petrojeff

An interesting discussion involving manifold personalities manifesting into different type cars. When one removes the human personality from effecting the choice of vehicles. vehicles can then be compared quantitatively. At this juncture, the Lexus ascends to the top, performance, reliability, longevity and pure automotive design. I have owned American cars all of my life. I just got rid of a 1990 Ford Crown Victoria with 256,000 miles. I thought it was the best American car for the buck. I was going to buy a 1999 Crown Vic , but bought my 92 LS 400. Hands down it is a better car than the 99 Crown Vickie! When Lexus designs their automobile, they design to meet as many parameters as possible. The American car is designed for low manufacturing cost, usually at the expense of using lighter weight materials that do not translate to longevity, and similar parts across different models. I now own a Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Lexus, and a 72 Mustang Convertible. I'll keep the convertible, and replace the Honda, Mazda, and Yoyo with Lexuses!

Stephen

One thing I will say for the FWD cars though, they will do much better in the snow.

My Continentals would go anywhere in the snow, the STS not as much but still better than the LS, the LS is useless in more than 3 inches. Thats a big reason I bought the Sequoia, so we could all have safe transportation when the weather is bad.

RODDMOD

My favorite car is still my MARK 7 the Lexus has the best power train in the WORLD but as far as ride and comfort I my opinion the Mark 7 Bill Blass model is way ahead in comfort, I have had three Marks and drive cars as a hobby when I can, I have driven most of all the luxury cars and if you are not looking for the best handling you have to try a Mark 7, It has a unibody and no matter how many Miles you have on them they are still solid and they are cheap to maintain parts are dirt cheap and reliability on my Marks have been great. Just my 2 cents.

healerhand

I love the ride of the LS 400. Although its 11 years old, its still very smooth, quite and confortable. I dont think american cars can match that. However, for some of you into performance and go fast. The attitude of too much horse power is just enought, than america cars are easier to modify, cheaper to modify, more parts and less dollar per horse power.

Its all depend on the purpose of your car. For family, daily driver i would perfer Lexus. For sunday driving and cruises, i would prefer a car with high horse power.

I am the kind of guy that too much horse power is not enought. For me, american cars are cheap to play with.

MikeLS

Had a Lincoln TownCar for a few years before buying LS. The main reason I got rid of TownCar is the way I was treated by both Lincoln dealerships in my vicinity. They never completed work correctly the first or second time. The car was always returned less clean than when it was taken in. This is supposed to be the finest American car made, but it's a cheap Chevy with cosmetic and failure prone gizmos compared to my LS. Depreciation on the Lincoln is terrible and advertises to the world that the owner does not know how to invest in quality. And finally, there's that image thing. Many Lincolns become taxi cabs after five to ten years (if they still have any life left), I have yet to see a Lexus relegated to taxi service.

meanboy

I checked out kbb on a 2000 Lincoln LS v6 with a sport package and 3k miles and the trade in for it was 22k. That is pretty bad as far as depreciation goes. I don't know what the public will pay for it.

seanl

Interesting topic. IMO, there aren't any American cars that can stand up to the LS400 with regards to build quality, reliability, or resale value. The Caddy Seville STS, while nice looking and packing 300hp, depreciates like a falling stone and is front wheel drive. The Lincoln LS isn't a bad offering, but the V8 model is a bit underpowered and the interior is very bland.
Dodge isn't even in the game with their top of the line 300M.

My '97 LS400 is undoubtedly the best built car I have ever owned. My '94 Acura Legend LS Sedan, which handles better than the LS400, isn't as comfortable, quiet, or powerful.

I also own a supercharged 1993 Mustang making 430rwhp. It has served over the past 7+ years as a daily driver, a weekend toy, then daily driver again, and recently weekend toy permanently. It's a whole lot of fun and a great bang for the buck.

I recently sold my '96 Viper GTS---a hard car to part with, but since I was buying my first house I consider it a good trade-off. Now that was a great car! There might be quicker street/drag cars, but the Viper is definitely KING of the Road. And build quality wasn't as bad as everyone says, and the power--the power, especially bottom end torque, was incredible!

Like another Lexus owner here, I too considered a year or two old Ford Crown Vic when I was car shopping, but I decided I'd rather have an older Lexus than a newer Ford, as the Lex is *going* to stay together and not have problems. I also tried looking at the Lincoln Mark 8 right before I bought my used Legend, but the Marks, while powerful and nice looking, aren't known for exceptional reliability either.

When the US starts building cars that have Lexus-like quality, I'll be first in line (once it's a few years old and the original owner take the big depreciation hit).

Regards,

Sean in Tampa, FL
'97 LS400 Coach Ed. 'Opal Pearl Frost'
'94 Acura Legend LS Sedan
'93 Mustang Supercharged
'96 Viper GTS (sold 6/01)
'97 Mustang Cobra (sold 9/00)
http://www.ij.net/seanlewis/seanindex.html
http://www.ij.net/seanlewis/seanlewis2.htm