[sraja]

I went to a dealer recently in Redwood City,
CA. I asked him about 2002 model features.
He said only a navigation system and
a manual tranny will be 2002 features
(no higher armrest, rear fold down seats, or
memory driver seats...the first two I
have issues with).

The excuse he gave me for the low armrest is
that the car has such a strong possibility
of vertical movement on hard turns that
they want to ensure both hands are on
the wheel.

Of course, I thought shortly after...well,
doesn't someone have to take their hands
off the wheel to shift once the manual comes
out?

Sounds like a dealer pulling my chain. Anyone
have any word on 2002 changes other than
navigation and a manual gearbox?

 

[Mike S]

I'd love to see fold down rear seats, but
I don't think they can; they'd have to cut a hole thru the bulkhead thereby ruining the torsional rigidy?

I'm interested how they're going to address this in the wagon (my ultimate dream car).

As for the armrest and mem seats, who knows? It seems the Japanese and Europeans haven't complained enough to warrant it? Both seem like super easy fixes, though....

Just a wild guess- maybe they're waiting till 2003, so as to give the impression of gradual "evolution"? If Lexus changed all that plus added a manual transmission and NAV, it might give an impression that there was something wrong with the 2001. Seeing as how Lexus seems to make improvements over a long period of time seems to suggest his. For example the SC400 hasn't changed since in almost a decade; same with the ES300 and the LS400; which introduced in 1989, just became the LS430 a couple of weeks ago.
I'm not trying to criticize Lexus, they're my favorite car company and theses things seems to help resale value.

Cheers,

Mike S

[This message has been edited by Mike S (edited November 09, 2000).]

 

[TEG]

I wrote this in the FAQ many months ago:

"What will be different for the 2002 IS300s?
The only thing we know is that the manual transmission and navigation systems will be offered as options."

Some people started an armrest rumor, and a 4-window auto up/down rumor, and a auto-dimming mirror rumor, and a memory seat rumor, and a fold down seat rumor, and a wagon rumor - but I asked a factory rep and he said that none of that was confirmed and that only the 5-speed + DVD GPS/NAV were slated for 2002.

I have a feeling that the GPS/NAV might force some sort of dashboard redesign, but we shall see.

Regarding the low armrest - my theory is that the engineers in Japan did that on purpose since the head engineer likes to shove a snowboard throught the trunk passthrough, and it would not fit well if there was a front armrest in the way.