Amazing experience at Lexus of Newport!
08-21-07, 05:40 PM
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Amazing experience at Lexus of Newport!
So as I wrote a few weeks back, I came to the States for a 5 week summer vacation. One of the things that I had to see was the best US Lexus dealership in S.California 
, in addition check out the IS350 and the APGS on the LS460. So guys I took your advice and went to Lexus of Newport 
. Before I went in I drove around a few times thinking if I should go in or not because I wasn’t going to tell them I’m here to buy a car when I wasn’t. But then I parked and as I was walking in, a salesman greets me, welcomes me and introduces himself (his name is Brad McBride; very friendly guy). So I introduce myself and tell him that I’m coming all the way from Saudi Arabia and I was wondering if I could tour the (he says with a smile: the dealership? YEAH SURE, just follow me and I’ll show you around) He didn’t even pull back for a second to think about it or gave me a look or anything. I even had a video camera and asked him if he minds me recording the tour; he told me to feel free to do so. Great!
It’s a very nice and impressive dealership, quite big (8 acres). We start off from outside where he shows me the huge parking lot where many dust free shiny Lexuses stand, and over at the side; a mini golf course/line. As we walk in, the climate is perfect (not too cold not warm, just right), he offers me bottled water, shows me the golf clubs and ***** that have the Lexus name and logo printed on one side and Newport on the other. The showroom is nicely lit with high ceilings, elegant material for the interior finishing, has nice and comfortable furniture with enough seating for customers and owners (some of the couches have leg rests; all leather of course). All sales people have nice open offices. Also, there are delivery bayS (simple/clean/upscale look) for when owners are ready to take their new car home. These bays have screens on top of the exit doors where owners will read “welcome to Newport Lexus, we appreciate your business, congratulations (their name) on the purchase of your Lexus etc”. In addition they’ll go over the maintenance schedules, show you how to program the Bluetooth, put in your home address on your GPS, set your radio stations; basically personalize your car to your likings and then they let you go. He then moves on to show me the see-through children play room where things are tiny, you know like tiny leather seats! Pure luxury! Speaking of luxury, the bathrooms are something; very clean, smelled clean (that’s really important) they also had a nice look (marble and wood finish) and that’s not all, the urinals have small flat LCD screens at your head level. I don’t know what to say… wow. Not that I’ve never seen that before, but in a car dealership??? Of course you don’t flush the toilet, just walk away without touching anything and the sensor will do it for you (again those are very important details).
Then we pass by the see-through general managers’ office, there’s also a nice fire place with a black Yamaha ‘piano a queue’ nearby. A boutique that sells Tommy Bahama clothing, Oakleys eye wear and other things. There’s also an accessory section with a variety of rims (over 20 styles if I’m not mistaken). Then of course there’s the lounge with “Lexus Caffee” that serves a nice variety food and beverages (looks appetizing). The lounge or waiting area has 3 big LCD screens hanging on the walls. Of course with such a dealership there are a couple of computers with free internet, but would you believe it if I told you that there’s a see-through ‘game room’ that has two arcade games? Seriously, I would’ve loved to listen to the day when the meeting about “what this Lexus dealership should have” was held. Mini golf course, game room, lounge with big TVs, a clothing boutique, kids play room, delivery bay, Lexus café, TVs in bathrooms, beautiful piano… those guys really do want to make an impression, they really care about their customers and went beyond what’s normal to make customers feel more than comfortable and happy while at Lexus of Newport. They put a price tag on their customers; approximately $86 million!!!
That’s how much it cost so far. Owners that are waiting for their Lexuses being serviced are given one of those beepers that buzz when the car is ready, that way owners can enjoy the facilities in the dealership and not worry about “let me go and check if my car is finished”… you’ll know when it’s ready. If you don’t want to wait from what I understood, they’ll give you a loaner (the loaners that I saw were the new ES350, IS250 and RX350).
