With all the sporty SUV/SAVs from BMW, Mercedes Benz, Porsche, etc. I am quite surprised that Lexus' first performance car out of the gate will be the IS-F.

Young kids may go after a small performance car. But the big money is in SUVs.

Half of Lexus' product line are SUVs yet not one is performance oriented.

 

You just can't do too much with a FWD Camry platform.

 

Agreed, but they could drop the GS460 drive train in it. This is not rocket science.

All they sell now are variations of a camry.

How do you like you Camry? Small, medium large. V6/V8, sedan or SUV. . blah blah blah.

 

While I agree that Lexus should offer a high-powered RX option to compete with the other high-powered SUVs of the world, I don't agree with this idea about an RX-F. Keep the F an exclusive mark for sports cars. I still shake my head over why we can't compete in hp with the MDX and FXs of the world, as we should at least be the best of the Japanese.

 

No way.

Offer the RX with the 460 engine. That's fine. Perhaps it can tow a couple of toys (motorcycles, wave-runners, small boat...) when necessary.

Make it "sports-performance" worthy under the F-category? I don't think so.

 

Do you say this because you feel there is no market or because Lexus should stay out of the performance SUV business?

The reason I ask is because I want a performance SUV. Lexus has no offering. The current RX at best is kind of girly for me. It looks more like a 4 door minivan.

 

I already find those sporty SUVs borderline worthless (though I leg hump Cayennes) and I hope Lexus doesn't jump in that worthless bunch just to join in.

 

I'll say one other thing, the fact that the RX group doesn't have practically anything in terms of aftermarket performance upgrades says something about demand for such vehicles (but I still feel Lexus should pokes its nose with at least a V8 option, but not in an F). My colleagues with MDXs have a similar issue.

 

I think Lexus mastered the car based SUV with the RX and is happy with that. Let the others have sport. Lexus sells as many HYBRID RXs as Infiniti FXs some months!

If you want a V-8, you can have the GX or LX.
OR you can get a hybrid RX, which has the power of a V-8 but economy of a V-6!

 

You realizee that cross over SUVs such as RX, MDX, etc are just minivans for people not secure enough to drive minivans? Why make performance minivans, thats just silly! You can always have these high performance so called SUVs such as FX or X5, but they lack utility whatsoever.

 

Good point. I still would (as a wish) like to see a high-powered RX option.

I figure Lexus probably did their focus group studies and found what would be acceptable in terms of hp.

I actually have a lot of fun modifying the little RX300 I have, even though I have to make custom parts and designs.

 

I can't say much with regard to the X5, but having friends with MLs, X5s and Cayennes they have all had maintenances issues, so I figure a company like Lexus could make a high-powered vehicle with quality.

Again, as I said in my response to 1SICKLEX, market research rather than wishs and desires will dictate.

 

Dropping a RWD based GS460's drivetrain into a FWD-based RX???

I am surprised no one mentioned about the R63 AMG. That's one heck of a minivan with better utility than most SUVs.

 

Actually the R class is less of a minivan than RX - for one it is RWD based. So if anything, it was easy for MB to still the 6.3 in there, otherwise they wouldn't bother, it doesn't make sense from the sales perspective, most of the R class sold is R350.

 

sorry you can just magically make a FWD designed chassis suddenly accommodate a RWD power/drivetrain