Wowdi

After six year on the Audi service rollercoaster and three Audis (A6, TT, and A8L), I defected from Audi and went to Lexus. Beased upon my three days of ownership and dealing with Lexus including a service visit to have the XM installed, the car and the dealership (Thompson in Doylestown, PA) are terrific. Some first impressions:

- Fit and Finish - First rate

- Gadgetry (Nav, Mark Levinson stereo, Bluetooth, ....) - All superior to my 2004 A8 (Audi's flagship)

- Handling - Not as crisp as the Audi but better than anything American and certainly very good.

- Ride - Springier than the Audi and the runflat tire are a bit hard. But I expected both and both are completely acceptable.

- Transmission - Far superior to the A8 which exhibited low-end hesitation anomalies which had heard were due to the transmission control computer parameters which were changed for later A8 models.

- Power - Superior to the A8 due to the lower weight of the GS and 303 HP. the Power to Weight ratio is actually superior for the GS making it a tad faster than the A8.

- Dealer Experience - NO COMPARISON. The purchasers of $70K Audis are treated as though they bought a beetle (the main reason I jumped ship).

Threxx

Yeah I have to say the #1 difference between my Audi ownership experience and my Lexus ownership experience was the service.

My Audi dealer also sells VW, Porsche, and Bentley and honest to god probably have the crappiest looking sales and service area. Everything is old/dirty... my service advisor's desk looks like it was donated by a school teacher who had worn it out and replaced it. The problems I've had were treated like trivial matters - such as a seat that squeeked like nails on a chalk board every time I shifted my weight... the service guy had the nuts to tell me 'all cars make noises', when they were having a hard time fixing it . I flat out told him I wasn't taking the car back until they got it done. In the mean time I just drove my littel VW Jetta enterprise rental car that I had to pay for the gas in - and they really really don't like you to have a loaner car for more than 24 hours so if the parts won't be in until the next day they actually want you to drive up there, give them the car back, and then come back the next day and do the enterprise paper work all over again.

They treat their Porsche owners the exact same way - I don't know about Bentley owners since I never saw one in there for service.

The Lexus service experience is an amazingly positive contrast to this but I won't go into details since most of you have already experienced it... but I think my personal experience has gone beyond the typical one - my service advisor is at Lexus of memphis was a very selfless person who would go as far above and beyond his job description as was necessary to make sure people were beyond satisfied and impressed.

Wowdi

The tipping point for me was my last A8 service which I won't go into just to get home and find a "final notice" for an airbag recall sitting in the mail. No one at the Audi dealer bothered to check for recalls while the car was in the shop.....for SIX days. And this was with their flagship model no less.

Arghhhhhhhh! Good riddance to Audi.

pionear

These are some sweet looking cars!

gsCrazy

iTrader: (1)

[QUOTE=BlackGS430;1897615]news. I HAVE CONFIRMED THAT LEXUS WILL INTRODUCE THE IS500 IN THE FALL OF 07. THIS WILL BE A 4-DOOR CAR WITH DIFFERENT AGGRESSIVE BODYWORK. ALSO IN THE FALL OF 08 LEXUS WILL INTRODUCE A GS V10 WITH OVER 500HP!!!! ENJOY.MY SOURCE COUD'NT BE MORE RELIABLE[/QUOTE


arrrrgggggghghhhhhhhhhhh....... i can't wait...... .drooool... 500 plus horsepower in one of the world's best cars..... arghhhhhhh............... .....

okcfunky

Man... my gs430 is living on borrowed time, that GS460 is everything I wish the 430 had (I was disappointed this morning when I learned the 430 won't play mp3's, made me quite angry) and the extra 80 ponies sure do make a good point.
I want a black or darker color grey gs460, and then transfer the suspension and wheels. Mmmm.... drooling commences.

LexFather

[QUOTE=gsCrazy;2215650]415hp or somewhere in that area, not 500....and its called the IS-F

XeroK00L

When he said 500hp he meant the GS.

LexFather

lol, u r right...

Kgetter

Thanks for the information. I am so excited about the GS460!!!! Black / Black Sweet!!!!!

Thrumcap

Anyone know if AWD is a possibility on the GS460?
Would love to see it on that or the GS450h...

LexFather

I can't say it won't happy but I am 95% sure it won't. The only reason I think it "may" happen, there is a rumored AWD LS 460 coming (the 600L h will be AWD) so it means they are working on the new 4.6 to work with an AWD system.

However, even if it does comes, I doubt it would be in 2007.

hsk73

Hmmm.... GS500!!
I doubt it... but that's very attractive idea for sure...

But, at the moment... I hope GS460 is the last engine upgrade for 3GS model... because I'm seriously considering exchanging my GS300 with upcoming GS460...

XeroK00L

I *bet* IF and WHEN Lexus releases the rumored IS500, it will be released along with the LS500 AND GS500.

Only makes marketing sense this way. They just shouldn't let the lower models outpower the higher ones.

Gojirra99

Looks like the GS460 will be delayed until late September next year : http://sr1.clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=251169