SW17LS

Do you own a vehicle or drive a vehicle regularly and use this feature? I do and its not really fine.

In real world use, the foot sweep is far more useful and natural. You're not "standing on one foot", you're simply picking your foot lightly up as if you were going to take a step, and waving i under the bumper lightly. It feels more natural, and you don't have the issue I mentioned where you have to stand there and wait for the hatch, have it open when you don't want it to, and you don't have to free a hand to wave it over the logo.

Jill is right, the GS and LS have full size spares, and on the LS its on a matching wheel.

Back in the day my ES's used to have matching spares on matching wheels. Cost cutting.

Toys4RJill

I have had the Escape as a rental numerous times, so I have used the foot release, like I said either way Ford or the Lexus are fine in the way they use the foot release or the Lexus hand release. .

Sulu

You cannot compare the a truck with a full-size spare tire with a buyer's want for a full-size spare tire on cars and car-based crossover utility vehicles.

A truck, especially one with 4WD MUST have full-size tires at all times, otherwise the combination of 4WD and ABS (and likely other ABS-related nannies, like traction and stability control) will not work properly.

A temporary spare tire plays havoc with ABS, since ABS detects the difference in speeds of the wheels it monitors, and a small, temporary spare tire will always spin at a faster speed than the other wheels. Malfunctioning ABS due to a smaller tire is probably much less of a problem on a car but could be very dangerous on a truck, especially on an unloaded pickup truck with a empty bed (and very light rear end).

That is already how it works on Kia remote hatches: stand in front of the sensor with the keyfob with you and the hatch opens.

SW17LS

I don't agree. When you're walking up to the rear of the car with a kid in each arm and a bag over your shoulder, there is no way to use the Lexus' opening system, whereas you can sweep your foot under the bumper.

Toys4RJill

You don't have to has your hand, you can also use your elbow while holding a box, and you still have two feet firmly planted on the ground .....like I said, either the Ford or the Lexus both work. With the Lexus, you can even use your head.

mmarshall

Yes, I agree with you that it is pure cost-cutting. But the reps from the manufacturers will give you every B.S. reason that one can think of try and convince you otherwise...weight, space, need, Roadside-Asistance, government regulations, tire reliability, safety on the side of the road, people not knowing how to properly change tires.......you name it, and it's an excuse.

And remember when I reviewed the Sedona SXL, and we were in that long discussion about the temporary spares? Kia didn't even have the web site complete....they listed the donut/temporary-tires pecs for some of their models, but left some others blank.

SW17LS

You don't always have the ability to put your elbow into it, for instance if you have a kid in each arm and a bag over your shoulder, you can't always stick your elbow out without dropping one of the kids. Your head? Why would I want to stick my head down by the emblem?

A totally hands or arm free solution is better. Everything works, its a question of what works the best. Personally I wouldn't even pay the $200 for the solution from Lexus, I'd rather have the "stand behind the hatch" solution from Kia, even though its annoying in some instances, but overall I'd rather have the foot swipe.

There is one legitimate reason, and thats space. As wheels get bigger and wider, a spare on the matching rim takes up more and more space. Full size spares that are on steel wheels you'll note that they are nowhere near as wide, just the same diameter as the actual wheels/tires.

corradoMR2

It's too bad you didn't test drive an F Sport. It has the AVS and I'm curious to know how the ride is. If its anything like the NX's (Canada-available option), it enhances the ride quality over the standard F Sport's suspension in Eco, Normal, and Sport S mode. In Sport S+ mode, dampers tighten and body roll is further reduced.

Nice review MM as always!

mmarshall

Seems if space were really THAT big an issue, they'd use run-flats, and not have to worry about a spare at all (or even a compressed-air-bottle). But, I guess, theres pros and cons to everything. With run-flats, you'd get into the cost-issues again...... they're more expensive than conventional tires, have range-limitations, ride rougher because of the stiff sidewalls needed to support the vehicle with no air, and can only be used once. Customers, in general, don't like them. I've heard of some Toyota Sienna buyers (the AWD version has run-flats because of space problems with the rear driveshafts) retrofitting their vehicles with conventional tires. Where they put the spare (if they even have one, I have no idea, except maybe inside behind the 3rd row seat.

SW17LS

Thats exactly why BMW uses RunFlats. The tradeoff is what we all know, which is it effects ride and handling. Some companies also have compressed air bottles. BMW owners ditch the runflats all the time. The few Lexus products that came with runflats it was the same thing.

I'd rather have some sort of spare than no spare at all.

Another thing is that better tire technology has lessened the instance of flats. If I think back, the last time I had a spare on a car of mine was maybe 10 years ago, it was the Prius and I basically just used it to drive the car down to the gas station to get the hole plugged. Other than that, my 98 LS the spare was used once, but no other spare has ever been used on any of my other cars. Better tires means fewer instances of sudden catastrophic tire failure, TPMS systems let drivers know that a tire has a leak before it gets so bad that a spare would have to be used...I wonder how often modern spares are even used? I know for me its a perhaps once in a decade experience.

If its not getting used, who cares if its a space saver spare or on a different wheel?

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

A major reason BMW and other have lost the spare is CAFE regulations have forced them to find any weight savings they can.

mmarshall

I've had two punctures on the same left-rear tire (a Continental Contipro Contact all-season) since the car was new three years ago...the second one so big that the tire itself had to be replaced. (also, In VA, two plugs on the same tire won't pass state inspection). Fortunately, my car at least had a temporary spare, so I was able to change it myself (in a public parking lot), pump up the spare to the required 60 PSI with the portable air-compressor I always carry, and get it to the shop soon after. If it had had just the Fix-a-Flat bottle, I would have been S*** out of luck...the tire was too badly punctured for that, the bottle would have been worthless, and I would have had to wait for On-Star's Roadside Assistance and a tow.

Macs4RX

This rearward looking visibility is one of my main concerns in considering buying the new 4RX (and I'm sure I will buy one, anyway). But it reminds me to definitely get the Blind Spot Monitoring system option.

Although give Lexus credit for including the small quarter window by the A pillar which helps with forward visibility, imo. The visibility is certainly better than the vehicle that I'm currently driving (2nd gen MDX) which has a large (forward) blind spot.

Thanks for the nice review.

Toys4RJill

When has the RX ever had good rearward visibility?

mmarshall

Glad you enjoyed it.

One thing that helps with rear-visibility, of course, with today's Peek-a-Boo rear window/roof styling, is the increasing proliferation of rear-view cameras. They are pretty much standard in any vehicle of the RX's class, and, by Federal law, will be standard in all new American-spec vehicles within a year or two.

Though never as well-designed as the equivalent Toyota Highlander for visibility, the 1Gen RX, except for thick C-pillars, had noticeably better rear-visibility than the newer ones.