CAPTAIN'S CHAIR
Here's what people who spend $125,000 on a car get to look at whenever they're driving ... Not too bad, huh? If only it were possible to transmit more than photos, to allow a reader to experience the exceptional smoothness and power of this car, to viscerally transmit how solid and positive all the switchgear feels, to really see how bright the gauges are in full sunlight as well as when the world outside is in full darkness. If that were possible, you'd start saving for that $125K this very moment. Of course, all smooth and quiet sometimes does not make for an interesting and involving car. The prime suspect in that department is the largest item in this photo, the steering wheel. Steering feel and feedback is much too numb; drivers want to know, and need to know, more about the surface of the road they are on than the Lexus' steering system delivers. The power steering is electrically-driven, as is its air conditioning compressor, all this cutting-down on "parasitic drag", the engine power lost by belt- or crank-driven accessories. And as the steering is electrically-driven, it would seem an easy thing for, perhaps, a Lexus dealer to adjust the steering "feel" to an owner's liking, or perhaps someday to allow the driver to adjust that feedback to her/his liking at the time.