LexFather

Exaclty, there is no bad car in this group this time. The Germans better watch, seriously....Between quality and being very overpriced, buyers now have 3 true Japanese alternatives...

DrewSRX

This is sort of getting OT, but I think it is pretty well known that Lexus always usually comes up #1 in most quality and reliability lists, but I just wanted to put this up to show that there is more behind the story.

According to Consumer Reports, Infiniti is more reliable than Lexus after the 1st year of ownership. Even Nissan, after 5 years is 5th, right behind Toyota. Nissan isn't as bad as some make it out to be according to CR.

Here is the full pdf:

http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/consumerreports.pdf

Anyway, back on topic, I would love to have either the GS or M in the garage!

jrock65

That is surprising. You'd think that Lexus was always number 1 in these thing. The gap between Infiniti and 2nd place Lexus for 5 year old cars is particularly signifcant.

LexFather

Please, lets not go to charts. I got charts. Its pretty known between Infnitii/Lexus fans, they are pretty much neck and neck in quality and reliablity. Now according to JD Power, Lexus is most reliable after 5 years of ownership.(where is that chart)

The other thing you must look at is lineup and sales. Lexus sells nearly 3 times as much as Infintii. Infiniti just sold 1 million cars, Lexus has sold 4 million plus. So for that many more Lexus's to be made and sold and for them to either be #1 or #2 in rankings is pretty incredible.

Clearly though, both are the best quality cars you can buy.

Rockville

Lexus expects to unleash about 35,000 GS series ( all variants) into the market place this year. I have enjoyed this thread more than any other since I've been on CL. The degree of engagement by the contributors has been very high and the argument support has been of a high quality. Lexus is the dominant player in the luxury market. The point made by the also rans is that it's due to the strength of the Lexus SUV's. That is very true. The SUV market continues to grow despite predictions of its demise a couple of years ago. Lexus decided to make the GX470 as a stop gap measure while they designed a new crossover SUV (HPX concept) and guess what happened? The GX470 just took over and outsold both the Mercedes ML and the BMW X5. The Cayenne is the top selling Porsche. The anti-SUV Volvo joined the fray. Audi is bringing an SUV. You'd think that gas was a $1.00 a gallon. The only weak spots for Lexus have been the IS300 and the GS300. There hasn't been much support in advertising since they arrived years ago. Expect that to change very soon. Lexus will bring 15,000 next generation IS series into the US this year and they won't begin until October. There are only two competitors of interest at this time. Mercedes Benz and BMW. Infiniti just doesn't have the market share to worry Lexus at this point. I can count on my hand during my daily commute how many Infiniti's I see. I see BMW 3 series and MB E class continuously. It has nothing to do with the individual quality that Infiniti puts out or the customer service. They are almost a boutique brand so I'd expect their service to be first rate. Infiniti is not in the top six brands in Customer engagement though you couldn't tell that by this thread. The Infiniti dealerships do rank in the top six in customer engagement. 39% of Infiniti customers are actively engaged. ( Gallup Engagement Survey) These folks can't imagine a world without their Infiniti dealership. Lexus dealerships have 47% actively engaged. The next level is people that are content with their dealerships. Infiniti has 13% and Lexus 18%. The next category is not engaged, ambivalent and might defect to another dealer. Again Infiniti dealers have 25% and Lexus 21%. The last category is the actively not engaged which is the customer that is pissed and spreading badwill about the dealership. Infiniti has 23% and Lexus dealerships 14%. Everyone has room for improvement. In both the Brand survey and the Dealership relationship survey Lexus is number one. In the Brand loyalty dept Porsche is number two after Lexus. The health of the Lexus brand and the dealership relationship is on top of the industry survey ratings. This does not mean Lexus will go rest on its laurels. Lexus is successful by good strategic planning and manufacturing excellence. Lexus will put more safety equipment in its cars at the expense of catchy features that wow the buyer. Some of these improvements like VDIM are totally invisible and the better they do their job the less you will notice them. When I was with Mercedes the attitude was that they had the best engineering and you were able to benefit from buying their brand. Lexus took the customer first attitude that if you didn't like it then how would you prefer it? Everyone here on CL is really part of the design staff at Lexus. That is why the CL members are so passionate about their cars. I don't know if there is a Club Infiniti or not but it apparently has a cult following......

Gojirra99

You can't do that, but I think there's a very good chance you'll eventually end up owning everyone of them you' ve already gone 1/3 of the way

Rockville

Is your SC430 a custom painted Midnight Cherry? Photo looks like Twilight Amethyst. If it is the latter it is very rare.

Gojirra99

Lexus Canada chose to call it Midnight Cherry, it's the same as Twilight Amethyst Pearl since it's the same paint code. It's a gorgeous color I love it, & better yet it's created exclusively for the SC430

Dynasty SC

as both a lexus and infiniti lover, i'll say that they are very close in quality and reliability. i think the major difference between the two is history... i'll have no problem saying that lexus has a far better track record... but currently, infiniti and lexus are very very close in terms of not only quality, but design. in this generation... they are starting to design very attractive cars... i dont know about anyone else, but to me, their older cars were rather ugly. they have fixed it and without track record i'd say they are the same. so pick whichever one you like better and dont worry about quality

LexFather

Yes Infiniti has come a long way but has a long ways to go.
G35c, sedan and AWD vs the 2006 IS sedan, coupe/convert and wagon and AWD
M35/AWD/M45 vs GS 300/AWD/GS 430
Q45 vs LS 430
FX35/45 vs RX 330/400h
QX56 vs LX 470
GX 470 vs ???
SC 430 vs ???
ES 330 vs ???

The lineups have some similarites but Lexus still offers more vehicles.

akbergq

Rockville: When I was with Mercedes the attitude was that they had the best engineering and you were able to benefit from buying their brand. Lexus took the customer first attitude that if you didn't like it then how would you prefer it? Everyone here on CL is really part of the design staff at Lexus. That is why the CL members are so passionate about their cars. I don't know if there is a Club Infiniti or not but it apparently has a cult following......"






I couldnt agree more with that! Great writeup Rockville!!!



To those who say im so "LEXUS LEXUS LEXUS" all the time... now u know why..lol

overall - Lexus is superior in the luxury and overall value with their prices against their competitors!!

woohoo!

Phknlwyr

The only Porsche dealership I remember near Bethesda was Manhattan. That's long gone. Are you now across from Hooters on Rockville Pike?

Rockville

Our Rockville Porsche-Audi store is temporarily housed on the BMW side of the Pike. They have broken ground on the new location across the street next to Woodmont CC entrance. The Rockville Porsche-Audi franchise is one and the same as the old Manhattan Auto in B-town. We used to have Jags, Porsches, Fiats, Alfa Romeos, Rovers, MG's, Austin Healey's and Audis. That was some candy store for a sixteen year old kid from BCC.

SpoonSport

This is a great thread. We're all tied up between two great cars. Its Ali/Foreman, Bulls/Lakers, STI/EVO. Its about time. Infiniti didn't even have a car in the sport sedan market for years and Lexus never had a real good foothole i the market. Now both are viable choices against the usual suspects!

There is a market for both cars. Its really personal choices. Mine is still undecided a this point.

flipside909

Food for thought: