dutchie01

Not really surprising John as these thing will never die. Buy one and you can pass it on to your kids! Before lockdowns my work took me all over Europe and when in a taxi the first thing i do is try to see how many km the car did. A prius with 525000 km and a Merc E 200D with 700.000 km come to mind. I thought cars would be finished at 150km in the old days!

I expect them to go for what the market is asking for only, crossovers and SUV s. This seems already in progress, so LBX ( below ux small crossover maybe replacement of CT,) UX, NX ( new one coming soon) RX, RZ ( new crossover coupe ) LX and the LF1 the new large SUV which seems to be the flagship.

i saw a brandnew RC300 F sport hybrid today white with black carbon roof and bonnet and oh wow did it look special. I know i should have taken a picture but sorry i forgot. it was parked in an ocean of grey and silver tin boxes and looked more exotic than a ferrari. it looks three times the price and i just hope they keep it going for some time

totally correct Doog and thesame for whatever brand. You would not believe the discounts on large saloon cars, the more expensive the bigger the discounts as these just dont shift at all. Think of Audi A8/BMW 7 etc. Dealers are forced to display them in the showrooms by the manufacturers but for instance the X5 is the new 5 series. Friend of mine just leased a brandnew BM 850 series coupe for thesame monthly rate as his 540 estate!

Audi also has it, i see it as a marketing gimmick, no more no less. I just dont see the real world advantage, The answer to a question nobody asked. Bit like an electrical egg cutter, an apple already cut in pieces packed in plastic and on sale in the supermarket, Gesture control on in car infotainment ( a tip, use a button) Farting exhausts when shifting up in new VAG products, And so on. The Saturday night question! What is the option ( or standard) thing you have in your car that you NEVER use?? For me MOST of the settings i can adjust on the touchscreen, i just get in and drive off.

a prime example of overcomplication. most likely driven by marketing. By the way for 1600 pounds you can buy a car..

The real danger in repairing a heavily damaged car is getting envolved in another accident. If the initial damage was structural a second hit can be lethal as crumple zones will not be affective anymore

I forgot the worst of them all. Not measured by reliability as it never ever broke down even if i deliberately tried. A brandnew 1994 Ford Mondeo diesel with 90 hp.. Companycar of course. Everything on that car was mediocre, the styling utterly bland, the interior design uninspiring, te buildquality questionnable but it never ever broke down, drove 120000 rattling kilometers with it, the last 20k km shortshifting without clutch but it would not die. Roadholding was on the brink of dangerous. It was so nose heavy understeer was everywhere in every corner. The most serious part was sudden death understeer, without warning you loose all grip and the car just plows straight on. I hated that car. It followed my alfas that DID break down a lot but there was design, passion ( and underfunded development..). All my alfas were anything but bland there was a philosophy behind them ( 1 look good 2 make lots of noise 3 red paint 4 that ll do it). the mondeo had neither it was designed by accountants. And that brings me to Lexus. When i got my IS250 i was blown away with the build quality, The NVH, the attention to detail, the over engineering, for me that was a different world. The IS300H was already different as i had the idea there was more toyota than lexus in it but is still liked it very much however it just wasnt thesame as the 250. Todays cars seem one step further again withe the ES as prime example of a worked over toyota, make it into a lexus type of thing. Reminds me a bit of Audi/VW 15 years ago. In every Audi you could see VW shine through. Maybe it is toyota going upmarket and approaching Lexus but i really feel Lexus should up its game to preserve its image. Anyway, just a thought.

I think there is a massive difference between the shiny dealer palaces and the local village garage. The latter is build on trust only. The owner knows you and you know the owner The garage plays a role in local society and has a reputation build on years, you see each other in the pub. I bought my daughters first car from Peters Garage, without a testdrive as i trust Peter. it was a Suzuki Swift for 1500 euros and it took her through uni. On the other side of the spectrum are the dealers of premium brands. Their entire business is directed from the factory directly. A big handbook of how the building must look like, how many m2, how many cars to shift by model etc. even the clothes of the salespeople are laid down in directives from munich stuttgart etc. The investments are enormous, the overhead frightening and they all struggle to be profitable. They are run like insurance companies and if they dont get the end year bonuses they are in the red. Life is difficult as main dealer we should not forget that but in my experience in lots of cases it can go horribly wrong on the showroom floor. Customer first seems to be a marketingslogan only.....

this seems universal doesnt it, the sheer arrogance of the salespeople, and the limited knowledge they have.. I once asked about the weight difference between a 250 GS and IS and they had no clue. Mind you this was 6 years ago with only 4 (!) models in the showroom. How difficult can it be to know the product you are trying to sell!

I think we can start a separate thread called = The Art Of Trying To Buy A New Car = as i predict we all have similar stories. Every 3 years i have to enter the world of car sales and this sometimes is like entering a parallel universe. Rich, as your example i wanted to buy a new BMw 3 series estate, had it all specced out, color, goodies and all. the only thing i needed was an official offer from a BMW dealer to hand over to my accounts dept. I entered the dealer asked for an offer told them i would wait on it only to be asked if i could come back another day as they were redecorating the showroom ??? I left and thought why am i leaving i am trying to buy a 60k car but it doesnt work. Or another one, a fine 1 yr old audi A6 with only 4000kms from dealer with warranty. Needed a car now not next week and there it was on a saturday in the shiny dealers palace. Can i take it out for a quick spin, if its ok i take it. No sir, you need to make an appointment. But hang on, the car is here, i am here you are here? No you need to make an appointment are you available next Thursday? The sales prevention department at work. I can go on for hours!

