You sound like a Camry, RAV4, or Highlander customer. You can test drive them all at your local Toyota dealership. If you are interested in an EV, Charles Murray likes his Tesla Model Y, particularly the full self-driving feature.
Here's a big question: Toyota vs Lexus? In my old age, I like comfort and reliability. How much of the Lexus premium is for the cool brand name, which I don't care about, and how much is for reliability and comfort?
For example, if I were a real estate agent and was driving clients around, I'd choose Lexus over Toyota. But I'm not driving clients around, so, objectively, which is definitively better for an old fart like me: Lexus or Toyota?
If you had asked me five years ago, I would have said a front-wheel drive RX 350 because you could still buy it with the 3.5 liter V6. That is the same engine that Toyota Sienna taxi cabs used for years and has very good reliability. That engine is no longer available in the RX, so I don't think there is going to be much of a benefit going with a Lexus.
I loved my Lexus hybrid SUV - bought it used, also completely reliable and peppy and cute; traded it in when I got the RAV as my "retirement car." I'd get another Lexus hybrid SUV in a heartbeat if they weren't so much more expensive than the RAV - the Lexus was clearly a finer car but NOT a better one if that makes sense.
I mentioned this in my response but these days Lexus is just a more expensive Toyota. The cabin might be quieter. My research recently indicates that you should look at Mazda. They are making Toyota or maybe Honda level quality these days but don;t come with the Toyota premium and it looks like they even have the super low financing.
The complaint about Mazda in the 2010s was that, while they were finely built, they didn't have the horsepower of the top Japanese brands. Is that still true?
They seem like beautiful cars, especially the reds.
I looked at the Mazda equivalent of the CRV/RAV4 hybrid and the HP was the same. They even use the Toyota hybrid drive mechanism. They all list about the same but I suspect the Mazda is cheaper with deals and incentives. They also (per GPT) are going for a more upmarket feel than Toyota.
I don't know if they still have their wonderful "burnt" red, but they do have candy-apple one. Almost all utility vehicles are marred by black or gray plastic.
It's also difficult to avoid partly or mostly black interiors for the last decade.
The improvements of Lexus over Toyota are primarily in the passenger comfort area. More soundproofing, better stereo system, slightly fancier gadgets, etc. if you don’t care about road noise or vented seats, Toyota all day every day.
Lexus is lost now, as the technological gap between regular cars and luxury closes Lexus has become just a fancy handbag, because Toyota doesn't have Tesla level computer engineering to enhance their luxury cars, its just gimmicks now. The prestige is gone when a soccer mom in a Tesla can keep up with most sports cars from the stop light. Plus they've gone a bit too far with the angry Cylon grill design.
All the things they add to a Lexus only reduce reliability and increase repair costs.
If Lexus is even an option for you, then Tesla with its self driving features is a better option. Otherwise as I said in my first comment, the 2026 Camry is a bargain, Toyota gives you most of what they have to give in that car already, and the hybrid drive train has had all the kinks worked out, very reliable.
Getting hands on a RAV is going to be about impossible, the US plant that builds them hasn't been since New Year's. The Toyota tax is steep enough I'd hesitate to recommend a used one. The 2.5 safety system is very nice, it's not self driving but does have lane keep and distance keep cruise control.
My wife has a Rav4, I have the Highlander hybrid. I do lots
Of hauling hockey and home improvement and grandkids. I’ve been getting 40+ MPG with lots of highway. You might like the 360 camera, but that may be overkill. You don’t need the 3rd row, heated steering wheel or awd. (But I do) i have a similar
SiE upper body ao a food chance you will fit. It is easier than the rav4 for me to get in/out .
You don't seem like a pickup truck kind of guy, Steve, but try a test drive with one. You might like it. I own two, a 2006 Toyota Tundra and 1995 Chevrolet S-10. The gas mileage isn't the greatest, but I enjoy mine. But I also understand they're perhaps not the best vehicles for Los Angeles traffic and gas prices.
I own the Tacoma double cab. Get the benefits of a truck bed but still two rows of seats in a frame that’s really no bigger than an average SUV. Worth a look especially bc in Cali weather a Toyota truck could go 30 years with minimal maintenance.
