Check it out....EXACTLY like the new 4Runner I saw, whereas before although the GX was based on the 4Runner it looked significantly different.

No pricing on it, but salesman told me mid 50's popularly loaded. This one was very dirty and their only demo pre-selling. He said they are selling at MSRP with a wait right now!!!! Some recession we are in!

 

white looks great!

 

It's almost as big as the LX. Hard to justify another $25k-$30k when they look so similar and all look so "toyota-ish".

The Sequoia continues to amaze me...you can get a limited 4x4 loaded out with everything for mid $40k's with current discounts...which is the price of a well equipped RX...$10k less than a GX and nearly half the price of a LX!! To me, no comparison I'm sold on Lexus refinement and luxury, but to the average family looking for a people hauler, soccer sled...hard to justify. They all look sooo nice. $$$$ Wow

 

It looks like the last gen 4runner. Not a fan of this, but the last gen 4runner was very good looking.

 

It's only a recession for the poor people. My Lexus dealer was selling them like hot cakes earlier in the year, and their lot still doesn't have a lot sitting around. It was just a bad year for the American made iron.

 

+1 on that Steady....

Fiat cancelled about 75% of Chryslers cars, and they already cancelled some of their more inspiring models a few years back like the crossfire. I think Viper is dead too. The PT cruiser hung on way too long--they should have had a major re-do about five years ago. The Neon was a great concept, good seller, but never evolved. The 3000GT/Stealth was a great idea, but they never evolved it. Remember the Talon/Eclipse? Not bad...

Ford might be the only one that does ok. Their new Taurus, trucks, mustang, Fusion seem to be selling well in this area. They desperately needed a luxury sedan to fight the G35's, ES's, IS's, C classes and 3 series of the world. They missed capitalizing on the Mazda joint venture. They ran them both into the ground by cancelling the probe, rx-7, Millenia, 929, etc. They could have had some nice synergy with Mazda. I thought (and many did as well) that there were some nice cars that came out of that partnership

If Hyandai can do it, why can't the big three? Hell, Hyandai is building in US now!!! A neighbor down the street traded in his old problem-ridden S-Class for a new Genesis sedan and I have to say...It is stunning!!! Pearl white, tan leather...wood everywhere. Nice shape. Only problem I see is that it is almost a blatent copy of the LS and sort of reminds me of the old Mazda Millenia too. Remember that?

The new Buick sedan looks really sharp. My company issued car 2009 Malibu is awesome, except for the 2.0 Saab engine that is in it sounds like a Briggs and Stratton mower! GM for once used something other than their standard platform # 5 to build a car which has unique interior, paddle shifters, decent stereo, nice simulated wood, etc. Not bad at all. Shame again that some of their more inspiring ideas for cars were scraped like the G8, solstice, saturn sky, etc. The problem is, that the interior of the solstice is identical to the malibu and the vette! Caddy seems to be the only one doing it right for them, but they cannot carry the entire nameplate of GM. GM is exactly what it's name portrays..."General". General car....basic, non-inspiring, boring, without uniqueness.

A buddy of mine who is a car buff and I were discussing the demise of American iron and tried to think of the last 25 years of truly novel and inspiring ideas that have come from the auto industry. Navigation: 1990 Acura Legend. Heated Seats: Not 100% sure on this, but I believe either the MBZ S class back in mid 80's or BMW 6/7 series in 1983-1985 had them. Bluetooth pairing-Lexus/Infiniti....the list goes on. Our point of the discussion was that everything that has made cars GREAT the past 25 years has been developed by someone else. Cooled Seats-Infiniti/Toyota, Hybrid-Honda/Toyota. LED-first introduced on the rear spoiler of the 1987 Honda Prelude and Accord SEI, the Cadillac added to STS. All the big three have really have done is OnSTar which is aging, Heads up display on the vette, etc and we struggled to think of anything else since then. Maybe the alternating of the cylinders like the Hemi goes from v8 to 4cyl depending on the need, but then again, isn't this essentially what the toyota/lexus hybrid technology does anyway? My mother in laws RX400h is a BEAST when you stomp on it, but quiet as a mouse when you are just featherfooting.

Just some things to ponder about...

 

I somewhat disagree with you on this scdroptop (cause I know you're a fan of the older LX). But to me, this new GX resembles too much of the Highlander's long body line. The LX on the other hand, looks more like a Land Rover and much more sporty. Land Rover's look + reliability & interior of a Lexus = winning in the book.

I love the new Sequoia too, but what's up with a car in the $40K+ range without a start/stop push button, hence no smart key access? Disappointed!!!

 

One more thing...

My brother-in-law wanted to get the GX (back in 2007), but skipped out for the MDX instead due to GX's rear trunk opens side way. He is now even more disappointed that the redesign didn't fix this problem. They might go for Mercedes GL instead. LX is a bit out of reach :-(

 

Personally I think the swinging door is a positive...our RX's and our FX's doors always hit the top of our garage and scratched it anyway, so a swinging door would be easier for wifey to pull in the garage, open the door and get groceries out rather than scratching both SUV door and ceiling in our garage. Just my two cents.

 

The side swinging tailgate on the GX was the biggest negative and a deciding factor for us when we bought our LX. The door can't be fully opened when the garage door is down and even if we could get it open we'd have to walk around it to get into our kitchen. Our garage door clears the split LX tailgate easily.