How Lexus tricked us into accepting hideous cars

"Nauraushaun" (nauraushaun12) 12/24/2015 at 18:37 • Filed to: LEXUS

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The new Lexii are disgusting, hideous cars. They’re unique, they’re interesting, they’re modern, but they’re obscene. Wake up, sheeple.

Look at this car. I mean, really look at it. Right in the face. Try to forget the fact that you’ve been seeing it on the roads for years, that you’re conditioned to understand it. Pretend you’re seeing it for the first time. The way the grille juts out from the front of the car like a growth. The pointless angles in the side of the grill. Look at the angle of that far headlight - the fat bulge it makes in the bumper. Look at the shape of the headlight itself, all random shapes and points. Look at the mess between the light and the DRL, where the designer had to fill the space he created almost like it wasn’t intentional.

It’s horrid. But Lexus knows this. They planned it this way. They’ve been slowly introducing this face for years. It’s all part of a plan by some genius marketers (who’s profession usually consists of finding attractive young people to photograph with their product) to condition the public to accept an ugly Lexus as modern and trendsetting, so that competitors are forced to go equally ugly (which will destroy them as they haven’t phased it in gradually), or look outdated and staid. Lexus - a company nobody has ever liked as much as BMW/Merc - know this bold strategy is the only way they can win. They can’t beat BMW as it stands, so they’re trying to turn the market to their favor by tricking people into thinking BMW is out of date.

Lets consider some past models.

The dear original IS:

Smart. Inoffensive. Just trying to get things going on the right foot, not piss anybody off.

The next one:

Oooh...see that? See how those headlights are moving in on the grille’s space? See the grille below threatening to join with it, creating a weirdly shaped mass of black plastic? They held back from doing anything too weird here, but they’re getting you used to the shape so they can get away with the ugly in the future.

It wasn’t just the IS. The LS had it going too:

No lower grille this time. But that arrow, pointing towards the grille is there. Just waiting to make a predator out of it. Just waiting to separate from the main headlight and become a hideous floating DRL. And look where it went next:

Not quite as offensive as the IS, but it’s both similar to it, and a continuation from the shape above.

Lets see the RX:

Same deal. Headlights moving in towards the grille. At the time it looked like a common styling language across the range that didn’t quite make sense. But now it does make sense - it was more than that. It was a stepping stone, a primer to where we are today.

With more spindle:

And finally, full ugly:

And we know it’s the same story with the GX. The less said about that, the better.

Lexus did this to you. You’re better than that, Oppo. I’m all for modern styling and evolution and all that, but this is different. We’ve been duped, in a way that’s both more obvious !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and less talked about. The cars are ugly. If we accept them they’ll become the norm, and we can’t let that happen.

Nibby > Nauraushaun 12/24/2015 at 18:39

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Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna > Nauraushaun 12/24/2015 at 18:48

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Well I like it. So to each their own opinion. I hate the Germans for the reason they’re too boring and executive looking.

Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD > Nauraushaun 12/24/2015 at 18:53

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That’s just, like, your opinion man.

I personally like the new Lexus line up. I think they are actually pretty decent looking cars.

DoYouEvenShift > Nauraushaun 12/24/2015 at 18:56

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I like the Predator faced Lexus. The original looks like a Camry, the next one looks like an Altima.

Nauraushaun > DoYouEvenShift 12/24/2015 at 19:05

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Did you like it when you first saw it? Or have you been softened into it by years of seeing Lexii driving around?

Huh?

I warmed up the the Juke. Hated it at first. But that was on a much smaller scale than all of Lexus’ range.

Nauraushaun > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 12/24/2015 at 19:06

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BUT DID YOU FEEL THAT WAY WHEN YOU FIRST SAW THEM?

I can’t really tell you whether or not you like them. Opinion, man. But I can claim that you like them because of the Lexus brainwashing!

Nauraushaun > Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna 12/24/2015 at 19:07

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I’ll say what I keep saying to every comment here: did you like them when you first saw them? Or did seeing them all the time soften you up to the idea of an ugly car?

Nauraushaun > Nibby 12/24/2015 at 19:08

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You’ve successfully captured the feeling I get when I see a Lexus on the roads. It’s like someone boffing on your face

EL_ULY > Nauraushaun 12/24/2015 at 19:14

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Lolnope! These cars look rad! The blandness lies with the german clones. Lexus has a sweet evolution in desigb inside and out. All hail quality RWD Japanese sedans! Especially tough old school N/A V8’s.

If you want to talk sheeple, see the Germans LOL! Nothing wrong with the Germans. They are a good product as well. My taste is usually with something fresh and different a la Cadillac, Volvo, and Lexus.

bob and john > Nauraushaun 12/24/2015 at 19:27

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I liked them when they were new, i like them now. This is from a guy with access to a 2009 is250

Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna > Nauraushaun 12/24/2015 at 19:31

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I’m just wondering which one you considered as the first Predator mouth car. From what I’ve read (just searching around for this topic every time someone posts something about how they hate the Predator face, so very often), I consider the 2011 CT to be when the predator mouth was here.

And I loved the CT when it came out. I actually loved it back when it was a concept (back when it had the old boring droopy face of Lexus). I loved the angly face (which would later become the CT’s predator mouth) and it was the first car I every followed from concept the production.

