2001 Lexus LS430

2001 Lexus LS430

Yes it's another one of my old luxury car reviews. I would review the new LS460, but I haven't come across anyone that has one, much less anyone who is willing to let me drive it.

Lexus, around the time this car was made, wasn't as impressive as German luxury marques like Mercedes; but I think Lexus has now crawled its way to the top where owning one is just as good a way of flashing your successful stock portfolio as any other luxury marque. You would expect that driving a Lexus would not produce much hatred towards you especially compared to driving something from BMW because it's less flamboyant, but after driving around a bit in the LS430, I find that people will still glare at you with seething hatred. I do however think that driving around in a 3 series BMW will indeed garner more hatred, because the average driver of a 3 series is a tosser and we all know it. Anyhow, If you can afford this luxury barge (certified pre-owned as of now admittedly) is it worth selling some of your portfolio assets to buy it?

I'm going to treat this car as what it is, a luxury car, and not as if it was supposed to be all things to all men (like I do with most of my reviews really). I'm sure we've all seen reviews where a car falling into a specific genre gets torn apart because it doesn't do something it wasn't meant to do. I may mention a shortfall but I will be sure to state it's irrelevance. For example if the LS430 isn't capable of going down a glacier without resulting in death, I'm not going to hold that against it.

Positives: Fortunately, this car does exactly what it advertises and provides pure luxury to the driver. The leather on the seats for instance is of such a high grade that designer hand bags will start to feel a bit cheap. As a result, the seats won't burn your butt cheeks off when you leave the car out in the sun for too long and while you drive around the seats will cosset your entire body in comfort.

The rest of the cabin is very nicely appointed making the LS430 a very pleasant place to be. The wood trim is actually wood and it has been placed in locations that accent the interior rather than anywhere that needed filling in. The door trim is made from the same leather the seats are made of and the dashboard material is very soft and are properly pieced together. Even the plastics are of such high grade that you won't believe they're plastic. Overall, everything about the interior of this car can be described with one word... quality.

The LS430 has been fitted with loads of sound deadening material so it's eerily quiet. When the engine is idling, you might think that the car stalled out because you can't hear it, especially if you have the stereo on. At highway speeds the sound level picks up a bit, but the car is still very quiet. This is the first car I've been in where you can listen to classical music from the Romantic era with no trouble. Romantic music (not the music for getting it on) if you don't know has an enormous dynamic range where some parts are whisper quiet and other parts sound like a storm has blown in. On most cars you have to turn the stereo up to hear the quiet parts, then your ears are suddenly bombarded so you turn the stereo down... then the song goes quiet again and you have to turn the stereo back up or not hear anything etc. In the Lexus, you just set the volume level to where your ears don't bleed on the loud parts and you're set. Nice!

I feel that classical is the only music genre appropriate for being played in the LS430. This car is so comfortable and so refined that any other type of music just seems wrong. This is especially true considering the ride quality this car possesses. I may have said that ____ glides over potholes and bumps for other cars to describe how comfortable the ride is, but the Lexus very literally glides. This car doesn't feel like it rides on four wheels, it feels like it's hovering over the ground on a fluffy cloud.

Now we get to the drive train of the LS430. This car CAN be quick if you want it to be. The 4.3 liter V8 can propel this car to 60 in about 6.5 seconds, but unless you stick the car in "power" mode and floor it you wouldn't believe that statistic. Most of the time this car feels slow in a good way. Everything about this car was made to provide some form of luxury, so setting off never provides a jarring experience. The car accelerates very smoothly, you can never tell when the automatic gearbox changes gear (unless you stare at the tachometer), and the engine, despite being a thumping great V8, is as smooth as a super model's skin. Even when you do floor it, the car still feels quite smooth, the only difference being that the scenery goes past faster than before. Even with your foot planted you still can't hear the engine very well, which is kind of a shame because it makes a great noise; however, not being able to hear it does keep up with the luxury theme.

