Ice350

iTrader: (1)

Dang Mike, you could be a journalist.

Your rant reminded me why I came and then stayed with Lexus.

I grew up with muscle cars and loved Chevy's. I had 2 Monte Carlo's, one that remains the most memorable car of my life...to date. I had 2 Camaro's. They weren't just Camaro's. They were modded and received constant attention from others. Many who marveled that mine looked so much better or different than others. My problem with the Camaro's...reliability and quality. In the shop every other month. Serious issues. With new cars you expect maybe minor stuff but changing drive shafts and transmissions just bothered the heck out of me.

Then I discovered Lexus. My wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, talked me into visiting the dealer. I thought I couldn't afford a Lexus on a social worker's pay but she told me about CPO. I knew about it but swore I would never buy a used car. Upon closer review, i learned that Lexus used cars were equal to or superior to other brands new cars and took a chance. I am a coupe man at heart and chose the 4 year old 1995 SC300 that looked brand new. I was hooked. What quality. What style. There were drawbacks but nothing I couldn't fix. Coilovers fixed the sluggish suspension. Other mods added more style and drama. Since then, I haven't looked back. Lexus cars only lack the handling that I prefer. I solve that with mods. It comes with reliability. It comes with style.
I've bought 2 used and 2 new Lexus cars. I've learned that new is really no better than used. I'll probably stick with used from now on. We'll see.

My biggest disappointment with Lexus...not enough coupes. Benz has a coupe for every class of car it makes. Surely Lexus could make more than it has. I would love a GS-type coupe. It would be like sex every day. There should also be an ISF coupe. That one is a no-brainer but there isn't one.

Then comes the LFA. I agree Lexus needed such a car. I understand the attacks. Whomever is at the top will be attacked. If no one is attacking you then you're irrelevant. That's fine. I just hope Lexus makes some sportier cars that the rest of us can afford. Hopefully, one of them will be a coupe. If not, I can wait until I get one pre-owned. Just build them.

On the other side. Lexus made it's mark with luxo-barge sedans and doesn't really need to do anything different. But we hope they look at Clublexus and realize there is a market for enthusiast cars. People who like to drive. People who want to look good or at least different. Let's hope they give us what we want: reliable, fast, sporty, quality and affordable cars. That's not too much to ask. Is it?

flipside909

Very well said.


:cough: Edmunds Insideline.

Pnthrzrule

Ummm....what sky is falling articles?

LexFather

http://jalopnik.com/5805471/is-the-l...s-jaguar-xj220

http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1...de-a-sales-dud

rominl

iTrader: (4)

fantastic fantastic post by tommy. i think it gives a very good breakdown on where lexus is and about what they are doing / experimenting with the lfa.

djyoshi626

iTrader: (5)

Did I misread something? Ford is going to buy Lexus???


Very nice article Mike, very well written and articulated. TommyJames also brings up some very valid points. Also for the record, I read a lot of your posts Tommy, very neutral and unbias, thanks for your inputs!

TommyJames

Thanks, I really appreciate that. I do my best to keep emotion out of it and write as accurately as possible.

LexFather

Hey guys, I'll try to respond to posts shortly. Ryan told me Autospies also enjoyed the read, its on their front page and the kind words are appreciated. Oh and I love Rodney!

http://www.autospies.com/news/Fan-Ra...ndustry-64445/

DickChang

Great writeup. It's refreshing to see intelligence and structured argument on the Internet.

matt310

iTrader: (1)

I like it too; good job.

matt310

iTrader: (1)

Oh - there are some punctuation issues you need to take care of. Starting with the top line. You don't need an apostrophe in Camrys unless it's showing ownership of something.

Like: The Camry's sunroof is open.

LexFather

Thanks again guys and thanks for the punctuation comments. Did a bad job editing

Wanted to bump seeing how relevant this is since the LFA ran a 7:14 at the "Ring"....totally slapping haters with Chuck Norris force.

G Star

iTrader: (2)

Guys, it is so amazing how far Lexus has come with the F brand, just think about it:

ISF
LFA (beat GTO in comparison)
LFA nurburging edition (new track record speaks for itself)
LFA (Gazoo) in 24hr Lemans and did amazingly well cracking top 20 in the first few hours before being rear ended in the pits
LFA (soon to come) GT2 for LeMans 2012
GSF (not official but tons of talk and rumors, likelyhood of production I'd say 95%)
2ISF to follow and more!

Next I'd really love to see them hit that SC market again and release an SC-F right after.

Lexus is on a hot streak, especially now that the 4GS is being touted as competition to BMW performance, it isn't that Lexus couldn't get it done, they just didn't want to, until now. So much for beige and vanilla luxury cars.

I still remember when I read about the launch of F brand and we all weren't sure what to make of it but it just came out so well. Let the haters hate, don't want them all up on my brand.

Brylek

This is compleatly normal, you just have to get used to it . Honda/ Acura is getting the same exact treatment. When Top gear was testing the NSX they said: "its brilliant and it drives like nothing else but no matter how hard they tried it was never a ferrari and who's going to spend $70k for a Honda?" The LFA and NSX were both tested on a wet track...

RaceSC300

LFA didn't run in the 24 Hours of LeMans this year. They ran in the Nurburgring 24 Hours.

The LFA has always been good enough to run with the worlds best, better in some cases, but it is the stigma that made people doubt it. Now that the numbers are rolling in it is proving what everyone in the Lexus world already knew: the LFA is world class.