Most affordable luxury car
#16
G35x - RWD/AWD goodness
![Default](https://www.clublexus.com/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif)
Preparing to plunk down $61,715 on a brand-new Lexus LS460? Save your money. Instead, buy a $30,000 IS 250. Toss in another $5,000 worth of options, and you get the prestige of the Lexus plus many of the same bells and whistles, including heated and ventilated front seats, bi-xenon headlights and an optional sound system that includes DVD-player.
Call it the trickle-down theory of economics for cars. For a fraction of the price of their more expensive counterparts, entry-level models are getting top-of-the-line features.
Consider the 2008 Cadillac CTS. It allows customers (with some options) to play music off an iPod, a memory stick, a CD, satellite radio or terrestrial radio. It even allows the customer to pause and rewind live radio broadcasts.
The $32,500 (estimated) economy class car, which goes on sale in August, also boasts an innovative "infotainment" system that uses several digital formats. Besides music, the dashboard system can play DVD movies when parked. The optional navigation system runs off the car’s hard drive, as opposed to a removable DVD or CD-ROM. As technology improves, customers will someday be able to download updates wirelessly.
It makes sense that starter luxury cars are increasingly being outfitted with top-of-the-line features, says George Peterson, president of Tustin, Calif.-based auto industry consulting firm Autopacific.
"Entry-level luxury cars need to demonstrate the capability of their brand--just as the more premium entries do," he says. "As more and more has been added at the top of the pile, prospects for the lower cars in the lineup are aware of them. These features become expected as part of the standard [or typical] feature load of even the lowest level luxury-brand vehicle."
Examples for the mechanically inclined include: six-speed manual transmissions or automatic transmissions with up to seven speeds that you can shift manually if you want.
To get more than four automatic gears or to shift your automatic manually, you used to have to buy a Porsche with a "Tiptronic" transmission, or a six-speed BMW, or even a Ferrari, with Formula One racing-style "paddle" shifters mounted on the steering wheel.
Technical Touches
But as much as transmissions have improved, nothing is trickling down faster in this digital age than electronic gizmos, especially car stereos, and new-and-improved navigation systems.
It takes three to five years for automakers to make substantial changes to the car itself, but the lifecycle for electronics gear can be six months long, says J. Ferron, automotive partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Detroit.
"So there's an eight times shorter cycle [for electronics]," he says. "There’s a collision between that and what’s shaped in the marketplace in terms of customer expectations versus what a car can do."
Some of the vehicles on this list can have 10 or more audio speakers, as much wattage as an in-home system, half a dozen ways to download and swap music between formats, plus many different ways to control it--buttons on the dash, buttons on the customer's MP3 device, buttons on the steering wheel or even voice control.
Sounds great, but keep in mind that "entry level" is a relative thing. The most expensive car on our list is the redesigned 2008 Porsche Cayenne, at $44,295 (including required $895 delivery). That’s not cheap, but it's the least-expensive Porsche. All the cars (and two trucks) here are the least-expensive new models offered by their respective luxury brands. Since it’s nearly fall, most are already 2008 models, but a few are 2007s, pending model-year changeover.
The least expensive overall is the little Volvo C30, an all-new 2008 model, at $23,395 (also including delivery). Even so, it comes standard with a six-speed manual transmission, a feature that once was found only on high-end BMWs.
"These entries today need to be fully featured and are," says Peterson. "They need to support their brand identity and mostly do."
Copyrighted, Forbes.com. All rights reserved.
Call it the trickle-down theory of economics for cars. For a fraction of the price of their more expensive counterparts, entry-level models are getting top-of-the-line features.
Consider the 2008 Cadillac CTS. It allows customers (with some options) to play music off an iPod, a memory stick, a CD, satellite radio or terrestrial radio. It even allows the customer to pause and rewind live radio broadcasts.
The $32,500 (estimated) economy class car, which goes on sale in August, also boasts an innovative "infotainment" system that uses several digital formats. Besides music, the dashboard system can play DVD movies when parked. The optional navigation system runs off the car’s hard drive, as opposed to a removable DVD or CD-ROM. As technology improves, customers will someday be able to download updates wirelessly.
It makes sense that starter luxury cars are increasingly being outfitted with top-of-the-line features, says George Peterson, president of Tustin, Calif.-based auto industry consulting firm Autopacific.
"Entry-level luxury cars need to demonstrate the capability of their brand--just as the more premium entries do," he says. "As more and more has been added at the top of the pile, prospects for the lower cars in the lineup are aware of them. These features become expected as part of the standard [or typical] feature load of even the lowest level luxury-brand vehicle."