Another fantastic thing about this car is the passive safety. I'm not talking about crash test ratings and airbags neither, although this car has a very good safety rating and a flurry of airbags. The traction control and other computer wizzardry on board the LS430 genuinely keeps you safe from crashing in a ball of fire. The only real example I can give you is one that I experienced personally. I was driving this car down the highway and a metal shard shredded the right front tire, but other than the funny noises coming from outside, I had no idea that the tire blew out. I was going straight and true at 60 mph down the highway trying to figure out what the noise was. Naturally I decided to pull over and saw that most of the right front tire was missing, which was quite a shock considering the lack of drama that had occurred. I got the full sized spare on and I was on my way again. Usually when you have a blowout of this magnitude, your car digs in, spins out of control, and you have a really bad accident; but in the Lexus, there wasn't a single moment of drama.

This particular LS430 was pretty basic as far as luxury cars go, but this isn't true for all of them. If you're willing to spend the money on advanced packages, this car can easily turn into a complicated tech fest. Examples of how ridiculous things get with the extras, there's "laser" guided cruise control which keeps you the same distance from the car in front of you at all times, a minifridge (which can hold up to six cans) just behind the arm rest for the back seats, and in case you don't close the doors properly they'll do it themselves.

Negatives: As a driving experience this car isn't very good. The steering wheel is incredibly light and gives no feedback from the road, the throttle is mapped for smoothness so it's not very responsive, and I plain hate the brake feel. Also, the overt luxury of the cabin makes you feel isolated from the rest of the world, making it even more impossible to garner any feeling about what the car is doing at all. Other than the brake feel though, which I'll get to, these aren't very big problems considering this car was made for wafting and not for blitzing the Nurburgring. In addition, despite the lack of feel, this car actually has decent handling; though you probably won't bother to probe the limits because it's scary to do that in a car which delivers pretty much no feel at all.

So the only real negative I truly have is the brake feel. Like most Toyota products the brake pedal requires quite a lot of travel before anything happens which I find to be quite annoying. Unfortunately, the problem on the LS430 is worse than just that for a couple of reasons. The first being that the Lexus's brakes are actually very strong; so, you'll step lightly on the brakes to slow down; realizing that nothing happens you push harder, then your face comes off. The next problem occurs when you're at the lights. The 4.3 liter V8 engine delivers quite a lot impulse power and if you couple that with the long brake travel, you will find yourself inching towards the car in front of you and eventually giving it a nudge at a red light. You can alleviate this problem by consciously stepping harder on the brake pedal, or by sticking the car in park, but you just don't have to do that in any other car!

Conclusion: If you view this car as just a luxury car or a comfortable way of getting from A to B, it is very hard to fault it. This becomes especially true if you talk to the owners of Jags, BMW's and Mercedes's because they tend to spend a lot of time at the service garage. Lexus however, has legendary Toyota reliability AND they are built to higher standards than normal Toyotas making them... better.

If you do want something that offers more than just comfort... Audi, BMW, Jaguar, and Mercedes will all offer cars that drive better than the Lexus LS430. I personally enjoy being a passenger in the Lexus a lot more than being the driver. This car is sleep inducingly relaxing no matter which seat you're in, and seeing how I don't fancy a crash from falling asleep at the wheel, this isn't a car I particularly like to drive.

I still hold that, as a luxury car, the LS430 is a good one. It does everything a luxury car is supposed to do by giving you comfort, quality, and technology. The problem is, if you're like me and you don't find driving to be a chore, you might want to look for something a little more engaging to drive.

Summary:

The good: Sleep inducingly comfortable

The bad: Sleep inducingly boring to drive

Verdict: Excellent car if you're a passenger or if you find driving to be overly stressful.

