..read more

You can tell we’re nearing the end of performance era. Muscle cars with their V8 engines are slowly dying off in favor of small, turbocharged and electric motors. It is as if it is the 80’s all over again, minus the electrification.  So, to see Lexus sending off their rear-wheel drive IS sport sedan with its iconic 5.0-liter V8, you can tell its days are numbered.  For the longest time we sort of poked at Toyota/Lexus with their special edition models. We always saw it as a way to extend another year out of model that was long overdue for an updat ..read more

When organizing a trip with 5 friends, things are bound to not go as planned; someone is always late, someone does not pack accordingly, someone is going to be in a mood (usually me, because someone ran late and did not pack accordingly). It is hard enough to get a trip planned in the first place when you have a large group. You want to make sure the accommodations can comfortably fit everyone and get a ride that everyone can enjoy and relax in during the long drive.   But when 3 participants cancel at the last minute, we were are left holding the bag and the con ..read more

When a manufacturer starts to ‘sportify’ its lineup, the meaning of its roots start to get diminished and lost within itself. Reminiscing on what the letter F meant to Lexus, it was there hierarchy of performance that started with the blistering quick LFA and intoxicating V8 from the IS F that also found its way into the RC F & GS F. But now, like every mainstream brand, there is a special line to get the look and feel of a performance car, without having to pay the premium performance price. Mercedes did it with their AMG Line, BMW with the M Sport, eve ..read more

When it comes to spending money on a full-size luxury sedan, there are three ways an individual could go.  There is the flashy way with the Rolls Royce Phantom or Bentley Flying Spur – but if you must ask how much, clearly, you can’t afford them.  The more traditional route would be the Mercedes-Benz S550 or BMW 750i, both starting with fire more figures than my bank account will ever see.  However, if you’re the kind of person that possesses the taste of fine wine on a beer budget, there is a third option, and it won’t hurt your wallet’s ego. The Lexus LS 500 and Genesis G90 ..read more

Lexus has been around the block long enough to know that not everything should be turned into a sporty spin-off. And yet, with hybrids making up for a good chunk of the Lexus’ demographic, they are trying to bring the best of both worlds for consumers that want their cake and eat it too. The ES itself is not new to the F SPORT tuned performance enhancements since an F SPORT option was released on the ES 350 back in 2020. Its solid V6 and F SPORT cues proved that there can be a mild hint of sportiness to something that remains a sensible, understated purchase. However, after adding the F SPORT ..read more

When we look down memory lane, the powertrain in vehicles certainly have come a long way from when a messily 150-horsepower was extracted from such a beastly 5.0-liter V8 engine. When the Japanese intersected the market in the 1980’s, four-cylinder engines became a popular commodity over the large gas guzzling eight-cylinders. That was, until the millennium came around and we started seeing electric and gasoline engines working together, granted it wasn’t quite the enthusiastic powertrain, but with over 40-mpgs in 2003, that was mind blowing capabilities. So here in the modern time of 2023, w ..read more

With Lexus’ smallest UX crossover having been launched in 2019, some might say it’s bit overdue for an update as it reaches four-years old. And that is just what we have here, a slight update that involves Lexus’ latest gadgetry making for huge improvements on such a little brute. Styling wise, not much has changed given that there are subtle cues of the newest Lexus generation in its design, like the LED taillight bar on the back hatch. Unknown to most buyers will be the loss of the entry level UX 200, the turbocharged four-cylinder option that was surprisingly slower ..read more

In the world of car reviewing, manufacturers like to send us the crème of the crop when it comes to their vehicles – the more features it has, the nicer it is, the more we’re apt to provide a positive outlook on their product. But when Lexus sent us the all-new, completely redesigned full-size LX 600, replacing the previous generation LX 560, we weren’t quite sure how to approach our review considering the LX they sent was more about being driven rather than being the driver. First and foremost, the first thing anyone will notice about the new LX 600 is its monumental size ..read more

25 I’ll be a tad honest, I’ve never been one that quite grasped the idea of a special edition vehicle – even when I personally owned an Isuzu VehiCROSS Ironman Edition, I never got the point of them. Continuing into today’s generation it feels almost as if Toyota/Lexus are pushing out solely special editions to keep something old feeling fresh. Case-in-point, the Lexus GX 460, a proper SUV that launched well over a decade ago, it sees another refresher after a mild refresh in 2020; now the cabin has been given a new treatment as well as a new Black Line Edition has been added to the ..read more