Toyota? Lexus?
Lexus Champion
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 1,729
Likes: 132
From: Toronto, Canada
For modern Lexus's, they are completely different cars. The ES is a much smoother riding, quieter, more refined and luxurious vehicle than the Camry is.
I owned both back to back and I can tell you the difference is huge. The advantage to the customer is he can get his Lexus serviced and parts found just as easily and cheaply as a Camry owner, and not be tied to a more expensive, Lexus specific platform.
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 886
Likes: 32
From: MN
Is that whole "Lexus is just a glorified Camry" really still a thing? I only ever hear it from one type of person: the ones that buy or lease an unoptioned CLA250 or 320i (and who would probably pay $300 for a fresh pile of horse crap if it had a three-pointed star stuck on top).
As for new cars, I'm probably going to hold onto my GS350 for a good long while because I really do love my car, and none of the new cars really excite me – for example, the only real improvement in the 4GS is the suspension, but I don't doubt that I could get handling and ride feel close to that of Sport+ by doing some suspension mods to my 3GS. The only cars that I really want are a Gran Turismo with the F1 gearbox, or a 458 Italia.
In fact, this is something I've thought about a lot recently – the current generation of cars are only marginally better than the previous gneration, whereas the previous generation was a major improvement over the preceding generation. Let's take the GS for example. The 2GS is a great car, but the 3GS has much better power and improved transmissions, better gas mileage, and many new and useful features (ventilated seats, power folding mirrors, adaptive headlights, radar cruise control, TPMS, more powerful brakes, rear sunshade, adjustable suspension, auto windshield wipers, etc); in contrast, the 4GS actually has fewer powertrain options than the 3GS (not V8 or 8-speed tranny), the remaining engine is exactly the same as on the 3GS, and the only real improvements are the suspension, the bigger nav screen, and the paddle shifters. Most of the other new features – facacta like blind spot monitors, lane departure warning, lane keep assist and driver alertness monitoring – are things that I very strongly dislike. And this same rule applies to most other cars too, so I'm not just picking on the 4GS. The 4GS is a very nice car, but going from the 3GS to a 4GS is basically a lateral move (or a backwards move if you have a GS460)
As a side note, blind spot monitoring is the most dangerous thing fitted to cars since the Pinto's gas tank: most of ze new German cars have blind spot monitors, and they're going to cause many accidents in about 3 years when they start failing but the owners have become used to relying on them.
As for new cars, I'm probably going to hold onto my GS350 for a good long while because I really do love my car, and none of the new cars really excite me – for example, the only real improvement in the 4GS is the suspension, but I don't doubt that I could get handling and ride feel close to that of Sport+ by doing some suspension mods to my 3GS. The only cars that I really want are a Gran Turismo with the F1 gearbox, or a 458 Italia.
In fact, this is something I've thought about a lot recently – the current generation of cars are only marginally better than the previous gneration, whereas the previous generation was a major improvement over the preceding generation. Let's take the GS for example. The 2GS is a great car, but the 3GS has much better power and improved transmissions, better gas mileage, and many new and useful features (ventilated seats, power folding mirrors, adaptive headlights, radar cruise control, TPMS, more powerful brakes, rear sunshade, adjustable suspension, auto windshield wipers, etc); in contrast, the 4GS actually has fewer powertrain options than the 3GS (not V8 or 8-speed tranny), the remaining engine is exactly the same as on the 3GS, and the only real improvements are the suspension, the bigger nav screen, and the paddle shifters. Most of the other new features – facacta like blind spot monitors, lane departure warning, lane keep assist and driver alertness monitoring – are things that I very strongly dislike. And this same rule applies to most other cars too, so I'm not just picking on the 4GS. The 4GS is a very nice car, but going from the 3GS to a 4GS is basically a lateral move (or a backwards move if you have a GS460)
As a side note, blind spot monitoring is the most dangerous thing fitted to cars since the Pinto's gas tank: most of ze new German cars have blind spot monitors, and they're going to cause many accidents in about 3 years when they start failing but the owners have become used to relying on them.
Thread Starter
Pit Crew
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 239
Likes: 8
From: Illinois
I'm a believer in generations of cars are much like generations of people. Afterall its generations of engineers that fully develope a car from concept to manufacturing and beyond. That said, "the current generation of cars are only marginally better than the previous gneration", this is true only to certain extent. Owners of previous generations of Lexus may say they would go back after owning a current generation. The subtle changes through engineering may not be suitable to some., suspension, handling, grandfather appeal, (no offense to grandpas as I am one). As a previous Pontiac 06 GTO owner, I have thoughts about what the Pontiacs would be today.. True they were not for everyone, but Pontiac was a good example of fine engineering. Pontiac owners looked to the next generation positivley.. Not saying that Toyota/Lexus falls short in this catagory, however, I still believe that Lexus suspension falls short somewhat.. I've driven a few and the only seemingly near perfect ride I experienced were the 1st and 2nd generation cars. The GS is a good example of either to harsh or too soft, turns like on rails or oversteer.. So suspension improvements (including the AVS) would be beneficial and perhaps justifiy the new price tags. Otherwise, I'll hang on to my GS and see whats coming in terms of aftermaket suspension upgrades.
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rjacket
GS - 3rd Gen (2006-2011)
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May 29, 2010 09:22 PM