Then the GS gets introduced to everyone screaming how it has a predator face and I LOVED IT. It was a gorgeous use of the Predator face and from the second it came out to now I’ve lusted after it.

The hating Lexus opinion or practically bandwagon at this point needs to stop, because no one has complained about any other brand yet every so often someone needs to be pissy about how a car company decided to gain an identity and they don’t like it. And “the less said about the GX the better” PLEASE. The current GX was not the greatest looking thing before NOR AFTER the Predator face. The IS, GS and RX both look great (in my opinion) after their complete redesign. Even the LS looks good with the one they slapped onto it without being completely redone. The only car that anyone should complain about the predator face on is the LX and even I have to say it’s ugly (see, not totally biased.)

It’s not Lexus tricking anyone to like anything. It’s the current attitude where people think the Germans are apparently the best at design having not done any significant changes in the last 20 years and all the fanboys are angry that people actually like Lexuses now and they can’t use them as a punchline anymore.

SO PLEASE SIT DOWN. CAUSE LEXUS ISN’T TRICKING ANYBODY.

TheHondaBro > Nauraushaun 12/24/2015 at 19:35

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I liked them when they first came out, and I still like them now.

Sam > Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna 12/24/2015 at 19:49

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I really like the CT. It's a great looking car.

Nauraushaun > TheHondaBro 12/24/2015 at 19:49

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:O!

Nauraushaun > bob and john 12/24/2015 at 19:51

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What about the first picture in this post? Can you look at it without cringing?

Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna > Sam 12/24/2015 at 19:52

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The only thing that annoyed me what how low and small it actually was. LOL

bob and john > Nauraushaun 12/24/2015 at 19:57

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Yep. If ianything i think the IS is the best looking one of them all.

Porsche was my first word > Nauraushaun 12/24/2015 at 19:58

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Totally agree with you. Loved Lexus for building an inoffensive, non-agressive car with a silent engine and smooth ride that wouldn’t bother you at all.

Nauraushaun > Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna 12/24/2015 at 19:58

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I respectfully disagree. I love the idea of a Lexus that makes cool, distinctive cars that show the Germans what can be done. Unfortunately, I think the current Lexus’ are hideous.

Regarding the CT being the first Predator, what about the post-facelift ISF?

Same deal with the angles meeting in the middle of the grilles. Other IS’ had different shaped lower bumpers, making the predator shape less prominent.

This is part of what I’m saying: they’ve been phasing it in for years.

Nauraushaun > EL_ULY 12/24/2015 at 20:03

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I love high quality RWD Japanese sedans, I really do. I want the Lexus’ to be pretty. The back of the IS is awesome!

The front isn’t.

AlFrescoDriver > Nauraushaun 12/24/2015 at 20:23

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I saw the new lineup at a car show a few years ago. No love. Went BMW. The cars are amazing in every other respect. Especially reliability. I have the need to love looking at my car even if it has other “idiosyncrasies”

DoYouEvenShift > Nauraushaun 12/24/2015 at 20:33

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I always thought it looked nice.

The Juke will never grow on me, and really, disliked it more after I drove one lol

Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna > Nauraushaun 12/24/2015 at 20:51

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I mean every single design in the world slowly evolves, nothing ever changes drastically and immediately. Oh no, Mercedes has been tricking us to loving a wider more horizontal and vertical grill since 1930.

I don’t think there’s ever been that big of a difference between pre and post facelift IS of that generation other than the inclusion of the DRL Nike lights on the bottom. The one you posted above would’ve been pre-facelift of that generation since wasn’t the facelift done in 2011 and also offered new wheels?

If anything, I haven’t liked Lexuses design at all until the predator face.

fintail > Nauraushaun 12/24/2015 at 23:29

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I like how the first pic has German plates, seeing as almost nobody in Germany buys these.

Lexus got too many complaints about being dull. Unfortunately, they went after the styling rather than driving experience. I don’t know if a more tepid car exists than an AWD IS250.

61 Plymouth that crashed into a Nike store. It’s brash, and these days, brash works. It’ll be popular. It won’t be seen as a landmark design in 25 years.

Nauraushaun > Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna 12/24/2015 at 23:55

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I would say Mercedes have more been going with the times. As opposed to rubbing ugly cars in our faces until we accept them in an attempt to define the times.

You’re probably right about the facelift thing, I think I’m getting wires crossed.

I haven’t liked Lexus’ design at all until the predator face. But I haven’t hated them either.

Nauraushaun > DoYouEvenShift 12/25/2015 at 06:53

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I don’t think driving one would sit well with me either

Nauraushaun > AlFrescoDriver 12/25/2015 at 06:54

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I agree. That’s why Japanese luxury sounds so awesome - reliable luxury! Something the Germans consistently get wrong.

But yeah, ugliness won’t do at all.

DoYouEvenShift > Nauraushaun 12/25/2015 at 09:53

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My experience:

Gas pedal down-lag lag lag lag-boost for 1.5 seconds!!!! Rev limiter!shift- lag lag lag lag. And repeat.

Nauraushaun > DoYouEvenShift 12/25/2015 at 16:28

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My friend has a turbo 1.5 Ralliart Colt. Same deal. The boost is heady but all too brief. And often so sudden the front wheels spin.

DoYouEvenShift > Nauraushaun 12/25/2015 at 16:32

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A brief taste of what could of been.

Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD > Nauraushaun 12/26/2015 at 01:40

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I liked them from day one... sorry.