Car brands are like religion

and I don't have the Honda religion. A lot of Americans do, but even more believe in Toyota, so I could argue that Toyota has a better hold on American pocketbooks.

It's ironic that Acura was the first Japanese luxary mark, but has been totally eclipsed in the US by Lexus. Infiniti came out at the same time as Lexus, but never really caught on, and to be honest has had a rather spotty lineup (some excellent, some forgettable, some good but unloved e.g. original Q45).

Acura has also been spotty. The Legend and Integra were fairly popular (although not as successful as Lexus) models, Legend owners looked down on the "cheap" Integra owners. It was "I own a Legend" not "I own an Acura". So the Legend and Integra brands bit the dust, resulting in the nice RSX and a generic Legend replacement. Now the RSX is going.

For me to spend $45K on a car, it would have to be perfect (after all, I like to keep my cars for a long time), and the RL looks, well, generic - the new Camry has more style (and that's not saying much). For a used car, I think I'd take a SC400 over a Legend coupe, but if I do look at the SC400 seriously, I should also check out the Legend.

If I were shopping in the $45-55K price range, I think I'd get one of [link|http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonybee/319741500/|these] and soup it up - it would be faster, cheaper, and stand out more than a NS-X. I saw one exactly like the picture this weekend, and they are wild. More practical would be a Mini Cooper - that may be what I choose when my Nissan finally bites the dust.

For practical cars, I'm pretty impressed with Mazda's lineup. The Mazda 6 hatchback looks good, the 5 is intriguing (one of our friends loves hers), the CX7 look nice, and I'm still very happy with my soon to be paid off Tribute - it's not too big, but can carry a lot, drives very nicely, and has had no problems through 4.5 years.

BTW, from a manufacturing point of view, I'm very interested in Toyota - they are one of the best manufacturers in the world.

--Tony

Post #275,470 by tonytib 12/11/06 1:19:17 PM Reply	Car brands are like religion and I don't have the Honda religion. A lot of Americans do, but even more believe in Toyota, so I could argue that Toyota has a better hold on American pocketbooks. It's ironic that Acura was the first Japanese luxary mark, but has been totally eclipsed in the US by Lexus. Infiniti came out at the same time as Lexus, but never really caught on, and to be honest has had a rather spotty lineup (some excellent, some forgettable, some good but unloved e.g. original Q45). Acura has also been spotty. The Legend and Integra were fairly popular (although not as successful as Lexus) models, Legend owners looked down on the "cheap" Integra owners. It was "I own a Legend" not "I own an Acura". So the Legend and Integra brands bit the dust, resulting in the nice RSX and a generic Legend replacement. Now the RSX is going. For me to spend $45K on a car, it would have to be perfect (after all, I like to keep my cars for a long time), and the RL looks, well, generic - the new Camry has more style (and that's not saying much). For a used car, I think I'd take a SC400 over a Legend coupe, but if I do look at the SC400 seriously, I should also check out the Legend. If I were shopping in the $45-55K price range, I think I'd get one of [link\|http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonybee/319741500/\|these] and soup it up - it would be faster, cheaper, and stand out more than a NS-X. I saw one exactly like the picture this weekend, and they are wild. More practical would be a Mini Cooper - that may be what I choose when my Nissan finally bites the dust. For practical cars, I'm pretty impressed with Mazda's lineup. The Mazda 6 hatchback looks good, the 5 is intriguing (one of our friends loves hers), the CX7 look nice, and I'm still very happy with my soon to be paid off Tribute - it's not too big, but can carry a lot, drives very nicely, and has had no problems through 4.5 years. BTW, from a manufacturing point of view, I'm very interested in Toyota - they are one of the best manufacturers in the world. --Tony
Post #275,488 by Bman 12/11/06 3:33:36 PM Reply	toyota's other cars Now this is a UGLY car [link\|http://www.edmunds.com/media/reviews/top10/05.best.under.15k/05.scion.xb.500.jpg\|http://www.edmunds.c....scion.xb.500.jpg] "Pictures are better then words because some words are big and hard to understand" Peter Griffin (Family Guy)
Post #275,600 by a6l6e6x 12/12/06 9:50:58 PM Reply	Mini-hearse! :) Alex When fascism comes to America, it'll be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross. -- Sinclair Lewis
Post #275,602 by a6l6e6x 12/12/06 10:02:05 PM Reply	Re: High end Toyota. :) [link\|http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2004-03-09-consumer-reports_x.htm\|Written in 2004]: The 2003 BMW 7 Series had more problems than an 8-year-old Lexus LS 400, according to Consumer Reports. Alex When fascism comes to America, it'll be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross. -- Sinclair Lewis
Post #275,638 by Steve Lowe 12/13/06 12:29:24 AM Reply	Re: High end Toyota. :) was that when iDrive was introduced? I remember reading about lots of quirks with early iDrive 7-series BMWs - kinda soured me a bit toward the brand that they'd choose the M$ platform to run thier cars on. Not that I have the means to buy a 7 series Beemer any time soon, mind you. -- Steve [link\|http://www.ubuntulinux.org\|Ubuntu]

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