Lexus RX: 2nd Generation (2004-Present)

Hyundai has taken Motor Trend’s rather irksome comparison of the new Veracruz and the Lexus RX350 and ran with it, producing this cute but flawed commercial:

Now, Hyundai can’t be faulted for wanting to draw attention to the Motor Trend results, but is it really a smart idea to celebrate the copycat styling of the Veracruz?

The transport of vehicles worldwide is not without its casualties, as this RX had to learn the hard way:

You can see more photos of the destruction over at English Russia, if you’re feeling particularly sadistic.

Update:

The full story has appeared in English Russia’s comments section:

Ten new Toyota vehicles with a value of over 165,000 euros were destroyed by the Federal Customs Service. The reason for the destruction was lodged in the Central Excise office of company Toyota Motor, which indicated a significant mechanical damage the vehicles caused by car accidents, in which they were transported. By the standards of vehicles not subject to rehabilitation, and the producer felt economically viable state regime destruction. The destruction, the regime under which foreign goods are destroyed under Customs control without paying customs duties and taxes and applying any prohibitions and restrictions economic established in accordance with Russian legislation on regulation.

Basically, it was cheaper to destroy the car than fix it.

It should be common knowledge that the Lexus RX 350 and the Hyundai Veracruz Limited are in different classes, bought by different people for different reasons, but that didn’t stop Motortrend from comparing the two vehicles in their latest issue.

Let me save you the farce, the Veracruz is declared the winner of the two, simply by placing inordinate weight on a questionable concept of value.

Compared, the Hyundai rings in at $10,000 less than the Lexus, yet it lacks a navigation system, a backup camera, adaptive HID headlights, to speak nothing of the lower interior quality. These are not small differences: the Navigation feature alone would add $1500-2000 to the price of the Vercruz — that is, if it was even available as an option.

Perhaps the strangest part of the comparison was the criticism of the RX 350’s safety features:

Is the Hyundai chassis that much superior? No. It’s the RX’s insistence in keeping you overly safe that electronically inhibited its performance. It sensed that our max-handling performance testing was impending accident doom and lit up the stability controls at anything more than the slightest provocation. Beepers beeped, brakes braked, and the throttle was dialed out until the RX 350 knew we weren’t going to crash. This also was the case on our mountain road loop, even during moderate cornering. The Lexus computer wizards need to dial the electronannies back a notch or two.

Makes absolutely no sense to me, this vehicle isn’t a sports car, it’s a people mover. Wouldn’t the additional safeguards be considered a plus rather than a minus?

Really, dragging the RX 350 into a comparison with what is essentially a cheaper knockoff, then basing the final verdict strictly on “value”, seems inappropriate for a major car magazine. How would the Veracruz compare to the BMW X3, I wonder?

I’m always scoping out Flickr for any great Lexus photos, but rarely do I ever see one with the vehicle in motion — not so today, Flickr user Christopher_Holden has a beauty of a shot, at night no less:

Both of Lexus’ current RX models ranked in the top four of Consumer Reports latest SUV rankings, with the RX400h coming in second and the RX350 tying the Acura MDX for third.

Considering that the Highlander Hybrid took the number one spot, Toyota practically swept the Consumer Reports rankings. Not a bad result, though they did have the unfair advantage of two incredibly similar vehicles in the race.

[Source: The Auto Channel]

It all started with the LS400.

I remember the first time I noticed one, admittedly mistaking it for a Mercedes, only to see that silver L and think I’d seen something rare, like a Ferrari or a Lamborgini.

Of course, that wasn’t the case, but the truth impressed me even more, a Japanese Luxury brand, created by Toyota. I was and remain enamored with Japanese culture, and to me it seemed like the perfect vehicle. I knew what my first car purchase was going to be.

Fast forward nine years, finally in the position to buy a car, and there was only one choice — My girlfriend and I bought a 1994 LS400 and my obsession was solidified:

Of course, buying the car was just the beginning. I started spending more and more time on the Lexus forums researching and reading up on every conceivable topic, following every single shred of news. It wasn’t too long before my car and Lexus became an obsession.

This website is a result of that obsession. Welcome to The Passionate Pursuit, dedicated to bringing you all the most up-to-date and interesting news on all things Lexus.

My name is Kevin RE Watts and I can be contacted here.

Let’s begin.