HeadCase

I am coming out of a lease on a 2005 Cadillac STS V8. I actually turned my car in early because I've had nothing but service issues on my old STS. Loved the car, but hated the service department, small electronic issues and GM's approach as a company. This GS is officially the 1st foreign car I've ever owned and I previously owned only GM/Ford. (1988 Mustang, 1990 Jeep Cherokee, 1995 Pontiac Trans Am, 1999 Chevrolet Corvette, 2001 Yukon Denali, 2005 Cadillac STS)

I had been looking at Lexus, Mercedes (E550) and Infiniti (M45) for the last year. I decided on Lexus because from what I've heard through family/friends is that the service and reliability of Lexus is incredible. Compared to the service at your average Cadillac dealership, I'm sure it won't be hard to impress me. I've already received several follow-calls from my local Valencia Lexus Dealership to make sure that everything was cool with my new car. This is something I've never seen at a GM dealership. I also noticed that my first few services through my Valencia dealership are complimentary, as are loaner vehicles for future service appointments. This was a foreign concept to Cadillac and not one that they'll ever embrace.

I went with the Lexus over the Mercedes and Infiniti for a few reasons.

Price-wise, the Mercedes is way inflated right now due to the Euro being so strong, so that took most German cars out of the running immediately for me. I don't believe that an Audi/Bmw/Mercedes are worth as much as they are selling for right now. That's not to say these cars suck, but I just don't think that they are worth, on average, $10-$15K more than a loaded Lexus/Infiniti.

Performance-wise, I liked the way the GS handled in comparison to the Infiniti. It's more nimble, turns tighter and just looks better IMO. The track numbers are very similar with these two cars, but the feel of the GS is far more sporty for me. My best friend owns the M45 and would argue otherwise, but this is all about personal preference. The GS in sport suspension mode handles like a dream on country roads and eats up the small bumps/potholes in Touring mode.

Electronics -- Inside the cockpit of the GS, the dials, display and logical layout make more sense to me than that of the Infiniti. I felt like I had to lean forward a lot more to enter information into the Infiniti's Nav system. This was something that really bothered me. I also love the color of the display on the Lexus with it's vibrant white color. The Mark Levinson sound system in my GS blows away pretty much any other system I've had/heard in any other car. I'm not talking about high-end after market systems, but a high end system that is provided by the manufacturer. The bluetooth phone system in my GS460 is flawless so far. With my STS, I would always hear a high-pitched squeel for 5 seconds before I made any phone call with my phone. I also love the Speed and Voice Dial feature on the Lexus. Simply amazing IMO.

Reliability/Resale Value -- Lexus blows away the competition in this aspect. My Cadillac STS depreciated like a **** while the Lexus, from my research, doesn't take such a hard hit. My father owned a 1992 Lexus SC400 and drove it for 200,000 miles without a hiccup. All he had to do was replace tires, breaks, oil and an occasional recall. I am looking forward to driving this GS for the next 6-8 years while I commute.


Sorry for my first post turning into a long novel, but I just had a lot to say. I wound up buying the GS460 because I am a sucker for the V8 growl and didn't think there was enough of a performance difference between this and the Hybrid to justify the cost. Color is that dark gray slate color....18 inch Lexus chrome rims....clear bra installed at dealership...just had all the windows tinted yesterday. The car looks and drives amazing so far...I will go as far to say that I actually looked forward to my commute this morning.

Gojirra99

Congratulations for the GS460, & welcome to Club Lexus

Trexus

Congratulations on getting the GS 460! Awesome vehicle. I'm thinking of selling my GS 300 and upgrading to the 460. As of now I'm just too busy and I will find some time to do it. Happy driving...

The G Man

Congratulations HeadCase, you will love that V8 engine. I test drove both cars last month and decided on the GS as well. I pretty much agree with everything you said except I though the M45 handles better than the GS, of course the ride is much stiffer too. The steering also has more feedback in the M45, but I am starting to like the electric steering in the GS a lot more than I did at 1st. In my opinion, what really kill the M45 is the gas mileage, it was horrible. The GS has much better gas mileage, same power, better interior and exterior and all at about the same price.

Yang1815

iTrader: (1)

Congrats and welcome!

whlkev

what do you mean justify the cost for hybrid, in CA, i can get the hybrid cheaper than the 460 as Lexus is putting heavy incentive on the hybrid

you made the right choice, you won't regret it.

just fueled up yesterday and i avg 24.4 now. Not too shabby for a v8.

HeadCase

I never heard that there was an incentive on the hybrid to actually reduce the price below that of the 460. If that's true, I still probably wouldn't have taken the hybrid because I couldn't get used to the fact that the hybrid never seemed to shift gears. Does anyone else know what I mean? I guess from years of driving normal automatic transmissions, I am expecting the gears to shift and when it doesn't happen on the hybrid...it just bothers me. Yes I'm strange, but little things like this would bother me forever.

The G Man

That Lexus continuous transmission is one of the best one on the market. Some people buy the Lexus Hybrid just for that. It’s a planetary transmission, not like that belt driven junk transmission that Nissan put into their cars.

whlkev

yes, I don't like the CVT feeling so i didn't opt for the Hybrid.

and about the incentive, it's something that the consumer shouldn't know unless you work for the dealer, they can offer a much greater discount on the hybrid.

HeadCase

There's no doubt that it's a quality transmission, but I just find it strange. Maybe I would get used to it, but I didn't want to gamble on it. My other thought on this was that I'm sure Lexus will come out with other Hybrids down the road that offer superior performance/economy to that of the current technology. I'm not bashing anyone that owns a Hybrid....I just hate the continuous transmission...I'm old school like that!!!

INHOCJP

Wow, the best I've averaged for mixed city/freeway driving is 19 MPG

rominl

iTrader: (4)

congrats on the gs460, that's one nice car

yup, i avg 23mpg in the ls460l, i am sure the gs460 can do better

SiccMonkey

Congrats on your purchase and welcome to CL, i think you will find over time that Lexus does take good care of you. If you ever get the chance you should attend some of the events they throw like taste of lexus. they are alot of fun. One word of warning though...spending too much time on here can be dangerous to your wallet's health.!!!!!!!!

HeadCase

I am already blown away at the experience from my local Valencia Lexus dealership. They've called to follow-up with me 3 times now and I've barely owned the car for 2 weeks. I've heard from the Salesman, Customer Relations Manager and General Manager to make sure I'm satisfied. They've offered me an appointment to program all of my phone numbers into my GS (which I have already done on my own) and work with me on any of the settings in the computer. Is this how it is at other Lexus dealerships around the country?

With my Cadillac, they wouldn't even wash my car during servicing. They didn't offer loaner vehicles and made you rent a car from Enterprise, while offering no financial considerations to help pay for the rental. I had to return my STS to my local dealership 4 times to correct a "Check Engine" light that kept coming up. Even when I turned my STS in, the "Check Engine" light was still problematic. Not once did a manager ever follow-up with me, even though I had returned the car to have the same problem fixed 4 different times. I could go on and on about this, but there's no point in doing so. The best way to show you are unhappy about service/quality is to let your dollars do the talking. My wife and I both got rid of our Cadillacs last month (STS and Escalade) and have moved on to other vehicles.

The G Man

HeadCase, what did your wife buy?