rogers2

Since your raving about surveys. How many surveys have you filled out? Probably none...
Your RL must have been a lemon...bc I have never heard of an RL having major issues. According to all the surveys, the Acura RL is a very reliable car.
I will advise people to dig a little deeper into these surveys if you're going to use them as the gospel. Most of the things people complain about are B.S. While I'm no longer a Honda fan. I called B.S. on a Lexus being cheaper to own.
Lexus service costs a lot more than Honda/Acura. I don't even take my car to the Lexus dealer anymore. I use Toyota for all my service.

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The G Man

None of these surveys or reviews are gospel, they help to form one's opinion, they should not be used for nothing more than that. I also had many Lexus and Acura, I had a lemon Lexus 2008 Lexus GS350 so even Lexus is not bullet proof. As far as reliability, its very close in my opinion with a slight edge going to Lexus but Acura is a very reliable vehicle despite of what the survey say, Service cost wise, Lexus is more expensive, but then again, my Acura dealer does not have free latte and nail parlor for the wife.

LexMan2003

Well said.
Here's my approach to this and just about any other decision I make on a major purchase.
I take it all in and come to my own conclusion. I don't rely solely on any one survey, report, individual/company/group opinion.
I consider all of:
a) reports from organizations that *I* consider to be reputable/reliable.
b) comments from people like YOU on forums like this.
c) word of mouth - if I see someone near me in a parking lot getting in/out of a vehicle I have an interest in, I will actually strike up a conversation with them. I start with "Hey, nice car. I'm considering getting one. Do you like it?". I see how they react and depending on how serious I am about acquiring one, and how amenable they are to conversation, I might continue the conversation. Lots of times people are eager to talk about their car - whether they like the car or not. But I'm a social kinda guy, so it's easy for me to do this.
d) My own personal experiences. I have owned various brands of cars, and to ME (that's ME, MYSELF, I, SELF) I have had very few real problems with any Toyota or Lexus and found they are easy enough to work on myself (I can do basic+ stuff, but nothing too complicated). I also happen to be big on preventive maintenance, so that helps.

I happen to be very partial towards Lexus because of all of the above.

YES, every manufacturer of every product is going to have a certain number of 'lemons'. And even those that are considered/rated as the 'worst' are going to have gems that are problem-free. But I believe in the statistics. Again, I'm coming up with my own measurement based on all of the above, and I don't rely on any ONE measurement. It's a combination of all of it for me.

chadhargis

Excellent, well thought out process. I do much the same.

In reality, most cars today won't grenade themselves and will easily go 100,000 trouble free miles. That's why companies sell extended warranties. They know they are going to win the bet 9 out of 10 times that you won't have any major failure before their coverage expires.

JD Power and other surveys can be greatly influenced by money. Even though they are supposedly backed by data, that data can be manipulated to show what they want it to show. The absolute best sources of information is sites like this one. It's tough with brands like Lexus because I'd venture to guess most Lexus customers aren't automotive enthusiasts who frequent brand specific internet forums. For example, the Corvette forums or Mustang forums are highly active. Even the Ridgeline forum I read has more posts than I can keep up with. It's fairly quiet in here. Another thing I see is that forums such as this one that do have lots of active members see their post count ratchet up as the cars get older and younger buyers pick them up used and mod them. Issues stemming from mods are a whole different ballgame.

One thing I know for sure is that Lexus has built its brand on reliability and customer service. Before I bought our certified preowned Lexus I called a friend of mine who has purchased several CPO Lexus vehicles. Oddly enough, he came to Lexus from Acura. The dealerships are next door to each other. I went to look at an RDX before we went next door to the Lexus lot. The dealer experience was remarkably different. While I'm sure we would have had great luck with the RDX, my wife simply didn't like the car. I would have preferred the V6 RDX we looked at over a turbo 4 as I have the same V6 in my truck and it's fantastic. But I wasn't buying a car for me. My wife needed to love it. And the entire experience at the Lexus dealership impressed her. She kept saying, "I feel like a rich person", "This is the nicest car dealership I've ever been to", etc. They treated us really great....just as they would someone dropping $100k on a car. My friend who has bought several vehicles from them says that's how they do business. He said he has all his service work done there and they always give him a loaner car...typically a very nice new Lexus. Sure, you pay more, but everyone has a different perception of value. I do my own maintenance on my truck. I enjoy spinning wrenches. My wife...not so much. She would rather go get her free latte, a loaner car, and free car wash. We have two years complimentary maintenance included, so it costs us nothing to go to the dealership for service.

The G Man

I considered Acura and Infiniti as a near luxury brand and Lexus as a luxury brand. This is back by the Lexus dealership's amenity and customer service, As the middle aged man from the Midwest say" Nothing in life is free" Lexus owners pay for this customer service up front when they buy the car and the higher cost of maintenance when compare to Acura and Infiniti. This could only mean Acura and Infiniti are more car for the money if one take customer service out of the equation.

nickage87

I don’t think either Lexus or Acura are Luxury cars. Both premium cars, with Lexus little more premium. True luxury cars are BMW and Mercedes, only those car makers offer variety of luxury options that can be added to a car.
Sorry but arguments like “I really love this car” don’t make the car luxury. Lexus NX doesn’t even have basic Luxury options like heads up display or Hifi sound system. How about level of sound deadening or vibration while waiting at traffic light?

chadhargis

So the Lexus LS isn't a luxury car but the BMW 3 series or the Mercedes A class are?

I think it's model specific. Lexus is absolutely a premium luxury brand, as is BMW and Mercedes and the up and coming Genesis brand.

The G Man

I have owned 4 BMWs between the wife and I, believe me, Lexus is every bid as luxurious as BMW. By the way, heads up display is not an luxury item, you can get that option on a Kia. The Lexus NX is a entry level SUV in a Luxury brand, its BMW counterpart is probably the X1. If you ever sat in a BMW X1 before, you would take back everything you just said about Lexus. My wife has the upgrade hifi system in here NX and it sounds every bit as good as my Bose system. If you want to hear lack of sound insulation or vibration, go test drive a BMW X1.

TechNut

I agree, except I would think it would compare better perhaps with the X3? We just did a bit of shopping ourselves as we considered if we wanted to wait for the next Gen NX or not. We decided there were just too many variables with the 2022 NX and so have been shopping. Anyway, we were cross shopping with various vehicles including the Mercedes GLB, and the larger GLC (gasp - yes, we were considering German cars). The Mercedes are very nice vehicles, but not particularly more luxurious. And they get more expensive as you add various packages to match features on the Lexus - cool dash and accent lighting though.

The G Man

my wife had the last gen X3 35i, the car was fast but handling was average, about on par with the NX. The X3 feels even less luxurious from the inside compare to the X3. the bmw’s interior was very plain and boring. We also looked at the GLC but could not justify the price tag. A woman I know just got a 2020 X3 for $11K off, BMW is really discounting their cars to push sales numbers.

chadhargis

Funny thing is, you can go buy a Mazda CX-5 Signature and if someone told you it was another brand, you might believe them. It's a VERY nice vehicle.