At the drop off area, a bell boy? (the person that takes your belongings like bags and coats?) pulls up with a hotel-style chariot and transfers your belongings from your Lexus to the loaner that the dealership will provide you with while your car is being serviced. There’s also what’s called a “drop off box” near the service center entrance; what it does is say you decide to come in at 11 pm to drop off your car for maintenance because you wont have time to do that the next morning , obviously the dealership will to be closed at that time. So you leave the car at the entrance, fill a small paper (name, tel #, reason of drop off, things of that sort) and then just drop the keys and paper in the box. The next morning when the service center opens they’ll see your car, open the black box, take the keys and take care of your car. How convenient is that!
Inside the service center; 103 service bays, clean as a whistle, air-conditioned (no, seriously!), there are thick pipes hanging down from the ceiling that are supposed to be plugged into the tailpipes of the cars while in the service center; that way when the engines are running no exhaust fumes/carbon monoxide fill up the center. The fumes are released outside and that means workers are working in a clean and healthy environment. The infrastructure is perfect, seems really efficient and organized. FINALLY… (im tired of typing but I really want to share the whole experience) there’s a fully automated car wash, they use ionized water, the water itself is recycled/reused so that’s good. And the towels they use to wipe off the final touches are always washed in the washing machine. (Brad even showed me the room where the recycling machine/filter and washing/drying machines are, I saw everything so I know he wasn’t making anything up)
Really, all the people that I encountered over there were nice/polite/smiley but Brad McBride the sales consultant did an outstanding job. I gota give to him, obviously he loves working there because he knew I wasn’t going to buy a car from him (since I don’t live in the US) yet he was very respectful, friendly, informative and gave me around 40 minutes of his time to do a thorough tour of the dealership (explaining all the details). He even demonstrated how the APGS works on the LS460l; both the parallel park and the backup park, the Dos & DON’Ts and I’ll tell you it’s one thing reading about it and watching it on youtube and another seeing it actually do it in front of you. And finally he let test drive the IS350!!!! WOW! What a car. He let me try the 0-60, yep another story on that later.
If I lived in southern California I would buy my car from there that’s for sure. I’m a dreamer and I always dreamed that if I had so much money I’d open a top of the line Lexus dealership just like this one in my country. Yeaaa… who know maybe.
, in addition check out the IS350 and the APGS on the LS460. So guys I took your advice and went to Lexus of Newport . Before I went in I drove around a few times thinking if I should go in or not because I wasn’t going to tell them I’m here to buy a car when I wasn’t. But then I parked and as I was walking in, a salesman greets me, welcomes me and introduces himself (his name is Brad McBride; very friendly guy). So I introduce myself and tell him that I’m coming all the way from Saudi Arabia and I was wondering if I could tour the (he says with a smile: the dealership? YEAH SURE, just follow me and I’ll show you around) He didn’t even pull back for a second to think about it or gave me a look or anything. I even had a video camera and asked him if he minds me recording the tour; he told me to feel free to do so. Great!It’s a very nice and impressive dealership, quite big (8 acres). We start off from outside where he shows me the huge parking lot where many dust free shiny Lexuses stand, and over at the side; a mini golf course/line. As we walk in, the climate is perfect (not too cold not warm, just right), he offers me bottled water, shows me the golf clubs and ***** that have the Lexus name and logo printed on one side and Newport on the other. The showroom is nicely lit with high ceilings, elegant material for the interior finishing, has nice and comfortable furniture with enough seating for customers and owners (some of the couches have leg rests; all leather of course). All sales people have nice open offices. Also, there are delivery bayS (simple/clean/upscale look) for when owners are ready to take their new car home. These bays have screens on top of the exit doors where owners will read “welcome to Newport Lexus, we appreciate your business, congratulations (their name) on the purchase of your Lexus etc”. In addition they’ll go over the maintenance schedules, show you how to program the Bluetooth, put in your home address on your GPS, set your radio stations; basically personalize your car to your likings and then they let you go. He then moves on to show me the see-through children play room where things are tiny, you know like tiny leather seats! Pure luxury! Speaking of luxury, the bathrooms are something; very clean, smelled clean (that’s really important) they also had a nice look (marble and wood finish) and that’s not all, the urinals have small flat LCD screens at your head level. I don’t know what to say… wow. Not that I’ve never seen that before, but in a car dealership??? Of course you don’t flush the toilet, just walk away without touching anything and the sensor will do it for you (again those are very important details).
