A Small Podcast Update
Back on track next week.
Kevin · August 18th, 2021
Latest News
Introducing the Next-Generation Lexus Enthusiast Website
Celebrating 12 years.
Kevin · June 9th, 2019
The 2017 Lexus Enthusiast Reader Survey
Answer a few questions, get a chance to win a Lexus prize pack!
Kevin · November 7th, 2017
Lexus Enthusiast Website Design Update
To celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Lexus Enthusiast community forums, the website has been updated with a new look.
Kevin · February 9th, 2016
Live: Lexus RX Amazing Night Event in Tokyo
The Lexus motor show festivities kick off with RX Amazing Night, a Japanese launch event for the next-generation crossover.
Kevin · October 25th, 2015
Driving the All-New 2016 Lexus RX
There's a real risk in messing with success, particularly when it comes Lexus and its RX crossover.
Kevin · September 17th, 2015
Submit Your Customer Service Stories for New Lexus International Project
Time for a big announcement — Lexus Enthusiast is working with Lexus International on a new project to highlight exceptional customer service experiences, and we want to hear your stories!
Kevin · August 26th, 2015
August Premium Giveaway Winners Announced!
Time to announce the winners of this month’s premium member giveaway of the new Art of Lexus book.
Kevin · August 12th, 2015
Premium Member Giveaway: The Art of Lexus 25th Anniversary Book
This month’s premium member giveaway is the new Art of Lexus book just released by Lexus to celebrate the brand’s first 25 years.
Kevin · July 29th, 2015
Lexus USA Customer Service Team joins the Lexus Enthusiast Forums!
Big news! The Lexus USA customer service department have joined the Lexus Enthusiast forums, and they’re ready to assist with questions about your Lexus vehicles.
Kevin · May 6th, 2015
Vote on Questions for Lexus International Executive Mark Templin
Our podcast with Lexus International executive vice-president Mark Templin records this Thursday, and now’s the time to vote on the questions you would like to ask.
Kevin · April 27th, 2015
Lexus International Executive Mark Templin to be First Guest on New Podcast
Here’s some exciting news — Mark Templin, executive vice-president of Lexus International, will be the very first guest on our new Lexus Enthusiast podcast.
Kevin · April 23rd, 2015
Lexus Enthusiast April Giveaway Winner Announced!
Congratulations to Jim Ollick of Georgia, the lucky winner of the Apex Lexus RC F remote control car giveaway for Lexus Enthusiast premium members.
Kevin · April 22nd, 2015
Reminder: Lexus RC F Remote Control Car Giveaway is Next Week!
There’s only one week left until a lucky Lexus Enthusiast premium member wins their very own Apex Lexus RC F remote control car!
Kevin · April 15th, 2015
Member Giveaway: Win a Lexus RC F Remote Control Car!
April is going to be a big month here at *Lexus Enthusiast*, and we're going to start off with a very special giveaway for our premium members.
Kevin · April 7th, 2015
Lexus Enthusiast Forums Open Wednesday
After months of development and three weeks of beta testing, the Lexus Enthusiast community forums will launch this Wednesday.
Kevin · February 16th, 2015
Happy Holidays from Lexus Enthusiast
As we enter the festive season, and I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of my readers a safe and happy holidays! Like every year, I’ll be taking some time off over the holidays. Regular posting will resume on January 5th — a little longer than usual, but for good reason. Along …
Kevin · December 24th, 2014
Lexus Enthusiast Membership Drive Now Complete!
Hello everyone, After just two weeks, the Lexus Enthusiast Membership Drive finished today. All founding memberships are now sold. With the first stage of massive project complete, I would like to give my deepest thanks to all founding members! Look for an email later tonight with some announcements, including a very special giveaway to celebrate …
Kevin · August 28th, 2014
Lexus Enthusiast Membership Drive Update: Funding Goal Reached
Hello everyone, Time for a big announcement — in just one week, the Lexus Enthusiast Membership Drive has reached 101% of its $10,000 funding goal! Thank you to all the founding members for showing their support, I’ve been humbled by this amazing response and the strong vote of confidence. This is only the beginning of …
Kevin · August 18th, 2014
Lexus Enthusiast: A New Chapter Begins on Monday
Hello everyone — my name is Kevin Watts, and I’m the founder and editor of the Lexus Enthusiast website. I’ve been writing Lexus Enthusiast since 2007, starting it as a hobby after buying my first car, a 1994 LS 400. Seven years later, and the site has been visited by millions of people and is …
Kevin · August 7th, 2014
Lexus Enthusiast Reader Survey to Close Tomorrow
A quick reminder — the first-ever Lexus Enthusiast Reader Survey will close tomorrow at 9pm ET.
