KillaIS250

iTrader: (1)

http://lexusenthusiast.com/2012/03/1...-in-australia/

Very interesting

MPLexus301

iTrader: (3)

Congrats to Australia, but I wouldn't mind seeing that here!

jjscsix

Just what we need, another premium car that you will spend $5000 to save about $1000 in gas over the life of the car. Pardon my attitude - I like good gas mileage but not at the expense of decent performance. Go read the BMW 5 series forum right now. The "ultimate driving machine" comes with a start-stop mode that defaults to the on position every time you start the car. Many owners are not happy about it.

Trade offs in the name of fuel economy should not have compromises in premium cars. I get that other people don't agree with me, and that's fine. But the market place is not supporting hybrids right now in general.

natnut

When hybrids gain mass market acceptance, economies of scale will mean that the average price of a hybrid car will come down.Many governments are nowing offering rebates/rewards for buying low emissions/high fuel efficient cars like hybrids.

Once the hybrid tech matures, hybrids are probably the solution for the mid-term future. Even now, the GS hybrids don't really penalize keen drivers except for the CVT and extra battery weight.

Don't conflate the driving problems of the 5 series with the GS hybrid as they use different tech.I don't see GS hybrids with the start-stop problems of the 5er.

spwolf

what world do you live in? Toyota will build and sell over 1,000,000 hybrids this year.

jjscsix

My point was not to "conflate" the problems with the BMW, it was to point out that manufacturers are trading off drive ability in pursuit of fuel economy.

Gee, haven't we been down this road before? I have no idea how many hybrids they will sell - you may be right. But in the scheme of total car sales they are a pimple on an elephants ***, and most Prius buyers buy them to make a statement about themselves more so than to save money. There is no secret that other than the Prius, Hybrid sales have been a total bust, and many manufacturers over the past few years have actually quit offering hybrid models that didn't sell.

Here is an interesting article....

http://green.autoblog.com/2012/03/05...d-in-february/

x838nwy

If you don't like hybrids, don't buy them. If someone wants a luxury car and prefers a variant that can save them a few dollars then that's their cash, not mine, not yours. Different people justify things differently and that's that.

Everything is a compromise and it depends on how yours match up with a particular manufacturer's set of compromises. If you take BMW as an example, there's everything from a 760iL to an M5 to a 520d or even a active hybrid 5. It's just an array of compromises from which to choose - no right or wrong, just what works for you.

I agree that BMW's decision to go dictatorize start-stop is silly (considering the million of things i-drive lets you faff around with), but that by no means speaks for all hybrids.

The view on hybrids differ from country to country. It depends on whether you/your government prefers petrol/diesel or pollutants/economy or the incentives they are willing to provide. Heck, in some places it also depends on what sort of fuel you can get at the pumps! (Here, I can get a well-specced Panamera S Hybrid for less than an 750iL, for example.) It is a solution but no-one is saying it is the ONLY solution.

For some it is a hybrid, for some diesel. For some it's a bicycle. Just because they patented a new model name doesn't mean it's going to burn a hole in the planet. Let it go, dude.

spwolf

Prius owners are raking in the cash right now. Just because nobody else knows how to build a good hybrid except toyota, doesnt mean that hybrids are bad.

Here in Europe gas i going to be $9/gallon soon and I would not want to be driving 12mpg GS350 (in the city). Not only it is poor mpg, but I wont be able to resell it to anyone ever. I can get V8 petrols from VW and Audi for less money than same year Toyota's now, thats how much they dropped in value and still nobody is buying them.

jjscsix

You make good points. But I'm still able to share my opinions, aren't I?

My beef is from a marketing standpoint. Dumbing down a vehicle in my opinion lowers the status of the entire line. I realize that not everyone will agree that offering a hybrid is dumbing down the GS, but I think it is. Lexus is in the business to build premium vehicles. Just my opinion and I accept the fact that others don't agree with me. I would have rather seen them put the investment in a 400 hp version of the car than a hybrid. M-B sells an E550 coupe with 402 hp that gets 27 mpg on the highway. If Lexus offered that in the new GS there would be one in my garage right now (no B.S., I really would).

My point was not that hybrids are bad. I also happen to agree that hybrid technology is a great thing and I expect to see a lot more of them. My point was that the market is not accepting them except for the very small percentage of people who are interested in making an environmental statement. I don't mean that as an insult nor do I think people should or should not buy hybrids. I'm just saying that they aren't.

I live in Houston, and driving up and down the freeways it is easy to see what the majority of Americans are still wanting....big trucks are lined up along the front of the dealerships. Oddly, when gas hit $4.00 a gallon four years ago folks were dumping big vehicles and small, fuel efficient vehicles were flying off the lots. Today there is a mild uprising, but for the most part people seem to have become sensitized to higher fuel prices. There is nowhere near the backlash that took place four years ago.