Then we pass by the see-through general managers’ office, there’s also a nice fire place with a black Yamaha ‘piano a queue’ nearby. A boutique that sells Tommy Bahama clothing, Oakleys eye wear and other things. There’s also an accessory section with a variety of rims (over 20 styles if I’m not mistaken). Then of course there’s the lounge with “Lexus Caffee” that serves a nice variety food and beverages (looks appetizing). The lounge or waiting area has 3 big LCD screens hanging on the walls. Of course with such a dealership there are a couple of computers with free internet, but would you believe it if I told you that there’s a see-through ‘game room’ that has two arcade games? Seriously, I would’ve loved to listen to the day when the meeting about “what this Lexus dealership should have” was held. Mini golf course, game room, lounge with big TVs, a clothing boutique, kids play room, delivery bay, Lexus café, TVs in bathrooms, beautiful piano… those guys really do want to make an impression, they really care about their customers and went beyond what’s normal to make customers feel more than comfortable and happy while at Lexus of Newport. They put a price tag on their customers; approximately $86 million!!!
That’s how much it cost so far. Owners that are waiting for their Lexuses being serviced are given one of those beepers that buzz when the car is ready, that way owners can enjoy the facilities in the dealership and not worry about “let me go and check if my car is finished”… you’ll know when it’s ready. If you don’t want to wait from what I understood, they’ll give you a loaner (the loaners that I saw were the new ES350, IS250 and RX350). At the drop off area, a bell boy? (the person that takes your belongings like bags and coats?) pulls up with a hotel-style chariot and transfers your belongings from your Lexus to the loaner that the dealership will provide you with while your car is being serviced. There’s also what’s called a “drop off box” near the service center entrance; what it does is say you decide to come in at 11 pm to drop off your car for maintenance because you wont have time to do that the next morning , obviously the dealership will to be closed at that time. So you leave the car at the entrance, fill a small paper (name, tel #, reason of drop off, things of that sort) and then just drop the keys and paper in the box. The next morning when the service center opens they’ll see your car, open the black box, take the keys and take care of your car. How convenient is that!
Inside the service center; 103 service bays, clean as a whistle, air-conditioned (no, seriously!), there are thick pipes hanging down from the ceiling that are supposed to be plugged into the tailpipes of the cars while in the service center; that way when the engines are running no exhaust fumes/carbon monoxide fill up the center. The fumes are released outside and that means workers are working in a clean and healthy environment. The infrastructure is perfect, seems really efficient and organized. FINALLY… (im tired of typing but I really want to share the whole experience) there’s a fully automated car wash, they use ionized water, the water itself is recycled/reused so that’s good. And the towels they use to wipe off the final touches are always washed in the washing machine. (Brad even showed me the room where the recycling machine/filter and washing/drying machines are, I saw everything so I know he wasn’t making anything up)
Really, all the people that I encountered over there were nice/polite/smiley but Brad McBride the sales consultant did an outstanding job. I gota give to him, obviously he loves working there because he knew I wasn’t going to buy a car from him (since I don’t live in the US) yet he was very respectful, friendly, informative and gave me around 40 minutes of his time to do a thorough tour of the dealership (explaining all the details). He even demonstrated how the APGS works on the LS460l; both the parallel park and the backup park, the Dos & DON’Ts and I’ll tell you it’s one thing reading about it and watching it on youtube and another seeing it actually do it in front of you. And finally he let test drive the IS350!!!! WOW! What a car. He let me try the 0-60, yep another story on that later.
If I lived in southern California I would buy my car from there that’s for sure. I’m a dreamer and I always dreamed that if I had so much money I’d open a top of the line Lexus dealership just like this one in my country. Yeaaa… who know maybe.
08-21-07, 11:18 PM
#5
Wow, excellent review.