Without hesitation I will recommend any Tesla that can upgrade to FSD, it's phenomenal and a real game changer. Check for computing hardware. I have version 3 and it's still incredible, but AI4 hardware is supposed to be even better. I will never buy another car that doesn't allow me to at least turn something like a FSD option on.
I've followed the topic a bit and my impression is this is Tesla's "moat" and that it will be years for the other manufacturers to either catch up in independent development or license the tech from Tesla, Google (Waymo), or one of the other companies. Austin will soon have 5 competiting robotaxi companies operating. Seeing tons of them operating flawlessly downtown and everybody treating it like normal felt like visiting the future. And even then you'll still have to pay the premium for buying a new car from the other makes (I got a used Tesla much cheaper, because I'm too cheap to buy new.) Not having to pay California gas prices is a plus.
Probably at least five years away. Tesla has been collecting billions of data points from all of its owners, each of which is factored into each upgrade of the FSD system. Maybe advances in AI will shorten the process, evidenced by Tesla’s recent venture with NVIDIA. Mrs. FPD and I are in our mid 70s and bought a Tesla Model Y Premium in February. We couldn’t be happier. The supervised self driving feature is a game changer. Tesla should adopt the old Greyhound motto: “Leave the driving to us.”
It’s well worth the $99 per month charge.
I’m paying under 10 cents per kWh for electricity for charging at my house. I’m averaging a shade below four miles per kWh. So that’s an energy cost of about 2.5 cents per mile. Superchargers seem to be averaging 36 cents a kWh in Texas, so that boosts the cost to 11 or 12 cents a mile on road trips; that’s still cheaper than gas, although that will change somewhat once the fighting with Iran comes to an end, although damage to Gulf state oil and gas infrastructure will probably crimp world energy supplies for at least a year. Charging takes about 15 minutes, just enough time to walk from the outskirts of a Buc-ee’s parking lot, use a clean toilet, and walk back to the car.
I recently read that the payback period for the increased cost of a hybrid vs. gasoline only in California is about six to eight years. In Texas it’s 14 years.
Hey, if it’s good enough for Charles Murray, it’s worthy of consideration.
Mainstream brands will struggle a lot with this unless they buy the tech from someone else. I think Nvidia is the closest to having a self driving package available for licensing to manufacturers but that's a few years out at least. Rivian is close, using similar technology to Tesla; probably a year until theirs is comparable.
For long-haul driving, even the need to stay away and pay (some minor amount of) attention is about 75% less stressful and less energy-demanding and feels more like being a passenger. FSD extends my range 2-3x. Also "smart summon" is pretty handy for driving itself to the door of some mall or big box store with a giant parking lot. Picking you up like an Uber when it's bad weather or you have a lot of heavy stuff to unload is also a luxurious step up.
I can (and occasionally do) drive 500 miles nonstop, say DC to Boston at low traffic hours. But that is at the very edge of my solo driving stamina now and I can't drive 24 hours straight like I used to when I was very young. But I *can* still just stay awake for 24 hours while the car does the driving, which pushes out my range to about 1,500 miles if I kind of push it, but makes South Beach Miami (approx 1,000 miles in 16 hours) totally doable if I left after work and arrived in time for earliest check-in to clean up and nap before enjoying my day and the next night out. Everyone will say why not just fly which they will insist can't be that much more expensive (it is if you can't know if you can do the trip until the last minute) and I could go on a very, very long rant about it, which I'll spare you (you're welcome). But one thing is that the amount of time suck of modern air travel in terms of everything needed to get door to door with a car and all your stuff - especially if your origin and destination aren't close to a major airport - often neutralizes the time savings from the high cruising speed, such that if you aren't going a really long distance it's barely worth it. A typical nonstop flight from DC to Miami is "3 hours", but I've done it, and from the time I left my house until I arrived at my AirBnB it was more like 6, and if my flight has connections then add another 2 hours: that's like a whole day each way anyway. A lot of routes don't really have true "redeye" schedules that allow one to make use of overnight hours, and while you can travel and arrive late to Miami, let me tell you, if your plane lands at midnight and you it takes an hour to get to the late hours guy at the rental desk (if there is one) and there's an issue, then you're screwed. Yeah, I suppose I could just break down and give up on rentals and parking and just embrace Ubering everywhere, and I probably should, I'm just addicted to having my own car.
