That’s not the point of the Toyota hybrids.

I don’t even like Toyota hybrids….but no doubt Toyota far far ahead. Germans do have some good stuff tho

 

This is true. I love the fact that the cameras in my S560 are hidden and deploy and stay clean

 

That is a nice touch. Some brands have a small spray nozzle I believe.

 

In the W223 they removed the hidden front camera and just replaced it with a camera on the grille, which is disappointing. Rear still is hidden and deploys.

 

Toyota hybrids never had performance in mind, it's about fuel savings. As I mentioned in an earlier thread, I rented a Prius C and drove it from Newark NJ to Bushkill PA and back. It averaged 55 mpg, I think I spent a total of $14 on gas. Definitely not a fun car, but was surprisingly roomy and liveable. Wouldn't buy one, but I admire it

 

Among many things they engineer (and over engineer), the things I find most practical are the plastic key and phone key. Just brilliant. Now I can go to wet places without having to worry about the key gets soaked. With the phone key, you can also share to someone in case you need someone to get the car for you.

 

this is not true. The original RXh and Toyota HLh were about performance as well. Fastest and best performing RX model is still the RXh. This was 20 years ago I think in the 2002 model years or sometime around then.

GSh was on par with the Lexus V8 GS at the time as that Hybrid was geared to provide an alternative to the V8 4.3

all ^^^ ahead of their time

Today, Toyota has positioned their Tundra hybrid as the best performing Tundra.

 

I'm talking about cars like the Prius, Corolla, Camry and Avalon hybrids. The case where engine downsizing like the Tundra, yes, but the older hybrids no. My brother in law's Highlander definitely does not perform as well, and I drove the LS500h, nope. The regular LS500 drives better

 

Are you serious? The RX450? A car that is to this day STILL slower than an LS430 is performance?

The V8 GS was still faster in the cheaper 4.6 version and had the same MPG overall.

Oh and the RX for most of it's life was faster as ICE only until the very latest generation, up to this point the hybrid was a full second slower. So sorry but your statement that the original RXH was about performance is just false.

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews...rx400h-review/

https://www.motortrend.com/features/...2018-lexus-rx/

A quote from the sub-articles above....even back then with less options and Toyota being the clear leader of MPG the hybrids still didn't make sense.

"Assuming premium gasoline stays at $2.39 a gallon, it would take more than 91,000 miles of driving the RX400h to recoup that $3800 difference in base price compared with the RX350. That's a lot of driving. Purely on a financial basis, it doesn't make sense to pay the extra money for the RX400h, unless you're thinking it will help save the planet."

We will see how long the hybrid tundra lasts in all respects, I have no doubt the gas only versions will rise as the most desirable, well supported, and ultimately faster/more powerful option.

ALL of them are inferior to same price point competitors if you look at them purely by what you get for what you pay.

 

How do you compare a RX to a LS. Makes no sense. RXh was in its own unique place at that time. RX was awd, totally different than the Lexus cars.

4.6 V8 GS came after the GSh.


I really don’t get what you mean. How do you compare the Highlander to the Lexus LS500h.

 

I’d rather run through the car wash which anyone up north should be doing regularly, anyway, during the winter, than pay for some broken fancy camera.

 

LOL I never compared the two. I was comparing the Hybrid Highlander to the non-hybrid Highlander, the LS500h to the non hybrid LS500

 

Ok. I see what you are saying now. I agree , I would rather drive the non hybrid Highlander. I do think the new HL hybrid is the right direction to go as they have downsized the design but improved the economy

Same. I’m tempted to Google “stuck MB camera” lol

 

Yep

 

It's extremely slow for a 2022 50k SUV, like not even in the running type of slow and you claimed it's performance. The RXH was again always the slower RX until this most recent gen and at it's own time made ZERO sense vs the gas version.

The 4.6 came after because of the negative reception to the hybrid replacing the 8

The LS/C500 is far superior to the LS/C500H is what he means.......he wasn't talking about the highlander vs 500 just same version of car vs it's hybrid option.