Should you Buy a Lexus? Are they just glorified Toyotas?

so should you buy a lexus aren't they just glorified toyotas are they any good what's going on with lexus hello and welcome to the car care nut channel in today's video we're going to be talking about lexus how they started what they did and what are they doing now and the most important thing is should you buy a lexus are they just glorified toyotas are they really worth their high price but before we get started if you're new to the channel welcome consider subscribing to the channel check out some of my other videos if you are a returning subscriber well thank you so much for watching another one of my videos and without further ado let's dig right into it let's start with some history on lexus see back in the early 80s to mid 80s toyota started a project called the f1 which later became the ls400 they wanted to take their share in the luxury car market in japan luxury cars were basically the toyota century and the toyota crown but the idea of the japanese for luxury were so different than that of the west that they didn't just take the century and send it to the us or to europe they actually sent a research team to look at the main market that they intended for the lexus the american the north american market and specifically the united states of america at that time the big three cadillac lincoln and all of these luxury brands were losing their ground to the germans to the european brands to jaguar to bmw to mercedes-benz because the american upper class the ones that bought these luxury cars started changing focus they wanted better cars they wanted better quality they wanted nicer cars so the european manufacturers were taking ground they were the name of the game in luxury cars toyota really researched that market before jumping in and boy when they jumped in did they cause some splash see that f1 project that we talked about which later became the ls400 was inspired by successful models in the us cars like the toyota cressida the toyota supra the mark ii supra in the early 80s and then the mark iii supras which were actually kind of on the luxury side and they were received greatly in the u.s people loved them so after all this research and development specifically to hit the u.s market and more specifically to really make a splash in the now dominated sales of mercedes-benz bmw and the like in 1989 when the ls400 debuted it created such a racket for the germans that they were strangling to see what's going on here because if you believe it or not back in those days in their in the late 80s and early 90s mercedes-benz bmw were making fabulous cars they were making cars that were dependable reliable very luxurious super high quality cars not like what they are making today with their reputation of horrible cars toyota was so focused on their success in the us in the upper class american buyer that even the name lexus is one of the theories behind the name is luxury export to the us now this is not an official confirmation of that name but that is one of the leaks or theories behind the name lexus and when the ls400 launched the slogan is the relentless pursuit of perfection i mean that name could not have been more suiting for the ls400 initially when the ls400 launched they were just toyota and here is a new small brand on the side called lexus they were actually very in toyota was extremely involved in everything and people think that is still the case today but we'll talk about that in a little bit when the ls400 launched initially nobody knew what it is everybody looked at it i'm like what is this thing while they're driving their mercedes-benz and bmw but it took one year and here come 1990 when things started flipping upside down where all of a sudden the german manufacturers their sales number dropped significantly because people were looking at this ls400 it is every bit as good if not better than the german rivals it is cheaper it is all around a much better car and in the time the ls400 even though it is slightly showing its age it's actually holding very well looks wise so as lexus progressed in his history they kept their true to their slogan the relentless pursuit of perfection so much that they actually in the first year they had a small issue in the ls400 reported by a total of two people and that was enough for them to actually recall the ls-400 for a very small number of the ls-400s to fix those complaints by two customers that bought them that's how much dedication they had to the brand i mean they went all out toyota initially as a company is committed to perfection but lexus took that to a whole new level and then as lexus progressed and they added more models fast forward to 2005 which is a major event happened that a lot of people might not know about lexus became its own entity they basically became their own company they didn't they are no longer a department operating inside toyota they became their own thing they have their own design teams they have their own engineering team they have their own operation just that they are financially owned by toyota and that's when things kind of started they were going like this and they just started going like this it was such a big deal at 2005 lexus took off so much that it made the germans strangle mercedes-benz at bmw almost came to their knees with all their heritage especially mercedes-benz i mean carl benz invented the automobile in one way shape or form they almost came to their knees and mercedes-benz bmw quality started to nosedive since then because they were not making financial ends things were going really bad it all because of lexus so is lexus just a glorified toyota folks let's not lie