New GX!
10-25-08, 12:44 PM
#1
Instructor
Thread Starter
New GX!
So, I brought home a GX yesterday! I'm blown away. I didn't know that I had it in me to be honest. 2008 Titanium Metallic on Gray / Black with NAV/ML and 3rd row. No XM, RSES or KDSS, but I'm sure that I'll add DVD players to the headrests one day and XM soon.
What a long strange trip it has been. With the arrival of our first baby, we knew the Acura CL Type S had to go. No way was its tiny backseat going to be at all baby friendly. As a car nut, I've been all over checking out different cars for its replacement that was family friendly. (Anyone want to buy it?!)
First up was a hot and heavy, yet ever so brief, love affair with an 05-06 A8 short wheelbase. It's a beautiful car inside and out. No, make that gorgeous. Unfortunately, the fear of owning it once its warranty expired ultimately scared me off. The salesman didn't do a good job at all convincing me otherwise, but I suppose I have him to thank for being up front. He didn't say it's not a reliable car by any means, but he said it's not a Lexus. Yes, he said that! Furthermore, it didn't drive anywhere as smoothly as my many years old GS430. Maybe it's not supposed to, but whatever. I thought it would wear on me.
Next up was Infiniti's M35x and Lexus' GS350 AWD. The Lexus is beautiful in an understated manner and fast, but the M35x sounded faster with its louder and more aggressive exhaust rumble. The Infiniti's sport shift transmission was also more user friendly / ergonomic in my hands plus it seemed to do a better job of smoothly downshifting under deceleration. Surprisingly to me, the new 3rd gen GS' trunk is quite a bit smaller than my 2nd gen GS' trunk. I decided that I was being selfish and knew that the family would appreciate a bigger car than what I was looking at, so I slowly backed away. By the way, next time you look at a 05-06 M35, check its quad tail pipes and tell me if all four tips are still attached - you'll be surprised. (Which would I have gotten if I had stayed the course? The GS350 AWD. I'm a Lexus guy. That said, I would have looked longinly at every M35x/M45x on the road. It's a very cool car in my opinion and its price advantage is "strong to very strong" to quote Nurse Focker.)
Next up? An 07 RX350 with its bigger 3.4L motor (yes, I'm pretty sure it's not a 3.5L!) and newest navigation system. I found a sweet CPO with super low miles, AWD, nav, ML, RSES and new tires that wasn't all that far from home. And on top of that the color combo was hawt: mica on black with wood trim. A short and inexpensive airplane ride, paperwork and a long drive home would have only taken about 24 hrs. I was ready, willing and able to get it done. However, the dealer wouldn't budge off their sky high price. I tried and tried to no avail. If they had been reasonable, I would have been a proud RX owner today! Their loss ended up being someone else's gain. (Edit: About a month later, the dealer lowered the price by a measly $1K. About two weeks later, it either sold or they sent it auction. You never know if they won by sticking with the higher price or they called it quits and gave it back to the auction because they were too proud?!)
It was then I realized there were a few 06 LX's around the country for not much more money than the CPO 07 RX350 I was stalking. They didn't have the RSES or night vision, but they were once a $65K car! I kicked some tires online, but ultimately was turned off by its previous gen nav, it wasn't any bigger (if not smaller in some measurements) inside than the RX or GX and is a damn old car platform to boot. To its advantage, I think its a great looking car in and out. The nav was still newer than mine and the ML in it is supposed to be top shelf. I didn't drive one, but certainly meant to.
As I mentioned above, I was attempting to figure out if the LX was "worth it" and was doing lots of side by side comparisons online between the LX, RX and GX. It was then that I decided that I had short changed the GX. Granted it has an awkward (to put it lightly) center console around the transmission and center storage system, but I never had considered it before. It got slightly (ever so slightly!) better mpg, faster, featured the newest nav and offered the same (if not more) room as the LX. Plus the new 08 offers a great looking darker / redder wood trim than previous years (like the current gen 3GS). In silver, black, white and light blue, it's a very nice looking car - especially with the gray / black interior. Even so, I hadn't driven one and wasn't sure it was worth the extra $ over an RX.
