I'm pretty sure I've pointed this out before, but I can do it again.

Luxury is about having the option to do something because every option is available to you. You want to go fast? Great, put the pedal further down. You want to cruise along at a normal speed and just enjoy generally being in your car? Excellent, don't put the pedal down as far. It's the same as saying: You want to warm your feet and cool your drink? We can do that. Or: Your back seat passengers want to warm their seat while you (as the driver) are a little too hot? Press those buttons and everyone gets what they want.

What you really want is 6 or 8 cylinder that turns part of the engine off when you're not using it.

If you want economical and efficient you're not looking for a luxury car, you're looking for a regular consumer level car w. nice trimming and finishing. Lexus has the answer for you! ... It's called Toyota, they are located down the street and around the corner; we hear there's a Camry Hybrid available for a test drive rite now

 

You guys are stupid.

I've been reading for several months now people *****ing about $70 fill ups for their GS's, etc. but 4 cylinders aren't an option for most either, despite their power. Yes. The auto industry has some magic wand that they can wave that will enable consumers to have their cake and also eat it.

 

Variable cylinder management / displacement on demand or whatever you want to call it is a big step in the right direction for having that cake and eating it too.

 

What if you want a to hear the engine screaming at 8K RPM and pretend you are a Ferrari flying down the freeway, then a minute or two later you passenger wants a nice massage in the rear seat. Then it starts to rain so you want to flip on the auto wipers and turn on the heated seats, then when you get home you want to play around with the boost controller for your turbo?

Just like you said. Luxury is about options. Why then leave our a good turbo I4 or even a hybrid I4? Its an option? There are a lot of people who are NOT looking for anything the economy brands have. They are looking for a sporty fun luxury car. Not everyone is into a V8. It really doesn't have anything to do with gas mileage and economy either. It has to do with choice and having the engine you particularly like simply because you have the money to spend and the luxury brand of your choice happens to have that option available to you.

 

I agree that people should have the option for what ever engine they want. However, when the company is looking at which engines to make and how may people want which engine, they do concider economis of scale. Since the majority of people looking into lux cars are usually going to be the same people who generally care more about having the power if the need it relative to $$, having the small engines would probably not be a financially wise idea. Which is why having an engine that turns some cylindes off when your say in stop go traffic in the city is a lovely idea.

 

yeah, the multi cylinder shut off deal has never worked very well. think GM in the early 80's; they tried and failed. now dodge with the hemi rams, sure it's less noticeable than anybody else's, but the economoy gains are negligible.

until we're payinng $8/ gal. i think people will never accept a 4 cyl engine in a high end car in this country, even if it made 300 hp, and 320 ft. lbs. with a smooth curve.

i love 4 cyl. cars. there are less moving parts, which means anything is usually cheaper to repair, even tune ups are cheaper. there is more room to work under the hood. they're lighter and easier to work on.

 

GM started doing it again (with dramatically more success) in the last few years on some of their truck V8s and one of their car V6s (more to come)... Honda also is doing it on the new Accord V6.

It's completely unnoticable if you're driving it... you'd have no clue, and the gains are actually fairly decent...

 

I'm very sceptical about cylinder deactivation. If it deacteaved the cylinders and kept both exaust and intake valves open, it would result in a nice mpg gain. But when you deactivate some cylinders without deactivating valved, you're essentially having the other set of cylinders work harder to run an air compressor, so you dont get much better MPG of any.

 

The one thing to be clear about is I don't believe any pro 4 cylinder member here has ever said put a 4 cylinder in a "High End" luxury car. The question is simply if Lexus should offer it. Almost everyone that said they should have it as some sort of option has said it would be fine in a car like the IS or perhaps maybe even in the ES. Both those cars are far from high end luxury cars and are simply entry level. Other luxury brands have used 4 cylinders in their entry level car with great success.

 

How can you be skeptical when nearly every application of VCM/DOD has shown undeniable gains in the range of 10-20%? That's a very significant gain for something that adds almost no additional materials cost or assembly cost to a manufacturer. This isn't a theoretical or prototype technology... it has been proven in the field for several years now.

I mean just for example, VCM doesn't play nicely with manuals transmissions (you can feel the shut-off, whereas with an auto it's imperceptible)... so the Accord V6 6-speed manual doesn't use VCM... it gets 17/25. The Accord V6 5-speed auto gets 19/28 with VCM. So the auto has one fewer gear, a slightly higher curb weight, all other factors are identical meaning the VCM is accounting for at least a 2mpg gain in the city and 3 mpg on the highway. The VCM 5-speed auto V6 is actually closer in mileage to the 4-cylinder 5-speed auto in average mileage than it is to non-VCM 6-speed manual V6!

 

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...=1#post3533510

Lexus 4 cylinder hybrid coming?

 

I bought a smart over the Yaris even though it used Premium fuel and cost more than a Yaris. Why? Cause it's cheaper to refuel (the larger than in the Yaris more than offsets the cost of premium fuel on the smart assuming both travel 550km in the city). Insurance is slightly cheaper because of all the safety equipment and plastic panels are cheap to replace.

So you want a GS hybrid then? Good in the city AND the highway as well as the power of a V8.

 

R & T saw 33 MPG HWY in their GS450. The highest I've ever seen in my 2.5L Legacy GT is 32. Pretty good Lexus.

 

Not to mention:
-Magazines rarely come out with observed fuel economy numbers that are indicative of real world driving... they're usually way lower
-Hybrid rarely see a significant benefit in highway fuel economy... their main benefit is city driving
-Lexus hybrids seem to be more focused on adding performance while also somewhat benefiting economy while they're at it... they're not entirely economy focused like, say, a Prius.

 

Not that big of a deal :/

My GS400 gets 33mpg going 55mph (yes, i know that's slow, but the point is still there.)