Car Talk 5: The Juice is Loose!

[max225]

Go test drive an Outback and review how I did.

REVIEW INCEPTION

I think Max is the right guy for this job.

Except I’m about to drive the 5th FJ today ...

[CaleDeRoo]

I think Max is the right guy for this job.

Except I’m about to drive the 5th FJ today ...

After the head to Subaru

[max225]

Except I’m about to drive the 5th FJ today ...

After the head to Subaru

Apparently if I get a crosstranny the man in the desert will personally snip whatever is left of my balls

[CaleDeRoo]

After the head to Subaru

Apparently if I get a crosstranny the man in the desert will personally snip whatever is left of my balls

Test drive the loaded outback, review MrH's review of Savagegeeses review, and take a picture of a crosstranny for your thread.

[Johnny_P]

Anyone here have seat time / experience with a Lexus GS350? The AWD ones from 2013 era are under $20k and come loaded with great features and by everything I can find they're very well built. Gas mileage is ehhh and premium fuel but that's a rather small tradeoff overall.

Curious to know how they ride, how horrible the infotainment is to live with, and if there are any deal breakers with them. Like the rear seats don't fold which is fucking stupid and something I'd have to consider weighing. That kind of thing.

[Johnny_P]

So I finished the Savage Geese video. A few points:

- Yeah, seat heater button design is awful. Everyone hates it.
- Never had to wait 30 seconds to use the screen on start up? Not sure why he was struggling here.
- Apparently there's a software update coming in Feburary with tons of minor changes, so hopefully they resolve a couple of the issues.
- Start/stop is as bad as he says. I might make a defeat switch and start selling them
- Ride, NVH, and interior is best in class by a mile. Suspension tuning is perfect. Rides over everything no problem. It rolls a lot, but the dynamics are surprisingly good for how soft the suspension is. This is all due to how rigid the platform is. It feels like a giant luxury rally car.
- Utility is great too. Massive luggage and people space. Lots of really clever design features too.
- CVT is rubber band like, but hey, what do you expect? None of this is a surprise to me.


Overall, great daily vehicle. Would recommend. 8/10.

Did you drive the NA motor as well? Or just the turbo? The base motor is intriguing to me. Seems rather vanilla but so does the rest of the car...

[Johnny_P]

He's okay although he complains way too much about a lot of stuff. Not every car can be his Ariel atom.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

He takes himself way too seriously. He acts like he's producing a life changing movie with every review, and that each car is deeply touching his soul. It's all too much.

I'd agree with this. I like the depth of the videos but some of the stuff.... Like the incessant complaining about lack of aluminum control arms or climate and touch screen being separate. Come on man. If the screen breaks it's not like you'll just drive around forever without the screen. Nobody cares what their control arms are made out of if the car drives well and holds up.

Overall I enjoy his videos. I also like the Straight Pipes because they're just normal ish guys letting you know if they think something is cool or works well or not.

[Gberg2119]

He takes himself way too seriously. He acts like he's producing a life changing movie with every review, and that each car is deeply touching his soul. It's all too much.

I'd agree with this. I like the depth of the videos but some of the stuff.... Like the incessant complaining about lack of aluminum control arms or climate and touch screen being separate. Come on man. If the screen breaks it's not like you'll just drive around forever without the screen. Nobody cares what their control arms are made out of if the car drives well and holds up.

Overall I enjoy his videos. I also like the Straight Pipes because they're just normal ish guys letting you know if they think something is cool or works well or not.

Speaking of the straight pipes...

https://youtu.be/MepG9vNVOjk

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[max225]

I'd agree with this. I like the depth of the videos but some of the stuff.... Like the incessant complaining about lack of aluminum control arms or climate and touch screen being separate. Come on man. If the screen breaks it's not like you'll just drive around forever without the screen. Nobody cares what their control arms are made out of if the car drives well and holds up.

Overall I enjoy his videos. I also like the Straight Pipes because they're just normal ish guys letting you know if they think something is cool or works well or not.

Speaking of the straight pipes...

https://youtu.be/MepG9vNVOjk

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

I dunno why they reviewed the same car twice ....

[CaleDeRoo]

Speaking of the straight pipes...

https://youtu.be/MepG9vNVOjk

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

I dunno why they reviewed the same car twice ....

Options are probably slim during the winter

[troyguitar]

Anyone here have seat time / experience with a Lexus GS350? The AWD ones from 2013 era are under $20k and come loaded with great features and by everything I can find they're very well built. Gas mileage is ehhh and premium fuel but that's a rather small tradeoff overall.

Curious to know how they ride, how horrible the infotainment is to live with, and if there are any deal breakers with them. Like the rear seats don't fold which is fucking stupid and something I'd have to consider weighing. That kind of thing.