Kevin · July 24th, 2013
Lexus Enthusiast Reader Survey
Complete the first-ever reader survey for a chance to win a prize pack!
Kevin · July 18th, 2013
Lexus Enthusiast Site Redesign!
Good morning, and welcome to the all-new, all-improved *Lexus Enthusiast* website!
Kevin · November 1st, 2011
New Sponsor: JM Lexus Custom Creations
Please join me in welcoming Lexus Enthusiast's newest sponsor -- JM Lexus Custom Creations!
Kevin · August 5th, 2011
Lexus CT Remix Music Project (Plus USB Stick Giveaway!)
I thought this was pretty cool — Lexus has announced the CT Remix Project, which takes the songs from the four CT 200h launch commercials (link 1, link 2, link 3, link 4) and has them remixed by top DJs and producers. Here’s the artists involved (taken from the press release): At the foundation of …
Kevin · April 13th, 2011
Site Update: Disqus Comments
In order to bring the comment system some much needed new features, I’ve decided to try out Disqus. Disqus is the same system used by Engadget & Mashable, and makes it easy to respond directly to other comments, along with being able to “like” comments, respond to comments via email, and edit your comments. Besides …
Kevin · March 7th, 2011
TLE Christmas Day 5
It’s Christmas Eve, and time to give away the final gift of the week — the winner of the Lexus LFA t-shirt is…Izzy from the UK! In the end, over 500 people signed up for the TLE Christmas contest — thank you to everyone that entered, and congratulations to all the winners!
Kevin · December 24th, 2010
TLE Christmas Day 4
Today’s winner of the TLE T-Shirt giveaway is Richard Estrella of USA, who will be receiving the last silkscreened Lexus CT 200h t-shirt as a Christmas present this year. As promised, the Christmas Eve t-shirt is something special, and I’m almost reluctant to part with it: This t-shirt was from my LFA experience down in …
Kevin · December 23rd, 2010
TLE Christmas Day 3
We’re halfway though the week, and today’s winner of the TLE T-Shirt giveaway is Ednut Meezak of USA, who will be receiving a custom silkscreened Lexus CT 200h t-shirt as a Christmas present this year. Tomorrow, the last CT 200h t-shirt will be given away, and then Friday it’s time to pick a winner for …
Kevin · December 22nd, 2010
TLE Christmas Day 2
Today’s winner of the TLE T-Shirt giveaway is Monique Knowles of USA, who will be receiving a custom silkscreened Lexus CT 200h t-shirt as a Christmas present this year. Tomorrow, another t-shirt will be given away, and I’m also going to post a little teaser of Friday’s special edition t-shirt. It’s still not too late …
Kevin · December 21st, 2010
TLE Christmas Day 1
After collecting over 300 entries over the weekend, the first winner of the TLE T-Shirt giveaway is Pedro Roldãp of Portugal, who will be receiving a custom silkscreened Lexus CT 200h t-shirt as a Christmas present this year. Tomorrow, another t-shirt will be given away — it’s not too late to enter the contest. Good …
Kevin · December 20th, 2010
TLE Christmas Party
Christmas is fast approaching, and to celebrate the upcoming holiday season, I’ll be giving away a Lexus t-shirt every day next week, from Monday to Christmas Eve! Winners will be randomly selected — there are four custom CT 200h t-shirts that I picked up at the NYC event in September, and then on Christmas Eve …
Kevin · December 18th, 2010
TLE Site Update
