spinteews

WOOOHOO

We had GREAT weather here today in San Francisco. Woke up early, headed down to Alameda with my pops and we checked out the Lexus Event. It was quite good. Lots of people... not too many to the point where you'd have to wait forever to test drive the cars.

I first went to the Gx470 off road test... they were testing the Gx470, BMW X5 4.0, Lincoln Avaitor, and one more i dont remember... (land cruiser i think) all i know for sure was the Lincoln Avaitor line was EMPTY HAHAH... anyways, got my Gx470, buckled up, blasted my music on the ML... and i was off.. it was so much fun hahah, i was going pretty fast and the guys working were telling me to slow down. But the Gx470 handled very well. I was impressed and so was my pops..., i think we will be looking into that car in the future.

Next off we hopped to category Lx470, Range Rover, ML AMG 55... 1 more i do not remember either... This one i went for the AMG 55... that car was FAST... but they made us go on the off road track also... kind of unfair for mercades to go offroad with the AMG 55 since i'm POSITIVE it'll ROCK on the road.. but o well... went off road with it and again i went crazy and fast and the workers kind of had to talk to me 3 times LOL 2 times telling me to slow down and 1 time to be delicate with the ML lol... o well, the ML didn't handle any good... it was FAST, but wasn't as capable. My Pops did the Lx470 and enjoyed it also.... but i think he looked at the Gx more.

Finally it was off to the last category... Rx330, ML320, BMW X5 3.0, Volvo XC90, Acura MDX. Here i went STRAIGHT for the Rx330... gotta grab one of those. This track was a race track. the beginning was a straight away then a sharp turn... then move on to a winding turn to more sharp turns. It was a great course. I took the Rx330 to its limits, screeching its wheels everywhere... No one hassled me there!!! Great car.. i mean suv... drove like a car then i went for the x5 3.0 and man that car was good also... after i was done i coudn't resist an went for the Rx330 again... this time i got the BAM... big azz moonroof and that was even more joy to ride. This was when i pushed it to its limits... at the straight away, i floored it... reached 60-80 and slammed on brakes, screached to a halt... floored it, wheels wining thru some turns, gaining speed busting turns left and right and man... what can i say... the rx330 was a GREAT car to drive. I enjoyed it MUCH. handles are very good.

too bad thast the end.. had to leave cuz i had to drive my pops to work. But yea that was my impression of the Event and i thought that was a great one also.

btw, i got some pictures up, the links down here.

http://photos.yahoo.com/numchop@pacbell.net

Video should be this one
http://briefcase.yahoo.com/numchop@pacbell.net


check it out... some interior shots, and things like that.

1 more thing... i added 3 videos... 1 of them demostrates how the rear AUTO hatch works... check em out

cfisher

Little help on the vids...can't seem to find 'em...

Thanks for the pics though!

EnzoRX

spinteews,

I also went to the Alameda Point yesterday for the Lexus Luxury Redefined event. The weather was just beautiful yesterday here in the San Fran Bay Area.

They pitted the RX330 against the 2003 versions of the Acura MDX, BMW X5 3.0i, M-B ML350 and the Volvo XC90. By far, the RX330 is the overall winner when you look at the car/SUV as a whole. The RX330 handles better than my Silversport RX300. The engine pulls strongly and it's fairly quiet (when I wasn't flooring the gas and taking sharp turns and making the tires squeal). The gated automatic shifter needs some getting used to. The control layout is better than the current RX300. What I really liked was the power open/close of the rear liftgate. My current RX300 is sometimes a real pain for the wife to close with that little recessed handle in the bottom of the liftgate. The backup camera/nav system is a cool feature too. The Mark Levinson stereo is an awesome system. I now wanna buy a new RX330...but with a $46,000+ MSRP price tag for a fully optioned out one seems quite steep...I will have to save up my pennies now.

The MDX was easy to drive...the steering was light and responsive. However, the interior does not exude luxury like the RX330 does. The switch gear and dash controls were very Honda-looking and Honda-feeling. The MDX was the roomiest one in the bunch. The X5 was a great handling car. Acceleration and handling were its strong points. The interior was typical German in that the instrumentation was minimal and very business-like. The leather seats were very firm too. The X5 would be my 2nd choice next to the RX330. The ML350 accelerated strongly...but that's about it. It felt very truck-like and handled like one too. The shape of the ML350 just doesn't appeal to me. It looks dated when it is lined up next to the competition. What is with that cruise control stalk that looks so out of place on the steering column? The XC90 was a disappointment. After reading it had won Motor Trend's SUV of the Year award, I was expecting it to impress me. The engine was noisy, acceleration was terrible and the controls and interior just looked cheap. After getting out of the XC90 after test driving it, I knew that this SUV was not for me. The worst SUV of the bunch. Not impressed at all.

