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Showing posts with label Lexus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lexus. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
2011 Lexus Gs 2012 Photos Styling Review
Ford Car newshttp://masti-jokes.blogspot.com/search/label/Ford
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
We don't see many vehicles on the road this color, but when we do, oh man! Luke, we're sorry, but FPH is turning to the Dark Side!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Luxury is a funny thing in the car industry. Upon hearing that word, many different marques enter the mind. The usual suspects include Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Cadillac, Lincoln, Lexus, Acura, and Infiniti. Since 2009, some might consider Hyundai's Genesis sedan as a good entry-priced piece of opulence but let's be real here. Nobody ever wants to talk about their cheap luxuries. This being the case, let's talk about the Equus as well as another plebeian manufacturer's attempt at extravagance, Volkswagen's Phaeton.
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| carscoop.blogspot.com |
Right now, you might be wondering what my drug preference is if I'm comparing Hyundai to Volkwagen and the Equus to the not so dearly departed Phaeton. There's more food for thought here than you would previously believe. Stick with me on this one.
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| get1car.com |
Back in 2002, VW produced their entry level luxury car in the W8 powered Passat. It cost somewhere in the range of $40,000 while the base price of the Passat was hovering near thirty grand. Sound similar to a certain Korean automaker today? This was VW's warning shot toward its more premium German counterparts, the first volley before the main attack, the Phaeton.
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| netcarshow.com |
Now, Volkswagen is an established marque. It had been around for something like seventy years when it released the Phaeton in 2004. Having said that, VW is best known as a builder of small cars with decent performance and a really nice interior for its price. Consider that up until this point in time, the Passat was the top of the range and in the U.S. its doppelganger, the A4, was the bottom rung in Audi's model line-up. This is one reason why the Phaeton did not work in the U.S. To us here in the states, the Phaeton was just a supersized Passat. But wait, Americans like everything supersized including their own waistlines. Well, we like everything supersized for "just 50 cents more" not for the starting price of 65 large. Yes, sixty-five thousand dollars for a bloated Passat whose real name couldn't be pronounced. We won't even talk about the maxed out price of over $106,000 if you want the W12 motor. Damn! I talked about it!
As long as we're on the topic of motors, that W12 scorches the earth moves a bit of loose gravel with a zero to sixty run of 6.1 seconds. Granted, that's not exactly Toyota Prius slow especially considering the weight of this two and a half ton behemoth. However, the other Germans are doing that sprint faster with V8s and a more prestigious badge on the grill.
What does all this have to do with Hyundai? Hyundai is not an established marque in the American consumer market. Since their entry in the late 80s, their cars have been considered "throw away" cars. Yet, they seem to have followed a similar strategy to Volkswagen when trying to sell a premium product. After improving their existing product line in leaps and bounds, the Genesis sedan was introduced as almost a teaser to the Equus. It, like the Passat, was the entry level luxury car but the Genesis had an ace up its sleeve. That ace was something called value. The Genesis offers mid-sized luxury car amenities for entry level prices while the Passat W8 was just a Passat with a crazy motor configuration. After factoring in the most recent recession, people were willing to get a little more for their money if it meant dropping a fancy star or roundel from the hood. After praises rained down on the Genesis from both owners and auto magazines, consumers were prepared for the price that Hyundai would bestow upon its wing-badged S-class fighter. ($58,000 vs. $91,000)
While Hyundai hasn't started a completely separate luxury division like Toyota's Lexus, there is no italicized "H" on the hood of the Equus but a simple, elegant eagle design. The marketing makes sense but the badge itself doesn't. Equus in Latin means horse. I guess someone already took the prancing pony badge. It really is all about the badge after all.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Look down at your center console (now at me, now back to your console...damn Old Spice commercials). I bet there's at least 3 things that you notice right away. There's the shifter, a cup holder probably, and the hand brake. This last item goes by many names. There's hand brake, parking brake, and emergency brake, or e-brake for short. I've decided that e-brake will from now on mean "enthusiast brake." Let me explain after the jump.
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| My Mazdaspeed 3 |
This is a picture of the three most important hand controls in a car. The steering wheel...er... steers. The shifter transmits power from the motor to the wheels. For normal people, the e-brake prevents the car from aimlessly wandering into some negative circumstance. However, the e-brake is an enthusiast's Leatherman multi-tool.
