LexFather

1. You can't compare a Lexus plant, no matter where its buitl, to another companies. Lexus's attention to detail is way above others. Perfect, no, of course not. But they have the least amount of problems since inception.
2. The Canada plant RXs are just as well built as Japanese cars. This is a Lexus. Why would they want to build a worse SUV and **** people off? The plant is identical to a Japanese plant with extra special touches for the Canadian workers.
3. The Canadians want to prove they can build a Lexus as good as the guys in Japan, so that plant can grow and bring more jobs/wealth.
4. If you want a Japanese Lexus, a sure bet is getting the panaramic roof. Or a hybrid.
5. If you can request one from Japan, that is fine too. Your preference.

Lexus is a Lexus no matter where its built. Acura may build cars here but its an Acura, a rung or 2 down from Lexus. BMWs and Benzs build cars here in America but even in Germany, there is a chance the car will have problems.

I will say Lexus has had tremendous growth and that can hurt quality. They are still a business and they are still assembled by people (well robots too). In 1998 in the RX debut year, they sold 42k RX 300s. The ES sold more cars. In 2004, 119k RX 330s were sold!! No other car maker is even close to that success.

I was initially against a non-Japanese made Lexus but after reading the Lexus books about the manufacturing process, and the strides they go through to make the best product, I am confident in the Lexus no matter where it is built.

RXGOLD

I am confident in the Lexus no matter where it is built.........[/QUOTE]

Hmm... I have doubts on that.....

I have read that quality control in Japan is VERY, VERY strict! Check out J.D. Powers (Plant Quality Control report). They even look with a magnifying glass to check things out. Now, that's Japanese way...culture.

Obviously, Canada and any other countries don't follow that tradition........ This is going to hurt Lexus quality.

jaydunn

Having recently traded in my four year old Acura TL on an RX330 in sept. I must take exception to the Acura comment. A rung or two below, not in my opinion. So far I would rate build quality and dealer service about equal. YMMV

Lexusfreak

Thank you 1SICK! Very well said!

RXGOLD, do us all a favour, cease & desist! Have you been to the Lexus plant in Cambridge Ontario? or the plant in Japan for that matter? We I can speak from experence by taking a detailed tour of the Lexus facility in Cambridge & let me tell ya, my respect for Lexus was reinforced ten fold when I saw the way things operated & the strict attention to detail. (and it was very high to begin with!)

J.D. Power awards? Go visit the plant, the wall is plastered with them everywhere including awards for build quality for the Corolla, Matrix, Solara convertable (when it was made there), & yes the RX 330.

Obviously, you have no clue about anything to do with Canadian culture (you just assumed which is quite funny in itself ), nor do you know what your talking about in general on this subject! But thanks for trying!

LexFather

Hmm... I have doubts on that.....

I have read that quality control in Japan is VERY, VERY strict! Check out J.D. Powers (Plant Quality Control report). They even look with a magnifying glass to check things out. Now, that's Japanese way...culture.

Obviously, Canada and any other countries don't follow that tradition........ This is going to hurt Lexus quality.[/QUOTE]
Hey I cannot lie, my gut feeling is to say the Japanese made car is better. But we are not talking about any car maker. We are talking about a Lexus here. And they know as much as we do how important quality is to them and us. Its one of their main selling points. Its not like they just built a plant in Canada and let them do what they want. Its under the same strict rules as Japan. There is no difference in how workers review the vehicle. They even can indiviually stop the whole plant if they spot 1 defect. So the Japanese culture, comes here.

Look at the Camry, Avalon, Tundra, etc. All class leading or near tops in reliablity. All built in America. Its not the workers. Its the company and management.

jaydunn, your opionion is cool but its universally accepted, Acura is not a true luxury company and their quality is near but not equal to Lexus. This is a fact, I am not picking on them.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=153346

Consumer Reports just reported the top reliable brands.
1. Scion
2. Lexus
3. Toyota
All Toyota companies.

And an example of BAD manufactering in another country, look no further than the Acura CL/TL.. They are built in Ohio next to the Accord. Tranny recall and even owners admit, the cars are not built as well as the old TL that was made in Japan.

So its not where its made, but what company is behind it all.