The GX470 was a hoot to drive. They let us test drive on a slapped together, mild off road dirt track. It was a very smooth riding SUV even on the bumps and lumps. The DAC feature and hill holding transmission are great features. This is the SUV that I would buy personally (if I didn't have to consider that the SUV is for my wife). Even going over the railway tie at the very entrance of the course, it didn't shake out my fillings when we drove over this. This is a very capable SUV...I doubt that a large percentage of GX470's will see offroading in their lifetime. The interior was very luxurious and quiet. The steering was light and direct. Very nice SUV and I think Lexus did a great job positioning it between the RX and LX.

They compared the GX470 against the Land Rover Discovery, the BMW X5 4.4i and the Lincoln Avaitor. The Disco felt very dated. The controls and dash layout seem dated. The doors were a bit "tinny" sounding. Overall, I didn't really like the way this car drove. It just felt antiquated. The X5 4.4i felt just like the 3.0i previously mentioned. It's offroad capabilities are pretty good. Although I think that the X5 would be more suited for on-roading...it's handling and performance on-road are its strong points. You could feel the power difference though. There's just something about that V-8 growl that's so intoxicating. The Aviator...what a piece of junk. The interior plastics felt very cheapy. Off road characteristics are very limited due to the side step boards. There were no lineups to drive the Aviator. People kinda shied away from it and went for everything else.

The LX470 was pitted against the Land Rover Range Rover HSE, the Cadillac Escalade and the M-B ML55. The LX470 was one of the more comfortable SUV's to ride in. Very luxurious and that height adjustable suspension was a cool feature. In this category, I liked the Range Rover the best. The Range Rover's styling is kinda controversial...I liked the way it drove and handled in the rough stuff. It also has that hill holding tranny (when you are going up an incline, you stop in the middle of the incline, let go of the brake pedal, the SUV doesn't travel backwards when you get off the brakes). It also had the downhill deceleration feature (let go of the gas and brake pedals on a downhill descent and the computer takes care of yer speed and braking to ensure a safe downhill descent). Surprisingly, the LX470 didn't have these 2 features.

The Escalade is just brute power. There's tons of power on tap underneath yer right foot, but it just lacks the refinement and luxury of the others in its class. The GM plastics just don't do the car justice in this price range. The Escalade just doesn't do it for me. The ML55 is the performance SUV of the entire group. I kinda felt bad taking the ML55 thru' its paces off roading. This car is much better suited for on road straight line performance and tossing it around corners. Those fat Michelin Pilots were slogging thru the dirt and mud and they just didn't look at home. The ML55 is a much better feeling SUV than its cheaper sibling, the ML350...maybe it's just psychological...but the ML55 felt like a more solid SUV.

Overall, it was a very classy event put on by Lexus. The food and beverages were a class act. The other Lexus passenger cars were on static display. Lotsa places to sit inside/outside and it was a great day to display the entire Lexus lineup. Thank-you, Lexus!

HarrierRX300

I got to say, man, was flooring that baby fun. I was at the Alameda event on Saturday and driving all those cars made me feel like a kid in a candy store. The offroad part, I felt the Lexus wasn't as good as the Land Rover/Discovery, especially when one part, only three wheels were touching the ground. The Lexus had grinding noise as I gased a little, but that British car was excellent. The Escalade couldn't go through many of the rocks, humps, and steep areas because it didn't have 4WD, but yeh, the Aviator line was empty. I was like ain't anybody going for it? I guess not. Anyways, the speedway was great. Launches with a sharp right turn from the start was great. I tried not to brake a lot, but man was there a lot of schreeching. At one point, a minivan followed me and honked at me cuz I was driving the 330 so hard. I was like, "oh wells".

Will Lexus do this again? I'm sure they know their vehicles are no match to X5, Mercedes, MDX, Volvo. and they were very confident in getting this event together.

Hope they'll do it again.

I wonder if I can work out a deal with the dealer and trade in my 2001 vehicle. If I pay like $2000 and that's it, you think it'll work?

Arty101

I went to the Alameda event too. Quite a bit of fun for the afternoon to test drive the different SUV's back to back. Both the GX470 and the LX470 were rock solid on the dirt courses. No rattles, squeaks or groins. Lexus made all the bumps, obstacles and hills feel like you were on a cushy couch. Very smooth and no teeth jarring.