I wanted a secondhand car to replace my small 15 year old GM Holden Barina (in Australia) and everyone said to go Toyota for reliability but i now have a 2020 Holden (Chevvie) Trax with low milage and impaccable serice record which was much cheaper than Toyotas of comparable vintage and mileage.
The Trax was originally marketed as "small and high", and I find the extra inches of elevaion makes it esier to get in and out and the vision is much better.
Why an SUV??? You loved your Sonata. They are still inexpensive, comfortable, excellent cars that get 30-40mpg. An SUV is more expensive and gets 10mpg less. A Sonata is still fine. Camrys are even more bulletproof, and I think they are all hybrids now and get 10 mpg more. The base model has everything you need, gets the best mileage, and is remarkably cheap for what you get.
It is an arms race. To have decent visibility, you need to be higher up like everyone else is now. If you have driven an SUV or crossover regularly and then switch over to a sedan, you'll notice the difference.
Several months ago I traded in my Toyota Corolla for a Nissan Kicks. Although the Kicks is a small SUV and sits maybe three inches higher than the Corolla it makes a big difference. I would never go back to a low sedan if I could help it.
I see most of the replies refer to vision from a higher seat. Personally, I notice that almost all automobiles I see carry only a driver. I see loaded pickups sometimes, but here in the Midwest most of them are empty except for the driver.
The Camry non-hybrid is a non-turbo 2.5 liter 4 that gets good gas mileage, 40+ highway. Not as good as the hybrid, but excellent for a normally aspirated engine in a midsize.
Apparently not new anymore. They stopped making the non-hybrid Camry in 2024. We got our daughter the 2020 non-hybrid but I didn’t know Toyota stopped making it.
Yeah, look: if you can afford it without later wishing you hadn't spent the money, a nice car is just a lot more pleasant than a not-so-nice car. And in SoCal where you're gonna be logging some hours in your car, that can actually make a difference in your life.
After all, you're the guy who likes to quote Kingsley Amis on there being no end to the ways in which nice things are nicer than nasty ones...
I'm generally a knee-jerk skinflint and uninterested in owning things. To quote the advice of a friend of mine who's a c-suite officer at maybe the world's largest bank nine years ago when I was characteristically hesitating to buy the rare thing I actually wanted: "But that's what money is *for.*"
The plug-in hybrid RAV 4 can run on electric for 40 to 60 miles, then the regular gas engine and regen braking hybrid setup kicks in so no range anxiety. It would save a lot on in-town fuel, although electricity costs are a factor.
We hired a hybrid automatic 2022 Rav 4 (non-4wd) and I was pretty impressed with it. Especially the cameras which picked up even temporary speed limit signs 90% of the time (100% for permanent ones).
Interesting that the Hyundais don't seem to have the longevity of a Honda or Toyota, from the experiences of family.
I just bought a new minivan replacing a 15 year old sedan and I have to admit I like the backup camera. I stopped backing into my driveway because the backup camera gives me confidence backing out around an obscuring hedge. I also love the blind spot warning alarm. I haven't tried the adaptive cruise control nor experienced the lane keep assist but these also seem like good features.
Do you mean the radar that tells you via the mirrors when someone's overtaking or undertaking? I appreciated that in cities where drivers would overtake on both sides.
probably not. The minivan is IMO in many ways the most practical car and definitely the least cool (which is fine by me). The odyssey had the best seat configurability--I was able to remove two out of three of the middle seats while the rear seats fold down into the floor with little effort. This gives room for giant dog or cargo.
Last year are bought three pieces of used furniture and each time had to pay over $100 for delivery. With the minivan that wouldn't have been true. So a little freedom to bargain hunt large items. Of course my house is now full so that won't repeat much more (aside from I need some patio furniture). I've also resolved to do more home repair/improvement on my own so a vehicle that can fit a 4x8 sheet is great.
If you don't see yourself doing either, and if you don't routinely have 5 or more people in the car it's hard to justify the gas mileage.