I've driven the IS350 from that gen which is the same car but smaller. They're great cars. You've hit the main issues - and why I didn't buy one over the MKZ. No folding rear seats and crappy mileage on premium.

The 2006+ Toyota 3.5 V6 is going to be a legend IMO.

[Johnny_P]

Anyone here have seat time / experience with a Lexus GS350? The AWD ones from 2013 era are under $20k and come loaded with great features and by everything I can find they're very well built. Gas mileage is ehhh and premium fuel but that's a rather small tradeoff overall.

Curious to know how they ride, how horrible the infotainment is to live with, and if there are any deal breakers with them. Like the rear seats don't fold which is fucking stupid and something I'd have to consider weighing. That kind of thing.

I've driven the IS350 from that gen which is the same car but smaller. They're great cars. You've hit the main issues - and why I didn't buy one over the MKZ. No folding rear seats and crappy mileage on premium.

The 2006+ Toyota 3.5 V6 is going to be a legend IMO.

Yeah it is a very good engine. Sounds good too, this car with an exhaust would be a pretty rad dad car.

I bet it would run on 87. All the Becky's of the world that own RX350's (same motor) use 87, and CR rates the RX350 really high, so it's not like they're popping motors.

[troyguitar]

The RX/Rav4/Camry/etc. are transverse engines that are slightly different and are rated for 87. I don't know if the IS/GS stuff is ok on it in practice or not.

[CaleDeRoo]

I spent 4 weeks in a 2012 IS. So fucking comfortable, the anus coolers get legit chilly, and the market marky mark stereo banged hard. I would have no ragerts

[MrH42]

So I finished the Savage Geese video. A few points:

- Yeah, seat heater button design is awful. Everyone hates it.
- Never had to wait 30 seconds to use the screen on start up? Not sure why he was struggling here.
- Apparently there's a software update coming in Feburary with tons of minor changes, so hopefully they resolve a couple of the issues.
- Start/stop is as bad as he says. I might make a defeat switch and start selling them
- Ride, NVH, and interior is best in class by a mile. Suspension tuning is perfect. Rides over everything no problem. It rolls a lot, but the dynamics are surprisingly good for how soft the suspension is. This is all due to how rigid the platform is. It feels like a giant luxury rally car.
- Utility is great too. Massive luggage and people space. Lots of really clever design features too.
- CVT is rubber band like, but hey, what do you expect? None of this is a surprise to me.


Overall, great daily vehicle. Would recommend. 8/10.

Did you drive the NA motor as well? Or just the turbo? The base motor is intriguing to me. Seems rather vanilla but so does the rest of the car...

I did not. My mom has a 2019 or 2020? Forester with that power train and I've driven it a bit. It's slow, but it's not terrible off the line. Has decent torque. It just groans and groans and is louder than the turbo.

Higher end turbo outbacks get laminated windows too.

I just thought for the extra few thousand, I'll gladly take something that can move a little better. I drive a ton of mileage at 80+ mph on a busy highway, so I get quite a bit of use out of the extra power.

[Johnny_P]

Did you drive the NA motor as well? Or just the turbo? The base motor is intriguing to me. Seems rather vanilla but so does the rest of the car...

I did not. My mom has a 2019 or 2020? Forester with that power train and I've driven it a bit. It's slow, but it's not terrible off the line. Has decent torque. It just groans and groans and is louder than the turbo.

Higher end turbo outbacks get laminated windows too.

I just thought for the extra few thousand, I'll gladly take something that can move a little better. I drive a ton of mileage at 80+ mph on a busy highway, so I get quite a bit of use out of the extra power.

how have the empeegeez been?

[MrH42]

He takes himself way too seriously. He acts like he's producing a life changing movie with every review, and that each car is deeply touching his soul. It's all too much.

I'd agree with this. I like the depth of the videos but some of the stuff.... Like the incessant complaining about lack of aluminum control arms or climate and touch screen being separate. Come on man. If the screen breaks it's not like you'll just drive around forever without the screen. Nobody cares what their control arms are made out of if the car drives well and holds up.

Overall I enjoy his videos. I also like the Straight Pipes because they're just normal ish guys letting you know if they think something is cool or works well or not.

Even that Outback review, he's so dramatic out some pretty minor things, then ends the video saying it's great. I like that he gets cars up on lifts and you get to see the underside. His cinematography work is solid too.

Straight Pipes are great. I love those guys. Yuri's instagram stories are wildly entertaining.

