I have WHEELS at last!! Warning: pics inside

[cjolley]

Originally posted by Novdid
How come you all "over there" like Lexus so much, It's just a Toyota with a higher price, with ofcourse a few minor changes.

How can you pick a Lexus when you can get:

BMW
Mercedes
Volvo
Audi

All of them in the same pricerange with real european quality. The 6-cylinder BMW engines are wonderful and equally good are the 5-cylinder turbocharged engines from Volvo. You do not find engines like that in a Lexus.

I drive a 93' Lexus GS300. Here's the deal:

At idle in the driveway passengers ask "is the engine running?"
At 130mph on I40 passengers ask "is the engine running?"

Lexii are very good cars.
Though I must admit I don't like the looks of the 98' and later ones.
chuck

[Jammrock]

Lexii?

Lexus is the US luxury branch of Toyota. Don't really know if they use the Lexus brand elsewhere. Lexus makes really slick cars, they are not merely remarked Toyota's. My favorites are still BMW's

Jammrock

[cjolley]

Originally posted by Jammrock
....My favorites are still BMW's
Jammrock

Well, if course nothing will take the place in my heart of my dear departed 71' BMW 2002.
chuck

PS Lexus: plural- Lexii. No?

[Wombat]

The PT Cruiser. I rented one for a weekend once.

Pro's: Stylin'
Room for my bike with the flip down seats
Comfy
Handles better than it looks like it should

Con's: Slooow. Too much car for that engine. A Neon was never meant to be that heavy.
Never got used to the weird power window placement.
Has the Blind Spot From Hell. There's a *huge* region behind the driver where you could hide an elephant or two.
Gas mileage is pretty low.

[impact]

It's not really a fuel guzzler, unless of course you spend 90 % of the time in traffic jams in your city.

[Wombat]

Or trying to go to the airport. Anything with that small of an engine should at least get 20mpg.

Even driving to the airport (70 miles of clear highway driving) didn't help the fuel economy much.
And getting the Cruiser over 80mph was almost painful. 90mph was close to impossible.

My Sentra (bigger engine) gets almost 30mpg on the same run, and I was usually going 90-105mph.

[Gurm]

1 Mercedes, 2 Mercedes
1 Volvo, 2 Volvos
1 Lexus, 2 Lexi (urk!)

-------------------

As for the PT Cruiser - who got the idea that putting a truck body on a Neon frame would be good?

A friend of Julie's from work drove a Neon. She hit another car at 30mph - broke both wrists, a few ribs, bruises ALL OVER HER BODY, black eyes from the airbag, broken nose.

So after she heals, she buys ANOTHER Neon because "it saved my life! It's so safe!"

ARGH!

Julie hydroplanes into another car at 45MPH. She gets out to check the front end, and ... oh darn! We lost the license plate!

The other car was kinda messed up though.

Julie gets rear-ended (yeah she gets hit a lot - not her fault though) at about 35mph... oooh some scratched paint. The other car - wrecked front end.

But American cars are safer than my Volvo, right?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

So now she drives the Bimmer to work because I have Logan all day long, and there's no ****ING WAY I'd put him in ANYTHING other than a Volvo. Ever. Well, ok - MAYBE a big-ass BMW (7-series) or a Mercedes.

- Gurm

P.S. National Highway Safety Rating for Neon shows that relatively few people survive medium-speed multi-car impacts with Neons. PT Cruiser - similar results (same car). Guess how many people have ever died in a Volvo 960. Ever. Just guess! I'll give out the correct answer tomorrow!

Edit: Let me clarify - how many people have died IN COLLISIONS WITH OTHER CARS. Trees, trains, mountainsides, cliffs, and other acts of extreme stupidity don't count here... as NOTHING will save you if you fall off a cliff or get in the way of a locomotive.

[Jorden]

Anyone who watched Jeremy Clarkson's Extreme Machines last night on BBC 2 should know which car I would love to have in my hands right now. That blue monster called the Nissan Skyline.
The one with that active G-meter on your dashboard, yeah

Too many links on Google, but the best is http://www.nissan.co.nz/skyline/

Jord.

[Maggi]

Originally posted by Johnny Ray
Bought it in June this year. I really like it. The stats:

2001 BMW 330i, stick, zenons (I wonder how many things I've run over at night without knowing in the past ), leather, moon roof, etc. After it's out of warranty, I'll add a supercharger that will give it more HP than a M3

John

Hey John,

how about this little upgrade kit ...

