Make Driving Fun: The Wild Side of Automotive Branding: Lexus RX 450h Plus

Setting The Ground Rules

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Mr. Mars? Yes, sir. We've we've kind of stretched this out just for you. Well, I appreciate that. Yeah, for so you can do the complete and full driving destinations.

SPEAKER_03 0:17

Cool. Well, I want a disclaimer here on this very first one.

Big Bend’s FM 170 River Road

SPEAKER_03 0:21

Here we figure out that you know we're not encouraging anybody to go road racing or anything like that, but a lot of people do enjoy driving, and they do enjoy the way their car handles in some driving situations, such as FM 170 River Road. Now, this is down in the Big Bend State Park. Now, this is a 30-mile drive that runs between La Hitas and Presidio. But again, this is the Big Bend State Park, not the Big Bend National Park, which is across the highway. This is the biggest park inside the state of Texas, 311,000 acres. Got a lot of desert scenery, uh long sight lines, which is important, minimal traffic, so it's great for focused driving. But be careful, there's not a lot of fuel, and there's definitely no place to charge your EV down in that part of the world.

Palo Duro Canyon Loop Highlights

SPEAKER_03 1:10

Another place you might want to go to, but it's a little further up north, is the Polydural Canyon Loop. Now, this is up in the panhandle. It's got sweeping canyon views and red rock backdrops. Now, what this does, though, it actually drops you down into what's considered the Grand Canyon of Texas. A lot of smooth curves, elevation changes, and uh you get up against the wall of the canyon. Really nice, and it's perfect for uh uh a scenic drive. It's only 16 miles long, but it takes between 60 and 90 minutes to actually make this drive. And you may have heard of this Paladuro Canyon because of that's where you're gonna also find the Texas Outdoor Musical Amphitheater. And I know a lot of people have gone up there to that see that musical, and they've never taken this road to drive down into the canyon stuff, where uh I think you might enjoy that as well.

Devil’s Backbone And Inks Lake

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Then you get a little bit closer to home, we can go to the Devil's Backbone Run, which is uh Rural Route 32. Now, this goes between Wimberley and Blanco, and it runs a scenic ridge line down through the hill country. Now I've been on part of this through the rolling hills and the curves, got some nice tight bins to go along with the big views on it. And so it's uh got a lot of flowers during the spring, and it's got an elevated driving experience because of the way the road is laid out. And this is also considered the most haunted road in Texas if you want to go hunting for ghosts. Then we get a little bit even closer. Inks Lake. Now, this is near Burnett, and it goes through a lot of the granite that's up there in that part of the world alongside Inks Lake, and it's actually was created as a shortcut basically to go from one highway to another and and uh to get to the lake once they did that. And it's short, it's only 15.5 miles, but there is 400-foot elevation changes inside this little parkway run.

Medina Lake’s Park Road 37

SPEAKER_03 3:00

The um next one would be on uh Park Road 37, and this is Medina Lake. Now, this is up north of San Antonio, been up there several times, and this is considered the Nuremberg of Texas. So it's short, it's got very sharp curves, quick elevation shifts, and uh there's not much shoulders. You're actually on Highway 16 coming out of San Antonio, headed up towards Bandera, whenever you can cut across on this.

Twisted Sisters: Thrill And Risk

SPEAKER_03 3:24

Then we get to the one that we're closest to and the one that we're most you hear the most about. And this is Twisted Sisters in the Texas Hill Country. Now, this place is legendary, and it was originally called Three Sisters. Uh, but because of the curves and uh the motorcycles and things that go up there on the switchbacks, the blind crest, they've changed it to the Twisted Sisters, is what it's more commonly called now. Uh long sweepers through the ranch land, limestone cliffs. Now, I will say that between 2010 and 2024, there were 259 reported accidents on this road. 249 were listed as driver cause. 191 left the roadway, 167 involved speeding. Now, this is very popular. Come on. Motorcycles out there on the weekend, they tell me that there's a lot of them. If you're in your car and you want to um experience this roadway, you ought to go during the week if possible. But uh, those are a few of the places in Texas that you can go around and have a little more driver experience in your car if you would

Where To Find Twisted Sisters

SPEAKER_03 4:30

like to. Where is Twisted Sisters? It's north of um north of Wimberley. I'm trying to, I'm in my mind with Blake. I'm flipping back around here to it. Okay. And uh you can go up through there in uh green. You go up through green and you can find it up through that away.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

So north of Austin.

SPEAKER_03 4:49

Yeah, kind of north.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

Yeah, north and west.

SPEAKER_03 4:52

Yeah. Yeah, it's west of Austin and Wimberley and stuff. So um it's a hundred-mile loop. Yep. So it's one of the bigger ones.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

You're probably on some of it, not the actual road, but that type of road when you go up to Wimberley, because there's a lot of that switchback and up in the mountains and yes,

Bluebonnets And Road Etiquette

SPEAKER_02 5:09

yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:09

So you get up into the hill country, there's a lot of places that you can do it.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

And Mike, blue bonnets are coming out. I'm hearing that uh West Texas has got some blue bonnets already blooming.

