Originally Posted by Jetboy

The GX is easy to swap.

The LX doesn't use air suspension. It uses a complex hydraulic pressure system combined with about a dozen expansion reservoirs and some coil springs included. The result is varied ride height, but also variable spring rates and variable shock compression and rebound rates that can all be varied in any combination - and also works in multiple channels, so the left rear may have a different spring rate than the right front.

In some ways I think the LX is a dream system. What it does that air springs cannot is lower spring rates and increase ride height at the same time. Air springs are the opposite. So at high ride height in any air suspension system without a negative air spring the suspension spring rates are also higher. So the higher you go - the less suspension travel you get. (I'm not aware of any OEM product with negative air springs). With a system like the LX you can have an on-demand higher ride height and also have higher suspension flex.

This is a great system in theory. The fear is the reliability and cost of repair due to how complex it is and how expensive each component is. My understanding is that removal of the AHC system in the LX570 is not easy to remove/disable without electronic problems resulting from doing that where the GX is pretty straightforward to do.

Originally Posted by WrenchTech

It is too bad that they were never able to fix the horrible fuel mileage problem by offering a state of the art diesel in the north American market. I guess they are available in other markets, but we can’t have them because we are the land of the free and the home of the brave. President Trump could fix that with the stroke of his pen and gain a couple extra votes. For myself, the latest American half-ton pick up trucks with their new, smaller diesel engines, that get 30 miles per gallon on the highway, are looking pretty attractive.

Originally Posted by Mass 4runner

If Trump tried to fix that he'd be getting sued by every blue state out there, just like they've been doing to try and stop him from lowering the ridiculously high 2025 CAFE standards put in place by Obama.

Originally Posted by Jetboy

blah blah blah.... ICEs are all gone in a few years anyway......blah blah blah

Originally Posted by RichinRidgewood

That's not at all true.

Originally Posted by Jetboy

At the point it doesn't really matter anyway. ICEs are all gone in a few years anyway. And that's okay with me. I like clean air.

Originally Posted by Mass 4runner

We'll need a new power grid first. The one we have can barely handle the present demand, never mind what happens when the entire country is plugging their cars in every night!

Originally Posted by Mass 4runner

We'll need a new power grid first. The one we have can barely handle the present demand, never mind what happens when the entire country is plugging their cars in every night!

Originally Posted by RichinRidgewood

I think this an example of technological and engineering beauty. Since its made by Toyota I bet its very reliable. I hope they continue this level of work in the next generation.

Originally Posted by Jsch222

Agreed - Sadly most failure is because owners don't change the fluid in the system. Manual states to change every 60k miles.

Originally Posted by bamma

It will be daytime charging that may stress the grid if not upgraded. The majority of users will charge at night, which the grid will handle better.

The other issue, as with most resources on Earth, are the limited materials. If all cars produced go Electric, the demand for lithium will dry up Earth's resources in about 15 years.

Oil will become very limited too, but not for a much longer period.

Hydrogen, which Toyota invested a lot in, has not received enough support. 10 to 1 power to weight ratio over lithium. Recharges faster than filling a gas tank. Hydrogen also has 3x more energy than gas per pound. It would require a lot more filling stations, but so will electric.

I think Hydrogen will eventually take off as the most viable solution.


At the same time, ICE engines will have infrastructure that no other tech will have for a long time. Oil has strong lobbying groups too.

I like gas for its flexibility, range of operating temps (good luck starting a hydrogen car at 0 degrees F), and availability. I know gas isn't the future, but it still makes thr most sense for the present.

I want new cars to go non-gas as fast as possible. It will leave me more gas to burn in my old Toyota rigs.

Originally Posted by ElectroBoy

Hydrogen sounds like a perfect motor fuel. What’s the technology to mass produce it?