Lexus
Lexus offers plentiful choices.
Looking for a Lexus under the tree this Christmas? There's a greater selection of these luxury cars than ever before, including the elegant wagonlike RX300 4x4 off-roader that debuted as a 1998 model, and its full-size brother, the imposing LX470 sport utility. With five new models in the last two years, and a total of six vehicles to choose from ranging in price from $30,905 to $55,905, the 1999 Lexus lineup is one of the youngest and among the most yearned-after in the auto industry.
The smallest, entry-level sedan, the ES300 ($30,905), has upgrades that include a more powerful, higher horsepower V-6 engine, an electronically controlled automatic transmission, traction control as standard equipment and an optional vehicle skid control (VSC) system. When your car's pointing one way and you are steering another as can happen in a skid, VSC adjusts engine power and puts the brakes on individual wheels to help prevent loss of vehicle control. And this little 1999 luxury sedan costs 2 percent less than last year's model.
Next in order of price, at $31,805 and $33,205 respectively, are two versions of the RX300 sport utility, one with front-wheel drive, the other with four-wheel drive. A cross-breeder between a large wagon and a midsize SUV, and designed to absorb more energy in a crash and cause less damage to other vehicles, the RX300 is 10 inches taller than the ES300 and seven inches shorter than the LX470. The rear seat slides forward and back about five inches for greater legroom or cargo space.
Built on a unibody platform rather than a conventional truck body-on-frame design and powered by V-6 engines, the RX 300 models are as at home on the road as off. If you live in a mild climate, Lexus recommends the front-wheel-drive version because you will get better fuel economy, while full-time, four-wheel drive is advised for those having to cope with harsher weather.
Sporty sedans are popular, and Lexus' $37,305 GS300 has new oval headlights, an optional navigational system, and a twin-cam, 225-horsepower, inline six engine. The performance-oriented GS300 makes it from 0-60 mph in 7.5 seconds. A more powerful sedan, the GS400, costing $45,505, has a V-8 that creates 300 horsepower and 0-60 mph in under six seconds.
Two Lexus sport coupes, the 3-liter inline, six-cylinder SC300, and the V-8 SC400, are long, sleek, and pricier, at $42,905 and $55,205. An option is traction control.
Top of the sedan line is the large and loaded $53,605 Lexus LS400, still a benchmark for meticulous craftsmanship since its introduction a decade ago, and now sold in 54 countries. While Lexus and its owners are happy with the status quo and its V-8 engine, you can buy the optional $5,405 navigational system package (includes audio system and climate control) with touch-screen color display, and to further tweak buyers' interests, the wood and leather steering wheel and shift knob are now standard equipment. Standard on all 1999 Lexus vehicles are daytime running lights.
Spent all your money this year but still hanker for a hot Lexus? Meet your local dealer and he or she will show you a slew of previously owned sedans, coupes and SUVs from current-year models through five past years with fewer than 60,000 miles on the clicker.
"A typical preowned Lexus has fewer problems per year than do many new cars," said Marv Ingram, Lexus national certified preowned and fleet manager. Certified by the manufacturer and warranted for three years or 100,000 miles, the vehicles are screened through 125 tests before the certification process is complete. Secondhand Lexus models can be bought or leased like a new car, with similar rates and terms.
Still looking for something a little different from this manufacturer? Wait for Lexus' IS200 compact sedan to hit these shores. Debuting at the Geneva auto show this year and targeted at European buyers, the IS200 is rumored to disembark in the United States sometime in 1999.
The Washington Times
December 18, 1998
Amadio, Jill