SPEAKER_03 5:18

Yeah, they got a lot of w uh a lot of water, a lot of rain this year, so we've got a lot of moisture in the ground, so that helps the blue bonnet crop keeping other things.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Yeah, unfortunately, we had a freeze around these parts, and I don't know, it may delay the uh blooming of the blue bonnets out here. But um, I will tell you that they're close by the Houston area, yeah. And within an hour's drive, you can have uh whole fields of blue bonnets, and that's something else. Maybe that would be an idea for your next driving destination the blue bonnet run. Don't pick them. Yeah. It's against a lot of pictures. Yeah, it's a lot of places.

SPEAKER_03 5:54

Yeah, people will go out in the park on the side of the shoulder where they can, and they'll go out in the hill and take pictures of the kids and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

And if it's private property, you better ask permission. Exactly. And there's a lot of there's a lot of nobody asked.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

We're car guys ask permission. You ask for forgiveness. Well, I'm so sorry, I didn't know.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

You gotta care.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

Well, when you host a fence and the bulls riding, you know, yeah, the fence's the problem.

SPEAKER_03 6:17

You gotta kind of look and see what's on the other side of that fence first. All right, be careful.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Um coming up He's not the only one that has problems this morning. So do I. Because I wound up uh telling everybody that we're gonna talk about Jeff's power wagons. No, that's not what we're gonna talk about.

Pivot To Offbeat Car Brand Products

SPEAKER_00 6:45

In this section, we're going to talk about products made by famous car brands, Jeffrey.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

Yes. Mike, if you're ready, let's get going.

Porsche Knives And HondaJet

SPEAKER_02 6:52

Uh famous car brands, most people know Ferrari, supercars, Honda for reliability, but car companies don't always stay in their lane. Over the decades, many automotive giants have ventured into surprising territories. Some logical, some completely baffling. The results range from generally useful to questionably bizarre. So here we go. Check out that Ford tractor there. That looks pretty good. Ford made tractors, too. The next one we have is Porsche Kitchen Knives. The precision engineering that goes into a 9-11 apparently translates into cutlery. Porsche designs created a line of kitchen knives with the same attention to detail that they apply to their vehicles.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Hey, something for you to give Kathy on this Valentine's Day, some Porsche knives. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

She probably will want the Porsche, not the knives. Uh these aren't cheap stamped blades, they feature Damascus steel, ergonomic handles, and the price tags rival professional chef equipment. You can slice tomatoes with the same brand you used to carve the canyon roads. Oh, I like it. I didn't write it, but that was good. That was a good one. Uh, the next one we have, Michael, is Honda Aircraft. Honda spent decades developing the Honda Jet, a small business aircraft that entered service in 2015. The project started in the 80s when most people still associated Honda exclusively with civics and accords. The jet features engines mounted above the wings in unusual configuration. Honda claims improves efficiency and cabin space. They move from highway commutes to commercial flight with the same methodical approach they apply in everything else. I see those frequently at the airport. Yep, those are cool airplanes. Absolutely.

BMW Bikes And Peugeot Pepper Mills

SPEAKER_02 8:28

Michael, the next one BMW bicycles. BMW produces high-end bicycles that carry the same badge as their cars. McLaren also makes bicycles. A McLaren bike is $13,000. Check that out. The cruise bike line includes models with minimalistic frames, integrated lighting, and design cues borrowed from their motorcycle division. Some versions cost more than used cars. The brand positioning makes sense with both products. Promise premium German engineering, professional transportation, just a bit of different things for power sources. Next one we got is a Peugeot pepper mill. Long before Peugeot became known for hatchbacks and said, Wait a minute.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

What are those things coming out of that?

SPEAKER_02 9:13

Those are peppers. Those are those are pepper seeds. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:15

Yeah. I have to tell you, I had a little trouble figuring out what that was myself.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

Oh, it's Peugeot Pepper.

SPEAKER_03 9:20

It looked like some sort of an infection or something.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

Well, put some ointment on it. The company manufactured tool and kitchen equipment. So there you go. They've been making peppermill since 1874, and these grinders still carry the lion logo. You see it right there in that picture. The mechanism uses hardened steel that Peugeot claims lasts generations. Restaurants world ride worldwide rely on these for seasoning. The car division came later. The pepper mills were the first. Toyota sewing machines.

Toyota Looms And Mercedes Surfboards

SPEAKER_02 9:51

1924 Sachi Toyota Toyota with a DA, not T A, invented an automatic loom that revolution revolutionized textile manufacturing. His son later founded what became a Toyota Motor Corporation, but the family business started in fabric, not engines. Toyota still manufactures industrial sewing machines through Toyota Industries Corporation. The connection makes more sense when you remember the company's roots in precision manufacturing. Just apply to the different materials. Mercedes-Benz surfboards. Have you heard of them? I've never had. Mercedes Benz partnered with Garrett McMacNamero, a big wave surfer, to create limited edition surfboards. The boards featured carbon fiber construction, designs inspired by their AMG performance line. Only 30 were made, which signed by McNamara. The collaboration felt like an odd stretch. What do German luxury cars have to do with Hawaiian waves? Well, marketing team probably had the answer.

