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It's not about being open minded or not, we're talking about the Lexus GS and whether it's platform is shared with a Toyota model. All your discussion of Cressidas and whatever from decades and decades ago has nothing to do with the topic. The Cressida was an entirely different sort of car than the GS. The closest allegory to a modern Toyota is the Avalon, and that was the car Toyota released to replace the Cressida in its lineup. I have two uncles who had Cressidas in the 80s and 90s...what does one of them have now? An Avalon.
It's fine to have an opinion, but ones own version of facts are not opinions. You can't have an opinion that the Crown was sold here. It wasn't.
The only point I made was I think when most people ask this question they mean what US Toyota model.
OP Title: "Is the GS based of any other Toyota product"?
There is NO evidence in the title or the opening post that the OP is limiting the scope to just the USA.
It is "your" opinion that the OP [from Ontario Canada] limits the scope of thread discussion to only Toyotas in the USA.
You are certainly entitled to an opinion, but by the same token, be respectful that other people are equally entitled to an opinion too.
If you don't like others to criticize your opinion, then don't criticize their opinion.
In any case, the GS is merely a minor variation of the Toyota Cressida that has been sold in the US for decades.
The Toyota Cressida is NOT an "entirely" different type of car compared to the GS; they are the same platforms and drivelines, and this has been brought up in numerous threads and posts.
That a Toyota Avalon replaces the Toyota Cressida is only your opinion.
In truth, the Cressida continues to sell in overseas markets as the Mark II/X, and as the Toyota Crown sharing the same platform and engines.
The differences lie only in cosmetic skinning, and in simple coil spring, damper, roll bar rates and wheels/tires.
Anyone could go down the road and change their coil spring, damper, and roll bar rates, and change their wheels/tires.
It is the skin deep cosmetic changes in the exterior panels & interior trim styling between the [Cressida]/Mark II/X/Crown/GS that is more difficult for the layman.
Meanwhile the Avalon is just a long wheelbase front wheel drive Camry with budget front wheel drive, and budget single lower link suspension.
The Avalon is NO replacement for the Cressida.
Maybe an Avalon replaces a Cressida on "price" only, though that is where the similarities end.
The real "mechanical" replacement for the Toyota Cressida is available overseas, and there is a relationship between the Cressida/Crown/GS platforms & drivelines, and that is what this thread is all about.
The important point is to be constructive and positive about voicing "your opinion & your interpretation" of the opening post, rather than being negative about someone else's opinion.
It's fine for two people to have two different opinions.
However, when you criticize someone else's opinion by quoting their post - they simply quote your post and criticize your opinion.
Best be positive voicing your own opinions, rather than being negative, quoting and criticizing someone else's opinion.
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I would suggest that you take that advice to heart yourself, as has been suggested to you specifically in other threads by other members.
Like I said originally, if you asked the OP if he meant US Toyotas or if he even thought about overseas Toyotas, I bet he was referring to US Toyotas. As much as you may like to, you can't prove that viewpoint wrong without simply asking the guy.
OP, did you have specifically US Toyotas we see everyday in mind when you asked that question?
Seriously, the Avalon is no real replacement for the Cressida.
The Cressida line lives on to this very day.
The platform and engines come in two sizes - compact medium Cressida/Cresta/Chaser/Mark II/X and genuine medium Crown - only "half" a size apart; that is because in the old days before 1989, the Japanese had a higher tax rate for motor vehicles that exceeded 4.7 m in length by 1.7 m in width, such that the Toyota Cressida and Nissan Skyline was designed to fall under those limits, while the Toyota Crown and Nissan Cedric etc exceeded those limits for a higher tax rate.
That's why you'll notice that those Infiniti Q50's [which are really Nissan Skylines] are much longer and more spacious than the IS, but shorter more cramped than GS.
Nissan Skylines are actually direct competitors to the Toyota Cressida/Mark X series.
Today, the Toyota Crown series is complex, because it is also built in left hand drive for the Chinese market etc.
You'll also come across the Crown when you transit in Kuala Lumpur etc.
Your uncle's Toyota Avalon maybe only has similarities with the Toyota Cressida series in price.
However we must all remember that the days like 1988 or 1989 respectively, when we could purchase a 1988 Cressida or 1989 Lexus LS with multivalve engines, rear wheel drive, double wishbone front and multilink rear suspension, and metal-resin-metal sandwich sound insulation materials in the floor pan [a few microns of resin in between] - for "bargain" basement prices - are long gone.
Today, Toyota Motor Corporation simply won't give us a premium rear wheel drive chassis with multilink suspension for bargain basement prices like the 1988 Toyota Cressida and the 1989 Lexus LS400.
The Toyota Avalon is just a stretched wheelbase Camry, with cosmetic exterior panelling, interior trims differences, altered suspension rates, and locally assembled - hence the ability to retain the rock bottom prices similar to the late 1980's.
The world is more than just the United States.
Today, we live in a global society - called globalization.
We can have tunnel vision, or we can open our eyes to the world.
Steve, I'm American too, but I'm also a car enthusiast, and while I'm no international expert, I don't just turn a "blind-eye" to globalization - so I have some basic awareness of the evolution & connection between various Toyota & Lexus models and platforms as the OP requests.
I'm a car enthusiast too, and models from other countries are interesting, but what I care about is the country's market where I live...the US. When I think about models and what they compete with and how they fit together, the US market is what I'm thinking of.
So sure, we're left with two different opinions.
One opinion says that there is frankly no single word nor phrase in the opening post that restricts discussion to American Toyotas only.
The other line of opinion "assumes" that the opening post "implies" American Toyotas only.
There is nothing wrong with five different builders giving five different quotes, so I can't see much wrong with two different opinions on this thread.
Just out of interest, while the Camry & ES differ in:
1) styling & tastes,
2) wheelbase & size,
3) suspension rates,
4) upmarketness, with ES deliberately more upmarket.
The Crown & GS essentially only differs in styling/tastes & suspension - such is how close these two models are.
In truth, even Camries look cosmetically different, have different suspension rates and different specifications - depending on what part of the world. For example:
As we all know, Lexus shared its platforms with its parent company Toyota RX-ES= Camry etc etc. Having said that, does anyone know what the GS is based on, or is it a unique platform to Lexus?
The OP doesn't enquire about what can actually be purchased.
He only enquires about Lexus sharing platforms with its parent company, and what the GS is based on, or if it is an unique platform to Lexus.
However, you are right - I forgot that ES must now be compared to Avalon...
So sure, we're left with two different opinions.
One opinion says that there is frankly no single word nor phrase in the opening post that restricts discussion to American Toyotas only.
The other line of opinion "assumes" that the opening post "implies" American Toyotas only.
There is nothing wrong with five different builders giving five different quotes, so I can't see much wrong with two different opinions on this thread.
Just out of interest, while the Camry & ES differ in:
1) styling & tastes,
2) wheelbase & size,
3) suspension rates,
4) upmarketness, with ES deliberately more upmarket.
The Crown & GS essentially only differs in styling/tastes & suspension - such is how close these two models are.
In truth, even Camries look cosmetically different, have different suspension rates and different specifications - depending on what part of the world. For example:
USA
South Pacific???
Malaysia???
Malaysia again???
Russia?
Rear:
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If you compare the two closely the ES and Camry are vwry closely related. Wheel base, length, size and Weight are all relative. The Camry XLE models are very close to an ES. The Gs in relation to the vehicles you compared it too, do not look alike. The interiors are completely different and exterier remind me nothing of the Gs offered. I understand they may share the same motor and drive train but i find it hard to believe they are similar in many other ways.
07-24-17, 07:42 PM