ENGINE

Cylinders : 8
Displacement : 4941 cc
Bore / stroke : 94 x 89 mm

Performance : 338 kW (460 hp) / 6800 rpm
Max. torque : 540 Nm (lb-ft 398) / 4500 rpm
Compression ratio : 11.2 : 1
Fuel grade : Unleaded

Gear box : 6 speed manual
Gear ratios :
1. = 4.23
2. = 2.53
3. = 1.67
4. = 1.23
5. = 1.00
6. = 0.83

Rear axle ratio : 3.23 : 1

LSD : 25% - 100%


PERFORMANCE

0 – 100 km/h : 4.7 s
Maximum speed : 310 km/h

[spoogenet]

Volvos are very safe, if I had a kid, he/she would probably ride in a Volvo. Safer than an American car, though? Funny you ask....isn't the Volvo an American car? (in reference to Ford owning them....yes, yes, I know that Ford engineers don't design the cars, yadda yadda yadda)

For that Neon, was this person wearing a seatbelt?

I'll tell ya who thought of putting a "truck" on a Neon frame...a clown, that's who, because it's a clow car. Every time I see someone getting out of the car I'm just waiting for them to have 2 ft long shoes....and then be followed by another 20 clowns.

For the Lexus debate, I think they sell the Lexuseses in Japan under the Toyota name....is it only a US name, or is it a European name as well?

Skyline....now that's a fine automobile. I've heard rumors that they're bringing the Skyline over to the US sometime, but they're going to strip it of it's speedy goodness to import it....that'll suck.

b

[cjolley]

Originally posted by spoogenet
....Lexuseses...

LOL it just gets worse & worse

My Lexus GS300 is a Toyota Aristo:
1, Without the Twin Turbo
2, With much better milage

http://www.car-imports.com/aristo.htm

chuck

[GT98]

Gurm,

I agree that Vovlo makes safe cars, but in compairson to a Neon which is a sub-compact car...well you excepted to have more deaths with it then a larger car...that Physics thing is a bitch!

Jammrock,

I totally disagree with your Lexus Comments...your ES300 is a pimped up over priced Camry and the RX300 SUV crossover thingy is the same thing as the new Highlander that Toyoda came out with. I'm sure that theres other ones too....

Scott

[cjolley]

Originally posted by GT98
Lexus Comments...your ES300...I'm sure that theres other ones too....
Scott

Please see above.
chuck

[Gurm]

Well, some thoughts:

1. I don't count any front-wheel-drive Volvo as a Volvo. It's a Ford. When I bought my Volvo they all came from a factory in Sweden (actually mine was built in Gothenburg to Euro-spec and USA-modified for resale).

1a. The Cross-Country wagon is excepted, because it was designed very well (as compared to the S70 - now the S60 - which is just a rebadged 850 which is CRAP).

2. The Neon passenger WAS wearing a seatbelt.

3. I know several people who have lost loved ones in Neons.

4. There are exactly ZERO people who have died in multi-vehicular collisions in new Volvo 960's. (New meaning '95 and up since the new model rolled out...) Volvo was so sure there wouldn't be any that they offered a quarter million dollars to the family of anyone who DID die in one during the warranty period. They never had to pay. Go figure. I don't have statistics for the past couple years though...

5. I love Bimmers. I just don't feel that my child is AS safe in my 325is as he is in the back seat of the Volvo. Funny, that.

- Gurm

[impact]

Originally posted by Gurm
...blah blah blah...

5. I love Bimmers. I just don't feel that my child is AS safe in my 325is as he is in the back seat of the Volvo. Funny, that.

Of course! It's the cursed wannabe-racer RWD carsthat people can't handle. Sure, RWD is great on the solid and DRY racetrack, but idiots thinking they are the next Schumacher and powersliding on public roads are serious threat to everyone else.

Woohoo! I am a born racer!

*puts the pedal to the metal*

Woohoo I can feel the power!

*tail spins*

Wow! Just like a real rally car!

*vehicle goes out of control*

AAAAHHH!

*crashes*

--- That's darwinism for you. Except these people not only fatally hurt themselves, but endanger the lives of others.