Now, I don't condone anything that I'm about to tell you. I'm just saying that certain people do, in fact, use the e-brake for these reasons. These might include e-brake drifts, j-turns, and front-wheel drive burnouts.
As enthusiasts, we are proud that we can make a car dance around corners and control its every movement. The e-brake simply aids in the festivities. Soon, these stop sticks will be replaced by something like this:
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| Audi parking brake |
This parking brake is from an Audi A6, I believe (correct me if it's an A8). Notice the "P" does not denote e-brake. This is a parking brake. This was not made for hoonage or rally techniques, contrary to Audi heritage.
As I stated in part 1, the art of driving is becoming less and less intimate. Knowing the proper clutch and shift action for a car no longer matters. Shifting is becoming automated with dual clutch, flappy paddle tomfoolery. Add in the new EPA CAFE standards for increased fuel mileage and we have a perfect storm situation that can wash away all traces of analog car controls.
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| Mercedes E-Class |
I know it's like beating a dead horse in this column but bear with me on transmissions for a bit.
Automated manual transmissions use clutches instead of torque converters like in a normal automatic transmission. Lexus and Mercedes use wet clutches in their automatics but that's a story for another time. These automated manuals are getting to be more efficient than automatics because those liquid filled torque converters sap a lot of power just to get moving. These transmissions can be moved around a lot more than a manual transmission due to solenoids controlling the driver/transmission interface instead of a mechanical linkage. This means that the center console can be made smaller which in the case of the McLaren MP4-12C narrows the car to decrease weight and increase fuel efficiency.
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| MP4-12C worldcarfans.com |
Where does this leave the e-brake? We might as well call it Bon Jovi 'cause it's living on a prayer now. Cable linkages are becoming good buddies with the Dodo bird and e-brakes are turning into p-brakes, which sounds more like a panic stop during a road trip. In which case, I don't want to be using that on a daily basis.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
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| Infiniti Essence Concept |
In the past week’s Autoblog, a bit of emphasis has been put upon a seldomly discussed niche— Japanese premium brands. Paul Eisenstein wrote an article on whether Honda has lost its footing, questioning Acura’s direction. Noah Joseph reports plans within Infiniti to anchor their line-up with both an entry-level and halo models.
For years, the Japanese premium brands have ambitiously competed with the Germans in the luxury car market. Focusing their strategies in the United States, Honda was first to introduce the Acura brand in 1986. Following suit, Lexus of Toyota and Infiniti of Nissan stepped onto the North American stage in 1989.
Since the year of inception, the only Japanese model to consistently challenge the finest from Europe is the Lexus LS series. After just 14 months from its debut, the LS already outsold competing models from Benz, BMW, and Jaguar. Then, for the next fifteen consecutive years in a row, the LS remained the top ranked vehicle in J.D. Power Associate’s Vehicle Dependability Study.
Looking back fifteen years ago, the ‘90s were a fantastic decade for American consumers that were in the market for a Japanese car. The trend for modifying Honda Civics, Preludes and Acura Integras had yet to peak. The NSX turned the supercar game on its ear. The Notorious B.I.G. rapped about how he drove a Lexus LX four and a half with bulletproof glass tints if he wanted some ass. But you know what's really crazy? Ludacris only tweeted last Monday, “My 93 Acura Legend has 230,000 miles on it & still running strong. Still my favorite car out of every single one I’ve owned.” Check out Luda's twitter page here.
Unfortunately, the Infiniti brand never garnered similar success. Initial Infiniti commercials did not provide images of the car itself so many Americans were not even familiar with what they were trying to sell. And, although Q was one of the better handling and more driver-centric vehicles in its class, its less luxuriously appointed interior and premium over an LS made it less desirable.
Strangely, when we fast forward 15 years and consider the brands now, it’s as though Acura and Infiniti had switched places.
Acura? Don't stare too long... you might turn to stone.
