Drive it, though, and I'll bet a big smile comes to your face. It is an unbelievable car........probably the best RWD sedan I have ever encountered.

 

He meant the LX...

I would love to drive the LX570 when available. It's a technological marvel under a simple body.

 

Thanks. You're right.....sorry, my oversight.

 

Fixed to give my take on it...

 

I personally like Japanese car designs...simple and classy.

 

Let us also make no mistake about it, there have been very few ground breaking Japanese cars. Look at anything before 1990, 95% are not even close to great design.

As they got global, they got better.

 

Actually, you've got that backwards. Every time BMW redesigns their cars, 2 years later new Accords and Civics are released that look almost exactly like them (from the rear, anyway). Case in point, the E46 3-series was redesigned in 1999, then the 2001 civic comes out and has the exact same rearend, a vaguely similar profile, and nearly identical wheels. I always know what the next generation of Honda is going to look like as soon as the new BMWs are released.

 

There no way in hell, earth, heaven, anywhere in between, BMW copies Honda.

Look at how Honda has a line running down the sides of the CIvic a few gens ago, the current TL, that is straight from BMW.

 

Come on man, you can't say L-finesse is a sack of crap and then say you like more than half of its line-up.

For me, I love the LS design. It's very classy. It's not a sport sedan, therefore I don't expect it to look aggressive. I do agree that the ES design isn't very appealing.

As for Japanese design lacking compared to Euro... I absolutely disagree.

 

Maybe and probably just last years Japanese started to understand why Europian cars are so successfull, and probably last times they started to imitate them. Success was immediate - Toyota has become the largest in the world now.

Imagine, if Japanese created such a beautiful designs as Germans , Italians can do, this success was there long before.

But even today time from time they try something their own and again fail.

I didn't want to insult anybody, and if somebody understood my words in the wrong way as offensive - then MY PERSONAL EXCUSES.

Neither I tried to offend Japanese, simply it is my personal belief that not so many nations in the world have such an ability to design as say Italians. Everything - from great furniture till fashion is done excellently by them. It is culture of the nation. Conversely, they can't be so accurate as say Japanese.

Japanese and Koreans with their accuracy ( Japanese in the first order), engineering can produce complete miracle in the quality. But never they can come close to Germans, Italians, French, sometimes to Americans ( as new Europians) in the taste and design, they can only imitate or copy because it is another culture.

My strong belief they must always refer to Europian designers in order to be even more successfull in the old and new Europe.

 

I'm not sure there is such thing as pure Japanese or pure German, Italian design anymore. If you look at Coventry University's MA in Automotive design degree course it attracts the top students from all over the world who bring their own styles and influences. Their experiences there influence them more and then they are recruited by the world's top car companies to work all over.
Hence you can have an Indian guy brought up in the UK designing the Nissan 350Z in France and Japan, an American designing BMWs and a Japanese designer of Ferraris. Personally I think there is just good design and bad design and the country of origin is unimportant.

 

Well I think the 1999 E46 3 Series coupe redesign has the same profile as the new 1992 Honda Civic coupe. There is definitely some similarity there.

 

Sample proof

 

Second image

 

Somehow, i don't really see any similarity other than maybe the windows...