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High End Luxury Cars

24700 messages,  Last post on Dec 01, 2009 at 12:24 PM

You are in the Sedans Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens

What is this discussion about? Audi A8, BMW 7 Series, Jaguar XJ-Series, Lexus LS 460, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Volkswagen Phaeton, Maserati Quattroporte, Mercedes-Benz CL-Class, Sedan



Let's try to define this forum as being limited to luxury performance vehicles where the mainstream version in a typical configuration has an MSRP of at least $60k.

A luxury vehicle with a base price of $59k qualifies because it would typically be bought with some additional equipment, bringing the MSRP over $60k.

Vehicles like the E, 5, A6, M, or GS, even if available in certain versions over $60k, don't qualify because they are cars from companies that have higher end cars in their lineups.



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#13579 of 24700
Re: Lexus vs Merc [tagman] by lexusguy
Jan 21, 2006 (3:29 pm)
Reply

Replying to: tagman (Jan 21, 2006 3:09 pm)

I think its a question of priorities. For my daily driver, every day reliability is a top priority. iDrive on the fritz causing the car not to start is simply unacceptable, thats why I drive an LS to work every day. When it comes to my weekend car, reliability isnt nearly as important. I'm not willing to buy the boring, tub-like SC430 just because its more reliable than any other luxury convertible.
#13580 of 24700
Re: Lexus vs Merc [ljflx] by tagman
Jan 21, 2006 (3:39 pm)
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Replying to: ljflx (Jan 21, 2006 12:39 pm)

By chance, did you ever see the pics of the new S-Class in its S 65 AMG derivative on the HEELS forum that merc1 posted back on December 28th? . . . post number 420. I thought those pics looked impressive. Even you may like them.
TagMan
#13581 of 24700
Re: Lexus vs Merc [lexusguy] by tagman
Jan 21, 2006 (3:45 pm)
Reply

Replying to: lexusguy (Jan 21, 2006 3:29 pm)

I think its a question of priorities. For my daily driver, every day reliability is a top priority. iDrive on the fritz causing the car not to start is simply unacceptable, thats why I drive an LS to work every day. When it comes to my weekend car, reliability isnt nearly as important. I'm not willing to buy the boring, tub-like SC430 just because its more reliable than any other luxury convertible.
 
C,mon now, it's not as though the entire "non-Lexus" world spends all its time in the shop facing vehicle nightmares, and ONLY the Lexus folks are happy with their car's reliability.
 
In fact, the "non-Lexus" world might suggest that the "daily" driver should be a fullfilling experience, given that it's driven so often. Why save the fun just for the weekend?
#13582 of 24700
Re: Lexus vs Merc [tagman] by oac
Jan 21, 2006 (4:22 pm)
Reply

Replying to: tagman (Jan 21, 2006 3:39 pm)

You mean this car ?
 

 
Awesome look ! Now if all S-class looks like that, the LS would not hold a candle to the S-sedans, IMO....
#13583 of 24700
Re: Lexus vs Merc [merc1] by garyh1
Jan 21, 2006 (4:27 pm)
Reply

Replying to: merc1 (Jan 21, 2006 12:50 pm)

And again what does anyone care about this? We know this, we've been known this for years and years when it comes to Toyota and their production costs, skills etc., but what difference does it make to anyone who doesn't live for pointing it out day in and day out? ... This is nothing but the old buyers-care-about-profits type stuff which is irrelevant.
 
Let me try this one more time. Here is the line from Len that started you off on this tirade:
 
But if you have a lower cost to build you use that to your advantage on pricing and they continue to have a huge edge on the Germans in build cost.
 
Len said absolutely nothing about people buying cars because of fascination with Toyota's profits. We are talking (really speculating at this point) about how the new LSes will be priced as against the Ses and the 7s (and the A8s for that matter). The point is that if Company A can build a car for $50,000 that can compete in the marketplace against another car from Company B that costs B $60,000 to make, Company A can potentially charge anywhere up to $10,000 less than Company B and still stay in business. If A can sell as much as it wants at the same price as B sets for its product, it will. But if it can't meet its sales goals at that price, A can come down and sell the car for anywhere between $50,000 to $60,000 that it needs to to get the job done.
 
The relevancy right now? Len has been suggesting that Toyota has been moving up the price of the LS towards the S and the 7 for the last few years, and will be doing it again even more forcefully with the new versions of the LS it will be introducing. So if his surmise is correct, THE CUSTOMERS WHO ACTUALLY BUY THESE CARS WILL BE EXPERIENCING A SHRINKING OF THE PRICE DIFFERENTIAL BETWEEN THE BRANDS. Understandably, if someone is only interested in the history, or the technology of these cars, PRICING IS IRRELEVANT. But for those people who are actually looking at buying one of these cars, PRICING STRATEGIES ARE EXTREMELY RELEVANT.
 
Now, you just have to accept that some people who frequent this forum are actually mostly interested in possibly purchasing one or more of these cars and want to learn about them. Others may be more interested in the business side of building these cars. Still others (and I assume you fall in this category) are only interested in appreciating these cars for their individualized approaches to beauty and amazing implementation of technology. Hopefully you agree that there is room in this forum for all of these folks.
 
Pricing is very relevant to people in the first two categories. Pricing is totally irrelevant to people who only fall in the third. [For example, the fact that MB is dropping the price of the S500 by about $2K likely is not very significant to your interest in the car; for people in the first two categories it may be VERY interesting.]
 
As long as the context of the discussion is "High End Luxury Marques", a mention of pricing strategies available to a manufacturer about to introduce a new HELM car is indeed relevant and appropriate - and to some of us, even (dare I say it?) interesting.
 
I rest Len's case.
#13584 of 24700
Re: Lexus vs Merc [oac] by ljflx
Jan 21, 2006 (4:34 pm)
Reply

Replying to: oac (Jan 21, 2006 4:22 pm)

Well you'd need to dress the LS up in sport gear like that and decide. I think it would look great. This pix avoids the worst part of the car - the trunk, and it minimizes the wheel arch view. Sport gear makes every car look great. It does look great on this angle but I'm still far more impressed with the existing S design.
#13585 of 24700
Re: Lexus vs Merc [garyh1] by ljflx
Jan 21, 2006 (4:47 pm)
Reply

Replying to: garyh1 (Jan 21, 2006 4:27 pm)

Thank you again Gary. Merc1 has missed points I've made or taken them far out of context for a while now. Witness my comment that celebs will buy up the LS hybrids being viewed as an MB status downturn.
#13586 of 24700
Re: Lexus vs Merc [oac] by grandaddy
Jan 21, 2006 (6:07 pm)
Reply

Replying to: oac (Jan 21, 2006 3:20 pm)

Just expect your LX 470 to get better as it ages. My '00 is still perfect and still a pleasure to drive. I will buy another one in a heartbeat when and if the time and need ever arises. Only cost has been routine maintenance. I really think I could drive this thing for 10 more years and it would still be like new. I don't know if you have noticed this but the paint and finish on the LX 470 is the best I have seen, bar none.
#13588 of 24700
Wow by big3forlife
Jan 21, 2006 (7:29 pm)
Reply
Never though id see the day when people would say Lexus is as good as Mercedes-Benz or BMW

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