Examples for the mechanically inclined include: six-speed manual transmissions or automatic transmissions with up to seven speeds that you can shift manually if you want.
To get more than four automatic gears or to shift your automatic manually, you used to have to buy a Porsche with a "Tiptronic" transmission, or a six-speed BMW, or even a Ferrari, with Formula One racing-style "paddle" shifters mounted on the steering wheel.
Technical Touches
But as much as transmissions have improved, nothing is trickling down faster in this digital age than electronic gizmos, especially car stereos, and new-and-improved navigation systems.
It takes three to five years for automakers to make substantial changes to the car itself, but the lifecycle for electronics gear can be six months long, says J. Ferron, automotive partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Detroit.
"So there's an eight times shorter cycle [for electronics]," he says. "There’s a collision between that and what’s shaped in the marketplace in terms of customer expectations versus what a car can do."
Some of the vehicles on this list can have 10 or more audio speakers, as much wattage as an in-home system, half a dozen ways to download and swap music between formats, plus many different ways to control it--buttons on the dash, buttons on the customer's MP3 device, buttons on the steering wheel or even voice control.
Sounds great, but keep in mind that "entry level" is a relative thing. The most expensive car on our list is the redesigned 2008 Porsche Cayenne, at $44,295 (including required $895 delivery). That’s not cheap, but it's the least-expensive Porsche. All the cars (and two trucks) here are the least-expensive new models offered by their respective luxury brands. Since it’s nearly fall, most are already 2008 models, but a few are 2007s, pending model-year changeover.
The least expensive overall is the little Volvo C30, an all-new 2008 model, at $23,395 (also including delivery). Even so, it comes standard with a six-speed manual transmission, a feature that once was found only on high-end BMWs.
"These entries today need to be fully featured and are," says Peterson. "They need to support their brand identity and mostly do."
Copyrighted, Forbes.com. All rights reserved.
#21
Lexus Champion
![Default](https://www.clublexus.com/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif)
up here, the Acura CSX is the affordable luxury car...
HIDs, Acura bilingual nav system, leather (a bit shiny for my taste), power moonroof, 17" alloys, 6 airbags, CD/MP3 6-speakers with AUX Input, heated seats, turn-signal in mirrors.
all for about Cdn$33k IIRC. (A bit expensive compared to the 1.7EL but compared to everything else, it's priced ok)
HIDs, Acura bilingual nav system, leather (a bit shiny for my taste), power moonroof, 17" alloys, 6 airbags, CD/MP3 6-speakers with AUX Input, heated seats, turn-signal in mirrors.
all for about Cdn$33k IIRC. (A bit expensive compared to the 1.7EL but compared to everything else, it's priced ok)
#22
![Default](https://www.clublexus.com/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif)
but ya... They do charge a larger premium than the ES/Camry. With the ES, I can tell I'm getting something better with a different dashboard and better materials.
In the CSX, the dashboard is identical to the Civic.. you just get shiny leather (ugh) and HIDs and... nav I guess... oh and a nicer looking car
![Wink](https://www.clublexus.com/forums/images/smilies/wink.gif)
#23
![Default](https://www.clublexus.com/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif)
Its funny how the TL/TSX pretty much pioneered this whole concept, and I would even say were instrumental in driving this concept in the automotive industry (packing top of the line features into an affordable price), and yet they were left off the list.
#24
![Default](https://www.clublexus.com/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif)
TL maybe. Even back then with the new 1999 model, it was a pretty good deal (at least in Canada)
#25
Lexus Test Driver
![Default](https://www.clublexus.com/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif)
Have you seen the Hyundai Veracruz commercial where two ladies mistake it for an RX350? LOL, RUBBISH!
#26
Lexus Test Driver
#27
![Default](https://www.clublexus.com/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif)
Acura's strategy was to pack top of the line features into an affordable vehicle. They were able to do this by making them standard for the entire line of vehicles, with the only 'option' being navi or no navi. Acura set the bar, by packing all these luxury features into an affordable vehicle, making it the best value in it's class. Props to them for setting the example and making other manufacturers provide similar features in an affordable package.
#29
![Default](https://www.clublexus.com/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif)
Acura's strategy was to pack top of the line features into an affordable vehicle. They were able to do this by making them standard for the entire line of vehicles, with the only 'option' being navi or no navi. Acura set the bar, by packing all these luxury features into an affordable vehicle, making it the best value in it's class. Props to them for setting the example and making other manufacturers provide similar features in an affordable package.
case in point? The TSX went from $34k to $38k (auto) in 3 years
The CSX/EL went from $21k to $26k in 3 years. (Touring, manual)
In both cases, there were added features, yes but definitely not enough to justify the price.