According to the Luxury Institute's "2007 Social Responsiblity WealthSurvey" [sic], Lexus is the wealthy motorist's green machine of choice. The Institute (can they really call themselves that?) polled a "national sample" of 950 consumers with an average net worth of $3.1m and an average income of $307K. These not-so-super rich folk pegged Lexus as the "most admired brand for environmental concerns." The CEO of the Luxury Institute dismissed critics who dismiss his eco-oriented survey as PC pandering. "Being 'green' is no longer a luxury," Milton Pedraza asserted. "It is a requirement of doing business according to wealthy consumers." Apparently, 70 percent of well-heeled car buyers look for environmentally-friendly brands "with whom to do business." Environmentalists may be heartend to discover that America's most conspicuous consumers base their purchasing decisions on biodegradable packaging, zero-landfill manufacturing and EPA ratings.
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And once again, Acura is slighted by the green movement.
Acura exists so that when the rich tree-hugging hippies get bored of driving their appliances, I mean, Lexi, they have something exciting to move into.
Commenters above are confusing “rich” with “intelligent and informed.”
The fact that Lexus has hybrid models says “green” to the ignorant. That’s all that matters.
A luxury car that even in hybrid mode only gets the same mpg in the real world as the average small SUV is not green. They’ve been duped.
These things only exist to avoid emissions taxes and avoid paying any congestion charges. They can move about 10 ft on battery power.
The point is an LS600 is still less polluting than an S600. It also uses less petro.
The same with the GS450h and RX400h, when compared to their direct competition they do come out being greener and more fuel efficient.
As the resident of a large US city I can appreciate any vehicle that no longer needs to burn gas and pump out pollution while idling on the street outside of my home.
Ladies and Gentlemen please open up your minds here! While I do not consider myself a “greenie” I do understand that there is so much more to this whole debate/ arguement than the limited focus on fuel use that most people seem only able to comprehend.
For those that do live in a rural area with excellent air quality I am happy for you. I understand why some can poo-poo the whole enviornment problem. For the rest of us (the majority of the population of this country) that live in congested urban area, air quality is a big deal.
Think about it for a minute, outside of a major city when a traffic light turns green there might be maybe 4 vehicles hitting the gas at the same time. In a city when a traffic light turns green there might be up to 30 vehicles at that one light that will all hit the gas at the sametime. Each vehicle’s exhaust will be added to the surrounding air. Big difference huh!
Now a hybrid can pull away from a stop under “clean” electric power, it might not need the engine until it reaches the highway (away from pedestrians). This is a good thing and it is somewhat “green”. Nonetheless it is still cleaner than any other 4000+lbs, 300+ hp luxury vehicle.
I wonder if environmentalists have ever asked the tree that they are hugging what they think of these plant-starving vehicles…Im surprised that trees don’t slap them silly.
Am I the only one who finds irony that a group of people who live in (i.e. heat and cool) one or more huge mansions, travel in private jets or on yachts, and most likely have several large automobiles that get well below the CAFE average MPG “specifically look for environmentally-friendly brands with whom to do business?” If they’re that environmentally conscious, why aren’t they making personal lifestyle changes to demonstrate their convictions? (That is, more than just switching from a Bentley to a Lexus.)
Buying a lexus hybrid is as big of a poser move as one could possibly waste their money on. You can get a RX400h, and get 5 people where they’re going with crummy gas milage (an Edmunds test avg of 21.5), or you can buy hundreds of other car options which do the same with superior gas milage. I guess only the Lexus is classy enough for some, as offroading is warned against by Lexus in this abomination of a car and therefore not an excuse.
Luther:
You just need to open your mind. That will make you forget about the obsurdity of most (the ones that don’t actually give enough environmental headway to offset the impact from making batteries and such) hybrids.
Frank:
Nope, but it does make sense. As far as I can tell, these are the same people that think a more socialist government would be great..as long as they don’t actually have to shell out the cash. That means they can’t trade up to the new Lexus and they might have to scale back their new mansion. I believe they are called “Yuppies”.
So I guess it’s the poor that are buying all the V12 and V10 supercars?
Hey, I get better mileage in my Hyundai Accent than these yuppies do in their Lexi, and other hybrids. Guess the rich hippies (is there even such a thing) don’t like the environment that much after all, otherwise they’d all drive fuel sipping Accents, Yaris’s (Yarii?), Fits and Versas… actually, come to think of it, if they bought cheap econocars, they’d have extra money to buy a more efficient private jet, and those mansion solar panels they’ve always wanted.
What is the point of making a comparison between a Lexus Hybrid and a Fit or Yaris? Why dont we just compare an apple to a piece of meat! For that matter I can ride a moped all day and get get better mileage than an automobile driver on the road!
Regardless of how you feel about Lexus or Hybrids in general the guy driving the Lexus RX Hybrid is still using less gas than the guy drving a MB ML or BMW X. He is also putting less pollution directly into the air. Now I know MB makes a diesel model but so what! I don’t want to deal with the hassles of a diesel in the USA, and there are MANY.
The way some of you fools sound I bet you would have thought the first instance of EFI on a production car was also a stupid idea. Or better yet why on earth would any sane person take the time to design and engineer a Diesel- Electric Locomotive when a steam engine works just fine.
