Lexus magazine - what a waste
02-21-09, 09:31 AM
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Lexus magazine - what a waste
The latest Lexus "magazine" arrived yesterday and in these difficult times I am finding it is seriously turning me off Lexus... No doubt Lexus marketing regards it as feel good "lifestyle" marketing tool, but mind-numbingly boring airline seat-back magazine travel articles on the "Magic of Canal Cities" or Sarajevo as a global film capital has nothing to do with my car! This total waste of paper has just a few pages on the new RX and even then Lexus does not print any informative pictures or information... The photography and print values are wonderful, but as a "magazine" about an automotive brand this pile of steaming junk is truly a triumph of style over (non-existent) substance. What a waste of an opportunity. (Got that off my chest)
Last edited by cjf_moraga; 02-21-09 at 09:36 AM.
02-21-09, 10:23 AM
#3
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Yeah I think they still send me the magazine even though I haven't had my Lexus for over 3 years now. I always thought it was really stupid... I should have found some way to take my name off the list.
When they talk about cars it's always stuff I already knew ages before I got the magazine and it's really basic stuff even then... and the other 90% of the magazine isn't anything to do with Lexus vehicles no matter how strangely they try to spin them in to some articles. It just reads like you guys were saying, like a really bad airline seat pocket lifestyles magazine at best. It's like an insult to Lexus owners by saying they really don't care about cars, they just want to read about stuff unrelated to cars and more related to being a bored rich yuppie.
When they talk about cars it's always stuff I already knew ages before I got the magazine and it's really basic stuff even then... and the other 90% of the magazine isn't anything to do with Lexus vehicles no matter how strangely they try to spin them in to some articles. It just reads like you guys were saying, like a really bad airline seat pocket lifestyles magazine at best. It's like an insult to Lexus owners by saying they really don't care about cars, they just want to read about stuff unrelated to cars and more related to being a bored rich yuppie.
02-21-09, 11:31 AM
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You know this issue is the FIRST I read. I must be getting o.d 
The Editor stated changes and I did enjoy some of it. It is not an enthusiast mag, articles on cars are few. They did preview the new RX and have some good info about it and they interviewed the head of Lexus design, Simon Humphries. They also had an article on LED lighting
I do agree teh short stories they tell are blah. They also had an article on Tom Colico (the Top Chef dude) I found very interesting and he pushed a GS 450h
The Editor stated changes and I did enjoy some of it. It is not an enthusiast mag, articles on cars are few. They did preview the new RX and have some good info about it and they interviewed the head of Lexus design, Simon Humphries. They also had an article on LED lightingI do agree teh short stories they tell are blah. They also had an article on Tom Colico (the Top Chef dude) I found very interesting and he pushed a GS 450h
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02-21-09, 11:56 AM
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I know that Lexus are not only trying to market to enthusiasts but they can start treating their customers as intelligent and informed consumers. They could do a lot better than this light weight puffery...
02-21-09, 12:04 PM
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Yes they did - but there were no interior pictures! Just a few exterior shots that were more intended to showcase the photographers skills at posing and lighting. Thats a preview? What was the point?
I know that Lexus are not only trying to market to enthusiasts but they can start treating their customers as intelligent and informed consumers. They could do a lot better than this light weight puffery...
I know that Lexus are not only trying to market to enthusiasts but they can start treating their customers as intelligent and informed consumers. They could do a lot better than this light weight puffery...
02-21-09, 12:28 PM
#11
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I don't mind it at all. They even had a short segment on someone who had driven a GX470 all the way down to Michoacan, Mexico to visit the monarch butterflies that migrate there.
Lexus is trying to convey a certain IMAGE and they want to fit a wider scope than enthusiasts. My own feeling is that it probably focuses more toward the higher end Lexus vehicles in this respect with the type of articles shown.
Lexus is trying to convey a certain IMAGE and they want to fit a wider scope than enthusiasts. My own feeling is that it probably focuses more toward the higher end Lexus vehicles in this respect with the type of articles shown.
02-21-09, 12:48 PM
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02-21-09, 04:13 PM
#14
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02-21-09, 04:25 PM
#15
Lexus Fanatic
While both LEXUS and Subaru's DRIVE magazine have printed some of my comments in the past (I have owned both makes), in general, neither magazine impresses me, though I still read them, along with other car magazines. They are both primarily PR/advertising tools, and try to paint their products in the best possible light. They usually only feature complimentary letters from owners (sometimes very naive owners), and the magazine editors almost never get into, or even mention, the negative features of their vehicles, such as the gelling/sludge on the Lexus 3.0 V6s, transmission flares on a number of Lexus products, or the infamous Subaru N/A 2.5L head-gasket and wheel-bearing issues from the late 90's till around 2003.
A perfect example of a classic editor run-around and double-talk was when Subaru magazine printed my E-Mail inquiry questioning why the new non-turbo versions of the American-market Impreza/Forester got only a blue idiot light for coolant temperature gauges, when non-U.S. versions of the same car (and all turbos, U.S.-market or not) kept a analog gauge like in previous versions. The obvious answer, of course, was cost-cutting.....a single bulb is cheaper than a gauge (though, of course, there is also a red bulb for overheating). But, rather than be honest and say that it was simply a cost issue, the editors printed, in their reply, that "Subaru engineers determined that a bulb, for that particular car, was more effective than a gauge". Engineers, my a**......it was the bean-counters. They probably figured most Americans wouldn't notice (same applies the rest of the new Forester decontenting). I've seen some of the same run-around answers, in some issues, from the LEXUS editors as well.....though LEXUS magazine doesn't often print negative inquiries.
A perfect example of a classic editor run-around and double-talk was when Subaru magazine printed my E-Mail inquiry questioning why the new non-turbo versions of the American-market Impreza/Forester got only a blue idiot light for coolant temperature gauges, when non-U.S. versions of the same car (and all turbos, U.S.-market or not) kept a analog gauge like in previous versions. The obvious answer, of course, was cost-cutting.....a single bulb is cheaper than a gauge (though, of course, there is also a red bulb for overheating). But, rather than be honest and say that it was simply a cost issue, the editors printed, in their reply, that "Subaru engineers determined that a bulb, for that particular car, was more effective than a gauge". Engineers, my a**......it was the bean-counters. They probably figured most Americans wouldn't notice (same applies the rest of the new Forester decontenting). I've seen some of the same run-around answers, in some issues, from the LEXUS editors as well.....though LEXUS magazine doesn't often print negative inquiries.
Last edited by mmarshall; 02-21-09 at 04:40 PM.