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Luxury brands’ bean counters have severely stretched their products’ DNA. Merc’s bank vault gestalt took an enormous hit over the last twenty years. Bimmer’s SMG gearbox, iDrive multi-media controller, run-flat tires, SUV and dumbed down steering are a worrying divergence from their Ultimate Driving machine ethos. The aforementioned Lexus IS’ harsh driving dynamics bear scant resemblance to their magic carpet LS flagship. Only Audi creates a range of automobiles with brand-faithful consistency. – TTAC

I’m referring of course to the Motor Trend long-term update that has a lot of people talking…

Now granted, automotive journalists are an agressive bunch, but I can’t see how a company known for products that don’t require much in the way of care and feeding can spec brakes and tires that wilt so easily… Not that soft tires and brakes are a bad thing – they usually bring with them better handling, stopping and feel from the driver’s seat. It’s just that in the LS’ case it has no excuse – no one’s every penned a flattering word on the car’s handling or braking; it’s not the car’s M.O…

Not even a Lexus is immune to the laws of physics…

As long as the road is smooth, it’s a serene ride, but sealed cracks and potholes in the pavement kill the serenity. Even in its soft setting, the adjustable suspension can’t compensate for the reinforced sidewalls of the Dunlop run-flat tires. – Car And Driver

It’s a more subtle, grown-up pleasure than, say, charging around in an Evo or Impreza WRX STI, but good fun nonetheless. The IS F is also pleasingly unique: this does not look or feel like a German car, an M3/AMG/RS imitation, but a complete, comprehensively-conceived product in its own right. – 4car

Remember when Toyota and Honda tried as hard as they could? That was before Lexus and Acura dealers existed, before the company wanted to keep those same dealers from whining that customers would drive their cars then go buy a Toyota and Honda instead.

Today’s Hondas and Toyotas are dumbed down to the point that they’re not only more American – they’re caricatures of what domestic cars were. They’re backward thinking.

The new Accord deserves the whipping its getting in the press, and so does the Corolla:

we’re disappointed with the design and materials used throughout the interior. The peanut-butter-jar lids doubling as rheostat dials for the climate controls are particularly horrifying from a company that could probably buy any one of Detroit’s Big Three automakers with the change in its pockets. If Toyota wants to maintain its lead in this business, we dare suggest it benchmark some of GM’s interiors and then do better, not worse… Aside from its affordability… we’re let down by the ’09 Corolla. Perhaps Toyota has set the bar so high in its various segments for the past two decades up to and including the current Camry that we expect every at-bat to result in a home run. And although we have no doubt the Corolla will continue to seduce buyers by the hundreds of thousands, that may be more than ever a matter of momentum as opposed to product superiority, because the new Corolla is no quantum leap. – Car and Driver

With V8s like the ones in the new M3, the RS4 and the new line of AMG 63s you have to wonder if 8 pistons isn’t enough.

Not – apparently – if you are looking to compete (on paper?) with the likes of the M6 and the upcoming V10 powered Acura.

Click here for a video of the upcoming bruiser not cruiser from Lexus.

(Thanks to reader lamx for the link).

Seen on MPH’s site:

The electric-assist (as opposed to conventional hydraulic assist) steering feels strangely artificial in operation. It doesn’t feel heavy exactly, as you’d expect a car with big, sticky tires like the 18-inchers on the 430 to, just sort of like it doesn’t really want you to turn it. The electrically activated brakes are touchy, making it hard to stop smoothly. But it’s an impressive handler even if it feels a bit like the car is driving itself—at least it’s a good driver. The GS300, which is powered by an excellent and all-new direct-injection 245-hp V-6, is, oddly, the better driver’s car of the pair. Its steering also uses electric assist, so it should feel as odd as that of the V-8 car’s, but it doesn’t. It feels light and accurate and requires fewer midcorner corrections. The suspension is nonelectrically controlled, and while the V-6 car rolls a little more, it feels more natural—sort of like a car. Lexus also adds an optional all-wheel-drive system to the GS300, turning it into the cleverly named GS300 with AWD. We know what your uncle told you, but he’s lying. You don’t need allwheel drive. The AWD version is also the least fun to drive of the otherwise rear-drive GS lot.