most people don’t know or don’t care how old the engine is. car marketing have moved away from talking about drive trains 10 years ago. The focus is all on the emotions, brand and interior gizmos.


Your typical buyer who buys a new Lexus wouldn’t pop the engine hood in their lifetime of ownership. Some won’t even bother with windscreen washer fluid until the next service.

They are promoting it as a performance sedan, which is aimed at specific type of buyers. Trust me, those buyers they are aiming for, will not be interested. Lexus is also lying in their advertising, by saying that this is the most powerful IS yet, we all know it is not true. We had the IS-F.

I do agree though, the people who buy RX’s and ES’s would not care what’s under the hood, you can sell them a car with pedals, and they’ll pedal their way to and from work with a smile on their face.

The latest music video based commercials are old fashioned, annoying and cringy. What's with the creepy group hair dance at the end?

Bingo. If Lexus came out tomorrow and said "hey guys, sorry we sat on our hands for so long and thought it would be a good idea to TT a V6 and call it a flagship" then announced a TTV8 LS500 I would sell 6 of my cars and buy one. Price be damned. I'm a younger buyer/driver and I have near ZERO motivation to buy say.....a 2017 LS vs an 07 since for me it's the same car. Sure the 17 has more refinement but it's not like I'm really getting a radically more powerful engine or anything. So what's the point of me getting the 17 now when I can just buy it for 1/2 the price in two or three years?

The Germans make it hard to pick a car, the newer stuff has dramatically different and more potent engines vs older cars and there is a very strong case to for example not buy a 2008 D4 4.2 when the 13+ has the insane 4.0 engine on offer. Then you start looking and realize the 15+ has way better lighting and seats and just like that you aren't buying an 08 anymore and are actually considering moving to a 2022 model since you have having such a great time with the performance and want to own a new one for keeps.

Lexus just doesn't do that. Their cars are too well made, I have no reason to look at newer when a 100k mile car is nearly indistinguishable from a new one quality and tightness wise. Then there is again the engine problem.......some of the older cars are SO much older they are faster from the merit of having the exact same engine and less weight. That's insane. Like I can't think of any brand who's ORIGINAL CAR can still put the smackdown on over HALF the lineup performance wise.

It's also worth mentioning that in the past, Lexus gave you a car that could go toe-to-toe or even surpass its European rivals in addition to being reliable. Up until the 2010s, the IS, GS, and LS all squared off with the Germans and often ended up winning.

I'm tired of seeing the justification for any modern Toyota or Lexus product underperforming its rivals is because "it was done to be more reliable" when this was rarely the case for their past vehicles.

Exactly. And the bottom line is...these cars that are "less reliable" are actually not unreliable. Like my S Class, looking at the forums, its just as reliable as the LS.

Got a link?

Compared to the LS500, the S-Class is actually MORE reliable according to Consumer Reports lol. So even reliability can't be used to excuse the other pitfalls of that LS.

What about the IS 500 that is one heck of a sports sedan isn’t it ?

Lexus has really great RWD offerings. The LC500 is gorgeous, the RC is beautiful and classic and the new IS is the best looking in its class. Ironically, the other FWD stuff sells way better

I can say exact same thing about my beemer. I have been abusing the car left and right, it still drives and performs just like the day I got it. Yes, it does have its issue, mainly with electronics. But those are very minor. I only had to take it to a dealer once for a recall. If I am not mistaken, my GS had 3 recalls.

Agree, it's a bore in there at my dealer too.

Me personally I could not care less how old it is. It's potent and sounds amazing. They know we want it. They know we Americans don't like the (NA) V8 going the way of the Dodo bird. Lexus is doing several things right IMO currently.

I always loved that comparison. They perfectly sum up the LS430 and what it's about and how it goes (went) about its business. They even say it's not their type of car, but damn they loved it and couldn't deny it.

[QUOTE=703;11155434]Got a link?[/QUOT

Turn on the TV.

Although the engine for the IS500 is not new, it is a pretty amazing offering what Lexus IS doing. Pure rwd with no awd too. Big V8….trying to keep price down as well.

[QUOTE=situman;11155592]I don’t live in the US.