I didn't Toysport did.

 

i meant KZ series, not T.

there are C series, L series, and some diesel engines line up.

 

 

LOL, fair enough - this is good for the person who buys the minivan but bad for the 350Z buyer!
You are right about the 200 being sold overseas (bro-in-law's mom has one in Taiwan), was only thinking of the NA market. Listen, I'm certainly not trying to start a Toyota-Nissan war here, I have had multiple vehicles from both companies and find good and not so good things about all of them, nor do I dispute any of the other engine variant information that either company has or had. All I'm saying is that in a manufacturing world there is a lot of potential benefit to reducing the number of variants you produce because all the ingredients for a better manufactured product are there - as I stated before, a repeatable and sustainable process yields less variation in your output and theoretically then leads to a more reliable product.

With regards to the one size fits all, there are obviously arguments to the benefits of that approach, it's a philosophical difference. The potential downfall is that trying to be all things to all people sometimes misfires and leads you to be nothing to noone. My perspective is to recognize your strengths and what you are capable of and be the best at it.

 

Well I agree. In the global market parts will be shared more and more. It does cut costs. Clearly it has worked for Nissan. I think between them and Renault, they will have 8 platforms for everything. Ghosen insists. I think they had near 20 before and most were not profitable.

Now the funniest thing about the Quest is, in tests, it is not faster than the Odyessy or Sienna. Very weird fact. I do think it is the most eye-catching van. But the interior is simply atrocious and much worse than the compettion. Thus low sales.
With the 350Z, a cheap interior counts less since its a cheap sports car. What is important is engine power, eye-catching looks and handling. And they got that right.

 

The new GS300 will run pretty LEAN.

HINT: The word " LEAN"...

 

I'm thinking Lexus might not introduce the 4.6L V8 when the '06 GS is introduced, but continue using the 4.3L. I doubt that Lexus would market a GS460 while the LS still uses the 4.3L. I'm thinking the 4.6L will be introduced in the LS when the '07 LS arrives and the GS will get the engine soon after. I suppose Lexus could launch the GS with the 4.6L engine and then upgrade the '06 LS with the 4.6L engine for the last year in its current generation.

Mike

 

I also think that it would be more realistic to see Lexus drop in the new engines at the '07 model year. I suppose that I could maybe see them dropping new engines in just before introduction, but the company as a whole has a habit of dropping in new engines a year or two after introduction, at no specific refresh: Camry SE, ES300/330, 4Runner and GX470 come to mind. It also might be difficult for them to try and sell a 290HP LS430 next to a 345 (?)HP GS 460. '07 seems more realistic to me...

-Michael-

 

looking VERY forward to the new product offerings from Lexus!!

 

As much as I would love to see the 4.6 in the next GS, I too will have to agree with the consensus that this probably won't happen until '07. Hopefully they will prove me wrong.

 

'07 models??? That's 2 calendar years from now. There's no need to wait that long. But on the other hand, for Lexus to launch the new GS with 3.0 and 4.3 engines and 6 months later switch to 3.5 and 4.6 wouldn't look great.

(wow, just noticed I'm over 10K posts!)

 

If they put in the new larger displacement engines for the GS for 07, that'll be a year & a half from the launch next spring. That isn't worse than MB when they introduced the S600 with NA V12, & added TT only one model year later.

 

So...I was peddling home this evening in my Camry, reveling in my 133 mighty horses under the "bonnet" when I started thinking about this supposive 4.6L V8. If/When it comes, what sort of power boost do you think we can expect? I guess it might be 335-350HP and 345-365lb-ft of torque. Just my estimate though. If they endow the car with that much horsepower, it will probably be running 0-60 in around 5.3 seconds which is wicked fast for it's class. Just my prediction, but considering that the current car with 300HP and the 6AT will get to 60 in 5.6 seconds (lexus' prediction), another 35-50HP should make it a rocketship in comparison to the competiton.

We'll see.

-Michael-

 

Remember, Lexus is not in a displacement or HP war with it's competitors. That's the logic they're going with on the new upcoming models. The focus is quality, reliability and longevity.

 

I know that, I just expect that with 4.6L we should be getting a decent boost in power. If the IS350 does really come with around 310 or 315HP, 345 in the GS430 would seem realistic to me.

I'm so ready for the new IS...

-Michael-