I know that these forums are Dedicated towards Lexus, and I do love Lexus, but I noticed that in Car Chat, you can talk about any car! So hopefully this thread stays up, as I am not trying to promote anything.

There are half a dozen Luxury Car makes here in the States.

There is the German:
-Audi
-BMW
-Mercedes Benz

There is the Japanese:
-Acura
-Infiniti
-Lexus

From the Japanese makes, Lexus is the only brand that can truly compete against Audi, BMW, and Mercedes Benz.

I notice that although most of the members here own a Lexus, you guys just sometimes seem to prefer a BMW or a german car.

My question is this. From all of these makes. Which do you think is worth the money you spend for Looks, Sportiness, Comfort, Luxury, Reliability, Speed, Residual Value, Handling, and the Joy of the Ride.

I know that the German makes have their Luxury, but are bit more focused on the Speed and Sportiness, and the Japanese makes (mainly Lexus) focus more on Luxury and Comfort.

But, the car as a whole, which is the best make and model that has the best of the components mentioned above?

Also, if you can rank the makes and models, how would you?

 

obviously benz and bmw been around a lot longer than lexus,,,its hard to beat company like benz whos been around forever and carry that tradition(not liability tho),,,i think most people would prefer benz over any luxury car company,,,S class is still king of flagship sedans to me, but lexus is bang for ur buck fo sho,,,

 

I think its down to personal choice really.

I find both German and Japanese equally luxurious. The German is luxurious in that the interior are really Teutonic, simple, but looks well made and modern in a strange sense. Sitting in it makes you feel like you are in an expensive contemporary restaurant. Audi does this really well, look at any Audi interior pictures and there are nothing much that screams out at you being mega expensive and upscale, but the entire interior itself is just so inviting nevertheless.

Japanese is luxurious in the sense that it is so plush and envelops you things that are soft to the eye. The soft seats, wood and curvy interior that resembles an expensive leather sofa I would have in front of my TV. The last gen ES330 does this very, very well.

 

But would an S class last longer or give less problems than an LS? Same goes for reliability, cost to fix any problems.

I know that a Fully Loaded 2011 Lexus LS460L will have a sticker price of $85,000, whereas a Fully Loaded 2011 Mercedes S550 will have a sticker price of $128,000, or a Fully Loaded 2011 BMW 750Li has a sticker price of $118,000.

Honestly, I'd rather pay $33,000-$43,000 less for a car that I know will last a lot longer.

 

What does every president of the world(besides ours), mobster, banker, wannabe gangster, mexican drug lord, german police have in common?

 

^ Corruption?

 

Exactly, and also Mercedes-Benz

 

So im on the benz site, and i notice that they have upped their price of the cl600 and they are asking 145k dollars for it lol. Fine and dandy but 2 years later that car is only going to be worth 45k dollars. I love mercedes but resale value is garbage. Shame, theres a reason why lexus has such a high resale value.

 

My preference is to have one of each, Japanese and German.

 

Japanese vs Euro, depends really. If we are bringing the AMG's S63 and S65 or even Audi S8 into the equations, those cars are hands down the best, they cover all aspecs of the equation and the japanese dont compete in this relm.

However if we talking base version of the S class, A8, 7 series, id take the LS over all of those.

To me Luxury should mean reliablity, ur paying top dollar for something because u want it to be superiorly engineered. That is what true Luxury is. The german over engineer their cars, the lexus are elegantly simpler and designed much better.

now besides that the LS got an ultrasmooth ride that none of the rest can match, and then you got that bangin 14 speaker ML system. Cant go wrong

but like i said, throw in the performance aspect of the AMG's RS or M's then its a different story

 

The s65 is 207 thousand dollars new it better be nice compared to a 70k dollar LS460l

 

i know many who swear that mb and bmw are the creme of the crop simply because of the pedigree they've established for many decades. though lexus has not been around as long, personally, i feel that there is no greater bang for your buck than lexus vehicles in terms of luxury. i'm not just saying this because i own one, but rather because of my individual preference. they like the hard material that comprises the shell of these vehicles, while lexus, just like toyota, is a bit softer and not as strong. but mb and bmw, even their respective s-class and 7 series are often with their hazards on the side of the roads due to any number of problems. they just brush it off, as if the problems are just a part of the ownership experience.

as others have stated before my post, resale value also comes into play. a lexus luxury vehicle will retain much of its residual value in comparison to the others simply because it is reliable and needs less maintenance to it. in the end, it's one choice to get that vehicle they want. a lexus typicall will cost less in comparison to its counterparts, but in no way is it deemed any less of a solid competitor. a higher price doesn't necessarily equate to a better product.

 

^If you had $210,000 what would you do, buy a Mercedes or Lexus?

Personally, instead of spending $210k for an S65. I'd rather spend $85k for an LS460, $65k for an ISF, and the remaining on a GS350.

 

Lexus is not a car, it's a brand. And I certainly think most would agree that the M56/M37 certainly competes well against the A6, 5 Series, & E-Class. Same applies to the G37 sedan & coupe in their segment. The Q56 is another example of Infiniti competing quite well against the German competition, so I completely disagree with your statement. Acura on the other hand, well..

 

I agree 100% with everything you wrote. Well said. Also, the ES330 had one of the nicest dashboards I've ever seen.