Lexus - you can't beat them
03-05-2005, 07:23 PM
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Lexus - you can't beat them
I'm buying my mom a RX330 or RX400h (hybrid) shortly, so I have these updated comments on Lexus. Having owned a Lexus for the past 10 years, I know a thing or two about these cars:
Dealer Experience: You can't beat it. Never have to ask for loaner cars, they treat you like a king, and they really take care of you.
Hybrid Technology: They ARE the leader. Having driven the Prius, and knowing that their hybrid technology will be implemented throughout the line, it's awesome. They are even focusing on performance hybrid.
Interior Design: Have you been in one? The quality of the materials, the look, the luxury....again, VERY good.
Exterior Design: They recognize their weakness here, and are working hard to get it right. They have hired outside people and the new GS and new IS look pretty good. It's called L-Finesse. You may not like it, but when Toyota get serious about something, they have the resources to get it right.
Quality: Do I need to add anything here? They ARE the best. BMW and Mercedes are falling down, just look at any market survey to know that.
Resources: They ARE the richest in the world, and have some of the best profit margins for a mass player.
Driving Experience: Yes, no BMW yet, but they are working on it. I suspect that this is not their current focus, and as BMW's (M's excluded) get less bigger and less direct themselves, I see a 'meeting in the middle' anyhow. Let's see if they produce that supercar they promise to. I thought the last generation SC was one of the most beautiful cars ever, so you know they can do it.
Suppliers: It is a well known industry fact that Toyota (Japanese car companies in general) treat their suppliers more like partners, as opposed to American (especially) and German who treat them more like vendors. This will see that in the long run Lexus gets access to some of the newest, and best technologies.
Scale: They will be launching Lexus in Japan for the first time, are gaining traction in Europe, will be investing heavily in China, and are already number one in America. So unlike BMW and MB, who are protecting share, Lexus has lots of room to grow.
Don't know if any of you care, but just watch in the next 5 years......
Yes, I have jet lag and spare time on my hands
Dealer Experience: You can't beat it. Never have to ask for loaner cars, they treat you like a king, and they really take care of you.
Hybrid Technology: They ARE the leader. Having driven the Prius, and knowing that their hybrid technology will be implemented throughout the line, it's awesome. They are even focusing on performance hybrid.
Interior Design: Have you been in one? The quality of the materials, the look, the luxury....again, VERY good.
Exterior Design: They recognize their weakness here, and are working hard to get it right. They have hired outside people and the new GS and new IS look pretty good. It's called L-Finesse. You may not like it, but when Toyota get serious about something, they have the resources to get it right.
Quality: Do I need to add anything here? They ARE the best. BMW and Mercedes are falling down, just look at any market survey to know that.
Resources: They ARE the richest in the world, and have some of the best profit margins for a mass player.
Driving Experience: Yes, no BMW yet, but they are working on it. I suspect that this is not their current focus, and as BMW's (M's excluded) get less bigger and less direct themselves, I see a 'meeting in the middle' anyhow. Let's see if they produce that supercar they promise to. I thought the last generation SC was one of the most beautiful cars ever, so you know they can do it.
Suppliers: It is a well known industry fact that Toyota (Japanese car companies in general) treat their suppliers more like partners, as opposed to American (especially) and German who treat them more like vendors. This will see that in the long run Lexus gets access to some of the newest, and best technologies.
Scale: They will be launching Lexus in Japan for the first time, are gaining traction in Europe, will be investing heavily in China, and are already number one in America. So unlike BMW and MB, who are protecting share, Lexus has lots of room to grow.
Don't know if any of you care, but just watch in the next 5 years......
Yes, I have jet lag and spare time on my hands
03-06-2005, 03:59 AM
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James I agree and disagree with some parts.
Dealer Experience: You can't beat it. Never have to ask for loaner cars, they treat you like a king, and they really take care of you.
I definately agree. Since Toyota/Lexus changed their strategy in how they take care of customers from the sales and service standpoint..its excellent. Honda's just sucks. Our dealers are just aweful...most salesmen are just, well the typical salesman. As for service....well you already know.
Hybrid Technology: They ARE the leader. Having driven the Prius, and knowing that their hybrid technology will be implemented throughout the line, it's awesome. They are even focusing on performance hybrid.
Close race here...the honda system is impressive itself. The Accord Hybrid is suppose to be the quickest Accord built and having the fuel economy of a Civic DX.
Reliability of the Civic Hybrid and Insight has been excellent from what I hear.
Interior Design: Have you been in one? The quality of the materials, the look, the luxury....again, VERY good.
Agreed!....but have you sat in the new RL lately???.....Just wait to see whats Honda got up its sleeves.
Exterior Design: They recognize their weakness here, and are working hard to get it right. They have hired outside people and the new GS and new IS look pretty good. It's called L-Finesse. You may not like it, but when Toyota get serious about something, they have the resources to get it right.
True... Toyota's have always been bland and thats their weekness, but Honda has been boring in styling since 2000-2001....Look at the Civic and Accord....Blah..
Quality: Do I need to add anything here? They ARE the best. BMW and Mercedes are falling down, just look at any market survey to know that.
For Initial Quality (JD Power)....man we (Honda) are always one step behind Toyota. BMW and Mercedes have never been that good for Initial quality IMO.