I was hoping that we could have tried the RX on a similar dirt course, albeit smaller obstacles and holes due to lower ground clearance, instead of just the closed course track. I got that impressiion that the Lexus event in LA (RX330 GX470 LX470 Luxury Tour thread) had a dirt course or dirt trail for the RX, something we didn't get up here in SF. I wanted to compare how the RX would do against the X5 in the dirt, and the rally since the X5 were used in both (the 4.4i for the dirt and the 3.0i for the rally). I guess to be fair they didn't put the RX in with the big boys (V8s) in the dirt course, although I wanted to see how it would handle with the AWD.

BTW, Tankertoad said they got car coffee mugs with a plug in warmer as their parting gift at the LA even. All we got was a crab cracker and some Lexus Magazines. Whats up with that?

tankertoad

Hmmmm, maybe it's a limited edition item for the Malibu folks. I better keep it in its plastic wrapping then so I can sell it for full inflated value on ebay in ten years.

PS-I really wish they had the FX35/45 there to compare!

spinteews

SOrry about the videos... here it is...

http://briefcase.yahoo.com/numchop@pacbell.net

this should be the link.

they should be in the lexus folder at the end of the files, should be the last 4 or something. they are .avi files.

enjoy

Arty101

Damn, I was looking forward to getting one of those "limited ed" mugs. You folks down in Malibu get all the good stuff.

PS- I agree. I wish they had either the FX35 or 45 to compare. I heard they only had 2 of each of the competitors cars since they had to go out and buy them, like you and like regular folks (okay, maybe not for the Malibu folks . )

RoRo

Excellent, I was just about to post a topic about this luxury redefined drivng event. I got my invitation in the mail today and am reserved for 04/27/03. I was hoping that they would have the new Infiniti SUVs there as well for the competition, but oh well. I've cleared out my schedule for that whole day and plan on driving every SUV there. Anything, that you guys that have already been would do differently??

I'm pretty sure, my wife and I will be buying either 1 or 2 RX330's in the next few months. We'll be trading in the 99 RX300 on one of them and i'll probably trade in the RSX type S on the other one. Not sure though, we might buy hers and lease mine. I guesss there's still plenty of time to work out the details.

Arty101

If you plan on driving every vehicle there, plan on getting there early and staying late. Hint: get there early since the lines aren't as long. Does Disneyland give you a clue? Even if your registry time is later, they'll let you in earlier. I heard someone went on Saturday, and then returned on Sunday since he couldn't get enough.

You'll have a good time. But tell us know how you liked it, and what vehicles you were impressed with. Myself, and I'm not a Bimmer person, liked the X5. Both the on-road and off-road handling, although not the best, was very good. That is, if you can pry your eyes off the poorest quality rating in Consumer's Report for mid size SUVs. The ML55 was pretty messed up since the ground clearance and bumpers kept hitting the ruts.

Oh, the food, smoothies and capacinos weren't bad either. I spent almost the whole day there.

EnzoRX

I agree with Arty...get there early and set aside at least 4 hours to test drive everything once. Yeah, too bad there were no Infiniti SUV's there. It would have been nice to compare it to the RX's and GX's.

RoRo, when ya buy the his/her RX's...post up some pix!

INHOCJP

I was at the Malibu event and thought the same thing. Wouldn't that have been a sight, a FX45 w/ 20 inch wheels going offroad

RoRo

I have my wife convinced, it's just a matter of getting a good deal. It's a damn shame to because the dealer where I leased the 1999 and ended up buying it at the end of the lease is treating us pretty badly through e-mail so far. So we're taking our business elsewhere. I'll definitely be posting some pics up when the time comes though. Our second child is coming in either late July or early August, so I definitely need to get something bigger than this RSX type S to be driving them around in.

spinteews

hahah if your gonna be going to the event soon... drive the Rx330, X5 3.0, mdx, and ML HARD!!! lol, give it all you got and try not to brake as much... it'll make the driving experience better then ever. and you can do things to those cars that you'd never do to your OWN. heheh have fun

Arty101

Yeah, I also drove the RX, X5, ML hard. WOT or brake, with the ABS kicking in. Tried that on the two "sand pits", or areas with sand to see how these puppies handled. Surprising, all of them remained stable and straight. As Spinteews said, you can do this to those cars that you'd never do to yours. Lots of fun too.


Too bad I was more careful on the off-road courses. I should have really put them through the paces, but there were too many cars out there and the courses were very short. No real time or distance to punch them.

Art