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Originally Posted by Tundrav8yamaha
Those stares of envy go away and fade away soon believe me when I got my new 00 Tundra people looked now it's the next best thing sadly  .
It's funny you guy call this a Luxury Suv who would have thought normal truck based suv's being called that . Sure it might have some feature but still very much rides like a harsh truck's offers poor Mpg and ride height is a tab bit high to some people (mainly older people).These SUV customers are a tuff group usually cater to Soccer mom's and large Mormon family yes i stated it too  .Buyers expect the kitchen sink heated and massaging front seat's like the lexus Ls and what else might can I think of roof airbag next.Overall it's a Large piece of a glorified 35k (sr5) 55k(plat) heavy steal trim in my opinion.Yea I can buy anything I want in the Toyota Lineup too but after seeing this in person it just didn't add up on the asking price. I know the sr5 trim would be surely suited more on the average buyers for the Sequoia.Plat Buyers are mainly the eddie Baurer or Limited or gap types
My friend who work's at Toyota Torrance Corp office mentioned to me Toyota is trying to cater to a different group of buyers on this new trim levels beyond Limited Seq and there monitoring it's progress.Can we expect to see a platform on a Lexus it's very possible. I strongly Doubt The Land Cruiser platform would go anytime soon.Land cruiser 4wd has a lot to do with it's capability vs the Seq.I very much enjoyed reading these thread's from this group and I hope you all are happy with your purschases. I do have a question for the both of you what changes would you like to see in the future with this Model and trim line? I know in my opinion a Hybrid Seq would be great and I look forward to seeing a V8 Hybrid like in our Highlander 3.3 v6.
Erik |
Tundra, I think the Sequoia is likely to be one of the few winners in the declining large SUV marketplace. Its also the one of the best handling and smoothest riding large SUVs. The QX, Navigator and Sequoia all have IRS which differentiates the handling significantly from the truck handling of your Tundra and that of other solid axle rear suspensions such as the LC, LX, Escalade, Denali and Suburban.
These vehicles with truck suspension designs are destined for the ash heap of history as far as the American market is concerned. If gas goes to $4 gal and higher than I believe the only consumers of large SUVs will be those consumers that have a need for large tow capacities. Large luxury suvs will no longer be bought for appearances therefore Range Rovers, Cayennes, Land Cruisers, LX's will die an early death because they are primary sold for appearances that will no longer be considered desirable by the wealthy. (BTW, the 4wd capability of the LC is exactly the same as the Sequoia's and IMO neither is the best on the market since they both have open rear differentials. The LC's off-roading capability is a joke since you and I both know you're never going to see the typical American owner of LC going off-road. Heck, they're more interested in finding the shortest GPS path to the nearest car wash after a slight rainstorm than they are in finding a real off-road trail to get their $70K toy scratched up.)
The only real purpose for a large SUV will ultimately be for those families with a lifestyle need such as boating, camping, snowmobiling, horse riding competitions, motorcycling etc. where towing is a big part of the lifestyle. There will be a consolidation of the multitude of large SUVs down to a handful that can excel on the weekend in these towing abilities and deliver comfortable passenger hauling during the week.
IMO the last SUVs standing will likely be the Sequoia, and a redesigned version of the big GM triplets that incorporates an IRS. I do think there will be unibody x-over suvs that will meet some lifestyle needs however towing will not be one of their requirements. When the music stops.... and it will, I believe solid axle large suvs will be extinct and large suvs with low sales volumes will be right behind them. That will leave no chairs empty for the likes of the LC, LX, and possibly even the Escalade. I even think Nissan will re-evaluate their support for the Armada platform and Ford, given their financial situation, will re-evaluate their support for the Expedition if the volume falls precipitously.
The only players with enough resources to wait out the death of these other platforms are Toyota and GM. Just my opinion but once gas breaks $4/gal nationally we're going to be into an entirely new game where a much smaller volume of large suv purchases will be primarily driven by those with a real need that does not include "image" as the primary driver. Essentially we will have come full circle back to the days of the original Suburban of the 1930's that was sold for its utility to those that actually needed it vs those that want to "look" like they have a need for it.