I fail to understand what is so special about an expensive re-badged Toyota. Can you enlighten me please :?:
Knew it was only a matter of time before Toyota jibes appear. Now I don't know which is worse - a rebadged Toyota or a debadged 320i/318i with M Sport labels all over it. :shock:
The only rebadged Toyotas are the Lexus ES (Camry) which isn't sold in Australia (anymore), and the GX (Prado) and LX (Landcruiser) . I don't understand why people buy those either when the Toyota equivalent is just as great and looks identical. Surely not just for 'badge cred', given people still generally perceive Euro marques to be superior.
But the rest of the range is super - Lexus is all about the comfort and providing a cocooning experience. Ride comfort, cabin ambience, and isolation are the best amongst the luxury marques (IS F notwithstanding). I felt like i was driving via remote control, floating on a magic carpet when we rented a Lexus IS250 in Perth, and loved being able to accelerate up to freeway speeds whilst feeling like I'm only doing 40kmh. As for Mum's LS, it's almost more comfy than my lounge room and i could practically live in it! I suppose it depends what you look for in a car - if you like the 'driving experience' then BMW is for you. Personally, I'm tired of the heavy steering and harsh ride quality in my 1 series, test drove the 3 series LCI coupes which weren't better. Mercs are a nice mix of both comfort and being drivers' cars but often at least $20k more expensive than the competition. Not sure where Audi falls in other than they have really pretty cars... the OH doesn't like the way they handle and I find the comfort level not much better than BMW though the salesman did say the ride gets better with smaller wheels and removing the S-line suspension so I might give them another go. Design-wise you really can't go wrong with Audis, they're like the W Hotels of cars!
'Heritage' or lack thereof isn't my concern. Most important thing is how a car actually feels. I am glad that Lexus and Infiniti (which is coming to Oz soon!) have done so well and have kept the traditional luxury brands honest. And Acura fills a very nice niche between budget and luxury.
In saying that, the only Lexus line I'm interested in is the IS. The IS250C is one of the convertibles I'm looking at (the other is the A5; I also loved the E250 cabriolet but not thrilled about paying $20k extra and not even getting nappa leather as standard). Or RX if I'm looking for an SUV but I have no need for all that extra space. The rest of the Lexus range have rather bland and uninspiring designs.