If you're still in town, you should go down the street (head south on Jamboree-5 minutes away) to Fletcher Jones Mercedes Benz (the largest in CA) and you'll be running like Forrest Gump
Yeah, Newport Lexus blows ALL the dealerships away. And when you go to Tustin Lexus, you would ask yourself, this is a lexus dealership
If you're still in town, you should go down the street (head south on Jamboree-5 minutes away) to Fletcher Jones Mercedes Benz (the largest in CA) and you'll be running like Forrest Gump
Yeah, Newport Lexus blows ALL the dealerships away. And when you go to Tustin Lexus, you would ask yourself, this is a lexus dealership
08-22-07, 12:45 AM
#7
Wow, excellent review.
If you're still in town, you should go down the street (head south on Jamboree-5 minutes away) to Fletcher Jones Mercedes Benz (the largest in CA) and you'll be running like Forrest Gump
Yeah, Newport Lexus blows ALL the dealerships away. And when you go to Tustin Lexus, you would ask yourself, this is a lexus dealership
If you're still in town, you should go down the street (head south on Jamboree-5 minutes away) to Fletcher Jones Mercedes Benz (the largest in CA) and you'll be running like Forrest Gump
Yeah, Newport Lexus blows ALL the dealerships away. And when you go to Tustin Lexus, you would ask yourself, this is a lexus dealership
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08-22-07, 09:09 AM
#8
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Thanks guys for the compliments.
GS3tek, I was actually staying at Rancho Santa Fe in the Tustin area. That's like a 4 minute drive from Lexus of Tustin. I passed by it but didn't go in coz it seamed like a regular dealership. However, did you know that Tustin Lexus was the first Lexus dealership in the US. This is where it all started (wow) THAT by it self means something. Antoher thing, when Brad gave me the bottled water it said "Tustin Lexus, right from the start".. So I asked him "Oh, Tustin Lexus??" then he turns the bottle and it says "Newport Lexus, it's about time" .. then he goes on to tell me how both dealerships are owned by the same people. Can you believe it.
GS3tek, I was actually staying at Rancho Santa Fe in the Tustin area. That's like a 4 minute drive from Lexus of Tustin. I passed by it but didn't go in coz it seamed like a regular dealership. However, did you know that Tustin Lexus was the first Lexus dealership in the US. This is where it all started (wow) THAT by it self means something. Antoher thing, when Brad gave me the bottled water it said "Tustin Lexus, right from the start".. So I asked him "Oh, Tustin Lexus??" then he turns the bottle and it says "Newport Lexus, it's about time" .. then he goes on to tell me how both dealerships are owned by the same people. Can you believe it.
Last edited by GSsnarl; 08-22-07 at 09:16 AM.
08-22-07, 09:19 AM
#9
Thanks guys for the compliments.
GS3tek, I was actually staying at Rancho Santa Fe in the Tustin area. That's like a 4 minute drive from Lexus of Tustin. I passed by it but didn't go in coz it seamed like a regular dealership. However, did you know that Tustin Lexus was the first Lexus dealership in the US. This is where it all started (wow) THAT by it self means something. Antoher thing, when Brad gave me the bottled water it said "Tustin Lexus, right from the start".. So I asked him "Oh, Tustin Lexus??" then he turn the bottle and it says "Newport Lexus, it's about time" .. then he goes on to tell me how both dealership are owned by the same people. Can you believe it.
GS3tek, I was actually staying at Rancho Santa Fe in the Tustin area. That's like a 4 minute drive from Lexus of Tustin. I passed by it but didn't go in coz it seamed like a regular dealership. However, did you know that Tustin Lexus was the first Lexus dealership in the US. This is where it all started (wow) THAT by it self means something. Antoher thing, when Brad gave me the bottled water it said "Tustin Lexus, right from the start".. So I asked him "Oh, Tustin Lexus??" then he turn the bottle and it says "Newport Lexus, it's about time" .. then he goes on to tell me how both dealership are owned by the same people. Can you believe it.
And rominl-you're not missing anything at tustin.
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