2006 Lexus Gs300 Base Sedan 4-door 3.0l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Did Lexus make a BMW? Or did BMW make a Lexus? This and other 2017 surprises

It's that time of year again. The calendar is about to reach its end, Star Trek Cats 2018 is about to take its place, and I'm reflecting about all the cars that graced my driveway this year or summoned me to exotic places. You know, like Stuttgart or Phoenix. In 2017, I drove at least 57, and as I perused the list of them, I started to notice a common refrain: "This car surprised me." Most were pleasant surprises, but there were a few head scratchers and facepalms for good measure. In both cases, it was generally the result of car companies seemingly trying to break out of an existing mold. Nowhere was that more apparent than the pair of Lexuses slathered in Infrared paint: The LS 500 that left me this week and the LC 500 that was my favorite car of 2017. Though Lexus has been trying to shake its crusty, gold-packaged reputation for some time now, its efforts always seemed like an old man choosing Hollister to redo his wardrobe after realizing it hasn't been updated since 1987. I fell in love with the LC, genuinely floored by its near-perfect take on the GT. It's characterful in sound, appearance and tactility. It was at home in the city, in the mountain and on the open road. It was both comfortable and thrilling, and after driving the mechanically related LS 500, I can report that the LC's talents aren't an outlier. The LS 500's turbo V6 may make different noises than the LC's naturally aspirated V8, but it nevertheless invigorates the cabin when the car is placed in Sport+ mode. The steering is truly communicative, body motions are kept in miraculous check, and I absolutely forgot I was in an enormous luxury limo ... and a Lexus one at that. It was everything that the BMW 530e was not. I drove that on the exact same roads and was utterly bored the entire time. Generally doughy, lifeless steering, more distant than Planet 9. And no, the plug-in hybrid powertrain had nothing to do with that. At least it shouldn't. The Porsche Panamera S e-Hybrid I also drove this year proves that, as do the Hyundai Ioniqs, which are surprisingly adept and fun little cars regardless of what powers their wheels (Hyundai + hybrid = fun really blew me away). I would drive that Lexus LS F Sport over the BMW 5 Series any day of the week, which seems like a shocking thing to say in relation to either car. While Lexus is seemingly breaking out of its old crusty mold, BMW seems to be climbing into one.

2016 Lexus RX First Drive [w/video]

There is no more important model line to Lexus than the RX. Year to date, with a replacement on the way, the RX accounts for 28 percent of the brand's sales. It's the undisputed champ of the midsize luxury SUVs, nearly outselling BMW's entire SUV lineup. So when it came time to push a significant update to its best-seller, Lexus put the whole of its engineering might into the challenge. The 2016 RX represents the very best that Lexus is capable of, specifically when its spindle-shaped grille is pointed at its core audience. Starting with the basics, Lexus increased the exterior dimensions. Wheelbase grows just under two inches while overall length goes up by five. But overall interior space remains exactly the same at 139.7 cubic feet. Rear-seat passengers get extra space – head, hip, and legroom all nudge up slightly for 2016 – but it comes at the expense of cargo area, at least on paper. Whereas the 2015 RX offered as much as 80.3 cubic feet of storage space with the rear seats folded, the 2016 model cuts that by a quarter to 56.3 cubes. Lexus representatives say that cargo space is up, and the numerical reduction is due to different measurement methods. The 450h's cargo area is smaller by a negligible half cubic foot due to the location of the car's battery pack. The new RX looks seriously chiseled. RX buyers and their friends enjoying the more spacious back seat are going to look considerably more stylish in 2016. The new RX looks seriously chiseled, with sides creased and cut to the point that there's hardly any flat surfaces. It's hard to pick favorite details, but we really like the upward-kick of the rocker panel. At the front lives Lexus' ubiquitous spindle grille, more exaggerated than ever before and rimmed by a strip of thick chrome. Sharp lines dominate the rest of the fascia, from the slit-like headlights to the arrowhead-shape that surrounds the fog lamps. There is a premium lighting package that includes LED lamps everywhere not to mention awesome sequential turn signal indicators in the taillights. UPDATE: It turns out the awesome sequential turn signal indicators aren't going to be available in the United States, which is a big bummer. If the floating roof looks familiar, that's because you've seen it on the Nissan Murano. Somehow the massive proportions of the trademark Lexus grille is not the most controversial styling element of the new RX.

Toyota and Lexus will have standard automatic braking by 2017

Last week, NHTSA and IIHS announced that 20 auto manufacturers and three agencies had agreed to include automatic emergency braking (AEB) as standard equipment by 2022. Toyota was one of those 20 companies, but this week they upped the AEB ante: Nearly every Toyota and Lexus model and trim level will have standard AEB by 2017. That's next year. Many models already offer AEB as part of the Lexus Safety System+ and Toyota Safety Sense packages, but consumers have had to pay extra for these options (unless they leased a Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle; it already has AEB as standard equipment.) By the end of next year, all but the Lexus GS, Toyota 4Runner and Toyota 86 — which was developed together with Subaru — will have AEB installed at no extra cost. (Interestingly, the new Prius Prime unveiled at the New York International Auto Show has Safety Sense as an option rather than standard equipment.) The AEB function is part of Toyota's safety suites, which will be included in 25 Lexus and Toyota models. Both makes have a precollision system that detects the possibility of collision with the car ahead and engages the brakes if the driver doesn't react quickly enough, as well as lane departure alerts and automatic high beams. Toyota's move leapfrogs ahead of Honda making its Honda Sensing system, which includes AEB tech, available as a flat $1,000 option on every Civic Sedan. Related Video: This article by Kristen Hall-Geisler originally ran on TechCrunch, a leading technology media property, dedicated to obsessively profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products, and breaking tech news.