This catches my eye every morning when I check Car and driver.com instead of ESPN. C&D always has either negative or nothing to say about Lexus vehicles. They're too in love with BMW.

http://www.caranddriver.com/shortroa...s-ls600hl.html

at a stiff price???? its supposed to start at ~$103K and go head to head with the BMW 745Li V12 that starts at $122K



Also note that the review of the 2007 IS350 still shows one of the only negatives as "Electronic traction control that cannot be disabled". Hold in the traction button people!

It just annoys me that they're too obsessed with BMW to give us the credit we deserve.

just more letters to write to their editors i guess!

 

Car and driver is a magazine brand that concentrates more on driving than daily comfort. Lexus so far does not have any offering that C&D likes. It's that simple.

 

1) It's the 760Li first of all. Secondly, I don't see the point of a hybrid executive luxury car. Third, price doesn't matter in that class......if you can afford the price of admission, I don't think fuel mileage or a higher base price matters.

2)I don't believe VDIM can be fully shut off via a button. There is a 13-step method that Road and Track figured out on a GS430 involving the brake and parking brake pedals. Honestly, a dash button that shuts it off (like BMW) is required and sufficient. Heck, even BMW got flamed for making drivers go through iDrive to turn DSC off on the 7-series, and now it's getting flamed for not allowing full DSC-off on the 6MT M5.

Every magazine has its own opinions. While I don't find any particular magazine to be "perfectly unbiased", I like the ones that emphasize performance and driving dynamics. Hence, C/D is usually a nice read. There are magazines out there that love Toyota also. Ever heard of CR?

 

Lexus typically considers Car and Driver as toilet paper...

 

Most magazines are toilet paper...

 

Fixed that for you .

 

I like reading C&D,
I like the driving dyamics,
But I still have more lexus than BMW.

 

My 2 cents being an ex long time subscriber.
Believe it or not, Lexus did very very well with C&D during the 1990s and early 2000 years in comparos and reviews. No joke:
3ES 300 10 best winner
SC 300/400 10 best winner 6 times
2GS 10 best winner 2 times
1LS 400 10 best winner 1 time

The 1GS I think was 4th in a comparo and it was fair, not a leading car.
The 3LS 400 after the 1998 refresh won 1st and 2nd in comparos against the 740 and S class and others.
The RX/GX always placed in the top 3
The LX also was 1st in its comparo.
The 2GS lost to the 540 by a point for 2nd (so a tie) and was 3rd a few years later, besting the higher class Q45 which was 4th.
The 2GS 300 was 1st and then 4th in a comparo (beating out the V-8 M45)
The 1IS 300 also got great reviews, they really loved the car and complained about lack of power.I believe was 3rd in 2 reviews
The 4LS 430 was 1st in its comparo which was very recent

Twice though, Lexus was just STUPID and sent them a 2GS and 1IS with 16" tires in a comparison!?!!??! WTF?!?!?!?!

IMO, they then started to read EVO, Top Gear and CAR b/c the last five years and their writers got worse and worse. This was about 5 years ago.

Its not even just Lexus, their opinions are awful and conclusions ridiculous in general today. I stopped subscribing. They call a comparison a 2 paragraph article on each car. They tell me what I ALREADY know, nothing new.

They now chase sport sport sport sport in every vehicle, where before they were balanced and looked and appreciated other attributes.

They have gone to crap and reading other car forums, everyone pretty much agrees who are long time readers.

 

I honestly don't see what the fuss is about. It was a pretty even-handed review from what I read. 100K is a stiff price whether you're talking Lexus or BMW.

They've done alright by Lexus. Every car is going to have it's minuses... even Lexus.

 

Car and Driver is the best.

 

I think Car and Driver has seen better days. The quality of their
comparos is definitely going downhill. Much less content

I used to think they were appreciably better than MT and R&T
or Automobile, but now the difference is not so big IMHO...

 

Help me out here guys - I click on the link and see a pretty darn nice short take on the LS460h - what am I missing here?

Maybe someone just hates C&D?

 

Same opinion here. I still have old issues where they really go in-depth, their writers had tremendous experience and knowledge of car history, etc. Now they all have inexperienced young new writers, the article size is down 75% (literally!), and it's no longer worth the paper it's printed on.

Seriously, in the latest RX 400h review, one comment went like this: "The hybrid version is more expensive? Seriously???"" You would think they'd know more about how hybrid tech is more complex, hence more expensive than conventional gas engines.

As for their biases, I think the new crop of writers does not like Lexus as much as the older, more experienced ones, but now and again they give more fair-minded reviews. weighing positives and negatively with more balance. However that isn't usually the case. But for me, the depth of intelligence and thoughtful writing can be found elsewhere--Winding Road, Road & Track, and of course online, where you get all variety of opinions.

 

I avoid reading those magazines altogether. Consumer Reports is about the only one I would even pay attention to and as far as I have read we do very well with them.

 

People who do not like mexican food will avoid mexican restaurants. Those who are afraid of height will not go sky diving. You don't seem to like what C&D write yet you check them out everyday

You may not know this but I think you are obsessed with C&D.