Well, we have a few things in common. I like the blindspot warning and backup camera in my car also. I also haven't tried adaptive cruise control, partly because the reason to use cruise control is to keep a steady speed, and if that's impractical, then cruise control is not helpful.
I don't know about that. On a long road trip I feel like if I could turn my decision process off WRT what speed to go and just accept the traffic, I'd be much less stressed. I don't know how close it comes to self driving.
My wife is on her third Mazda and they’ve all been reliable and surprisingly fancy inside for the price
Mazda has jumped ahead of Nissan to become probably the third most reliable Japanese maker behind Toyota and Honda.
I think that guy who hid himself in a piano box to escape Japan, drove Nissan into the ground, and they still haven’t recovered.
A Japanese friend whose son works for Mazda lied me in to the Mazda quality program several years ago
You sound like a Camry, RAV4, or Highlander customer. You can test drive them all at your local Toyota dealership. If you are interested in an EV, Charles Murray likes his Tesla Model Y, particularly the full self-driving feature.
https://x.com/charlesmurray/status/2008159028065579497?s=20
Yup, that's pretty much my thinking at present.
Here's a big question: Toyota vs Lexus? In my old age, I like comfort and reliability. How much of the Lexus premium is for the cool brand name, which I don't care about, and how much is for reliability and comfort?
For example, if I were a real estate agent and was driving clients around, I'd choose Lexus over Toyota. But I'm not driving clients around, so, objectively, which is definitively better for an old fart like me: Lexus or Toyota?
If you had asked me five years ago, I would have said a front-wheel drive RX 350 because you could still buy it with the 3.5 liter V6. That is the same engine that Toyota Sienna taxi cabs used for years and has very good reliability. That engine is no longer available in the RX, so I don't think there is going to be much of a benefit going with a Lexus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_GR_engine#2GR-FKS
Are last-gen ES350s still around on dealer lots? That would still get you the 2GR.
There do seem to be some out there.
https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/new-cars/6-cylinder/lexus/es-350/lebanon-ks?searchRadius=0&zip=66952
There is also one RX 350 with the 2GR that's never been sold in Texas.
https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/new-cars/6-cylinder/lexus/rx-350/lebanon-ks?searchRadius=0&zip=66952
Toyota for putter buts like you Steve
I loved my Lexus hybrid SUV - bought it used, also completely reliable and peppy and cute; traded it in when I got the RAV as my "retirement car." I'd get another Lexus hybrid SUV in a heartbeat if they weren't so much more expensive than the RAV - the Lexus was clearly a finer car but NOT a better one if that makes sense.
I mentioned this in my response but these days Lexus is just a more expensive Toyota. The cabin might be quieter. My research recently indicates that you should look at Mazda. They are making Toyota or maybe Honda level quality these days but don;t come with the Toyota premium and it looks like they even have the super low financing.
The complaint about Mazda in the 2010s was that, while they were finely built, they didn't have the horsepower of the top Japanese brands. Is that still true?
They seem like beautiful cars, especially the reds.
I looked at the Mazda equivalent of the CRV/RAV4 hybrid and the HP was the same. They even use the Toyota hybrid drive mechanism. They all list about the same but I suspect the Mazda is cheaper with deals and incentives. They also (per GPT) are going for a more upmarket feel than Toyota.
I loved my much-used Mazda. It did feel luxe, until a tall pine sliced it in half in the driveway.
I am not the Lorax.
I don't know if they still have their wonderful "burnt" red, but they do have candy-apple one. Almost all utility vehicles are marred by black or gray plastic.
It's also difficult to avoid partly or mostly black interiors for the last decade.
The improvements of Lexus over Toyota are primarily in the passenger comfort area. More soundproofing, better stereo system, slightly fancier gadgets, etc. if you don’t care about road noise or vented seats, Toyota all day every day.
Lexus is lost now, as the technological gap between regular cars and luxury closes Lexus has become just a fancy handbag, because Toyota doesn't have Tesla level computer engineering to enhance their luxury cars, its just gimmicks now. The prestige is gone when a soccer mom in a Tesla can keep up with most sports cars from the stop light. Plus they've gone a bit too far with the angry Cylon grill design.
All the things they add to a Lexus only reduce reliability and increase repair costs.