Random Stats:

Engine: 4.3 liter V8, 290 hp 320 lb-ft torque

EPA Fuel Estimate: 18/25

Observed Fuel Economy: 22 mpg combined cycle

2005 Chevy Aveo

2005 Chevy Aveo5

Does anyone still remember Daewoo? They were a Korean car manufacturer that showed up in the states several years ago, tried to sell us cheap and cheerful cars then died off within a couple of years. There was a good reason for Daewoo not being able to stick around for long; the cheap price was simply not enough to make people overlook the fact that they were rubbish. Buying a Daewoo was like buying bed sheets from a thrift store; sure they’re cheap, but they’re clearly of inferior quality compared to what you can get elsewhere and may even give you a rash. Even though the Daewoo banner isn’t being flown anymore, they still live on in the United States lurking in the darkness, ready to pounce on consumers who don’t realize what they’re buying. The reason why they’re still around is because GM bought controlling shares in Daewoo; so if you’re a child in a GM family and your parents want to buy you your “first car” a Daewoo is waiting for you at your local Chevy dealership wearing a name tag that reads Aveo. It’s no use trying to run away to the local Suzuki dealership because a couple of rebadged Daewoos await you there as well. (As a side note) When the Suzuki adverts ask “Are our cars as much fun as our bikes?” you now know the answer is a huge NO! So if you are a GM family kid, and you can’t get away from the terror known as a Daewoo… what are you in for when you find yourself in an Aveo?

Positives (well sort of): Well to start, you get a cheap and “cute” looking hatch; however if you look past the “cute” part you instantly notice the cheap part radiates outward like heat from a campfire. Sure the car costs less than the competition, but you can tell it managed that feat by cutting corners rather than with precision engineering and innovative manufacturing techniques (The Toyota Aygo is an example of cheap costs from precision engineering). For example, the panels on the car look like they’ll dent or fall off if you breathe on them and the paint looks like it will easily fade away as the years pass (on older more abused Aveos, it already has). Not a good start and this is the positives section!

Since the Aveo is a small car, it has reasonably nippy handling, but compared to its Japanese rivals it’s nothing special and in fact it’s worse. Fortunately, the car does at least ride well. The ride quality isn’t going to win any awards but at least it’s a plus.

The interior is where the Aveo starts to claw back some points. Sure the inside looks like a coal mine, but the plastics that make up the dash are of decent quality and everything looks well put together. That’s a first for Chevy, although this is a Daewoo nailed together in Korea then rebadged… Unfortunately, you will notice over time as you start accidentally hitting things with your elbows and such that certain pieces are in fact NOT well put together since they will start to become a bit loose.

The real upside of the interior though lies with the spaciousness. This car’s interior is actually roomier than a Cobalt despite managing to be much smaller than a Cobalt on the outside. The backseats are amazingly spacious for such a small car, and can easily seat a couple of your six feet tall friends without them having to eat their knees. Don’t try to cram three people in the back though, because like most cars it’s going to be so tight that human rights people will be on your case.

As you’d expect from such a small car, the trunk isn’t all that large, but unlike the trunk of a Mini, you can actually fit stuff in there. Going on a Costco run or going to pick up a friend with a large suitcase from the airport won’t happen without folding the back seats down, but a stop over to the grocery store shouldn’t be a problem.

Negatives: Apart from the usual benefits of driving a small car, easy parking, good maneuverability, etc. the driving experience on offer from this car is all wrong.

The number one thing that makes a car good to drive is steering feel and I can easily say that the Aveo doesn’t offer any. In fact it doesn’t offer any “feel” anywhere. Even the brake pedal doesn’t let you know just how hard you’re stopping the car, and that’s a worry because the brakes on this car aren’t very good to begin with.

Now we get to the really bad stuff, the Aveo’s powertrain. The engine is only down a few horsepower from the Yaris and the Fit, but in terms of actually being able to move the car forward, it plain sucks. This car redefines the word slow and even if you don’t mind the Model T like acceleration, there are still issues. Every time I got to a hill I threw the car into low gear and floored it so I didn’t slow down traffic behind me… And when I got to a steep hill I threw the car into low gear and prayed. Naturally the car can actually make it up steep downtown Seattle hills, but it definitely struggles and makes you nervous.

