spwolf

but acura isnt an real luxury car brand. They have huge issues with selling cars that are priced entry luxury.
What makes Lexus different than Acura is that they have sucess selling luxury cars.

Luxury buyers have simply not accepted Acura as luxury brand. You can say that one of the reasons in that most Acura's are FWD and have I4's or V6's.

It will be very hard for them to sell RDX as luxury SUV when it has I4 while competition has V6's. Its completly different feeling. And at mid 30's, your car buyers are not kids anymore, but luxury car buyers.

It is not me saying that Acura doesnt make luxury cars - it is the market. You can statistically prove that US market does not consider I4 cars as luxury cars, and whoever sells mostly I4 cars, will have image problems. Audi and Acura prove that.

I have nothing against Acura or Audi, I am just saying how US market will react.

doug_999

Acura is the upscale company of Honda Motor Company - just like Lexus is the upscale company of Toyota. Acura sells the TL - which most certainly is a luxury car and most certainly sells very well.

The TL is so well equipped and so well priced that selling the RL at $15K more is just not possible - even though the GS300 is priced the exact same and has far less HP and technology.

LexFather

spwolf

sorry, but TL is an FWD entry luxury car. And Acura has trouble selling cars above 40k.
Again, having 4cly SUV priced at mid 30s will not help...

doug_999

Gosh, did you say luxury? I think you did!

LEXUS FAN!

did u take those pictures?
where?

it looks good like that

spwolf

dude, nobody said Acura's are Yugo's. Just that due to their powertrain and drivetrain configurations they are not considered to be real luxury brand. They have fine cars, but cars that they are selling are barely luxury class vehicles. Acura is obviously content with that, which can be seen by their choice of upcoming models. It is not the first time Honda decided they will do their own thing and wont care about what market is saying. Is that good or bad, market will decide.

Toyota is in general better at "guessing" what market wants, while Honda just does their own thing. Everything else is like pulling teeth.

doug_999

We can agree to disagree. It might be because I consider cars over $35K to be expensive - making them luxury and your target is higher (remember Acura sells about 60,000 cars a year that are $40K ish which I consider to be expensive as well)

Now regarding the crystal ball, yep, who knows. I do know that as I see gas heading towards $3 again, the thought of better fuel economy starts to weigh on everyone's mind with regards to their next purchase.

SPUDMTN

...says the Toyota owner...

LexFather

Get the bias out your behinds and face the facts.

Luxury Institute Survey: Most Prestigious Brands 1) Porsche 2) Benz 3) Lexus
Lexus moves up from fourth, displacing BMW to become third most prestigious brand in the US, according to a survey of 500 high-income buyers nationwide. Lexus was also the #1 most recommended brand of luxury consumers, and quality was the key factor.
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2...13/003900.html

LexFather

After seeing what Lexus has debuted in the past couple years to its Japanese competiton, I shall no longer waste my breathe on what is quite obvious at this point
Lexus> Acura+InfinitiI

Seriously guys, its not even close. Lets look at facts.
1. Lexus, best selling brand in America 6 years in a row.
2. Lexus, best quality brand new and over 3-5 year period since time began
3. Lexus best customer sevice
4. Lexus worldwide brand. Acura NA only, Infiniti America and like 3 third world countries.


Now lets look at products.
Acura, 3 I-4 cars. Lexus none. Infiniti none.
Lexus IS 250 and 350. Acura and Infiniti only offer 1 sedan.
Lexus ES 350.
Lexus RX 350 battles FX and MDX and slaughters them in sales.
Lexus GX 470 2 time 4 x 4 of the year.
Lexus LX 470, RR competiton, Acura and Infintii don't make RR competiton
Lexus SC 430, Acura and Infinti don't offer a 65k hardtop convertible
Lexus GS 430, M 45 competiton, Acura offers no V-8
Lexus LS 460 OWNSZ any sedan Acura and Infiniti has ever made
Lexus GS 450h, Acura and Infiniti have no answer
Lexus RX 400h, Acura and Infintii have no answer
Lexus LS 600h, Acura and Infintii have no answer

For God's sakes, the Infiniti QX56 is THE WORSE BUILT, the exact OPPOSITE of Lexus, vehicle made and sold currently.

Seriously, this is not even a fair fight anymore and for anyone to deny the fact Lexus is FAR superior to the other two, is disillusioned.

Clearly Acura and Infiniti ARE NOT, read my lips, ARE NOT, bad brands, quite the opposite, they are quite good.

Lexus is Great. Sensational. Tier 1. The car company the GERMANS worry about.

Iceman

Mike, I'm not saying you don't make some valid points. And I do agree with your bottom line conclusion that Lexus is a superior brand to both Acura and Infiniti. But dude, lay off the caffeine!

Your little analysis is correct on some facts, and open to dispute on other subjective areas. I don't know why, for instance, you say Acura and Infiniti only offer one sedan? The last I checked, TSX + TL + RL = 3, and G35 + M35/45 + Q45 = 3. While Acura does not offer a 65k hardtop convertible, it does offer a 90k targa top that is superior to the SC430 in performance, looks, and prestige. To compete with the GS430 and M45 Acura doesn't NEED a V8, as the 300 hp V6 in the RL competes quite nicely. The LS460 isn't even out yet, so it's a bit early to say it OWNZ the world, but it has an uphill climb to be more ground-breaking than the Legend was when it was introduced. As for hybrids, to date they are nothing more than a marketing coup and blips on the sales screen--time will tell if Acura and Infiniti ceded another important slice of market share by not following suit.

Of course this is yet another is a long line of threads discussing Acura or Infiniti vehicles that inevitably degrade into name-calling and off-topic blasts of vitriol. And I also realize you tried to soften your post by throwing in that "they're good brands, really!" near the end. But Lexus' superiority really speaks better for itself than you do when you swoop in with these far-reaching proclamations. Especially as a moderator, I think you should try a little bit harder NOT to be drawn into these debates to try and force your clearly and admittedly biased view.

Bottom line: the MDX is a great SUV. It's greatness in no way diminishes the RX or Lexus as a brand. Let's PLEASE try to discuss the pros and cons of other vehicles without always nit-picking ways they are perceived to be inferior to Lexus.

videcormeum

He meant that Acura and Infiniti only offer one configuration of their luxury sport sedans, the TL and G35 respectively, to compete with the IS sedan which has two configurations - the 2.5 liter and the 3.5 liter.

M.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

Are you my twin brother?


Good point on the legend though. That car was the one that started the whole japanese luxury import. While I'm sure the LS460 will be a nice car, it's just a remodeled LS-series. Nothing that will pop out of the ordinary, as there will be Mercedes S-class and BMW 7-series around.

Then again, we can't forget that:

Steering response/feeling: Acura/Infiniti > Lexus
High speed stability feel: Acura/Infiniti > Lexus
Fun factor/Driving experience: Acura/Infiniti > Lexus
Driver's car: Acura/Infiniti > Lexus

But then again, Acura offers 4 cyl so no matter what, lexus wins by default

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

]

I think this is where Acura and Lexus differs the most. Lexus believes in options, while Acura believes in loading as much as you can for a good price. I mean shoot..a fully loaded Acura TL is priced around the same as an IS250. You get much more power and room (at least the back seat).

Some people see options as a good thing, Some people like to keep it simple to reduce headaches. Though I really dont' see why the TL and G35 needs more than one engine configuration. The engines they have now are wonderful. Slapping in a smaller engine would make them sllloooowwwww, and that's "unluxury" because I4s would be able to out accelerate them.