In all honesty I doubt there are many folks that out here who fly around in private planes that are shopping for a Lexus GS-h or RX-h. There might be someone who fits that description in the market for an LS-h but hey to each his own. I find most people who are interested in a hybrid auto are not rich but “nerdy”. The same type of people that are the first to adopt any new technology that hits the market. No they are not “driving enthuasist” but they do like cars in their own nerdy fashion.
Now for all of this talk about how the folks that buy hybrids are “stupid”, IMHO stupid is the man who believe in the ideal that “ignorance is bliss”. I will always give credit to the misguided man who is trying to do good, yet his approach may be wrong. The stupid person is the one who simply gives up and says “I dont give a damn, so it does not matter”.
whatdoiknow1:
So..your argument is that you stand behind anyone that conserves..even if it is in a wasteful way? Neat.
In all honesty I doubt there are many folks that out here who fly around in private planes that are shopping for a Lexus GS-h or RX-h.
Doesn’t the nobel Al Gore drive* a Lexus SUV hybrid?..well he did, now he drives* a Mariner hybrid.
*theoretically
Ryan Knuckles :
October 29th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
whatdoiknow1:
So..your argument is that you stand behind anyone that conserves..even if it is in a wasteful way? Neat.
In all honesty I doubt there are many folks that out here who fly around in private planes that are shopping for a Lexus GS-h or RX-h.
Doesn’t the nobel Al Gore drive* a Lexus SUV hybrid?..well he did, now he drives* a Mariner hybrid.
*theoretically
First off, screw Al Gore! That dude done rate about a zero in my book! Yeah for your point he is the poster child of that misguided enviornmental movement.
But I do stand by the notion that someone driving a GS-h is more efficient than someone driving an E550 or 550i. Granted someone can be more efficient by driving an E320 Bluetec but I doubt anyone looking for a performance luxury car would be too happy with the powerband of that particular ride. Call it the lesser of the three evils if you will. As I mentioned before there is more to the hybrid than just the intended fuel savings real or not.
No matter how you slice it a Hybrid is cleaner in day to day use that a stricitly petro powered car. If you live in a congested urban area you would understand this. In NYC we have both regular diesel powered buses and a number of Hybrid and CNG buses on the road. We all know what happenes when the driver of the regular diesel bus floors the gas pedal to pull off from standing stop, you get a big ugly cloud of black smoke ejected into the air maybe 3 feet above a six foot tall man. With the Hybrid and CNG depending on the conditions you get significantly less pollution or non at all ejected into the air you are breathing. THIS IS A BIG DEAL!
Now granted, no one is buying any Lexus or automobile for that matter with the belief that they are going to save the world. You still need to fill the darn thing up at the local gas station and it does still have a tailpipe coming out of the back. On top of that the price of admission to this club is at least $50,000. These things ARE luxury cars with unique powertrains that do allow you to save gas if you are willing to drive like your grandma. It just might come in handy in a pinch.
But like it or not USA 2007 is not a land that is friendly to the diesel powered car. In NYC you might find diesel for sale at maybe one out of 10 stations. When you do find diesel it is sold usually from one lonely pump off in some corner of the station. I for one would not enjoy going on a “mission” to find some petro in the middle of the night.
Yep; if these guys actually cared about the environment they’d live in modest homes and drive the Yaris, Corolla, Prius, 4-cylinder Camry, or better yet, ride a bicycle, instead driving a Lexus. But the fact is, there’s nothing environmentally friendly about driving any car and these people are willing to be as environmentally friendly as not sacrificing anything will allow.
I think the people saying the rich should drive Honda Fits and Yari instead of their Lexi are missing the point. The point is not that there are cheaper, uglier, less luxurious, more poorly built cars that can get better MPG, the point is that it is possible to have a good looking, luxurious, well built car that gets better MPG
If you want to carry 5 passengers in luxury with no hope of off-roadability at all, then you can buy an RX400h… Or you can just buy a BMW 525i wagon which is superior in probably every way, (including possibly fuel efficiency? I’m too lazy to check the numbers), without the complications of worrying about how the battery pack in your Lexus was manufactured and how it will be disposed of
Instead of a 430hp LS600h, why doesn’t Lexus offer a ~275hp engine (hybrid or naturally aspirated) since that’s more power than 99% of the owners will ever need? As little as 5 or 6 years ago a 275hp luxury car was thought of as being almost overpowered
There is nothing hypocritical about wanting to save the environment in a nice car, the hypocrisy comes into play when vehicles that boast useless excess (430hp in a luxo car, a 4000lb+ 5 passenger SUV with no more capability than an average station wagon) are somehow being touted as the second coming of the catalytic converter
If you want to carry 5 passengers in luxury with no hope of off-roadability at all, then you can buy an RX400h… Or you can just buy a BMW 525i wagon which is superior in probably every way, (including possibly fuel efficiency? I’m too lazy to check the numbers.
I’m not! :D
EPA ’08
Lexus RX 400h 2WD
Premium Gasoline
City 27
Hwy 24
Combined 25
starting at $41k
BMW 535xi Sport Wagon
Premium Gasoline
City 16
Hwy 24
Combined 19
starting at $54k
Normally, I would say save the money you would spend on the hybrid and plant some trees, but that wouldn’t work in this case! Only the 535 Sport Wagon is available for ’08.