That's ugly.

 

Stating my bias, I am a lifelong C/D subscriber. That said, C/D is famous for having bent over backwards for decades to find something to love in each generation of Accord, keeping it perenially on its Ten Best list even when the 8th generation car of 2008-12 was both trouble-prone and a cheaped-out obvious bowser. I don't take them too too seriously about this subject. What's telling about this generation of Accord is that it's an open secret that they didn't invest much in it because they intend to discontinue it after this generation and soldier on with the car they believe has more of a future, the similar but smaller Civic.

 

One smal note: From my limited understanding, the biggest push for small displacement turbos is coming less from either safety or fuel mileage standards, and more from the tightening of emissions standards. But I'm with you about staying with the pleasant, durable and low-tech past.

 

Thanks.
Never looked into eCVTs.. I thought they were all belt driven..
Here is a good long video to understand what it actually is

 

I think it's ridiculous that so many people have put so much faith in this photo. I don't know a lot about the design process, but I'm pretty confident that Lexus and every other car manufacturer goes through many different design prototypes before selecting the final version. At best, this photo simply represent one of many stages in a long process of developing a final version.

I guess people are so impatient to know what's next that they jump to unfounded conclusions to give them a sense of resolve.

 

Agreed. Not a fan at all.

 

As I've noted in a couple different posts above, this flies in the face of the facts.

Honda is widely reported to have spent only minimally to lightly revise this generation of Accord from the last one, right down to sharing its dashboard styling with at least two other Honda models including its cheaper little brother the Civic. Even the exterior styling you praise as a "bigger bolder update" not only didn't get meaningfully bigger, its "boldness" has been criticized in multiple quarters with the word "generic," and even drawn what you wouldn't call flattering comparisons with the geriatric Chevy Malibu.

In addition, the notion that Toyota is the one underinvesting on sedans because their "future is uncertain" is belied by the widespread reports that Honda pinched pennies and did basically just a styling update because this will be the last generation of gas-engine Accord. Honda, a much smaller and less wealthy corporation than Toyota worldwide, has more or less publicly stated that it's pouring R&D dollars into developing its own battery EV platform to replace the GM-built stopgap Prologue it's offering now. It's Toyota that has more cash to give more love to more market segments. The respected Savagegeese reported this week on YouTube that this was the first generation of Camry developed more than ever specifically by and for North America, which is evidence of attention to the segment if ever I've heard of it.

A final note on this poster's ongoing Accord Worship Series: I had the opportunity to personally question Savagegeese in a YouTube thread about a comparison between the current ES and the new Accord in the comments section, since he had extensively tested both. His reply was that the Accord had improved in the direction of becoming more like the quiet, spacious, comfortable and uninvolving ES, but the ES was "15% better" in every area, and a buyer's decision might come down to whether they had the cash to buy the ES's overall superiority. Given your previous sweeping generalizations on this board ("I've seen blueprints of the body in white!") about the similarities between the Camry and the ES, one would think this would earn the Camry a few extra points. But one might be wrong, mightn't one?

 

It's not that ridiculous...this photo if I recall was harvested from a powerpoint slide that was shown to dealers as part of a larger picture of the future lineup of lexus.

 

Yes. Lexus Corporate released it as a preview of its future model lineup to answer criticisms that it was being outflanked when critics and investors were demanding a crazed rush to battery EVs. Since then, its preview of the next RX has proven to be virtually dead accurate.

 

OK, but when was that "preview" published? And when was the final RX design unveiled? Do you think that Lexus is still stuck on that ES design at this point in time?

 

If you look further into the WeberAuto YouTube channel you can find the "Understanding the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid" video on the P710 eCVT used in this generation's ES 300h (amongst other Toyota and Lexus model usages) and the "Aisin 8-Speed FWD Transaxles" video on the transaxle used in this generation of ES 350.