In order to keep things current and make room for some planned improvements, I’ve updated the website design — no major changes, and probably best compared to the 2011 Lexus IS refresh: all the same elements, just a little bit sharper. If things are looking a little weird for you, I suggest clicking your browser …
Kevin · December 1st, 2010
VAIS Tech Introduces VLine II LED Lights
TLE sponsor VAISTech has revealed a new accessory for your Lexus — the VLine II is a LED lighting system that improves night-time visibility while adding a distinct look: Just like all VAIStech products, the VLine II is built with the upmost quality — visit the product page for more details, including a video demonstration. …
Kevin · May 7th, 2010
TLE Issues Resolved
Regular readers may have noticed some general weirdness with TLE since its move to WordPress a couple days ago — unfortunately, with a site move of this size, there were a number of unforeseen issues, including some problems with viewing articles and leaving comments. I’m happy to say that the most of these problems have …
Kevin · May 6th, 2010
The Lexus Enthusiast 6.0
Welcome to The Lexus Enthusiast 6.0! Now running on the WordPress platform, this new edition of TLE was made necessary due to reasons too numerous and technical to mention, but rest assured, the switchover will be well worth it. The most obvious change is the content slider at the top of the homepage, which should …
Kevin · May 5th, 2010
(Re)Introducing the New TLE Comment Moderator
Much to my excitement, The Lexus Enthusiast community has been growing steadily over the last few months. There’s now dozens of frequent commenters with diverse insight and strong opinions, and it’s been one of my favorite things to watch as the site builds in popularity. In order to best serve this community, I’ve asked frequent …
Kevin · February 9th, 2010
NAIAS Live Coverage
This morning, the North American International Auto Show has opened its doors to the worldwide automotive press, including myself, and I will be bringing you a Lexus perspective to America’s autoshow. I will be updating throughout the day as I go over every square inch of the Lexus exhibit, including the LFA supercar & the …
Kevin · January 11th, 2010
2010 Lexus RX 450h Long Term Report: Week 1
Last week, I took the delivery of my first long-term road test vehicle from Lexus Canada—a 2010 Smoky Granite Mica RX 450h: This is the full deal—an RX 450h with the Ultra Luxury package that includes Heads-Up Display, rear entertainment system, LED headlights, and fifteen-speaker Mark Levinson audio system. As far as I can tell, …
Kevin · December 21st, 2009
Lexus Enthusiast 5.0
Welcome to the latest edition of The Lexus Enthusiast! Developed over a two-month period, this is the fifth redesign of the site since its debut in May 2007. First off, some key points: The entire site navigation has been simplified and reworked—gone is the needlessly complicated model database, and in its place is a simple …
Kevin · November 21st, 2009
Minor Site Changes
As part of ongoing improvements, The Lexus Enthusiast has received a slight design refresh. The changes are subtle, but are meant to bring some added polish to the website. To fix any problems you may be seeing, hold down the Shift key and click Refresh in your browser. If you continue to have any issues …
Kevin · July 25th, 2009
Correction
By some fluke, the software that runs this website ate the final revision of my IS 350c & RX 450h story and published an earlier draft. I have rewritten the missing parts and the post has been updated. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused.