If Lexus is even an option for you, then Tesla with its self driving features is a better option. Otherwise as I said in my first comment, the 2026 Camry is a bargain, Toyota gives you most of what they have to give in that car already, and the hybrid drive train has had all the kinks worked out, very reliable.
Getting hands on a RAV is going to be about impossible, the US plant that builds them hasn't been since New Year's. The Toyota tax is steep enough I'd hesitate to recommend a used one. The 2.5 safety system is very nice, it's not self driving but does have lane keep and distance keep cruise control.
RAV4's are chick cars.
Also, Toyota dealers tend to be aggressive and really overcharge buyers.
Back in the 2010s, Toyota dealers were extremely obnoxious.
My wife has a Rav4, I have the Highlander hybrid. I do lots
Of hauling hockey and home improvement and grandkids. I’ve been getting 40+ MPG with lots of highway. You might like the 360 camera, but that may be overkill. You don’t need the 3rd row, heated steering wheel or awd. (But I do) i have a similar
SiE upper body ao a food chance you will fit. It is easier than the rav4 for me to get in/out .
You don't seem like a pickup truck kind of guy, Steve, but try a test drive with one. You might like it. I own two, a 2006 Toyota Tundra and 1995 Chevrolet S-10. The gas mileage isn't the greatest, but I enjoy mine. But I also understand they're perhaps not the best vehicles for Los Angeles traffic and gas prices.
I own the Tacoma double cab. Get the benefits of a truck bed but still two rows of seats in a frame that’s really no bigger than an average SUV. Worth a look especially bc in Cali weather a Toyota truck could go 30 years with minimal maintenance.
Without hesitation I will recommend any Tesla that can upgrade to FSD, it's phenomenal and a real game changer. Check for computing hardware. I have version 3 and it's still incredible, but AI4 hardware is supposed to be even better. I will never buy another car that doesn't allow me to at least turn something like a FSD option on.
How fast will FSD come to non-pure electric cars like Toyotas or Lexuses?
I've followed the topic a bit and my impression is this is Tesla's "moat" and that it will be years for the other manufacturers to either catch up in independent development or license the tech from Tesla, Google (Waymo), or one of the other companies. Austin will soon have 5 competiting robotaxi companies operating. Seeing tons of them operating flawlessly downtown and everybody treating it like normal felt like visiting the future. And even then you'll still have to pay the premium for buying a new car from the other makes (I got a used Tesla much cheaper, because I'm too cheap to buy new.) Not having to pay California gas prices is a plus.
Probably at least five years away. Tesla has been collecting billions of data points from all of its owners, each of which is factored into each upgrade of the FSD system. Maybe advances in AI will shorten the process, evidenced by Tesla’s recent venture with NVIDIA. Mrs. FPD and I are in our mid 70s and bought a Tesla Model Y Premium in February. We couldn’t be happier. The supervised self driving feature is a game changer. Tesla should adopt the old Greyhound motto: “Leave the driving to us.”
It’s well worth the $99 per month charge.
I’m paying under 10 cents per kWh for electricity for charging at my house. I’m averaging a shade below four miles per kWh. So that’s an energy cost of about 2.5 cents per mile. Superchargers seem to be averaging 36 cents a kWh in Texas, so that boosts the cost to 11 or 12 cents a mile on road trips; that’s still cheaper than gas, although that will change somewhat once the fighting with Iran comes to an end, although damage to Gulf state oil and gas infrastructure will probably crimp world energy supplies for at least a year. Charging takes about 15 minutes, just enough time to walk from the outskirts of a Buc-ee’s parking lot, use a clean toilet, and walk back to the car.
I recently read that the payback period for the increased cost of a hybrid vs. gasoline only in California is about six to eight years. In Texas it’s 14 years.
Hey, if it’s good enough for Charles Murray, it’s worthy of consideration.
Mainstream brands will struggle a lot with this unless they buy the tech from someone else. I think Nvidia is the closest to having a self driving package available for licensing to manufacturers but that's a few years out at least. Rivian is close, using similar technology to Tesla; probably a year until theirs is comparable.
Totally. Without a doubt.
Yeah, I agree. The model Y with FSD is a paradigm shift. You should at least test-drive it.
