Renault

How was the Grand Highlander? for family purposes I was thinking of trading in the Camry for something bigger. 3 rows is probably too much for me, but it seems like a nice family hauler.

Kanpai

It's definitely a family hauler. Rode smoothly, lots of room, and the 3rd row is useable for humans. Drove both the hybrid and standard. Good value for where it's at and what you get. The dealer was adding $7.5k markups between actual markups and garbage mandatory options, so I told them to kick rocks

95bat

I recently saw TWO base model Highlanders with $8500 dealer markup on them! No options, just $8500 tacked on. I couldn't believe it, $8500 extra for a freakin Highlander. The sales guy didn't even walk with us because they only had like 5 new cars on the entire lot. I probably would have given him a piece of my mind with those markups if he had.

Kanpai

The same dealership sold their GR Corollas for less markup. They know the casual vehicle crowd (most folks buying SUVs) won't do their research.

BrianDCIS

I honestly don’t care how great the new GR is, I can’t believe there are idiots out there paying $60,000 MSRP for a ******ing COROLLA. Lmao my god.

AmbyBomb

That's CAD, right? I don't see how that price, which is for the Morizo Edition (base is $46,0000 CAD) is unreasonable given how crazy the Morizo Edition is. I'm sure if Lexus applied the same tweaks to the IS500, it'd be a $90,000+ CAD car.

Edit:

Here's the Lightning Lap for GR.
https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a42387074/2023-toyota-gr-corolla-morizo-edition-lightning-lap-2023/

And here's the Lightning Lap for the IS500. GR was 5 seconds a lap faster. Not bad for a ****ing Corolla.

https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a38965899/2022-lexus-is500-f-sport-performance-lightning-lap/

BrianDCIS

I was referring to the GR Circuit Edition, which starts at $57,000 base, plus extra packages and plus taxes so minimum $65,000 and yes Canadian. That’s what I was referring to. Can’t even see anything about the Morizo edition on the Toyota.ca website. But yes it seems like a pretty impressive little car and the AWD is a really nice touch, especially for here. Not saying it’s not a great car but I just couldn’t swallow dropping $65,000+ for a Corolla. That’s all

BrianDCIS

Okay so I’m not crazy lol.

AmbyBomb

That's a 25% markup. That's like paying $96k for an LE, which would also be crazy.

AmbyBomb

I don't know where you're getting that price from. I just went to the Toyota website and there are no extra packages for the Circuit Edition so you're tacking $7,000 to $8,000 onto the car for seemingly no reason. Taxes apply to all cars.

arentz07

Friendly reminder that this thread is not about the GR Corolla.

I'll try and get us back on track with something I was just thinking about during my coffee run this morning.

I don't like that Lexus continues to saddle us with these Potenza S001L tires. I can tell they're seriously limiting acceleration in 1st and 2nd gear. Sometimes when I step on it in third gear at higher speeds, I am like, "Where was this torque all along?" Kind of a bummer. Not that the car feels poor to drive - it's still great, but it deserved better tires. Probably not a hot take, to say the least.

AmbyBomb

You gotta drive harder to burn those tires off so you can rationalize buying replacements.

DLPTony

If I didn’t have the PS4S tires on my ‘16 350 FSport prior, I would’ve followed this advice. Instead I was spoiled and swapped them out at 7k miles. Couldn’t take it anymore.

NOTE: They’re still in my garage space if anyone wants them…for free! 😎

arentz07

See, I've set the precedent with my IS 350 that I can survive 15k miles on the original tires - tread life permitting. So my wife will call BS if I try to allocate the funds for new tires too early.

My original tires on the IS 350 were still acceptable in terms of remaining tread at 15k - I'd say they had about 5/32". They probably could've made another 3,000-5,000 miles. However, those PS4S tires were a huge upgrade and totally worth it to change a little early.

AmbyBomb

I'm leaning more and more towards the Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4s.