phatboyc

I watch this French car show on tv called RPM. Very honest, blunt and don’t accept any commercial money from automakers. This week they reviewed the IS350. One thing that surprised me was when they put the car on the lift to evaluate the under carriage. They were disappointed with all the non-coated metal plates that can rust very quickly and with age starts to rattle. The second thing was the metal gas tank. How come Lexus didn’t use a lighter/rust proof plastic one?

I did some searching on this board to find any reasoning and only found that the RX has a plastic tank but the RX400h changed to metal.

ISbb

Wow good findings... I think they should coated all the metal whenever needed, I am not so happy if it is the fact since we paid more for a LEXUS not just a low end japanese car...

BTW, about the metal gas tank, I think there should a reason for it since the RX400h (later model than a IS) has changed too. but can anyone tell me the disadvantage of the Metal gas tank than a plasitc one?

SilverLexo

Even if it has a metal "frame", it will have a plastic liner inside of it. It's called a saddlebag and I think anything mfg'd since the 80's has this type of liner.

javyLSU

iTrader: (21)

The IS does indeed have a steel gas tank. I couldn't find anything in the service manual as regards to why, though.

Javier

marlu

I think that the answer can be found in the California Exhaust Emission Standards. An platic gastank evaporates more fumes then a metal one or something like that.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

There's nothing in the New Car Features Manual about why either. It just flatly says the tank is made of steel.

All you guys complaining about corrosion have a point, but if you looked under my '93 Supra, you will not see corrosion of any significant amount. One of the great advantages of living where it does not snow, or at least not in the last 26 years I've been living in the Sacramento area. Housing may be stupid expensive, but 20 years from now, the underside of my IS will still look much like the day it left the dealership.

NovaIS350

20 years from now The Lexus IS will be a dinosaur, a figment of folk lore. You'll be telling your grandkids about the olden days of super efficient combustion engines with direct and port injection. Then they'll ask you about ULEV2, then laugh at you cause cars use to travel only by land..

socalJD

Nice try - don't think so. It was only 16 yrs ago that the LS debuted, and guess what, they're still selling 'em - something about a 5th gen & hybrid technology. 20 years ago I was in college and drove a Olds cutlass w/a POS 3.8l V6 that prolly put out 140hp. Fast forward to today, I drive a Lexus w/a state-of-the-art 3.5l V6 w/306hp. Fast forward another 20 yrs from now and I can see myself driving another Lexus with a 3.5l V8 w/450+ hp - gotta love technology. . .

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

When I was a kid in the 60's we all thought we were going to have personal jetpaks to fly everywhere. Well, it's a good 40 years later, and there's been no significant progress on that front.

The only thing that would cause the radical change in transportation technology you describe would be a complete loss of one of the key supporting technologies. A tree virus attacks the entire rubber tree ecosystem (yes, this is real, unfortunately there is little genetic diversity in the world's natural rubber production), or the doomsayers are right, and we really experience the worst possible outcomes for peak oil and we're all hiding in caves.

Otherwise, we'll still see some pretty old machinery. Jeez, my Supra is almost 14 now, and it's still a viable platform. I've seen original musclecars still running around the streets of Sacramento in surprising numbers (far more than back East, cause our stuff doesn't rot in 3 years.) And some of us really do ignore style, and purchase cars based on intrinsic value to perform a task.

kensteele

lol nothing will change that much in 20 years. someone said by now, all cars will have gps navs in them. hardly.

cal_alum98

I'm still waiting for the Mr. Fusion...

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

Hydrogen - the other nuclear fuel

Yeah, it would be sweet. Last time I checked hot fusion is about 40 years off. That's what they were saying in '79 when I did a brief stint at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh too. Not much has changed on that front from a commercial viability perspective.