Gecko
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I couldn't agree more. I'd take it a step further and say if federal people in charge want to subsidize some vehicles they should subsidize all "green" vehicles including normal hybrids and PHEV. Normal hybrids are "greening" up the environment too ya know. And don't make the full amount so large. Maybe cap things at like $2,000 per vehicle so taxpayers don't have to pay so much for the rich people to buy cars.
F1 Silver Arrows
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And look how that turned out. Lexus is selling just about every one they make and last month they've hit the most number of IS500's sold in a singular month.
Perhaps me saying "just do this this and that" does work because I don't speak from an angle filled with fanaticism, rather I see certain moves that Lexus needs to make in order to remain legitimate in the eyes of customers. Just sayin'.
They need pressure from their customers (be it a Toyota or a Lexus buyer) in order for them to put out products that people want. The manual GR Supra chiefly came from the criticism of buyers, same with the GR Corolla coming over after we found out the GR Yaris was not coming to North America, and there's so many more examples that I can think of from the top of my head.
Toyota and Lexus execs are shockingly accessible from the customer point of view and I've only seen brands like GM and Porsche behave similarly in response to people's wishes. Pressure works. I tease Mike in a joking manner but if he does happen to come across some top level execs, this is something that I would love for him to express and have an honest conversation about. There are many Toyota and Lexus customers and even non-TMC buyers that have lamented the loss of the GS.
Also to your point from a while ago, the GS failed not because of the "weak V6", rather dealers were chasing profit margins and pushed every potential GS buyer to an ES. There are many people who have recollected this exact experience at a Lexus dealership and it's quite shocking. Even with the "weak V6", the GS would post some incredible performance numbers, and it was viewed as more favorable to the Germans. The GS F is the best driving Lexus since the LFA and is the reincarnation of the E39 BMW M5 or the Chevrolet SS. Renowned automotive journalist Jason Cammisa gave glowing reviews to the GS F. Here's an example of him comparing the steering in the GS F to the Cadillac CTS-V:
He then continued to saying that the steering has a "ball-bearing, light effort, but so good" feel. Johnny Lieberman (yes I'm referring to the HeadtoHead episode), later pointed out that similarly to how people cannot believe how fast a Tesla is, they also cannot believe how good the GS F drives. But you know what? You didn't have to drive the GS F to enjoy what was a genuinely good product, inside and out. The regular GS350 had extremely high-quality materials, great wood, aluminium, leather, alcantara, ergonomics, and a fantastic driving experience. The only glaring issue was that ugly-ass mouse and the old infotainment. That's all. Lexus needed to build upon this success in order for them to establish legitimacy in the eyes of competitors and potential customers. The problem with Lexus at that time the GS was decided to be killed off, the second they had a non-FWD model going into a rough patch in terms of sales, these braindead goofs wanted to kill it off with zero hesitation. That's exactly what was about to happen to the IS and GX (if anyone still remembers). Anyways I digress.
Point is, rebadging it, stiffening up the chassis, and giving it AVS are merely additions that would constitute to being the "bare minimum" in turning it from a "Crown" to a "GS". The chassis is the same one from the renowned LC and LS, and the TTV6 should be an easy drop because the Mirai and Crown share the exact same chassis as the LS, and it is the same story with the TTV6 hybrid. It is nothing that extreme.
You want extreme? What these crazy bastards did with the IS500 was even more insane. The 3IS had a smaller front subframe than the 2IS which rendered it impossible to fit in a TTV6 or the NA V8, but with the 2021 refresh they completely changed the front subframe to the one that was in the now-dead Lexus GS. That is a significantly more intensive change than doing a "rebadge, stiffening up the chassis, and giving it AVS", and it wasn't on a full-blown redesign, but a REFRESH. And like I said before, since it shares the same chassis as the LS, the V6 is an easy drop.
You've inadvertently proved my point when you said:
And the solution to that is much easier than you think. The GS sold well in its first 2 years of production, all it would take is for Lexus to actually stand behind their product and let buyers who WANT to buy one... have the opportunity to buy one. Pressure works.
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Agree. It’s been awhile since I’ve been impressed with BMW interior. I never liked the ‘tablet sticking out of the top of the dash’ in the previous generation and the screen here looks off too. I’ve sat in an M8 competition and I did like the leather, but that was 150k so you expect that.So every carmaker with an engine inferior to the B58 should stop making cars right?
Take a look at the recent Benz and BMW offerings. CLAR isn't exactly lightweight.
It's on the way.
Where is all the stitching? I see as much if not less stitching here than the new RX. Besides, this interior is full of plastic. The RX interior uses a combination of wood aluminum suede and plastic and looks visually cleaner IMO. The Crown sedan's interior is a sea of wood with stitched leather and a good use of plastic. The exterior design isn't even a debate and I would love to see a GR Crown sedan if the GS isn't making a return.
I used to own a GS, take a look at how the screen just organically integrates itself there. Sure the infotainment was atrocious even for its time but it was always a pleasant place to be sitting.
Don’t even get me started with Mercedes and their neon lights that look like a Vegas strip club.
The current RX interior is phenomenal and it gives me hope that there is pursuit of elegance and luxury in this segment
lol touché. But search Mercedes ambient lighting on google and try not to have a seizure. I don’t think the lighting on the ES looks “good,” but I prefer that to what the competition has got going. It is literally neon purple and red. There are probably more tasteful ways to implement ambient lighting, I like how the RX and Tundra uses them
Gor134
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All those lights are there to distract you from the huge decline in interior quality the new Benzes are having
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Pls GS Lexus!!
Fulfill your dream of a turbo inline-6 GS with the JZS161 Aristo. Even with a 4AT it does 0-100km/h in 5.2s and you can always do a manual swap. Get the 4 door Supra for 1/6 the price. With the old DIN slots it's super easy to swap out for a modern infotainment system too. The JZS161 seems to be a sweet spot for Toyota JDM sedans. The JZS147 is too big and heavy. There are too few stock or lightly modded JZX90/100s.
F1 Silver Arrows
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Dear lord they used to make some seriously fast cars back in the day... 
imagine if the same team/members were allowed to design new projects with a nice budget?Dear lord they used to make some seriously fast cars back in the day...
vroom vroom
I would ask the powertrain team if this was deliberately done to meet QDR targets or this is the best they have.
The t24a fts without the hybrid powertrain is really frustrating it's predecessor the 2.0 litre turbo 4 was better and smoother than this, recently there was news that toyota is working on new engines hopefully they realised the current ones are seriously lacking aside from the m20/a25
Gecko
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