Thanks for all the pics, flipside909.Not sure if anyone already mentioned this, but are there any competitors' cars this year? Is that a bimmer I see in the picture?

 

nop, no competitors' cars

the one in the pic is an IS i believe

 

Pure Lexus this year.

why yes...that's the new BMW IS350.

 

Doh...I see. Sigh, the first ToL was the best...with almost ALL the competitors' cars you can think of available for back-to-back driving comparisons. Over the years they just keep decreasing the variety of competition's models until this year when there's none. I guess they've actually come to their senses and realized that it wasn't the smartest thing to do when they don't really have a performance edge and people simply came away more impressed with the Bimmers.

 

I have fond memories of my first ToL and driving back-to-back Lexus, Mercedes, Audi, Infiniti, Acura, Jaguar, BMW, etc.

However I have no problem with them making it Lexus only. I think that they are improving the effectiveness of the ToL each time and I am interested to see the changes.

 

I see it both ways. I think because the popularity of TOL and the overcapacity crowd, it was necessary for Lexus to offer more Lexus vehicles to drive and less of the competition. Afterall this is a Lexus event. If there was more space and more capacity and competitor vehicle for all the venues, I don't see why not, but because of the growing popularity of TOL, it's necessary to offer more Lexus vehicles to drive...and allow the growth of attendance. More Lexus cars to drive, shorter wait lines. A great example of this was the numerous LS600hL's on hand to drive. I counted 5 silver ones at one point in time.

 

just keep in mind, last yr there were a lot of ls460 to be driven as well in the first event, but then they were split up into two groups and all the subsequent events were disastrous.

to me, if there is a new model, then competitor's car is warranted, like last year, only the ls460 with the s class and 7 series (btw, for sure the bmw was the least impressive. if anything i would take the s class over 7 any time). this year i think if they wanted, they would have brought over the 760il. doesn't seem like they would take audi. the s600 is in its own class. so maybe that's why it's not worth it this year

 

Also they usually would have lots more of the Lexus car (naturally) vs. the competition, so the line was incredibly long for the competing vehicle (BMW, Benz etc.). That had also the psychological effect of making it seem like high demand for the German makes, when in reality the Lexus line was just moving much faster with more people getting to drive sooner.

Last year, the line for the IS 350 and GS 450h was also very incredibly long. I realize that now the card system will help alleviate that, but if the car shortage remains then it still could be problematic.

 

True but if you think about it this year, the LS600hL and LS460 combined totalled alot more than last years. Plus with more vehicles total on the track at one time, it's inevitable to have slower lines. You can only put so many cars through the track at one time safely. Eliminating the competitor cars did 2 things this year for TOL. 1) Give more people a chance to drive the LS and other popular Lexus models 2) Eliminate the unbelievable wait times for every vehicle.

Last year there were only 1 or 2 of the competitor cars vs. the 4+ readily available of a particular Lexus model. Lexus did a better job this year of keeping the lines organized and allocating more popular vehicles for the necessary sections. The LS lines are alot better than the 90 min wait time for just the LS460 last year. Saturday was the worst day of the 3 day event. There were more walk ups this past Saturday than there ever was. Obviously this was all RSVP, but with the internet and word of mouth, only expect this to grow year after year. This was the first TOL of the year, you can count on it that Lexus used this event as an example to guage the rest of the events throught the year. TOL Irvine has always had the record in the most attendees of any TOL across the US.

 

when i said "not worth it", i meant to say not worth it to have competitors' cars. the TOL event itself is worth everything, that's why it's the only event i go every year and intent on continuing to do so

i personally have nothing but great to say about this year!

 

Do they have the pro drivers taking people for rides like they did last year. That was fun and one of the shortest lines there.

 

at least when i was there, nop

but imho it's a random thing. last year it was like a 30 mins deal

 

they actually took walkups?

 

I think thats what i read as well.

 

Walk ups as in registered guests bringing a friend or a family member.