Suppliers: It is a well known industry fact that Toyota (Japanese car companies in general) treat their suppliers more like partners, as opposed to American (especially) and German who treat them more like vendors. This will see that in the long run Lexus gets access to some of the newest, and best technologies.
Honda is the exact same. More than half of Honda suppliers are also Toyota and Nissan suppliers
Don't know if any of you care, but just watch in the next 5 years......
I can say the same for Honda
Yes, I have jet lag and spare time on my hands
Same Here....my first time in Tokyo and im luvin it!!
Dealer Experience: You can't beat it. Never have to ask for loaner cars, they treat you like a king, and they really take care of you.
I definately agree. Since Toyota/Lexus changed their strategy in how they take care of customers from the sales and service standpoint..its excellent. Honda's just sucks. Our dealers are just aweful...most salesmen are just, well the typical salesman. As for service....well you already know.
Hybrid Technology: They ARE the leader. Having driven the Prius, and knowing that their hybrid technology will be implemented throughout the line, it's awesome. They are even focusing on performance hybrid.
Close race here...the honda system is impressive itself. The Accord Hybrid is suppose to be the quickest Accord built and having the fuel economy of a Civic DX.
Reliability of the Civic Hybrid and Insight has been excellent from what I hear.
Interior Design: Have you been in one? The quality of the materials, the look, the luxury....again, VERY good.
Agreed!....but have you sat in the new RL lately???.....Just wait to see whats Honda got up its sleeves.
Exterior Design: They recognize their weakness here, and are working hard to get it right. They have hired outside people and the new GS and new IS look pretty good. It's called L-Finesse. You may not like it, but when Toyota get serious about something, they have the resources to get it right.
True... Toyota's have always been bland and thats their weekness, but Honda has been boring in styling since 2000-2001....Look at the Civic and Accord....Blah..
Quality: Do I need to add anything here? They ARE the best. BMW and Mercedes are falling down, just look at any market survey to know that.
For Initial Quality (JD Power)....man we (Honda) are always one step behind Toyota. BMW and Mercedes have never been that good for Initial quality IMO.
Suppliers: It is a well known industry fact that Toyota (Japanese car companies in general) treat their suppliers more like partners, as opposed to American (especially) and German who treat them more like vendors. This will see that in the long run Lexus gets access to some of the newest, and best technologies.
Honda is the exact same. More than half of Honda suppliers are also Toyota and Nissan suppliers
Don't know if any of you care, but just watch in the next 5 years......
I can say the same for Honda
Yes, I have jet lag and spare time on my hands
Same Here....my first time in Tokyo and im luvin it!!
03-06-2005, 05:08 AM
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James, I agree with you....we have owned several Toyotas and NEVER had a single thing go wrong with them.
Ian, I agree with you too....hence we have only bought Hondas and Toyotas recently....
Ian, I agree with you too....hence we have only bought Hondas and Toyotas recently....
03-07-2005, 06:15 AM
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I'll only agree on some of the points, James.
Dealer experience is great, the salespeople actually know something about their cars!! Go figure. As for decor, it's very tacky and kind of tasteless, certainly not even close to the new Toronto BMW store. They definitely need to work on this. But the salesmen themselves are absolutely top notch - a refreshing change.
Stuff like quality, reliability, fit and finish, again, they are one of the best if not the best in the industry. No argument there from me.
Post sales support I have no experience with, but again I would expect it to be top notch. If they don't have 3 years scheduled maintenance as well as at home pickup and drop off, then there is no excuse. I would demand nothing less from Lexus.
Now, the cars themselves. I've only driven one, actually, so will not comment on things like the GS and the IS, my 2 favorite Lexi. But the RX is boring as hell. In fact, it's worse than boring. It's an appliance. The interior is dreadful. That super varnishing cheesy wood trim and bright beige combinations combined with silver painted plastic are really terrible looking and are geared towards the desperate housewife who thinks they are buying a "status" car but in reality are buying a tarted up Toyota Camry.
I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but the RX is a terrible car to drive. I'm sure it's great to own and reliable, but I would cringe every time I had to drive it. My sister actually cut her test drive short she was so unimpressed.
Just my opinion.
Dealer experience is great, the salespeople actually know something about their cars!! Go figure. As for decor, it's very tacky and kind of tasteless, certainly not even close to the new Toronto BMW store. They definitely need to work on this. But the salesmen themselves are absolutely top notch - a refreshing change.
Stuff like quality, reliability, fit and finish, again, they are one of the best if not the best in the industry. No argument there from me.
Post sales support I have no experience with, but again I would expect it to be top notch. If they don't have 3 years scheduled maintenance as well as at home pickup and drop off, then there is no excuse. I would demand nothing less from Lexus.
Now, the cars themselves. I've only driven one, actually, so will not comment on things like the GS and the IS, my 2 favorite Lexi. But the RX is boring as hell. In fact, it's worse than boring. It's an appliance. The interior is dreadful. That super varnishing cheesy wood trim and bright beige combinations combined with silver painted plastic are really terrible looking and are geared towards the desperate housewife who thinks they are buying a "status" car but in reality are buying a tarted up Toyota Camry.
I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but the RX is a terrible car to drive. I'm sure it's great to own and reliable, but I would cringe every time I had to drive it. My sister actually cut her test drive short she was so unimpressed.
Just my opinion.
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