Kevin · June 23rd, 2009
Driving the Lexus RX 450h & Lexus IS 350C
This past Friday, I attended a Lexus Canada press event in Kingston, Ontario, where I had the opportunity to test out the 2010 RX 450h and the IS 350C convertible. After an a quick briefing, we all loaded up into our first vehicle of the day and set out on a route through the surrounding …
Kevin · June 23rd, 2009
Lexus LX570 Photo Gallery: Industrial Waterway
Next up in my 2009 Lexus LX 570 photo galleries is a collection of three different locations—Lake Ontario (looking more like a windy Hawaii), an abandoned steel mill, and along the Welland Canal: {embed=“site/gallery” gallery_id=“1192”} One of my favorite things about taking LX photos was trying to make it look as tiny as possible. Image …
Kevin · June 9th, 2009
Lexus LX Week
Yesterday, I returned the 2009 Lexus LX 570 to Lexus Canada, much to the chagrin of my entire extended family. Being able to seat eight turned every drive into an event, and everyone was sad to see the giant SUV go. Over the course of ten days, I drove 1386 km (862 miles) and averaged …
Kevin · June 8th, 2009
Lexus Enthusiast Contest Winners
The deadline is up, all the entries are in, and it’s time to announce the winners of the Lexus Enthusiast Second Anniversary Contest! There were over 500 contestants from around the globe—five names were randomly selected—here they are: USA Detailing Kit prize pack: Aaron Seligman USA Lexus Logos prize pack: Andrew Patterson Canadian IS-F prize …
Kevin · June 5th, 2009
24 Hours Left to Enter Lexus Enthusiast Anniversary Contest
Just wanted to remind everyone that there’s only 24 hours left to enter The Lexus Enthusiast Second Anniversary Contest—winners will be announced tomorrow at 3PM EST (7:00 UTC). Anyone from the USA, Canada or the European Union can enter, with prizes provided by VAIS Technology, Sewell Lexus, Bel-Air Lexus and Lexus UK. For full details …
Kevin · June 4th, 2009
Spending Time with the 2009 Lexus LX 570
Late last week, I picked up a review LX 570 from Lexus Canada with more than a little anxiety. After all, this is a two ton, sixteen-foot tank of a vehicle, immense in every sense of the word, and I had to jump straight into big-city traffic immediately after taking the keys. Intimidating. Of course, …
Kevin · June 3rd, 2009
The Lexus Enthusiast Second Anniversary Contest
Hard to believe, but it was two years ago today that I started posting daily Lexus news at The Passionate Pursuit. Since then, the site has gone through a name change, four redesigns, eight million pageviews, over 1,000 news stories, and close to 5,000 comments on its way to becoming a premier source of Lexus …
Kevin · May 29th, 2009
Welcome Lexus Pursuit Visitors!
I would like to extend a welcome to everyone visiting the site by way of Lexus USA’s monthly Lexus Pursuit newsletter. Thank you for visiting! There’s plenty of news stories making the rounds right now, here’s a selection of articles you might find interesting: Is this the 2010 Lexus ES? Production-Ready Lexus LFA rumored to …
Kevin · April 23rd, 2009
New Beginnings
Hello, and welcome to The Lexus Enthusiast, otherwise known as the new and improved version of The Passionate Pursuit. As promised, the name change is the first step in some major improvements coming to the site, in fact, today’s changes also include a move to a new software platform. WordPress, which has powered the site …
Kevin · March 25th, 2009
Healthy Start
Regular readers may have noticed that the Lexus news hasn’t been all that frequent lately, and I’d like to explain just what’s been happening “behind-the-scenes” here at TPP. First of all, I’ve been extremely sick these last three weeks, having been hit by an extremely nasty cold that made it hard to do much of …
Kevin · March 9th, 2009
New Sponsor: VAIS Technology
Allow me to welcome VAIS Technology as a new sponsor of The Passionate Pursuit! VAIS Technology, as you may know, manufactures audio/video integration solutions for Lexus, making it possible to connect almost any media device to your vehicle. Most importantly, VAIS Tech lets you manage these devices using your standard audio controls. An ideal solution! …
Kevin · December 18th, 2008
Lexus Wallpaper of the Week: LS Generations
Welcome to a new feature here at TPP, the Wallpaper of the Week! From now on, every Wednesday will bring a brand new desktop image from every era of Lexus, from the ES 250 right down to the LF-A, and everything in between. This first edition, which stands as one of my favorite desktop images …
Kevin · December 10th, 2008
Welcome to TPP 3.0
Welcome to the new and improved TPP! At first glace it might not look like a big change, but I’ve made a big switch with the software powering the site, moving from Drupal back to WordPress. Don’t worry, even if you don’t know what I’m talking about, the difference is going to be apparent. Let’s …