The styling of the previous generation TL was Alfa Romeo inspiring, but they had to replace it with a new one; chubby with bucked tooth. Okay, fine. Jokes on its hideous design direction aside, I feel that Acura began to slip when the suits, unaware of how much brand equity was at risk upon the loss, decided to drop the names Legend and Integra. Acura’s mistake is literally fundamental; a marque is without a foundation if you abandon the first generation.
This was compounded with a lower than expected level of success from the Legend replacing 3.5RL, Acura's lack of foresight to develop a V8 or introduce a rear wheel drive model to answer German rivals, and their inability to stun the masses with unique and attractive design—all of which Infiniti was able to deliver and all of which are prerequisites in the luxury brand category. Personally I’d like to add their inability to deliver a replacement to the NSX halo car as a factor as well.
This conveniently brings us to Infiniti. Its stylish and athletic G37, M56 and FX provide a new found identity for Infiniti as the Japanese premium sporting brand.
And now there are discussions for a new Infiniti halo model and a new entry level as well! This can be great! Allow me to share with you the halo car I’ve already had in mind. First, heavy styling influences from the Infiniti Essence Concept you saw at the top of the post. Secondly, AWD and shared high performance technology to cozy up an association with the R35 GTR. And third, a hybrid. Yes, I just went there.
As for the entry-level, I’m not exactly sure what I’d like to see here. It used to be straightforward when the Integra and the G20 were still around, but I can say with confidence that I do not see Infiniti introducing a hot hatchback. Nor do I see any compacts from Nissan’s stable that is worthy of rebadging and I’d rather not see a CVT transmission either. Fuel efficiency is great and all, but never at the expense of a sporty engine note. No one should suffer the drone of dirt devil vacuum cleaners every morning they commute to work.
We can’t forget Renault-Nissan’s participation with Mercedes Benz either. There’s a possibility that the halo Infiniti is an IPL, Infiniti Performance Line, with AMG power. But really, since when were halo cars not supposed to be built completely in-house with pride? Likewise, it’s also a possibility for Infiniti to introduce a sister B-Class for an entry level. Yet this is doubtful too, as the B was never sold in North America (At least not in the United States, anyone Canadian care to confirm?). But I'm fine, no B-class, thank you very much. Can we ask for an IPL 1 series M Coupe fighter instead?
Things are getting a bit tricky in the future. In light of the CAFE regulations for automakers to hit an average of 35 MPG, Danny Chin’s last post suggests the potential of the new BMW inline-4 and the different ways it can be implemented for present as well as future models. Moreover, BMW has confirmed its plans on a future fwd model.
Whatever it is Acura or Infiniti plans on doing, what’s certain is, of course, the inevitable automotive industry movement required to address CAFE. If Acura is going to do anything to revamp itself into the popular marque it once was, now is definitely the time to take advantage of the CAFE regulations and the trends in efficiency and smaller vehicles. Maybe Acura had foresight after all. Maybe what they needed all along were efficient FF platforms.
Oh crap, did this train of thought turn into a complete train wreck of tangents…
Here, have an emoticon. =___=
Thursday, December 16, 2010
As a resident of the northern hemisphere, I admit that things can get a bit depressing around this time of year. The days are getting shorter, the temperature is slowly creeping toward single digits, and it seems like the sun is doing nothing but taunting us. The good cheer and festive moods of the holiday season do help some but even the holidays are sure to cause a bit of depression. The two main culprits for this are the slightly enlarged waistlines and those ridiculously large red bows in Lexus commercial!
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| lexusenthusiast.com |
I've never seen a bodaciously big bow like that in anybody's garbage after Christmas, so I can only assume that people don't get Lexuses (Lexi?) for gifts or those bows are fictional characters. Regardless, if you want to please an enthusiast this holiday season with a car but you're in a bit of a financial bind (there is a recession happening after all), FPH has got the perfect gift giving guide for you!
