Lexus New York dealers have a wealth of customers in mind when they stock their dealerships with the latest and greatest Lexus cars. That pun is intended to inspire thoughts of Wall Street stockbrokers procuring their vehcle of choice from Lexus of Manhattan then leaving in those new Lexus cars driving through Manhattan. Or perhaps they patronized Lexus dealers on Long Island so that they could glide along the shores of Long Island, New York and all other destinations in and around New York. If not the seasoned financier then the fresh new crop of MBAs making the pilgrimage to New York almost as a right of passage along their ambitious dream path to big business will make their way into one of the several Lexus dealerships in the New York area.

Yes, a Lexus New York dealer is in a very desirable locale, but in Lexus she has a very desirable product. Given that she must acknowledge that not everyone can afford Lexus cars in their garage so they look for the next best thing. Yes, any Lexus dealer in New York of New Jersey is likely to come across a question: What the difference between a Lexus and a Toyota? Those who desire Lexus cars but can’t afford them might default to the next best thing – the poor man’s Lexus. That being said, true car connoisseurs have always used that phrase to describe a different brand – Volkswagen to Porsche (not Audi), Subaru WRX to Audi S4. So a Toyota doesn’t really fit the definition of poor man’s version and knowing this and the mindset of any customer who poses such as question the salesman probably gives directions to a Toyota dealer and moves on as soon as possible to one of those Finance majors working on Wall Street mentioned above.

But this is Lexus New York 360 we will entertain that question and put our personal touch on the analysis, after all we broached this topic in previous posts. Shakespeare wrote something about comparing his love to a summer’s day, may we compare Lexus cars with Toyota's in the same way.

Here are the 10 (ten) factors we’ll consider:

Vehicle Model type/purpose
Appearance
Performance
Engine Size
Engine Displacement
Transmission
Wheelbase
Drive type
Fuel Economy
Manufacturing

1st Factor - Vehicle Model type/purpose
Most car review magazines and website break their reviews of the vehicles into segments. For instance you group like cars with like cars so that feature sets make since, why criticize a sedan on payload and a truck on trunk space?

Toyota 2007 Models

• 2007 Toyota 4Runner        
• 2007 Toyota Matrix
• 2007 Toyota Avalon            
• 2007 Toyota Prius
• 2007 Toyota Camry        
• 2007 Toyota RAV4        
• 2007 Toyota Camry Solara        
• 2007 Toyota Sequoia    
• 2007 Toyota Corolla            
• 2007 Toyota Sienna        
• 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser            
• 2007 Toyota Tacoma        
• 2007 Toyota Highlander        
• 2007 Toyota Tundra        
• 2007 Toyota Highlander Hybrid    
• 2007 Toyota Yaris
• 2007 Toyota Land Cruiser

Lexus 2007 Models

• 2007 Lexus ES350
• 2007 Lexus IS350
• 2007 Lexus GS350
• 2007 Lexus LS460
• 2007 Lexus GS430
• 2007 Lexus LX470
• 2007 Lexus GS450H
• 2007 Lexus RX350
• 2007 Lexus GX470    
• 2007 Lexus RX400h
• 2007 Lexus IS250    
• 2007 Lexus SC430


Clearly since the lists are not the same size we would think that while some Lexus may be Toyotas not all Toyotas are Lexus. Meaning simply that there is no direct Lexus equivalent for each and every Toyota model. For most reviews these are the most common ways that models are divided for analysis – Passenger Cars, Sports Cars, Luxury Vehicles, SUVs, Pickup Trucks, Minivans and Vans, Hybrid vehicles. Well golly, based on that list we know two things right from the start 1) we can eliminate Minivans and vans and 2) we can eliminate Pickup trucks.

Let’s take the list side by side and match things up.

Lexus 2007 Models        Toyota 2007 Models
        
• 2007 Lexus ES350          • 2007 Toyota Camry
• 2007 Lexus IS350           • 2007 Toyota Corolla
• 2007 Lexus GS350         • 2007 Toyota Avalon
• 2007 Lexus LS460        • 2007 Toyota Avalon
• 2007 Lexus GS430        • 2007 Toyota Avalon
• 2007 Lexus LX470        • 2007 Toyota Land Cruiser
• 2007 Lexus GS450H        No Match
• 2007 Lexus RX350        • 2007 Toyota Highlander
• 2007 Lexus GX470        • 2007 Toyota 4Runner
• 2007 Lexus RX400h        • 2007 Toyota Highlander Hybrid
• 2007 Lexus IS250        • 2007 Toyota Corolla
• 2007 Lexus SC430        • 2007 Toyota Camry Solara

That means the vehicles below were considered specific to Toyota:

• 2007 Toyota Tundra
• 2007 Toyota Matrix
• 2007 Toyota Yaris
• 2007 Toyota Sienna
• 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser    
• 2007 Toyota Tacoma
• 2007 Toyota Prius
• 2007 Toyota RAV4
• 2007 Toyota Sequoia

So after our first factor, we at least have an idea of which vehicles we should look at to compare. Keep in mind that obviously some of these were force fit and even then there was no obvious match for the GS Hybrid.

And no we here at Lexus New York 360 are not pretending that anyone visiting a New York Lexus dealer should or would claim that the Toyota Corolla and the  Lexus IS are the same, but we won’t eliminate it from the discussion without more data. They are both suppose to be somewhat entry models for each line correct? Both directed more toward younger buyers? Maybe they are the same and we just don’t know it.