It is really sad Toyota is giving up on V8's, it gives the perception of quitting and not wanting to really compete anymore. Lexus was having trouble competing with the Germans for the past few years and offering less V8's certainly added to that in sales and perception. We have seen how poorly it has worked out giving the LS a ttV6 over a V8, sales and perception are poor, the much older S class still handily outsells it. The GS lost its semi affordable V8 option and look what happened to sales, nobody bought the hybrid GS. With Lexus losing V8's, going more CUV, putting 4 cylinders in just about everything, more and more FWD I just don't see the brand as very special anymore or exciting, I have no real desire to own a future Lexus aside from a LC500 and maybe a used LS460 but that is about it and I will likely look to other brands in the future. Sad but it is not just Toyota, it is all Japanese lux brands basically giving up, going more CUV/4 cyl/boring. Never thought I would see the day when Hyundai/Genesis flagship sedan is more appealing to me then Lexus's. Lexus has fallen far from grace and continues that way.

 

There are many IC cars that do/can do 11's, you are not doing that over and over in a EV too, you get just a few of those runs until your power and performance goes way down, you need to take a break/re charge after that where ICE can do it over and over again until they run out of gas. ICE cars are not expensive to maintain unless you are talking about a unreliable Italian/German which is more in design then ICE. You can take carefree long trips in ICE performance cars, that is the nice thing about them and their range is not greatly degraded by cold weather either. There is no real stress in a ICE driveline if you beat on those cars, you better hope the battery does not go out not covered under warranty or it is denied because you abused it, that is a huge bill for EV's/hybrids. I see no real trend in 911/M3/Mustang GT drivers getting rid of those cars for ugly Teslas that are next to useless on the track/endurance racing, maybe they are adding a Tesla to the stable/wife wants one but they aren't dumping their ICE performance cars and replacing them with a Tesla in any large numbers.

Aside from Tesla nobody is buying or really wants electrics, aside from Prius nobody is really buying hybrids in any large numbers, hybrid luxury car sales are next to nothing, same thing with non Tesla electrics. It is the brand/image why those vehicles are selling, not because they are so superior to ICE cars and most other car companies simply can't come up with the image to sell hybrids or electrics.

 

A Model 3 Performance doesn't have heat build-up...you can do runs till you run out of juice and you'll go from low 11s to high 11s. On a track, you'll do 30 min before you need to recharge but not many take their sports sedans to the track. The battery is covered for 120k miles or 8 years...and you can't abuse a battery or electric motor. Most of the Tesla batteries go 300k so not really worried about the battery at all and in everyday driving, its the most responsive drivetrain in the world. I can't think of a new performance car at the $55k level that can outrun a Tesla. Not to mention no drivetrain maintenance and minimal fuel up costs. You can't tell me a Camaro or Mustang or Vette with a V8 is cheap to maintain. You abuse those things and they break if not well maintained. EVs are in their infancy and they've redefined speed at an affordable price. Others EVs will come to drive up the innovation and I'm hoping Toyota will be one of them.

 

The amount of IS and RC buyers is completely insignificant compared to the amount of ES and RX buyers and the smaller CUVs. They would have little to no impact in swaying the average.

Caddy has more performance-oriented and RWD cars in their lineup than Lexus, yet the average age of their buyers is among the highest. That alone says something.

 

That CarMax data is for used car buyers from Car Max. If you take in new car buyers, the average age jumps to the 50s.

http://www.city-data.com/blog/6719-c...ngest-drivers/

 

You abuse any car and you are going to have issues, Tesla 3's are among the least reliable cars according to Consumer Reports so I don't know why you keep touting them as being so well made and indestructible. As long as you have the proper fluids at the proper levels in the cars you listed there is no real issues driving them hard or them being expensive to maintain, oil, coolant, and trans fluid is not expensive at all. I know many people with Corvettes,Camaro's, Mustangs and they are not expensive to maintain at all, my Lexus vehicles have not been expensive to maintain at all, less then $100 a year on avg mainly being oil, I can do most of my own maintenance. Most EV's are not affordable at all, at least the ones with good performance and there are still older ICE cars that are quicker and less compromised, most are much better track/endurance race cars.

With the more somewhat affordable price of the Tesla 3 you get a very goofy ugly car with one of if not the worst interiors and poorest build quality in modern automobiles.

 

https://www.consumerreports.org/car-...0CR%20members.

https://www.autoblog.com/2019/11/14/...bility-survey/

i don't know where you get the least reliable thing at all. They seem to have average reliability in CR. If you follow the recommended maintenance on any ICE, it will be more expensive than an EV. That is simply irrefutable. EVs in certain segments are cheaper than their ICE counterparts. Compare a Model 3 to a 3 series or a Model Y to the X3. The EV counterparts are far cheaper at a given performance point. At the same price point, the EV spanks the ICE in their segments. I agree the ICEs are better track and endurance cars because most tracks don't have level 3 superchargers for a quick 15 min fill

 

At least they got the last word in the best V8 ever made: the 1UZ-FE

 

rav4 while popular is full of hard plastic trim. It’s a huge downgrade from any Lexus. Have you been in one in person ?

areas that you don’t everyday is very cheaply made.

 

did you buy new or second? If you buy second it’s not part of the demographic stats.

most people in their 20s cannot afford new GS or Rx.

 

Yes. I know it's a Toyota so I don't expect it to have Lexus levels of materials but the drivetrain is pretty good. I have a Tesla so I have a low bar on interior materials.

 

We have a couple RAV4s in the family and I am actually quite impressed with the interior. I could easily have one as a daily.

 

used to be much higher than this before the 2014 IS came out. Lot of younger people bought those

 

Japan is having issues sourcing rare earth metals.
Japan is deliberately decoupling from China to stop the dependency on China for rare earth metals.




Funny, but true. ​​​​​​​

 

Lol, my spouse got her 2018 RX at age 31 and we don't even have kids. Many young women drive these things.


PS. Also notice some former 3IS buyers get an RX350 once they have their first child.