For long-haul driving, even the need to stay away and pay (some minor amount of) attention is about 75% less stressful and less energy-demanding and feels more like being a passenger. FSD extends my range 2-3x. Also "smart summon" is pretty handy for driving itself to the door of some mall or big box store with a giant parking lot. Picking you up like an Uber when it's bad weather or you have a lot of heavy stuff to unload is also a luxurious step up.
I can see the appeal in that I can tire after a couple of hours driving whereas ten years ago I could do 500 miles nonstop.
I can (and occasionally do) drive 500 miles nonstop, say DC to Boston at low traffic hours. But that is at the very edge of my solo driving stamina now and I can't drive 24 hours straight like I used to when I was very young. But I *can* still just stay awake for 24 hours while the car does the driving, which pushes out my range to about 1,500 miles if I kind of push it, but makes South Beach Miami (approx 1,000 miles in 16 hours) totally doable if I left after work and arrived in time for earliest check-in to clean up and nap before enjoying my day and the next night out. Everyone will say why not just fly which they will insist can't be that much more expensive (it is if you can't know if you can do the trip until the last minute) and I could go on a very, very long rant about it, which I'll spare you (you're welcome). But one thing is that the amount of time suck of modern air travel in terms of everything needed to get door to door with a car and all your stuff - especially if your origin and destination aren't close to a major airport - often neutralizes the time savings from the high cruising speed, such that if you aren't going a really long distance it's barely worth it. A typical nonstop flight from DC to Miami is "3 hours", but I've done it, and from the time I left my house until I arrived at my AirBnB it was more like 6, and if my flight has connections then add another 2 hours: that's like a whole day each way anyway. A lot of routes don't really have true "redeye" schedules that allow one to make use of overnight hours, and while you can travel and arrive late to Miami, let me tell you, if your plane lands at midnight and you it takes an hour to get to the late hours guy at the rental desk (if there is one) and there's an issue, then you're screwed. Yeah, I suppose I could just break down and give up on rentals and parking and just embrace Ubering everywhere, and I probably should, I'm just addicted to having my own car.
Home Depot rents excellent load-carriers with ramps by 75 minute intervals: they are much cheaper and more flexible than U-Haul.
I wanted a secondhand car to replace my small 15 year old GM Holden Barina (in Australia) and everyone said to go Toyota for reliability but i now have a 2020 Holden (Chevvie) Trax with low milage and impaccable serice record which was much cheaper than Toyotas of comparable vintage and mileage.
The Trax was originally marketed as "small and high", and I find the extra inches of elevaion makes it esier to get in and out and the vision is much better.
There's a lot to be said for a taller car.
Why an SUV??? You loved your Sonata. They are still inexpensive, comfortable, excellent cars that get 30-40mpg. An SUV is more expensive and gets 10mpg less. A Sonata is still fine. Camrys are even more bulletproof, and I think they are all hybrids now and get 10 mpg more. The base model has everything you need, gets the best mileage, and is remarkably cheap for what you get.
Sure, but the rest of the world has moved to SUVs. Are they wrong?
It is an arms race. To have decent visibility, you need to be higher up like everyone else is now. If you have driven an SUV or crossover regularly and then switch over to a sedan, you'll notice the difference.
Several months ago I traded in my Toyota Corolla for a Nissan Kicks. Although the Kicks is a small SUV and sits maybe three inches higher than the Corolla it makes a big difference. I would never go back to a low sedan if I could help it.
If you're not having any trouble sitting/getting out of a car, it's just added cost on your end.
I wasn't having trouble getting in and out of my sedan but I have to admit I do like the getting up into the new minivan a lot.
My 2001 Honda Odyssey minivan was awesome for 20+ years.
Minivans are a different story from SUVs. SUVs are poseurs. Minivans are supremely practical and efficient vehicles
I see most of the replies refer to vision from a higher seat. Personally, I notice that almost all automobiles I see carry only a driver. I see loaded pickups sometimes, but here in the Midwest most of them are empty except for the driver.
In short, I think they are wrong.
"Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds"
The Camry non-hybrid is a non-turbo 2.5 liter 4 that gets good gas mileage, 40+ highway. Not as good as the hybrid, but excellent for a normally aspirated engine in a midsize.