[Johnny_P]

I spent 4 weeks in a 2012 IS. So fucking comfortable, the anus coolers get legit chilly, and the market marky mark stereo banged hard. I would have no ragerts

I think rectal chillers would be a nice upgrade on a DD machine. Marky Mark stereo would be desirable so I can blast my Power99 rap music. I like the IS more but the GS has a real person back seat so They come in all sorts of interior colors and are inoffensive outside. Throw a roof rack on there for the bikes and that could be pretty great. I bet a stroller would fit in the trunk. I only flip the seats down for my bike but if that's on the roof then meh?

[Johnny_P]

I'd agree with this. I like the depth of the videos but some of the stuff.... Like the incessant complaining about lack of aluminum control arms or climate and touch screen being separate. Come on man. If the screen breaks it's not like you'll just drive around forever without the screen. Nobody cares what their control arms are made out of if the car drives well and holds up.

Overall I enjoy his videos. I also like the Straight Pipes because they're just normal ish guys letting you know if they think something is cool or works well or not.

Even that Outback review, he's so dramatic out some pretty minor things, then ends the video saying it's great. I like that he gets cars up on lifts and you get to see the underside. His cinematography work is solid too.

Straight Pipes are great. I love those guys. Yuri's instagram stories are wildly entertaining.

Yeah they're normal people doing normal people things and have roughly average driving ability. But their videos don't suck like TFL's do where they're comparing two totally different cars like 2012 Lexus RX350 vs 2018 Mini Cooper S, or doing 0-60's a mile above sea level where nobody lives.

[CaleDeRoo]

I spent 4 weeks in a 2012 IS. So fucking comfortable, the anus coolers get legit chilly, and the market marky mark stereo banged hard. I would have no ragerts

I think rectal chillers would be a nice upgrade on a DD machine. Marky Mark stereo would be desirable so I can blast my Power99 rap music. I like the IS more but the GS has a real person back seat so

Yes I'm 5'10 ish and nobody taller than 5' was sitting behind me comfortably, and I sit with close to the wheel. The stereo was memorable. It bumped hard. The infotainment was obviously outdated with no real phone integration besides music.

[max225]

I spent 4 weeks in a 2012 IS. So fucking comfortable, the anus coolers get legit chilly, and the market marky mark stereo banged hard. I would have no ragerts

I think rectal chillers would be a nice upgrade on a DD machine. Marky Mark stereo would be desirable so I can blast my Power99 rap music. I like the IS more but the GS has a real person back seat so

Yea the IS has essentially an unsable back seat (unless driver/front passenger are under 5'6") especially in the non current gen.

GS is just fine, but you'll have the same street parking scuffing issues... Lexus holds up really well over time, the main issue is Leather. For some reason Lexus/Toyota leather goes poof after 8/10 years... i.e torn up seats, cracks etc. They simply look everything else is pretty solid with occasional old car issues.

[Johnny_P]

I think rectal chillers would be a nice upgrade on a DD machine. Marky Mark stereo would be desirable so I can blast my Power99 rap music. I like the IS more but the GS has a real person back seat so

Yea the IS has essentially an unsable back seat (unless driver/front passenger are under 5'6") especially in the non current gen.

GS is just fine, but you'll have the same street parking scuffing issues... Lexus holds up really well over time, the main issue is Leather. For some reason Lexus/Toyota leather goes poof after 8/10 years... i.e torn up seats, cracks etc. They simply look everything else is pretty solid with occasional old car issues.

Yeah I'd have to get over the bash up nonsense. If the bumper dies, it dies. Any vehicle will have these problems really. Outside of an ox cart jeep with metal bumpers and a portapotty roof. Which can still get egged and motorcycled so

[troyguitar]

IS back seat is fine, but apparently I'm the only one who's not a pretty princess who needs a giant bubble to be comfortable. It's about the same size as an E46, jag XE, caddy ATS, vw mk6 golf, mazda3, etc.

[max225]

IS back seat is fine, but apparently I'm the only one who's not a pretty princess who needs a giant bubble to be comfortable. It's about the same size as an E46, jag XE, caddy ATS, vw mk6 golf, mazda3, etc.

Yea just like the backseat in your car as well.

If someone wanted to transport 4 normal sized people on the regular it doesn't really work without compromises on everyones part.

[CaleDeRoo]

IS back seat is fine, but apparently I'm the only one who's not a pretty princess who needs a giant bubble to be comfortable. It's about the same size as an E46, jag XE, caddy ATS, vw mk6 golf, mazda3, etc.

It felt smaller to me since the front seats are bulky. The trunk is also small. I think it fit one checked bag and a carry-on. The second checked bag had to be put in the back seat. The physical size would be great though for JP, just not sure if it's legit large enough for a baby hauler.