Hey, Guys!

Wanted to toss a question out to the group for possibly making an article out of it tomorrow (assuming we get enough responses, of course. If not, that's okay)...

In honor of St. Valentine, why do you love Lexus or Toyota vehicles?

and/or

Have you celebrated any romantic milestones that involved a Lexus? (First Dates, Wedding days, honeymoons, meeting the love of your life in your Lexus, etc.)


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For me, although I'm not an ower, I've come to love how much emphasis Lexus engineers place on performance and the quality of the driving experience, and the LC 500 and IS 500 are among the most fun I've ever had cruising the roads of Southern California. It almost feels like a secret club at times, since most folks know Lexus for models like the LS, ES, and RX.

 

Off topic and sorry for the rant, but I absolutely despise Toyota company and their vehicle. Overpriced, uninspiring "appliances", average reliability, expensive maintenance and absolutely worst customer service, both from dealers and corporate. I have owned 9 Toyota / Lexus vehicles since 2005, and my experience over the past few years has been "never again".

 

I love(d) them since they have been very well made and consistent for me, never had what I would consider a "real" issue.

Met one of my best friends due to the Lexus 3UZ engine, he needed his 3GS belt fixed (was on factory one at 189k) and was sent to me on recommendation. We ended up getting along really well

 

i LOVE toyota (and lexus) products from the 90s, the last thing they did that i love was the LFA but i can see me loving the LC and IS 500 eventually lol

as far as my own car, simply put it's the most meticulously and thoroughly executed luxury car of all time! other cars certainly may do one particular thing better, but nothing else i've encountered does a combination of everything so incredibly well... the relentless pursuit of perfection was an understatement! it accomplishes what i consider to be the ultimate goal of any luxury car, which is it feels light, effortless, and intuitive to operate, but the way it rides down the road feels heavy and stout

 

For me, some of it is nostalgia. I bought an AE86 (GT-S) in 1994 right after I graduated from college. Nobody cared about the AE86 then. I had great times in the car including 4 cross country trips. I still have it. Need to get it out of storage and home so the engine and transmission can go in (both are “new”). I didn’t keep the car because other people care about it now. I am keeping it because I do.

My 1994 GS300 was a great car for 13 years. It was smooth and reliable and my first luxury car (some people have said the GS is not a luxury car and to each their own). It was rock solid to 177k miles. No issues. It needed a head gasket so after that, I drove it to 222k and sold it. It was custom painted, with a body kit, wheels and tires, and a refreshed interior to the extent it was possible. I just saw a picture of the car from 10 years ago and it made me smile. I was pleased with how it looked.

I have also had a 2014 IS250 F SPORT and a 2016 IS350 F SPORT. Both were leased. I loved the interior and loved that it was my first brand new car. I was 43. Student loans prevented new cars for a decade plus, so I was old for someone getting a new car for the first time. The 250 was nice enough to drive but severely underpowered. It also had a mysterious battery drain. I turned it in and got the 350. I loved the car and wanted to buy it out of the lease, but LFS does not negotiate on residuals (more than the car was worth at lease end), so they got it back. The third gen ISs seem to have a lot of infotainment issues including complete system failures. I’m glad I didn’t buy it.

 

I have owned many cars, including GM (Saturn and Chevrolet), Honda, Acura, and Toyota products. I currently own three Toyota products - one that I like, one that I love, and one that I super duper love! I haven't had a warranty repair in YEARS.

I "like" our Highlander. It's completely trouble free. It's also unexciting, but it does it's job as a family vehicle well. It's well equipped, with items such as second row captain's heated chairs, panoramic roof, seating for 6 (7 in a pinch), over 300 horsepower, AWD, and 28 mpg. It's a 2019, so almost 5 years old, and has about 17k miles on it, so it has lots of life left in it and we'll have it long term. We figure we'll eventually give it to the kids to drive.








I love my Tundra. It replaced a 2020 Tacoma to better pull our trailer. It has become our road trip champion, my daily driver, and pulls our trailer very well. I plan to keep it for several more years (4-5 or so). It's a 2021, so it's coming up on 3 years, with about 14k miles on it.







Lastly, I LOVE LOVE my GS. It's my third 4th gen GS (had a 2015, then a 2019, and now a 2020). I don't drive it a lot (coming up on 4 years and 5k miles), but I just love it when I do. I know it's not super powerful, but it's very refined, very comfortable, and always a pleasure to drive. (Pictured are my 2015, then 19, then 20). My son (currently 9 years old) thinks he'll get it when he starts driving. He won't.

 

Sweet taste in vehicles. Love all of them.

 

I love my 2010 GS 350. Perfect size not to too small like an IS or too large like an LS. Good performance and handling. Comfortable seats. Rain sensing wipers, ventilated seats, Bluetooth streaming audio, wood steering wheel. All the features I care about. I love the L finesse styling. And it has been extremely reliable too.

Unfortunately Lexus doesn’t make anything like the GS anymore, my next car may be a GS 450h or possibly an RX 450h. I also loved my 2007 RX 350. I don’t have much love for the new RX with its 4 cyl engine……

 

after an incredible experience with my 2000 GS400 and modifications adventure (mostly handling), i left lexus for a long time for either practical reasons or not seeing a lexus that fit my needs/wants during that time.

but thanks to covid and not being sure when we might have 'fun' again, the lc500 and savagegeese and other videos began haunting me. every review basically praised the wonderful driving experience, the quality, the uniqueness, and the design details. let's face it the car is gorgeous, it really is very unique, and has a lexus 5L NA V8 so you know it's going to be reliable. so i kept thinking about it and researching and christmas 2020 i got my 2021 LC500.

i had never driven one.

but it was everything i hoped for and more. thrilling, beautiful, split personality (raucous acceleration and quiet cruising), very comfortable, and very fun to drive.

i like how 'minimal' the interior looks, and with a wireless apple carplay adapter, i have no issues with the 'old' infotainment.

i usually only drive it on weekends, but that's fine. it has about 7k mi. on it now.

 

One thing I always appreciated about Lexus products was how "tight" the vehicles remained over years and years of ownership and hundreds of thousands of miles. No squeaks, no rattles - they always drove the same at 250k miles as they did at 50k miles. A real testament to overall build quality.

 

It's still like new with your low miles.

 

from the factory my year LS came with a 6 year/70,000 mile powertrain warranty, as well as a 6 year unlimited mileage corrosion perforation warranty! it was quite literally one of the design parameters that an LS 400 with 50,000 miles shouldn't feel any different than a new one... so yea they really engineered these cars to last a long time, i'd say about the only thing the original lexus team never accounted for was akio

 

Actually if I had to make a list of things I hated about my Lexus 3GS. It would be the squeaks and rattles………… It’s nice to hear that’s not the case with with all Lexus products though.

 

it boils down to build quality and reliability for me. i spend a lot of time on the road and not in a shop whereas friends and family outside of tmc usually have issues in these areas. i only wish they made the next gen performance lexus line already. since they haven't, i've started to look elsewhere to spend money.

 

I had 3 LS's (96, 04, 10), a GX (04), and an LX (10). The lowest miles that any of those had at the time of me selling them was 175k (LX) and none of them ever had a single squeak or rattle.