Can you buy a new Toyota Camry that is not a hybrid?
https://www.autoblog.com/features/2025-toyota-camry-preview
Apparently not new anymore. They stopped making the non-hybrid Camry in 2024. We got our daughter the 2020 non-hybrid but I didn’t know Toyota stopped making it.
Lexus is a Toyota underneath. Absolutely no difference in reliability. They are just more nicely trimmed.
I could definitely imagine buying a high trim Toyota.
Yeah, look: if you can afford it without later wishing you hadn't spent the money, a nice car is just a lot more pleasant than a not-so-nice car. And in SoCal where you're gonna be logging some hours in your car, that can actually make a difference in your life.
After all, you're the guy who likes to quote Kingsley Amis on there being no end to the ways in which nice things are nicer than nasty ones...
I'm generally a knee-jerk skinflint and uninterested in owning things. To quote the advice of a friend of mine who's a c-suite officer at maybe the world's largest bank nine years ago when I was characteristically hesitating to buy the rare thing I actually wanted: "But that's what money is *for.*"
Thanks.
I want to thank all my paying Substack subscribers who can now help me at least consider a Lexus.
The dear departed late model Avalon (available in a hybrid) was actually nicer than the corresponding Lexus.
Ask Grok
The plug-in hybrid RAV 4 can run on electric for 40 to 60 miles, then the regular gas engine and regen braking hybrid setup kicks in so no range anxiety. It would save a lot on in-town fuel, although electricity costs are a factor.
FWIW I have a '25 Hyundai suv hybrid (Sante Fe) and it's great.
Cars seem to be quite good in this century.
We hired a hybrid automatic 2022 Rav 4 (non-4wd) and I was pretty impressed with it. Especially the cameras which picked up even temporary speed limit signs 90% of the time (100% for permanent ones).
Interesting that the Hyundais don't seem to have the longevity of a Honda or Toyota, from the experiences of family.
If you're planning on a car for old age, cameras everywhere are a must. 80+ drivers have a great love for gatepost and multi-storey scrapes.
I just bought a new minivan replacing a 15 year old sedan and I have to admit I like the backup camera. I stopped backing into my driveway because the backup camera gives me confidence backing out around an obscuring hedge. I also love the blind spot warning alarm. I haven't tried the adaptive cruise control nor experienced the lane keep assist but these also seem like good features.
"the blind spot warning alarm"
Do you mean the radar that tells you via the mirrors when someone's overtaking or undertaking? I appreciated that in cities where drivers would overtake on both sides.
Maybe I should get a minivan?
They are out of fashion but the 2001 Odyssey I got was great.
probably not. The minivan is IMO in many ways the most practical car and definitely the least cool (which is fine by me). The odyssey had the best seat configurability--I was able to remove two out of three of the middle seats while the rear seats fold down into the floor with little effort. This gives room for giant dog or cargo.
Last year are bought three pieces of used furniture and each time had to pay over $100 for delivery. With the minivan that wouldn't have been true. So a little freedom to bargain hunt large items. Of course my house is now full so that won't repeat much more (aside from I need some patio furniture). I've also resolved to do more home repair/improvement on my own so a vehicle that can fit a 4x8 sheet is great.
If you don't see yourself doing either, and if you don't routinely have 5 or more people in the car it's hard to justify the gas mileage.
Well, we have a few things in common. I like the blindspot warning and backup camera in my car also. I also haven't tried adaptive cruise control, partly because the reason to use cruise control is to keep a steady speed, and if that's impractical, then cruise control is not helpful.
I don't know about that. On a long road trip I feel like if I could turn my decision process off WRT what speed to go and just accept the traffic, I'd be much less stressed. I don't know how close it comes to self driving.
Honda CR-V
https://search.brave.com/search?q=honda+crv
Be cheap. Kia soul all the way.
Don’t sleep on KIAs.
Unless it's your intent to own beyond the powertrain warranty, in which case you should sleep away for your own good.
Toyota Camry is going to be your final automobile.
Purchase a Toyota Tundra and don’t second guess the decision of a truck. It’s a game changer
Steve will be getting a 2026 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid imo.
I wish, but they are currently in short supply, so they are very expensive.