In a comment on my last post, TLE reader Jay wanted to know if the current Lexus IS had ever made it onto the Top Gear show. The answer, it turns out, is “No” (though their magazine counterpart did name it the Best Executive/Luxury Car in 2005).
Later on, I found something much more interesting—in 2006, Jeremy Clarkson reviewed the car for The Times, here’s an excerpt:
It’s hard at first to see what makes the Lexus brand as uniquely male as a Leatherman or a hunter-killer submarine. The IS a pretty car and we know from every single survey ever undertaken that no other vehicle on the planet is quite so well made.
Of course there are some things wrong with it. Space in the back is limited, the seats aren’t overly supportive, the steering is way too sharp and the door mirrors are the size of barn doors. But since when did a woman ever complain about a mirror being too large? Perhaps, then, it’s the rev counter that glows orange as you approach the red line. “Noooooo” wailed my wife after she came back from the school run. “I loved that. I made it orange the whole way home.”
What then? What feature does this car have that makes it so unappealing for women? My wife couldn’t help. “I just don’t like it,” she said.
Clarkson’s anti-Lexus rants borderline on the irrational, but he still reviews a car like no other. Still, is there a more feminine luxury vehicle than the RX? Maybe things are different in Europe, or maybe Clarkson wasn’t considering SUVs.
[Source: The Times]
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