and beat around the bush here they are but the truth is that is not a bad thing most people see that as a very bad thing it is simply not a bad thing see if they were a glorified i don't know hugo that would be a big problem but they're glorified toyota toyota is not a bad company it's good to take a simple thing that works and make it a lot better that's basically what lexus is they started using toyota technology not necessarily the exact same car just with better trim like some manufacturers have actually done that exactly just that but lexus is not exactly a glorified toyota in a bad way let's give you some examples here this is an es350 the latest generation and underneath this body is actually an avalon platform a toyota avalon but if you look at these two cars next to each other there is absolutely nothing similar not the interior not the exterior maybe the drivetrain and we're going to talk about that in a little bit maybe the wheelbase but everything else is completely different they basically took what toyota does best which is reliable powertrains reliable mechanical and electricals and they put an entirely different body on it the biggest difference between a toyota and a lexus is the way everything feels and the way the car drives see you look at the materials here if you were to put similar materials in a toyota the price will be the same but this is all the stuff that you can see that any journalists will tell you oh the soft touch this stuff touch that soft closing this but i'll tell you about the stuff you actually can't see the insulation the insulation on lexus and this started with the ls400 it's significantly better than toyota that doesn't make toyota inferior but it makes that is a general consumer car and this is the premium high-end version driving a lexus like driving this es350 and the driving the avalon it is a significant improvement in overall insulation and the biggest thing that makes a car premium is insulation every car that is loud and creaky and you hear road noise and it just takes the luxurious feel off of it and to and lexus stayed true to that even today some of the other brands actually took that out of the pictures their car loud not really insulated anymore they're just focused on how it drives how it drives how it drives because that's the only thing that they have over lexus honestly lexus does not really focus a lot on the driving dynamics they don't put all their research and development into this car drives like a race car on the road no it drives like a very nice car it's refined it is quiet it is nice materials but they focus on the one thing that the germans will never be able to catch onto anymore after the splash that the ls400 did reliability and dependability and not the kind of reliability that the early 90s and the 80s mercedes-benz bmw had no it took that into a whole new level the kind of reliability that you drive these lexuses to 100 000 miles and you look back you didn't do anything just basic basic maintenance and the maintenance speaking of the maintenance with the exception of the latest latest ls models that got a little too complicated your driving luxury car for toyota cost maintenance very cheap very simple anybody can do it this car that can look very intimidating breaks down in the middle of nowhere you can find any mechanic to work on them because they're very simple they're not overly complicated intentionally like the germans love to do and they're just basic cars and the things that you don't see you don't touch and in the things you see and touch things are high-end insulated better materials and everything looks very nice and in the powertrain department this is where you will find the glorified toyota part see the inside the body the insulation everything else is completely lexus but here where it actually matters for most people people are so consumed by looks and everything this is where you're either going to drain your bank account or not this part is 100 toyota for example this is a 2gr fks 3.5 liter v6 made it to an 8-speed transmission you want to guess which other models share this exact exact same powertrain down to the battery mounting down to the air filter housing the air filter itself all the computers everything of course the toyota avalon and the toyota highlander and the camry v6 and believe it or not the toyota sienna yes that's the beauty of the glorified toyota park so basically here's this high-end car that you can go to a toyota parks department and buy basically parts for at a much cheaper price and very simple maintenance these cars are very simple to work on and there you go you don't have some this specialty mechanic that only exists one in one town only and you need a three-month wait time to see them and get their blessing on this no this is just a toyota powertrain there is nothing special here nothing crazy or out of this world and this is the case with all lexus models and this is what makes them a great value for a long-term ownership so having said all that should you buy a lexus today or used or new whatever the case may be folks lexuses are fabulous cars that that's the word for them they basically take a toyota which is a proven model from a company that is in a relentless pursuit of perfection on their own and takes it to the next level on things that you can see touch feel and hear not necessarily behind the scenes when things you can't see you just drive them 200 000 miles and nothing happens to them lexus is mainly for people that drive a toyota and they look at it and they're like okay i want this to be more quiet i want the materials to be feel better i want things just a little bit nicer and the other lexus buyer