In my student days i owned 3 different 2CVs that were all completely worn out and junk really, but they were cheap! when the battery went dead i bought a new car for 50 euro! ( no MOT in those days). I then went into alfas, an adventure in itself. Brakefailure on a GTV, jammed gearbox in a 75 ( in Paris rush hour stuck in 3rd), and the most comical was in an 164 when i had the complete gearstick in my hands. Oh and rust rust on the older models could not even jack the car up anymore. Then came Audi, an A2 and A3 both sold rapidly due to a string of electrical gremlins with the A2 shutting down whilst driving regularly. BMW 3 series i had 4 recalls in 2 years. Never had an issue with Saabs though had 93 s and 95 great cars. Lexus? drove them for 7 years not even a lightbulb went wrong. Currently own a Volvo V60 which has some vibration issues seems to be a design fault. Hope to be baxk to Lexus one day..

This thread made me think about the "mechanical connection" you can have with your car. The sound of the air intake, exhaust, mechanical noises, vibrations smell of warm oil, the metal on metal feel of the gearstick the biting of the clutch pedal on the right moment. I feel this with some cars more than with others but dont have it with EV s ( my children dont have it at all for them choosing a car is choosing between a Siemens or Miele refridgerator, they just dont get it) I drove an IS300H for 4 years and liked the engineering and idea behind it. Great for silent in town driving or effortless cruising on the highway. It has thesame powertrain as the RC300Hfsport and one only has to look at the specs to find out it wont be a rocketship with weight as a main factor. It looks fantastic though is relatively fast and fuel economy is likely to be only half of the 8 cylinder nephews. And from an IS200D its a big step up the ladder!!

and what about the Alfa Romeo 2 ltr 4 cylinder with dell orto carburettors as used in th giulias and gtvs from the 70s and 80s?

Richard this will be an age thing but when i see a big vehicle like a kodiaq with 5 people and a roof box and the i read it has a 1.5ltr engine my immediate reaction is NO WAY. I know downsizing is an art but really?? How did it go, did you have to work the engine hard, full throttle most of the time? Petrolconsumption through the roof because of that?

hit the press today in Holland, cats stolen by professional gangs from eastern europe. Toyota Prius seems to be nr 1 target.. where are the days where they just stole the entire car hey? My Bmw was totally stripped twice, satnav, controllers, radio, aircon, airbag and all. and now they go for catalyst converters. Possible solution would be to put 380 volts on the car or a flame thrower underneath with a movement sensor?

Off topic but some years ago my wife had an Audi A2 that did shut itself down whilst driving. All dead, engine and all no electricity nothing. Stop the car take out key put in turn key and all fine again. First i did not really believe her until it happened to me when overtaking on a dual carriage way. All dead without warning ( and no power steering or brakes). Car back to the dealer and sorry sir nothing wrong we cant find anything. Back again and third time i handed over the keys and left. Car went to importer/maindealer where they replaced the ECU. That solved the matter as no more issues. So, like John is hinting at the ECU could be to blame here.

I wonder what will happen to the dealers. Do you really need 46 dealerships to sell 16/17,000 cars? Maybe Toyota will do thesame what i see happening in Europe, Lexus will stop having independent dealers and incorporate them into the Toyota dealers?

Apparently those oversize grilles are an aquired Asian taste. The BMW design is heavily influenced by Chinese customers where bling and showing your wealth are decisive factors in purchasing a new vehicle. I recently saw a youtube video of the Toyota Century. It was explained that the architecture of the Century does not radiate the wealth of the owner but the status.....

The ES is available in Hybrid I am not sure the IS does exist in hybrid form any longer. Anyone?

I think it is a beautiful design and so much more natural, balanced than the previous one. I just love it and hats off to the designteam.A truly clean flowing design. Such a shame it will not be available overhere. At first i thought that would be because of slow sales but now i noticed it will only be available with 3 engines and NO hybrid. 2.0t 4 with 241hp, 3.5 V6 with 260 or 311 hp. No mention of hybrid at all. As that would be the only version that could sell at reasonable numbers in Europe that could be the explanation. That and if it would be availabe ES sales would be dead instantly.

And suppose they would have and offer the IS300H. Where would that leave the ES with thesame powertrain? Am i right in saying ES sales would be killed instantly?

This looks like a very expensive facelift, something much further than new bumpers and lights. So, i wondered, why is this not available in the EU? After all that cost one would expect to maximize sales? Am i right in saying it is no longer available in Hybrid? Did they ditch the IS300H? i can only find the 2.0 turbo and the 3.0 v6 as available engines. Could that be the reason they dont offer it overhere?

Its gorgeous! The best IS by far. this would be enough for me to buy one. stunning job!!

Now that is a scoop! what other models are in the pipeline Rayaans?