There is a part of me that HATES to admit this…

I grew up from childhood surrounded by and loving big American cars. I still do, and I always will. I never liked Japanese cars because they just weren’t on my radar; I was willing to admit they were well-made and reliable, but I didn’t care; they were small and underpowered and boring, and weren’t like anything I wanted to drive.

But time has marched on, and while the world is a far worse place now than it was when I was a kid, we have to play on the court we’re on. Back in 2017 I owned 3 cars and decided to a buy a 4^th almost on a whim. I was just coming out of a very brief “fling” with someone who had a “mid aughts” Lexus IS250 AWD, and after driving it a couple of times I was impressed with its tight feel and precise handling; in some ways it reminded me of a much faster, quieter version of my long gone 1983 Mercedes-Benz 300D. That “fling” didn’t last more than a few weeks, but a 2006 IS250 with 96,000 miles on it in superb condition in a color I liked almost fell into my lap around that time, and it was so cheap (remember 2017, when used cars were everywhere and inflation was around 2%?!) that it was almost an afterthought to pay cash for it and drive it home. Prior to this I had been commuting to work in a 1999 Chevy Blazer 4×4 with a Vortec V6, but once I started running that race with the Lexus, the Blazer mostly sat in the driveway.

The drive from my home to my office is 22 miles exactly door to door; that might not sound bad to some of you, but it’s a rough one, requiring heading up a very steep grade on a 3 lane interstate which is heavily traveled by big rigs and construction equipment. The traffic is heavy, the pavement is always in morbid condition due to the weight of the trucks and the freeze-thaw weather of Colorado, and the way people are driving these days, its downright dangerous. In order to make this drive every day, my demands for a satisfying car are extreme: it has to have enough horsepower to pass rigs going uphill, but it also has to be efficient enough not to eat me out of house and home on fuel prices; I want it to be comfortable, with nice upholstery, a “set it and forget” climate control, and a kick-ass sound system, because I’ve done my time in vehicles with collapsing seats and defrosters that don’t work. It has to be able to handle the infamous Rocky Mountain winters, so AWD or 4WD is a must. Precisely because I was raised on old American cars, I demand dependability and quality materials. And on top of that, it has to have enough style to make me feel like I’ve gotten somewhere in life when I arrive. I quickly realized that the little Lexus checked every one of those boxes. When I bought the car, I didn’t think I would drive it for five and half years, but I would still be driving it now if it hadn’t been whacked by an uninsured a-hole in an F-150 crew cab. Considering that I walked away from that wreck uninjured, I had to admit that car took care of me from start to finish, and asked for very little in return. When I was faced with the prospect of replacing it, I thought….what’s going to fit the bill?

As if my demands for a car weren’t already stringent enough, I made them even tougher with my own personal preferences. For instance, I don’t want a car that is black, dark gray, or silver; that’s boring boring boring, and in the case of black, I don’t want to deal with trying to keep it clean and freaking out over every chip and scratch. Far more important, however, is the interior: with only a few exceptions I do not like solid black interiors, as they are too hot in the summer and feel uninviting in the winter. And what colors are the exteriors and interiors of nearly every car on the market these days?

Step onto almost any corporate used car dealership and check out the “luxury sport sedan” section and you will be confronted with row upon row of BMW’s and Audi’s, a bit fewer Mercedes-Benzes, and about half again as many Cadillacs, with the occasional Volvo and Infiniti scattered around. But how many Acuras or Lexi do you see? I often saw none, and when I did see a couple here or there, they were usually quite old and had very high mileage. Hmmmm…there must be a reason for this pattern…

If I’m honest (and I am), I wanted a Cadillac, because…well, who wouldn’t? And I was that close to pulling the trigger on a sexy 2016 CTS sedan in dark blue with cashmere interior. I drove it twice, researched it thoroughly, thought it wasn’t a bad price in today’s market, aaaaand….veered off at the last minute. Owner satisfaction seemed high, but the stories about failing control screens and expensive AWD driveline repairs scared me off, and as good as it looked, there was something about the uber-techy dash controls that annoyed me. So, not the Cadillac? What, then? Not anything German; nice and stylish for sure, but far too expensive to live with, because they don’t build ‘em like they used too! Trucks are entirely too expensive to buy; I looked and found a lot that I liked but none I was willing to pay for, and since we all know the price of gas is going to rise again and probably keep going up, that seemed like a fiscally unwise choice anyway.

For over 20 years there has been a widely held belief amongst professional car dealers and industry watchers that once someone buys a Toyota or a Lexus, they never go back. I used to think that was bullshit. Well…. I was wrong. I finally decided that the only thing that was truly going to replace my IS250 was….another IS250. And when I found one in metallic red with tan leather interior (a color combo I am exceptionally fond of) with low mileage at a price I was willing to pay, I did what they always say people do…

Part of me hates to admit that. Part of me wishes I had bought the Cadillac. Maybe there’s a little bit of jingoistic pride in that, but in today’s globalized world it isn’t really that; it was more the idea of…you know…driving a Cadillac! But this isn’t playing around: those roads out there are tough, and I need something that can handle it for the long haul without costing me an arm and a leg when something breaks. So I went back to Lexus, just like they said I would. My “replacement” commuter is a 2015 model with that styling that’s trying just a little too hard to not be boring, featuring a grille shamelessly cribbed from Audi. It is mechanically identical to my 2006 version, with the small 2.5 liter DOHC V6 with VVT and 4 valves per cylinder. It’s not as fast as it looks, but its fast enough to get the job done without getting me into too much trouble, and the quality and comfort of the interior are unparalleled. Of course, as you know, all my cars have to have names, and within hours of driving it off the lot one of my best friends came up with the perfect moniker when he said “it reminds me of a Cylon!” So, “Cylon” it is! I expect this to be a reliable, long lasting car that will handle the rigors of my daily grind for many years while keeping me comfortable, and I expect that because that’s what the last one gave me.

I still have my little ol’ 2WD purple Chevy S-10 and my most prized possession, my 1956 Chevy Two-Ten sedan. I’ll get my kicks with those rides, and likely in the near future I’ll even buy something else along those same lines. But for daily battle on the interstate, I’m comfortable with the choice I made. Now all I have to do is keep an eye peeled for “attack F-150’s!”