No worries, I read your other thread wrong when I suggested classifeds so we're square

 

I wish they would just make a crossover on the GS platform.

 

Considering how good this platform is, that would be awesome.

 

Why not just do a Lexus version of the existing Toyota Venza? That vehicle is just begging for a luxury version of it.

 

That would certainly rival X5 and Q7 in rewarding drive experience

 

I agree with you. Lexus should bring the Venza over to the Lexus side and call it the VX 350 and a hybrid version of it VX 450h. It would compete with the Mercedes R class.

Imagine:

NX 200t/300h/350
VX 350/450h
RX 350/450h
GX 460
LX 570

 

Lexus already has its own version of the Venza. It is called the RX.

 

^I thought the RX was closer to the Highlander if anything.

But wouldn't a Lexus "Venza" take away sales of the RX?

I think a larger CUV is the way to go. Something to take on the Infiniti JX, just renamed QX60.

 

Only very roughly. The R-Class has a similiar design to the Chrysler Pacifica (and the smaller Mazda5)...six seats in a three-row, 2+2+2 setup. The Venza, in contrast, is a conventional 2+3 five-seater.

 

Maybe. But the RX already sells in large numbers to start with....losing some of those sales probably wouldn't break it by any means. And people who still wanted (or needed) the RX's higher ground clearance for deep snow could still opt for it. But many would choose the Lexus-Venza, since, in some ways, it is a better all-around daily driver than the RX....especially if Lexus doesn't repeat the same mistake Toyota did by using the expensive, easily-damaged, rough-riding 19/20-inch wheels/tires on the Venza

 

The R Class is dead.

 

Yes, at least in the U.S. So is the Pacifica, for that matter. I simply used them to respond to the previous poster (who brought up the R) and compare their seating arrangement with the Venza's.

 

The Venza, Highlander and RX are all based on the Camry's platform so they are all related. The 2nd-generation RX (pre-Venza) was very closely related to the 1st-generation Highlander, but then the Highlander added an optional 3rd row of seats; the 2nd-generation Highlander became larger (longer wheelbase) and only came in a 3-row configuration, while the RX stayed strictly 2-row. The Venza, like the RX, is 2-row only. The RX is now more closely related to the Venza than the Highlander.

Wheelbases are different among the 3 cars, there may be a slight difference in ground clearance, and, of course, the styling is very different but otherwise, they are all closely related. If you suggest merely slapping an "L" in place of the sombrero on the front of the Venza (i.e. badge engineering), I say, absolutely "NO WAY!".

 

I wasn't suggesting that. CL is a Lexus forum, mostly of past or present Lexus owners, and even most of us here in CAR CHAT who don't currently own Lexus products know that most of them are not simply rebadged Toyotas. In the entire history of Lexus, since 1990, I can think of only ONE Lexus product that was a TRUE simple rebadging of an existing Toyota product, and that was the ill-fated ES250 which didn't last very long....though two others come close. The older GX460 was relatively close to its Toyota 4Runner cousin in overall design (in some markets called the Prado), but still had some significant differences, especially in the interior. The original IS300 was close to being a Toyota Altezza rebadge, but it also had a different drivetrain here in the U.S.

I owned a yellow IS300, BTW, for almost five years.

 

The 4Runner and GX460 or GX470 are not close enough to be considered a re badge. Not even half close.

The most significant rebadges are the 96-97 Land Cruiser/LX450 and the Land Cruiser/LX470. ES250 as well.