Speaking of plans we have some great plans for the big unveil!