VPI Turntable Featured in Lexus RZ EV Ad Costs Twice as Much as the Car Itself

As fans of the vinyl revival, we’re excited when record players of any kind get their moment in the sun. So when watching the Olympics over the weekend, I was quite surprised and pleased to see a very distinctive looking turntable featured in a car commercial. The turntable was VPI’s flagship Titan Direct and the car is the first all-electric vehicle from Lexus, the RZ SUV.

> Check out the full ad on YouTube

While I’m happy to see this well-regarded luxury auto-maker take the plunge into fully electric vehicles — and delighted to see them highlighting a high-end Hi-Fi system in the ad — I was struck by the irony that the turntable featured in the ad, the VPI Titan Direct ($95,000), sells for approximately twice the cost of the Lexus EV ($47,295). Even if you load up the premium trim of the Lexus RZ with its top of the line “Mark Levinson” (powered by Harman) 13-speaker 1,800-Watt sound system, you’re still out the door for under $60,000. Though sadly, you won’t get Dolby Atmos with that.

Meanwhile, for $95,000, the VPI Titan Direct doesn’t even come with a cartridge. It does, however, come with the company’s 12-inch 3D-printed Fatboy Gimbal tonearm, known for its rigidity and its unique triangular-to-circular taper, which is said to reduce resonance and improve tracking. The tonearm features precision gimbal bearings, upgraded Nordost Reference wiring, and a micrometer-style counterweight for simple and accurate tracking force adjustment.

The Titan Direct turntable itself features a high mass magnetic direct drive design, pneumatic air-suspension isolation, and a gorgeous triple-stack chassis designed for maximum resonance control. While the version shown in the ad only had a single tonearm installed, the ‘table supports up to three tonearms of virtually any length or manufacturer. This gives audiophiles the option to switch among different tonearm/cartridge combinations instantly, without lengthy set-up for the swaps.

Lexus RZ: Is It a Souped Up Toyota?

As for the car, if it looks a bit familiar, that’s because it shares the chassis, wheelbase, e-TNGA platform and basic silhouette of its Toyota sibling, the BZ4x. But the Lexus version features more distinctive styling including a more aggressive “spindle body” front end, a rear spoiler, more refined interior and higher overall performance. With up to 402 total system horsepower and 0–60 MPH times as quick as 4.1 seconds (on the 550e F SPORT trim), the RZ offers a sporty feel for a little fun after dropping off the little tykes at soccer practice.

The RZ’s built-in 71.4 kWh battery offers 228 to 302 miles of range, depending on configuration, and its integrated DC fast-charging system can recharge from roughly 10% to 80% capacity in around 30 minutes at a high speed DC charger. U.S. versions of the RZ feature the NACS charging port, making it compatible with a wide range of DC fast chargers (including most chargers in the Tesla supercharger network).

Unlike Ford and GM (and, of course, Tesla), Lexus is very late to the EV game, thanks to its parent company Toyota dragging its feet on full electric vehicles and betting the farm on hybrid vehicles instead. While popular hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius can get higher fuel efficiency than their ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) counterparts, their combustion engines still require regular maintenance like oil changes, tune-ups, belt changes and more, leading to overall higher cost of ownership, compared to EVs.

A modern EV drive train includes only a few dozen moving parts, from battery to motor to linkage to wheels. Meanwhile modern ICE engines can include over 2,000 moving parts, each of which is a potential point of failure over time. Also, even a highly efficient hybrid vehicle’s on-board combustion engine produces local emissions at the tailpipe, which contribute toward local air pollution (particularly in cities) while an ICE contributes zero local emissions and can be powered by green energy sources such as solar, wind and hydro-electric power.

While modern EVs still rarely exceed 300 miles of range, the build-out of DC fast charging stations is making long distance road trips more feasible, and the lower NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness) of an EV leads to less driver fatigue over long distances.

The Bottom Line

We’re happy to see distinctive high-end audio gear used to promote EV technology. And while you could buy two of the cars for the cost of one of the turntables, there’s nothing to say you can’t buy one of each if you’ve got the means. Just don’t try installing the turntable in the car. That would not end well. You might scratch a record.

Related Reading:

VPI, Tannoy and Upscale Audio Team Up for Great Sounds at T.H.E. Show 2023

Pioneer Sphera Head Unit adds Dolby Atmos Surround to Virtually Any Car