thanks. As for snowboards and bikes, no worries about that, as I can use my wife's Acura RDX with roof and hitch racks for such things (although for skiis, I currently can get those in my ES330 through the pass through in the armrest of back seat - not sure if the new generation ES still has that). The planned new lexus for me is just for daily commute and good weather highway cruising. It seems that Lexus is trying to make just about every model more sporty to try to get the younger crowd buyers. For those of us "old souls" who want a comfortable cush floaty cruiser (and dont care about drivability), it seems the only model left that targets this driver is the LS.....