Bugatti Furniture: Luxury Beyond Cars

SPEAKER_02 10:47

And the last one, Mike, is Bugatti furniture. Bugatti doesn't just make the world's fastest production cars, the brand also produces carbon fiber furniture that costs more than some vehicles. They make a pool table that weighs 1,800 pounds and uses the same materials as the hypercars. You can buy chairs and a foosball table, all carrying the price tags that match exclusively. The furniture serves as a garage art for those people that already have a Veyron in their own.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

I just want to say I'll take the Veyron. Thank you. You bet. So they make other stuff. Good. All right. Well, uh,

Lexus RX 450h Plus Review

SPEAKER_00 11:21

Mr. Morris, if it's okay with you, we're going to take driving destinations and we're going to move that into our next segment. So those that are listening on a podcast, they'll just go right on to the next podcast to hear your driving destinations, if that's okay with you.

SPEAKER_03 11:35

It works really well for me.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Does it? All right, time now for this hour's car review. Had a chance to drive the Lexus RX 450H Plus. I've told the story a bajillion times. I really had no experience with Lexus until, well, this has uh probably the 1980s, early 2000s. You own one. I did. It was an RX at 350, and it was the original RX, and absolutely loved that thing. Anyway, this is not that. This is the brand new 2026 Lexus RX 450H Plus. So here are the trim levels 350, 350H hybrid, 350 F Sport, 350H F Sport, 350 Luxury, 350, 350H Luxury, 450H premium, 500H F Sport, and the 450H Plus, which is

Exterior And Interior Impressions

SPEAKER_00 12:40

what I had. So I had the top of the line. Nanny nanny boo-boo. Um this is a PHEV. Uh that's a hybrid. Uh five seats, exterior changes from last model year. Well, it was completely redesigned in 2023, so it's really this design is only three years old. Um, exterior features include the oversized Lexus grille with squinty, high-mounted headlights, arrow windshield, really laid back, upswept and side sculpting on it. Really looks good with some very nice wheels. It doesn't make any difference. Which trim level that you choose, there's going to be a wheel for that car specifically. Bustle butt rear with uh built-in sunshade over the glass back there. This is a very unique-looking vehicle, and that's part of the reason that I like it. It doesn't look like all the other SUVs out there. Overall design gets high marks. What could use improvement? Nothing. Keep it coming. Interior highlights, high zoot design that leans toward the minimalist look. In other words, you're not going to find a lot of buttons and switches uh in this. Standalone instrument cluster and a great big infotainment screen. Non-cluttered center console, read minimalist,

Powertrain, Economy, And Drive Feel

SPEAKER_00 14:04

awesome upholstery and comfortable seating. Uh cargo, well, that area back there behind the second row of seats, bigger than you think. But I liked, again, high marks for design and materials with that Mark Levinson sound system, it is top-notch. What could use improvement? Like to see some instrument controls like a volume knob. That would have been nice. Uh, because what you wind up having to do is look at the screen, which takes your eyes off the road, which most people have their eyes off the road and into their phones. Uh, I think that uh a few more buttons would have been nice for some of the functions, but that's just me. Engine 2.5 liter four-cylinder plug-in hybrid of 304 combined horsepower, CVT transmission, tow rating, believe it or not, 3,500 pounds, which is a lot. A miles per gallon city. Well, uh, it's 85 miles per gallon electric, 35 for the gas only. Did I plug it in? I did not. Uh so in my gasoline heyday that I

Pricing And Competitors

SPEAKER_00 15:17

that I had this car for the week, I got 31.3 miles per gallon over 405.4 miles. What I liked about it, it has enough power that leaves you satisfied. That sounds almost kind of like an old cigarette commercial, doesn't it? Ah, satisfaction. What could use improvement? Get the full hybrid version, unless you only travel 35 miles uh per charge a day. Uh that would be my suggestion. Good looking car. Yeah, it is. And they also have the gasoline, strictly gasoline version of it as well. What I liked about it, I liked all of it. What could use improvement? Nothing on this top-of-the-line trim. So how much? Base trim price? $73,310. This is top of the line now. Price is tested, $78,569. If you just want to get in one, it starts at $50,525. Competitors, Mercedes-Benz GLE 450E $725, BMW X5, $76,375. Or how about this? The Acura MDX Type S non hybrid is $77.3. Wow.

Tease For Next Review

SPEAKER_00 16:27

Expensive. Next week I'm going to review the Hyundai Santa Fe, and I think that you'll really enjoy that. So tune in for that. Hey, if you like