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Sedans Luxury Performance Sedans
10007 messages, Last post on Dec 01, 2009 at 7:40 AM
You are in the Sedans Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
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Replying to: houdini1 (Mar 30, 2009 4:32 am) Potential buyers went across the street to try the Lexus, Infiniti, BMW, Mercedes, or even Audi, and never came back.
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Replying to: lexusguy (Mar 30, 2009 11:31 am)
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Replying to: lexusguy (Mar 30, 2009 11:31 am) Potential buyers went across the street to try the Lexus, Infiniti, BMW, Mercedes, or even Audi, and never came back. " That is exactly what I did - was interested in the RL and went for a test drive. Want to bring wife to look at it before make the decision. Before we can get to that stage, I looked at the M45 and changed my mind and never looked back. The RL by itself is an OK package, but, when there are better options, the customer goes for it - especially in this luxury car market, the $5-10K cost difference is not substantial. |
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Replying to: houdini1 (Mar 30, 2009 4:32 am)
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Replying to: laurasdada (Mar 30, 2009 1:27 pm) Like a lot of others, my solution was to buy a slightly used LS 430. |
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Replying to: laurasdada (Mar 30, 2009 1:27 pm) The TL seemd smaller and it reminded me of the Lexus gs450 that I test drove two months before. Felt boxed in there too. The TL was not as much but the difference in what I was looking for got me to buy the RL. Got back four similar offers, range from $ 42k to 44k plus tax. So I think if one pays retail price for the RL is is way over priced. I looked at a other vehicles at similar price and I told the Acura dealer what I would pay, i.e. 42000 and they bought it. Also got the extra stuff they make $$ on like wax, underseal ect. thrown in. I hope this helps. Good luck to all and stay safe. jensad |
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Replying to: houdini1 (Mar 30, 2009 11:54 am) Consumer Reports used to rank TL and RL at the top of their categories, but no longer. See April issue. TL may be good with a few bugs worked out and new front end, but RL needs a complete new design and mission statement.
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Replying to: carolinabob (Mar 31, 2009 12:40 pm) What a blast to drive.
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Replying to: pg48477 (Mar 31, 2009 6:15 pm) Great choice, the 535i is a fantastic car, definitely my favorite car in the segment. I picked up a 535xi last summer. After driving all the cars in the segment (except the Jag XF, but I'm not really a Jag fan) I easily picked the 535xi which I was fairly confident I was going to pick when I started. The M35x, although the 2nd best performer I drove (really enjoyed driving it), is still slightly behind the 535 in terms of performance, the build quality was also lacking on the inside, in addition to a lack of split folding rear seats (kinda important to me, gives a huge increase in practicality), and not so great gas mileage. Nice, but it needs a bit more personality and a sexier exterior design. A6 has a sleek and modern look, still has a nice interior (except for strange omission of auto steering wheel adjustment unless they changed that) and costs a bit less than the 535xi (only the A6 V6 version); but definitely exhibited more body roll in the corners than the 535xi and weaker overall performance with dull steering. The 535's engine is simply awesome, its a twin-turbo inline 6, with stronger performance than Audi's V8, and better fuel economy. And the cost advantage for the Audi only comes with the A6's V6 engine. The RL was a definite no-go; for about the same price as a Infiniti M35x, the M35x's performance is better, in addition to being more spacious. And compared to the 535xi it was quite a bit behind. At least it has a price advantage. MB E Class, forget about it, a joke, and it costs more than the 535, at least the Lexus has a price argument. Lexus GS350, sorry, no way. Its steering is numb compared to the 535xi, noticeably more body roll in the corners, and headroom seemed to be an issue. I don't really need to go into any more about it because for me if the performance is not there than the other stuff doesn't matter. For others though, this may not matter as much. Lexus and Mercedes Benz don't make cars that fit my idea of enjoyable driving. The 535 is a true sports sedan and I certainly can't say that about the GS350. The iDrive, while it could be a bit more intuitive, is not that bad, and is not a deal breaker by any stretch. In fact I don't mind it at all. And no, the cup holders were not even a consideration, haha. This is an honest opinion, no bias, if Lexus made a GS model like their own IS-F against the 535xi, then it would far more difficult. Although the 535 has sharp handling, excellent road feel, fantastic engine performance and efficiency, I must also mention that the ride quality is excellent. Here's how I would rate the top 3: 1st. BMW 535i (xi) (what can I say? I'll sum it up with this; Edmunds Inside Line went as far as saying the "nearly perfect sedan", and I can 2nd that) 2nd. Infiniti M35 (drives better than the A6 in my opinion with more communicative steering, but the engine is a bit unrefined and thus can be annoying loud, not Porsche loud, which is a good loud, and also doesn't do great on gas b/c of this, and isn't as sexy and its interior is not as nice as the A6. But the fact is the M35 performs better than the A6. Which car you like is better may depend on which brand you like and which aspects of a car are most important to you) 3rd. Audi A6 3.0 TFSI (better looking than the M35 and has better interior build quality, and also has split folding rear seats, imp for some, me included. New engine is also more refined than the Infiniti. Handling is not quite as good as the M35 but hopefully Audi will add an S-line pk, and with it, cornering will improve.) 4th. Acura RL; Decent job w/ the exterior redesign (still too much going on though) but it still lags behind the M35 in performance, for the same price (msrp at least) I could go into even more details but here it is summed up in 1 simple sentence. If you want to drive, get the BMW...and I love to drive.
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I've heard that the noise inside can get loud in the M35. That's to bad for that car. Also something else, the BMW and M35 are RWD. That also sets them apart from the Audi and TL.
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