LexFather

JD Power gave the '04 TL an initial quality rating of 2 out of 5 btw

700t

Hey I cannot lie, my gut feeling is to say the Japanese made car is better. But we are not talking about any car maker. We are talking about a Lexus here. And they know as much as we do how important quality is to them and us. Its one of their main selling points. Its not like they just built a plant in Canada and let them do what they want. Its under the same strict rules as Japan. There is no difference in how workers review the vehicle. They even can indiviually stop the whole plant if they spot 1 defect. So the Japanese culture, comes here.

Look at the Camry, Avalon, Tundra, etc. All class leading or near tops in reliablity. All built in America. Its not the workers. Its the company and management.

jaydunn, your opionion is cool but its universally accepted, Acura is not a true luxury company and their quality is near but not equal to Lexus. This is a fact, I am not picking on them.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=153346

Consumer Reports just reported the top reliable brands.
1. Scion
2. Lexus
3. Toyota
All Toyota companies.

And an example of BAD manufactering in another country, look no further than the Acura CL/TL.. They are built in Ohio next to the Accord. Tranny recall and even owners admit, the cars are not built as well as the old TL that was made in Japan.

So its not where its made, but what company is behind it all.[/QUOTE]

Just an interesting note, I work in the Lexus paint shop @TMMC. A while back they brought an
RX 330 from Japan to compare the car to ones made here. The only comparison I heard of was the paint quality. The paint was tested for appearance (smoothness , gloss etc.) on about 50 different points all over the car.The RX made @ TMMC had significantly better numbers than the car from Japan.

Lexusfreak

[/quote]
Just an interesting note, I work in the Lexus paint shop @TMMC. A while back they brought an
RX 330 from Japan to compare the car to ones made here. The only comparison I heard of was the paint quality. The paint was tested for appearance (smoothness , gloss etc.) on about 50 different points all over the car.The RX made @ TMMC had significantly better numbers than the car from Japan.[/QUOTE]

700t, you guy's have a world class operation at the Cambridge Lexus plant! I can't tell you (along with the other who took the tour) how impressed we all were with your facility. Personally if I were to buy an RX 330 (new or used) I'd make it a point to get one that was made at the Canadian plant.

Rockville

so no difference in quality really. There are a few options you can't get from Canada such as the Performance package and the big sunroof. The Hybrids will all be sourced out of Japan initially. I haven't had the opportunity to visit Cambridge but it is definitely on my to do list. The earlier post describing white overspray and poor bumper alignment is probably due to lot damage or shipment damage not factory production. I have worked for Lexus for eight years and have never seen any such white overspray as described so I would be skeptical of the origin of the damage.

Rock

Lexusfreak

I'd love to hear your thoughts & opinions once you do have a chance to see the Cambridge facility Rock.

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

This is mostly due to the tranny that we all know is not so good. The rest of the car is just as good as most out there though. Now, a bad tranny is a big problem and a huge black eye for Honda/Acura, but it is an 8 year old tranny so hopefully a new redesign is in the works. I wonder how JD Powers rate the 6-Speed manual tranny TL? Do they put all the TLs together separate them?

I do have to say that over all Lexus dealers as a whole are probably a bit better than the typical Acura dealer, but this is not accross the board. It definately depends on each dealer. I know the Lexus dealer and the Acura dealer services are about the same in my area. The only difference is the Lexus dealers show room and waiting room looks nicer because it is a new building. However, Acura just renovated so their show room and waiting room looks pretty good as well. Both sides have service writers that will sit down with you at a deck (Acura has separate desks while Lexus you sit at along table with separation walls) and both get the work done. I'll also note that Acura's turn around time is usually faster as they seem to accept anyone coming in, but Lexus requires you to make an appointment which I sometimes don't like. When my 04 RX330s check engine and Trac lights came on they earliest they could accept me was 1 week later. By that time the lights went out on their own and Lexus said they found no codes so nothing was done. So now Ieft wondering why my check engine lights were on for a few days, driving with no traction control, and my warranty is about to expire in about 3K miles. If the problem comes up again out of warranty and I have to pay for it I'm going to be seriously pissed. The one thing I do like about Lexus is the majority (Not all of them) of the sales staff seem nice. Getting test drives without intention to buy is a little hard though so I'm not sure how everyone is getting test drives of the new GS.