The rubbish automatic gearbox is partly to blame for the car’s weak performance, but from what I’ve heard getting a manual is not going to make things better. The manual has been described by some as being the worst manual gearbox on the market today, because it offers shifting dynamics that are easily beaten by trucks. The performance of the car does improve marginally but it probably isn’t worth the extra pain and effort.

To make matters worse, one of the major reasons for buying a small car simply doesn’t exist on the Aveo. Despite GM throwing ads and commercials at us every second of the day saying that Chevrolets have great gas mileage and that the small Aveo leads the way… the gas mileage on the Aveo is appalling. If you drive a Ford Excursion, then the gas mileage on the Aveo might seem good, but if you drive something in the same class and even in a class above the Aveo, you’ll soon realize just how bad the mileage is. The official figures off the Chevy website say that the mileage is 24/34 which is more or less the same as the Cobalt, and to make it sound a bit worse, it’s the same as the relatively enormous Camry! But to really drive home just how bad the fuel consumption is we must compare it to its direct competition. The Toyota Yaris achieves 34 mpg in the city and 39 on the highway… so the Yaris can achieve the highway mileage of the Aveo in the city where these cars will be spending most of their time.

The mileage testers weren’t just smoking crack the day they tested the Aveo, the fuel consumption really is that bad… through combined city and highway driving I got 24 mpg which is actually more abysmal than the estimates. The mileage might have been better if I didn’t have to stand on the accelerator to get the car to move at a reasonable speed, but I’d rather not slow down the whole of Seattle just to see my mileage go up 1 or 2 mpg.

The last negative I have listed is more of a gripe but it’s still valid. I drove the base model Aveo with manual locks and roll down windows which is fine, but what wasn’t okay was the fact that the car didn’t have a CD player. In fact, the car only had an AM/FM radio; there wasn’t even a tape deck. Let’s stop to think of another new car that doesn’t offer a CD player as standard… Well there’s the... wait no it’s just the Aveo. I know this is supposed to be a cheap entry level car, but how much does it cost for Chevy to have a CD player fitted? I can’t imagine it being any more than fifty quid and that’s already a generous estimate in my opinion. Plus I can’t imagine any sane person saying “You know what? I can save a minute amount of money by not getting a CD player… In fact I won’t even try and haggle to get a CD player installed!” I honestly think that by muttering “There’s no CD player,” and nothing else the dealer will offer to install one for free.

Conclusion: Don’t get me wrong and think that I was insulting this car non stop because I have sophisticated tastes, I actually love small cars. Small cars generally give nippy handling, easy city driving, good gas mileage, and overall fun while not costing too much to run; but, the Aveo only offers the easy city driving characteristic which was impossible to screw up unless GM made the Aveo the size of a bus… in which case it wouldn’t be a small car anymore.

Compared to its Japanese rivals the Aveo is crap. The Fit, the Yaris, and the Versa easily outclass the Aveo on every front. The only thing that could possibly entice you to get the Aveo is the ridiculously low price; however, the Yaris is only marginally more expensive and worth every extra penny. Also, if you plan on trading your car in after a few years and factor in depreciation, the Aveo loses its price advantage immediately. So in the end, the Daewooness of the Aveo shines through and makes it quite a poor choice of car.

If you’re looking at getting a small car and don’t mind paying around 15k the Fit is easily top of the class, but if you’re on a tighter budget the Aveo might make sense… wait no it doesn’t. If you’re on a tight budget work harder and get a Yaris. It’s not quite as good as the Honda Fit, but it’s cheaper and it’s still quite a good little car. Heck if you don’t feel like working harder, go and haggle a few bucks off of a Kia Rio which isn’t as good as a Yaris but it’s still better than the Aveo.

Summary:

The Good: Spacious and cheaper than dinner at a five star restaurant

The Bad: Easily the worst car in its class

The Ugly: It’s worse than a Kia… that’s a pretty bad insult

Verdict: WHY BOTHER?

Random Stats:

Engine: 1.6 liter I4, 103 hp, 107 lb/ft torque

EPA mileage estimate: 24/34

Observed fuel mileage: 24 mpg combined cycle