palumbo3284

I had the opportunity to drive a brand new 2011 Lexus LX570 this evening. My brother-in-law bought it for my sister for Christmas, and I'm stashing it in my grarage until Christmas day.

I have to say, I am quite disappointed in the lack of wow factor of a USD $90k vehicle. First off, in my opinion, its kind of ugly and rather blah looking. Then, as the sales person was going over the car in the showroom, I thought to myself the entire time "yeah, the Q5 has that, yeah the Q5 can come with that, yeah, that is standard on the Q5" and so on. It has a small sunroof, and the darn thing does not even have xenon headlights for crying out loud.

Other than it's sheer size and amount of cargo room, there is nothing on that thing that could make me ever want one, a Lexus for that matter, or anything special about it to really see the reason for spending that kind of money on it. Maybe ever since I bought my Q5, my first German car, I have become a little cynical of anything else, but does anyone else agree with me?

Disappointing, disappointing, disappointing...

m1964

before buying the Q5 we test drove RX350 - I was OK while I was driving, but after wife drove for about 10 min., I got sea-sick, could not even discuss price/etc. w/ sales person, felt like I was going to womit right there. I thought may be it happened because I was hungry, tired after work. Came back in one week and test-drove RX again - and got car-sick after taking a few agressive turns. RX seemed OK while driving straight line, but it had a lot of body roll, felt way too soft. Some people may like it, some will not, some will compromize because of exellent reliability, also the suspension will absorb all the bumps. I believe that Volvo XC90 we had before Q5, was a better ride then RX350 - it was comfortable, but without exesive body roll, had good power delivery, however had too many repairs...

EricSLine

Lexus has always been an over badged Toyota to me. When you sit inside and recognize parts that are found on normal Toyota's, I just always lost my taste for anything further to do with the Lexus. And they made it just for the American consumer: soft and plush ride.

Just my opinions! I'll never own one or a Toyota.. just two uninspiring brands that hover right around "blah".

The G Man

The quality or price point of a SUV or a truck does not always have to do with how much toys or options it has, it’s the construction and the material quality of the truck among other things. With Lexus, a lot of the cost for the SUV goes into reliability engineering and customer service. A Toyota land cruiser, the non-luxury version of the LX470 already cost $70000. Why do you think a Range Rover cost so much, it’s the heavy duty construction and the top tier material. Personally, I would never need a heavy duty SUV like that and I am sure most house wives don’t need one either. Trucks like this is more of a status symbol than a necessarily.

NMW1982

But isn't an Audi just an "over badged" Volkswagen?

the-oneil

LOL which means Bentley is also an over badged VW; Rolse Royce an over badged BMW, Mercedes and over badged Chrysler; Infiniti an over badged Nissan; Jaguar an over badged Ford; Porche an over badged VW..etc. etc.

Coolieman1220

That LX570 will be a beast offroad but who's gonna take such an expensive luxury vehicle off road?

Lexus gives such a nice ride but they suck to drive. I had one. Always preferred the Q to it. Hope your bro-in-law doesn't read this thread haha. Why didn't he go for something like a MB GL63 or an X5M?...even a range rover.

asm777

I think you meant Maybach is an over badged Mercedes. Didn't Daimler and Chrysler part ways a few years back? =)

palumbo3284

haha...I wouldn't have posted if I even thought he would have had a remote chance of reading this. I wish I knew why he ultimately chose the Lexus. Likely status symbol. My sister is a materialistic b***. Love her to death, but she would agree with that comment.

I tried to steer him into a Q7, MB, etc but he didn't seem interested in any of the German brands. He was originally going to buy an Escalade ESV, but also not sure why he decided against that. The last two vehicles it came down to was the Infiniti QX56 and the LX570...I really just think it came down to it being a 'Lexus'. Nice car, don't get me wrong, and the ride was uber-soft, especially in Comfort mode, but the car just does nothing for me. The guy at the dealer was going over all of the offroad stuff and breezed over it saying that she will never use or need it...just a lot of cash for something that is just BLAH. IMHO, of course. To each his own.

LuckyLeif

I also live in DC burbs and am shopping for a Q5. Probably meteor grey and sport line interior and probably build to order. I would be interested in knowing what discount you were able to negotiate.