Kevin · November 25th, 2008
Lexus LF-A Wallpaper
Due to an email I sent out far too late, I wasn’t able to include Dougie Wand‘s great mirror image of the Lexus LF-A as part of my anniversary wallpaper collection, but all the better to offer it on a hot Friday afternoon. Here’s the various desktop sizes, enjoy! 1680×1050 | 1440×900 | 1280×1024 | …
Kevin · June 6th, 2008
Comments Fixed
Due to a technical mix-up, comments have been disabled for the past week. The problem is now fixed, and commenting is once again possible. It was a poor time for the comment system to go down, so now with the problem resolved, I’m interested to hear your reactions to my hypothesis that the Lexus LF-A …
Kevin · June 1st, 2008
TPP: One Year Anniversary
Today marks the first anniversary of The Passionate Pursuit! It’s funny the way time works, at times it feels like I’ve only just started, and in another way, it seems like something I’ve always done. I’ve learned a lot over the past year, running this site is a very rewarding experience. To mark the occasion, …
Kevin · May 30th, 2008
Welcome to The Passionate Pursuit 2.0
After extensive development, the new version of The Passionate Pursuit is ready. First thing’s first, if you’ve visited the site any time recently, please be sure to hit the refresh button, otherwise things might look pretty strange. The most significant addition to the site is the Lexus database, which contains every model built by Lexus. …
Kevin · May 11th, 2008
TPP 2.0 This Week
Update: The new site design will be launching Sunday evening, and things will be quiet around here until then. The site will more than likely be down for a few hours on Sunday as we prepare for launch. Thanks for your patience! If you’re a regular visitor to this blog, you may remember the mention …
Kevin · May 10th, 2008
A Weekend Away
Just a quick note, I’ll be away from a computer for the next couple days and will resume posting on Monday. (Hopefully the GS-F isn’t announced this weekend!)
Kevin · April 11th, 2008
The Toronto Auto Show & Some Site News
It’s a bit last minute, but I’ll be heading to the Canadian International Auto Show tomorrow in Toronto, where I’m finally going to get chance to see the Lexus IS-F (among other assorted vehicles). It’s my first auto show in years, and I’m really looking forward to it. As expected, I’ll be taking a ton …
Kevin · February 22nd, 2008
Lexus & Team One are looking for your Lexus photos
Team One, the company behind Lexus’ advertising in the US, recently contacted me about a great opportunity for Lexus owners to show off their cars. Right now, they’re looking for photos of you and your Lexus for an upcoming project, here are the details: The photo has to be of you with your Lexus, not …
Kevin · February 18th, 2008
The Passionate Pursuit Version 2.0 Coming
Before launching this site in June 2007, I made up a list of rules that I wanted to follow, and the very first thing I wrote down was “Leave the site design alone for six months.” As a professional web designer, I have a tendency to tweak sites obsessively, but in this case I wanted …
Kevin · February 9th, 2008
Lexus in 2007: A Brief Recap
Right from the very start, 2007 was a year of controversy for Lexus. In January, the Detroit Auto Show saw the introduction of the IS-F and the F-Sport line. The F-Division is meant to be Lexus’ answer to Mercedes’ AMG and BMW’s M-Division, and it was a move that was criticized from all angles over …
Kevin · December 31st, 2007
TPP’s Ten Most Popular Lexus Stories of 2007
2007 is almost over, and having given myself up to a period of reflection, I thought a recap of the year’s ten most popular stories would be in order. Without further ado: 10. Additional Footage of the Lexus LF-A at Nürburgring This Youtube footage of the Lexus LF-A zooming around Nürburgring was one of my …
Kevin · December 30th, 2007
Happy Holidays from The Passionate Pursuit
No matter how unsubtle my hints were, I have some real doubts that I’ll be getting an Lexus LS 600hL for Christmas, December to Remember or no. Hopefully, some of you out there have better luck! (Posting will resume on Boxing Day December 27th. Santa left me the flu for Christmas.)
Kevin · December 24th, 2007
Site News: Most Popular, Latest Comments, & A WSJ Mention
With comments picking up and some of my older posts drawing in daily traffic, I have added links to the latest comments and most popular posts to the sidebar, underneath the category links. *** Though I’m sure it’s probably automated, my site has been linked to from a Wall Street Journal article dealing with strategic …
Kevin · September 16th, 2007