Well a Lexus might be O.K. in terms of getting from A to B with reliability.
But how could you live with such an ugly looking car ?
There is a Lexus dealer a few hundred metres from where I live. Every time I drive past I marvel how anybody could design a radiator grille that reminds me of Darth Vader on a bad day.
Distinctive - yes. Ugly - in spades.
2 Likes
Agreed! I am currently SUV shopping and I took one look at a Lexus and recoiled in horror!
I would rather drive a KIA.
Phillip
The hideous over-styling of modern cars does often take on a cartoon-ish appearance…but apparently a lot of people like it that way !
Cheers
DD
5 Likes
Not only that … those designs make the front look so fragile. What happens with a 5 mph dead cold stop enforced by another car going 5 mph or just a solid cinder block wall???
Body shops and car manufacturers are making a fortune. Any little fender bender these days, and you need a whole new front end/rear end panel, plus matching paint job. Who pays? Our insurance rates.
1 Like
All major manufacturers now utilize a grille design that’s indicative of the make. I suppose there are benefits to that notion, but it has served a couple of makes poorly because the grille design they settled on looks like it was beat with an ugly stick. Lexus is one of them. Sometimes I’ll see a car from the rear on the road and think, “Hmmm, pretty nice looking car, wonder what it is?” and then get around to the front and go “Ugh, it’s a Lexus.” I really think some aftermarket company could make a fortune making replacement front facias for Lexus vehicles.
Another is Hyundai. Nice cars but the grille is awful. Kia is the same car with a much nicer looking grille.
I own a 2002 Mazda, which is just a year or two before they settled on a “smile” for their front grille. Ugh.
Cadillac’s trademark grille is an eggcrate. Actually not bad.
1 Like
Agreed. The best looking and most easily recognized is the Mercedes with that beautiful three pointed star logo. A truly great piece of marketing.
Well, the Mercedes three point star is their logo, not their trademark grille – although it is commonly a featured part of their grille. By comparison, the Cadillac logo is a complicated thing, but their signature grille is a simple eggcrate.
I think the instigators of the signature grille are BMW and Volvo. BMW’s kidneys have been applied to all sorts of cars including their supercars. Volvo’s theme has always been safety, and one of their studies decades back showed that solid black grilles confused oncoming drivers who couldn’t tell how far away they were, so Volvo added a simple diagonal accent – and it became their signature grille.
1 Like
Good background story on the Volvo. I learnt me sumthin’ today!!!
Either way, these two grills tell you what’s coming at you.
1 Like
And the Volvo logo is not the symbol of male, it’s the symbol of iron.
That Aston Martin grill is not bad either ( Smile)
https://st.motortrend.ca/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/2016-aston-martin-vanquish-base-coupe-angular-front.png
2 Likes
I love 'em. Which is odd, because I really didn’t care much for the previous generation Alfa Romeos.
Hey, ya gotta respect a car company with a logo showing a dragon eating a guy.
2 Likes
You can’t say that. This is a family forum.
Phillip
Sorry, all I can see now is If Aardman Animations ( Wallace and Grommit ) created an angry eagle that opens his mouth at high speed, his air-filled cheeks flapping in the wind. Get some of those MR2 “teeth”…
I actually like it.
So I saw this on NGK website and although I didn’t gap as bad as the “Angled DOWN” one in the photo, my electrode is very slightly angled down. I admit total ignorance, I’ve rarely gapped spark plugs, and never such a change in gap as on these V12s. I bent electrode down - now I see you’re supposed to bend base down, and then straighten out electrode?
Also recommended is a wire gap tool. I’ve been using the coin tool.
I assume this could be my mild misfire? Probably worth pulling all the spark plugs and re-gapping. Will also give me a chance to finally do a warm compression check.
Nah, that’s not your problem. The only benefit of gapping as described is that the gap will remain in spec longer. The angled electrode will open up quicker with erosion.
And you’ll never get a warm compression check done on a Jaguar V12. Takes too long to get the plugs out and then check all 12 cylinders. The last several will be stone cold by the time you get to them. It’s not important anyway. Better to check them all cold.
OK, I’ll heed to your advice. Good, that means I don’t have to remove all 12 spark plugs again for the third time! 
The new Mercedes front end looks like a 1950 Studebaker.