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Re: [Shop-talk] camry hybrids

To: shop-talk@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Shop-talk] camry hybrids
From: John Miller <jem@milleredp.com>
Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 09:41:28 -0800
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> Based on your experiences with a much more expensive car, and a small
> amount of time with a car of lesser value and much higher mileage than
> the one you're used to driving.

Let's see here.  Since 1981 I've driven two or more examples of 
virtually every Toyota product built.  Corollas, Celicas, a few Camrys, 
Mk2/3 Supras and a Mk4.  Land Cruisers, 4Runners, the occasional pickup 
and Cressida.  Only owned two, but a brother-in-law was a Toyota dealer 
for a few years so they were all over the family.  IS300s (someday I may 
go find a good one of those, that was one very nice car), GS, LS.  I 
don't fit in the Lexus ES or the later GSes so I try to avoid those.

In that period I've also owned a fair number of Fords, Saabs, VWs, BMWs, 
two Suburbans and an Audi.

> To some extent, I agree with this.  Toyota put much more effort and
> money into the high-dollar Lexus than its lesser brands,

Toyota put a lot of money into starting the Lexus dealership body 
correctly.  They screwed their dealers down to a very high standard of 
behavior.

As for the cars themselves, they're Toyotas.  Very elaborate Toyotas, 
and almost the only US Toyota product still built in Japan, but Toyotas.

> Why this emphasis on A-pillars? That seems to be a peculiarity unique to
> you and unrelated to the cars.

Perhaps it's my peculiarity but there are three things that matter to me 
when I sit down in a car: the seat, the steering, and the outward 
visibility.  How the powertrain behaves, or even the ultimate limits of 
the suspension, those might be an annoyance later, or you might work 
around their limits.  But the driving position, the outward visibility, 
and the steering is either right or wrong in the first minute.   This is 
as true for a VW Beetle as an E39 BMW.

I can think of only one car I've owned where I was fooled - we bought a 
'92 Infiniti Q45.  Beautifully built, very fast, its 278 horses were 
much beefier animals than the 282 BMW put in the 540i that replaced it, 
when it hit its 145mph speed limiter you'd actually feel a pretty good 
lurch as it cut you back.

But the footwells were so shallow, the distance from pan to roof too 
short, so for someone 6'1" like me you're either sitting with your legs 
straight out or your head wedged in the headliner.   My 5'2" wife 
thought it was just fine.   Also, 2.1-turn steering and 4200lb of mass 
do not go together, it was a twitchy beast.  Nissan slowed the steering 
down in '93.

John.
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