To make this list, the cars had to meet three criteria:
Fun to drive
I don't care who you are but nobody wants to get a minivan. Even people who buy minivans don't want one. Those people are just obligated to buy one because of wifey, the PTA, the soccer league, etc.Under $8000
As stated earlier, we're in the midst of a recession. Nobody has Puff Daddy money to buy their kids Rolls-Royces. Plus, the receiver won't feel so bad about adding some speed mods to a used car. If they decide to slap on a body kit, neon lights, or a giant wing, smack that fool and take the keys back!Decent reliability/age
Giving somebody a lemon would be like saying you got them a race-bred greyhound only to have the pooch crap on the carpet and lick himself all day. OK, that analogy sucked but you get the idea. |
| netcarshow.com |
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| Jamesduncan.com |
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| modified.com |
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| thecarpictures.info |
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| mx5-car-parts.blogspot.com |
Come Christmas morning, I hope you find one of these under your tree. They should keep a real smile on your face long enough to save you from cracking a fake one when you get that ugly sweater or fruit cake. For those that say humbug to these choice automobiles and think they need more horsepower, put down that slice of pie and make a New Year's resolution to fix your personal power to weight ratio.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Folks, it's a road trip post!
Completing my last final exam at around 11pm last Wednesday night, I receive a call from mom with exciting news that we would be going on a trip to Cape Cod the morning after. Road trips with mama dukes always meant that you'll have to mentally come to terms with her role as the back seat driver for the coming four hour drive. But hey, I was desperate and I really needed this.
I'd like to use this opportunity to just say how important family really is and that I'm really glad we did it. In the end, this turned out to be one of the most pleasant trips of recent memory. My parents are no longer young and they're only going to get older. Another family trip is another memory that we'd be able to share together. When my folks get to an age where they've become too old to travel, I hope not to have any regrets on not spending time with them when I had the chance.
Road trips also remind us what owning a car is really about. Fundamentally, it is mobility. When an owner buys a Ferrari only to leave it in a climate controlled garage, I can only believe that what the owner must feel is a sense of regret and remorse that grows exponentially for every back road that he prevents his Ferrari from stretching its legs on.
Anyway, without further ado, please enjoy the pictures!
Day 1, Cape Cod:
::click on photo to enlarge::
The Lexus GS300 AWD, Joe's Lobster Mart near the Boardwalk, and I.Considerations were made on whether or not to make this post a review on the Lexus (this is supposed to be a car blog after all) but I was afraid that it'd make readers fall asleep.
Let's get this over with. The Lexus GS 300 awd. Design wise, it's one slippery and handsome bar of soap, or as Lexus likes to call their design direction, "L-finesse". It seats four comfortably, though headroom is a bit lacking and I would have much preferred to leave my hat on while sitting inside.
Performance is good. With all passengers and luggage in the car, the engine was not out of breath when it was asked to accelerate to merging speeds. I'd describe the delivery as similar to that initial feeling you get when an elevator starts to move from underneath you. Boring, pretty much.
The chassis is rigid, the suspension is firm, the dampers are forgiving. The cabin is extremely quiet, the air conditioner blew cold, the leathers are soft, the ergonomics are sensible, the Mark Levinson stereo system was most welcomed. My mom and dad were especially happy with it whenever Lady Gaga's Telephone came on. Really, they're more hip than you think!
In conclusion, the Lexus is a good long distance tourer, but we'd prefer something with a bit more passion (a quid in the Italian swear jar) or a bit more Maserati Quattroporte.
Day 2, Provincetown and Gray Gables
Token "editor in front of test car" picture.
Paying Uncle Bob a visit!
Day 3, Boston
Top of the Prudential with Danny Chin
Coordinating get up was unintentional. Probably caught a bit of attention though.
Danny Chin and I sitting around talking about cars as usual. Note how my left arm is flat against the armrest and my fingers are curving upwards. I'm convinced that this picture was taken when I was in the middle of describing this white Aston Martin V8 Vantage I saw earlier that day and what my arm was actually doing is imitating the Aston's duck tail spoiler. Yes.All in all, I had a great time and it was great to visit Boston again. Special thanks to Sandra and Uncle Bob, a thank you to my parents for becoming less dorky, and special special thanks to Danny Chin and his family for the hospitality. It was wonderful to see you all again!
I'm sure there will be more road trip posts in the future. It is arguably the most rewarding thing to be able to do as a driver. This sort of combination of spontaneity and freedom is rare and I don't think it's even something I see many major publications write about in detail.
I hope you enjoyed this post, let us know of your memorable road trips or one that you've always wanted to do!
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