is a person who has been driving mercedes-benz bmw doesn't really care for the way they drive but cares about their bank account frequently getting drained by repairs after repair after repair and then the massive depreciation of these cars that pushes them to just lease them turn around because they're so afraid of things just blowing up and costing a small fortune as soon as they're out of warranty that is a buyer that will actually appreciate lexus and they'll love it but having said all that and having raved for a while about how good lexus is let's talk about some things that lexus does so badly especially lately that you need to know about it and this is the god honest truth folks see you remember when we talked about the relentless pursuit of perfection and that is still going and alive and well with lexus but now it's starting to become slightly counterproductive because a part of that relentless pursuit of perfection is feedback and action based on feedback but the problem is a single word journalists look folks i like and respect journalists some of them but some of them are in a habit of every time they get a lexus or toyota product they automatically bash it down they automatically compare it to the next pile of junk next to it and say that drives better this that's a better car this is just a boring old main car they never truly give the consumer a sense of this is a reliable car that is its main feature not driving dynamics not the thrill and the excitement of getting behind the wheel and watch your bank account dangerously roll down to zero but because of that pursuit of perfection lexus started listening to those bad habit journalists that pass their stuff just this is a boring car we don't want it's a boring car you shouldn't buy it and buy this bmw it drives much better but that's not the main clientele for lexus and if anybody buys alexa's thinking this is an extremely thrilling car to drive to take it on the track and do all this stuff with it you are wrong and that's the god honest truth this is not what these cars are designed for but here's lexus's response and things i really don't like about some of the newer lexus models how they're joining with the journalists to make their cars from fabulous to not so fabulous basically take away the focus from the main thing that makes them the driving dynamic see the problem is toyota's dna and that dna even though lexus kind of separated from them that dna carried over it is reliability over everything else quality over everything else including driving dynamic when you make a car that drives very well this is the god honest truth folks and this is why german cars are beautiful to drive horrible to own is they drive beautifully but in order to make them drive like that there has been a lot of compromises things that are pushed to the limit that is it's just a simple thing you can't have both worlds so in luxurious pursuit of perfection they started making their cars sporty and i cannot emphasize how much i dislike that work these days because basically they took a very nice car comfortable dependable reliable very nice materials and made it into a jarring hard uncomfortable and in some cases unreliable a little bit just to satisfy these yelling journalists that say this is a boring car to drive for example this exact es350 is one of those cases this is an f sport you know after the lfa the lfa was another one cover there on that a little bit the f sport that i every time i say the word f support i have to do this f sport here's what the f sport is it has stiffer suspension bigger wheels which makes it less comfortable a jarring ride and if that was not enough insult to injury let's add extremely uncomfortable bucket seats because you know when you take this on the track it needs to hug you like that and make your back sore after a two-hour trip folks don't buy into the whole sports thing with lexus news flash lexus will not and never will drive like a bmw in a mercedes-benz but you know what that's a good thing because this is not a mercedes-benz this is not a bmw this is not an audi this is a lexus the main focus when you buy one of these is i am going to buy it keep it for 10 15 years in comfort quietness luxury and dependability with toyota style maintenance costs if that is not your vision going into buying one of these you're gonna be disappointed and unfortunately in in lexus's attempt to do that relentless pursuit of perfection they actually made it worse they the cars are not thrilling to drive they're not exciting and crazy but now they're not comfortable and they're horrible and jarring and really nothing has improved i wish lexus would just take a step back and go we're not listening to these people because they will never buy our car they're saying to people don't buy our cars and they're going to drive this car for a week judge it for 15 years and doom this car as the boring old man car that is not the clientele for lexus people who buy lexus they want they're usually not really car people that want a thrilling drive and all this craziness and willing to deal with the other side of the bank account they want a nice car this is a nice car minus the f sport patch minus the horribly jarring suspension and minus the horribly uncomfortable f sport seat on lexus if you are watching this please stop listening to the journalist you make fabulous cars and another thing that people dislike about it and journalists in specific the spindle grill looks huge it's big that is because you complained about it sir that's why they're trying to make these cars look more aggressive more bold more emotional and crazy and you still don't like it honestly i am one of the people