2002 Lexus Sc430, 118k Miles, Excellent Shape! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2019 Toyota Avalon vs. full-size sedans: How they compare on paper

Full-size sedans aren't exactly in great demand at the moment, and at least one of the vehicles in this comparison has been rumored to be on the endangered species list. Yet, we've just had our first drive in the 2019 Toyota Avalon, and if anything has a chance of rejuvenating the segment a bit, it's an all-new version of what has long been the segment's benchmark. To see how the new Avalon compares, we've put together the below spreadsheet featuring the Avalon's primary apples-to-apples rivals, the Buick LaCrosse and Chevy Impala. We also included the Nissan Maxima, which is comparable in price, sales and non-luxury badge, and which offers the sort of increased driver engagement promised by the new Avalon XSE and Touring trim levels. We also included the outgoing Avalon for reference as well as that car's luxury cousin, the Lexus ES, which can definitely be cross-shopped with the luxuriously trimmed Avalon Limited. You can use our Compare Cars tool to create your own comparison, such as one featuring the rear-wheel-drive Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger or even Kia Stinger. Alright, enough chit chat. On to the spreadsheet. Performance and fuel economy The GM sedans may come standard with four cylinders, including a mild hybrid system in the LaCrosse, but puh-lease. The V6 is the name of the game in this segment, with outputs now surpassing the 300-horsepower mark. The LaCrosse is the horsepower and torque champ, though it also weighs a bit more than the new 2019 Avalon, so acceleration is likely to be comparable. The Impala weighs a lot more and has only a six-speed automatic, so despite having a wee bit more power, one should expect it to be pokier (not a good sign for a car rumored to be on the chopping block). One would expect the Maxima's 300 hp and lowest curb weight to result in the quickest acceleration, but then it's also strapped to a CVT, which despite being better than ever, is still a CVT. Things get worse for Chevy when you consider the Impala's base four-cylinder gets the same 25 mpg combined as the Avalon's V6 — once again a segment best. Now, should you really prioritize fuel economy, the 2019 Toyota Avalon Hybrid really stands out with a 43 mpg rating (or 44 with the base XLE trim) that bests the outgoing Avalon Hybrid. Honestly, after driving this new Hybrid, it actually seems like it would be the best bet for most buyers. There's sufficient power, and it only costs $1,000 more than the comparable V6 version.

Toyota GR GT3 Concept: a long, lean racer with road aspirations

Toyota and Lexus trundled into the 2022 Tokyo Auto Salon with a bundle of modded gear. There are two especially racy bits — one, the GRMN Yaris we've already covered, and this, the Gazoo Racing GT3 Concept that is philosophically, if not aesthetically, related to the Yaris. Toyota believes it can provide more enjoyment for customers by commercializing race cars than by making customer cars racy. So instead of turning one of its road cars into a GT3-class competitor (Toyota does sell a Supra GT4), the GT3 Concept could be a customer potential race car that, as required by GT3 homologation rules, would become a road car.   Toyota Gazoo Racing President Koji Sato said the competition division will make a prototype GR GT3 at some point this year. That doesn't mean the exercise will go beyond this one-off, but Gazoo did also say, "TGR intends to use feedback and technologies refined through participation in various motorsports activities to develop both GT3 and mass-production cars and further promote making ever-better motorsports-bred cars," so its seems we will feel the effects of this somewhere. Based on the form factor of long, low hood and truncated, sloping rear, we could draw a line from the GR GT3 Concept to the Lexus Electrified Sport concept the luxury arm showed in December. Inspired by the LFA, that road car concept was claimed to hit 60 mph in the low 2-second range and be able to run about 435 miles on a charge. But we think it makes a lot more sense to draw a line from the GR GT3 Concept to Mazda's RX Vision GT3 concept from March 2020. We're not accusing GR of copying, but Toyota and Mazda are tight, and these two concepts could be confused for different skins on the same chassis in a video game. We'd be happy to see both make it to GT3 competition as it means there'd be street-legal versions, and frankly, this is probably a better path from circuit to street than the LMDh endurance racing hypercar that Gazoo Racing has toyed with turning into a street-going customer option. Elsewhere on the carmaker's Tokyo Auto Show stand, there was a racy on-road concept from Toyota and two off-road focused concepts from Lexus. The Toyota bZ4X GR Sport Concept turns the battery-electric crossover into a Friday L.A. nightclub hopper with a matte black exterior on big wheels in low-profile tires, and sport seats inside.

Lexus back in luxury sales race after three-year absence

Think the only challengers for the title of best-selling luxury brand hail from der Vaterland? Wrong. Lexus outsold the likes of Mercedes-Benz for the second time in 2014 last month. In fact, the Japanese luxury marque's total sales this year are a mere 12,000 units behind BMW.
Lexus was able to move 26,921 vehicles last month, a year-over-year increase of 21.1 percent, respectively. Mercedes, meanwhile, was just barely beaten, moving 26,617 units in April. The difference, though, is that Lexus has made far bigger year-over-year gains than Mercedes, which recorded a YOY increase of just 4.13 percent.
This is particularly troubling for the Germans, as it marks a return to form for Lexus that we haven't seen since before the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that decimated Japan. Prior to that natural disaster, Lexus enjoyed nearly a dozen years at the top of the luxury heap.