The ES has been Lexus’ best-selling sedan for 15 years yet the front-driver started life as something of a side-show. In 1989 the ES was a thinly veiled Camry, supposedly rushed to market because Lexus dealers couldn’t envision launching a brand with one vehicle (the LS 400) and were unwilling to wait for the SC and GS. This explanation makes sense to me and explains why the ES was the only FWD car in a brand created to compete with the Germans. Of course, this odd fit within a full-range RWD luxury brand is exactly why the ES sells. Wonder why Acura’s wares never had the sales success of the ES? It’s all about the brand baby.
Tag: hybrid synergy drive
In the geek world we have “Moore’s law” which states the number of transistors in ICs will double every two years. In the automotive world we have the bloat law. Every generation of a vehicle will get more powerful, heavier and physically larger than its predecessor, ultimately requiring the manufacturer to design an entirely new, smaller car to fill the void left by the original.
It’s the end of our commercial week and there’s a hybrid staring you down. No, the Prius v isn’t really a commercial vehicle, but there is a good reason it’s jammed in to this week of cargo haulers: 44 miles per gallon around town. Our own Michael Karesh snagged considerable seat time at a launch event last June, but pricing hadn’t been released at that time. So how much does it cost and what’s it like to live with for a week? And most importantly, is it any good at hauling cargo instead of kids?




Recent Comments
08Suzuki - Maybe this is asking for a bit beyond, but when you say they use new welding techniques…does that entail friction welding? ‘Cause that’s...
snakebit - Waltercat, The M-B manual four-on-the-tree was fairly common on 220S’s. I used to chauffeur my aunt around during the summer...
wmba - It may well be illegal. I remember everyone getting in a huff back in 1965 about the PRNDL lever meaning the end of Chrysler’s...
LeeK - Excellent point.
fozone - I just wonder how many people buy these who actually need them? (ie, they use the 7-seat capacity rarely if ever.) It seems irrational with this sort of...
wmba - What I get from this review is roughly what I got from C/D about it. To paraphrase: There are many CUVs out there. This is one of them.
azmtbkr81 - Me too. Thankfully my GF likes hatchbacks and thinks CUVs are obnoxious. She’s a keeper.
WRohrl - @HDC – When exactly did Audi “retreat from the US market”? You can’t answer that as it did not occur. Many of your posts seem to have at least...
LeeK - A couple of corrections. IBM saw the market as 50,000 annually, not 5,000. IBM didn’t give the operating system to Microsoft because of the...
Onus - I agree. I much prefer sedans for that reason. The only plus hatches get are better head room for rear passengers with todays horrible styling...