i like the spindle grille i think it's pretty cool it looks good but you know what everybody kind of went very hard on lexus about the spindle grille and how big it is but you know let's look at another car that their grill or kidney has gotten extremely big and nobody seems to complain i'll take the spindle grill over the elongated kidneys any day or the sonata looking 100 000 car like this one nobody seemed to be saying anything about that but hey it's not a toyota lexus we're not gonna pass them right and then there is the lexus lfa let's talk about that for a little bit see when the lexus lfa first came out i was jumping off my seat i'm like they did it they found a way to make a reliable car very very exciting but there was one problem with that the price of course the lexus lfa is a supercar but there was also a hope that perhaps through this exercise of r d and spending a crazy amount of money in resources to make this one car there is a limited production some of its technology would trickle down and not make things horrible but that actually did not happen the only thing that we got out of the lfa into the lexus lineup is the uh movable tachometer in some of the f-sport models and the only reason the lexus lfa actually had that digital tachometer was because the engine arrived so fast that the analog tachometer could not keep up so they had to put that in but that's really the only thing that trickled down from the lfa into the lexus lineup but then i can imagine that lexus after the lfa exercise i'm going to call it an exercise they arrived at a conclusion there are three things in a car reliability performance and cost you can only pick two you can either have a reliable car that is not crazy expensive or you can have a very high performance car that is not very expensive but it's not going to be reliable or you can have a very reliable car that is very good performance but it's going to cost a small fortune and if you apply that into all cars you're going to realize that this is almost like a rule of cars there has never been a car that is reliable exciting and doesn't cost four hundred thousand dollars that's the bottom line folks and lexus realized that that's why the only thing they took out of the lfa was the gauge and they moved on but i wish they would have just closed that page and moved on because then we had the f sport lineup we did have the isf we did have the gsf which are welcome additions they basically just took a normal car gave it a little bit more power with an engine that they already had they tuned it up and basically they could have done that with all the other models but they went with this f-sport thing and it is really ruining the basic idea and the premise why people buy lexus folks the god honest truth i don't like the f-sport lineup and before you go jump into buying one because they do look nicer on paper on pictures but do compare that same model with a similar model that is not f sport and you're going to see what i'm talking about and folks in closing let's say this lexus is a wonderful brand genuinely wonderful as long as you avoid the sporty models because they're going to really ruin what lexus should be most people seem to lease lexuses and i'll tell you this answering the back to the question of should you buy a lexus you absolutely should buy a lexus if you want a very reliable very comfortable smooth refined and quiet drive not necessarily exciting not necessarily thrilling to drive like a mercedes bmw audi but something sensible and the other thing is should you buy or lease alexis now many people lease a lexus because they're in that model of i'm going to buy this mercedes drive it enjoy it as soon as the warranty runs out the lease is done it's out and i'm not ruining my finances that is not the case with lexus lexus actually makes sense of the value of buying it when you keep it 10 15 years much like a toyota if you want to lease a lexus that's up to you but the best value in alexis is when you own it for 10 15 years and honestly in most models except some of the very high end model like the ls that 10 to 15 years will be done with very basic maintenance as long as you keep that basic maintenance on time and something else if you're buying a used lexus it's very common with lexus owners for some reason not to take care of them they just take that reliability for granted and they just neglect them so when you go buy a used one make sure it has a full service history and it's been taken care of and you're gonna have yourself a very fabulous car with some exceptions of course nobody is perfect i will be coming up with soon with a video on which models are the best and which models are the worst to buy in the lexus lineup which should help you with your shopping experience i hope this video is helpful and informative i hope you learned something new if you liked it consider giving it a thumbs up if you're not a subscriber consider subscribing to the channel and until the next video folks may the lord bless you and keep you and you have yourself a wonderful day

Channel: The Car Care Nut

Views: 1,057,398

Keywords: Should you Buy a Lexus, lexus, new lexus, lexus vs toyota, the truth about lexus, lexus vs mercedes reliability, mercedes benz, lexus reliability, lexus review, toyota, lexus rx 350, lexus es350, lexus hybrid, lexus lfa, the truth about the lexus lfa, lexus ls400, lexus history, lexus news, toyota mechanic, lexus mechanic, the car care nut, scotty kilmer, chris fix, car wizard, lexus isf, lexus gsf, lexus f sport, lexus nx 2022, lexus gx470 off road, lexus hybrid 2021

Id: FerjKGfcaho

Length: 26min 42sec (1602 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 27 2021