After some Internet searching, it became apparent that dealers were pushing hard to clear their lots of 09 RXs to make way for the all new 2010 model. Low 2.9% financing and significantly reduced prices. I wondered if the same might be true of leftover 08 GXs. So, I took a flyer and struck gold: a dealer advertising to sell GXs at invoice (it turned out to be under invoice in fact!). My local dealer eventually matched them and today we're driving a brand new 08 GX for only $3K more than a new 09 RX! (Similarly optioned except that the RX didn't have ML, so the actual difference shrinks a bit more.). I'm ecstatic!
If I had shopped any longer, who knows what I would have bought and paid! I started out with what I felt was a reasonable budget and ended up way higher. I had to stop shopping and stop looking at what was just a few thousand dollars more! The story of my life, I think. What can I get for just a little bit more?!
> > >
Based on next to zero seat time in our new car, here's what I like, dislike and wonder about:
Likes: By comparison to my nav (gen 3), this one obviously kicks ***. The ML is strong. Exterior styling (especially the nose / front) save the rear gate. Usual Lexus V8 with its smoothness, quietness and power.
Dislikes: Awkward styling on the rear gate and center console around the transmission. No part-time 4WD. No smart key. No AC seats.
Wonderment: What and when in the world am I going to use RHAC?! Same goes for the adaptive suspension selector switch, which I'm dubious of making much difference.
* Thanks for all the info here on CL! Great resource.
What a long strange trip it has been. With the arrival of our first baby, we knew the Acura CL Type S had to go. No way was its tiny backseat going to be at all baby friendly. As a car nut, I've been all over checking out different cars for its replacement that was family friendly. (Anyone want to buy it?!)
First up was a hot and heavy, yet ever so brief, love affair with an 05-06 A8 short wheelbase. It's a beautiful car inside and out. No, make that gorgeous. Unfortunately, the fear of owning it once its warranty expired ultimately scared me off. The salesman didn't do a good job at all convincing me otherwise, but I suppose I have him to thank for being up front. He didn't say it's not a reliable car by any means, but he said it's not a Lexus. Yes, he said that! Furthermore, it didn't drive anywhere as smoothly as my many years old GS430. Maybe it's not supposed to, but whatever. I thought it would wear on me.
Next up was Infiniti's M35x and Lexus' GS350 AWD. The Lexus is beautiful in an understated manner and fast, but the M35x sounded faster with its louder and more aggressive exhaust rumble. The Infiniti's sport shift transmission was also more user friendly / ergonomic in my hands plus it seemed to do a better job of smoothly downshifting under deceleration. Surprisingly to me, the new 3rd gen GS' trunk is quite a bit smaller than my 2nd gen GS' trunk. I decided that I was being selfish and knew that the family would appreciate a bigger car than what I was looking at, so I slowly backed away. By the way, next time you look at a 05-06 M35, check its quad tail pipes and tell me if all four tips are still attached - you'll be surprised. (Which would I have gotten if I had stayed the course? The GS350 AWD. I'm a Lexus guy. That said, I would have looked longinly at every M35x/M45x on the road. It's a very cool car in my opinion and its price advantage is "strong to very strong" to quote Nurse Focker.)
Next up? An 07 RX350 with its bigger 3.4L motor (yes, I'm pretty sure it's not a 3.5L!) and newest navigation system. I found a sweet CPO with super low miles, AWD, nav, ML, RSES and new tires that wasn't all that far from home. And on top of that the color combo was hawt: mica on black with wood trim. A short and inexpensive airplane ride, paperwork and a long drive home would have only taken about 24 hrs. I was ready, willing and able to get it done. However, the dealer wouldn't budge off their sky high price. I tried and tried to no avail. If they had been reasonable, I would have been a proud RX owner today! Their loss ended up being someone else's gain. (Edit: About a month later, the dealer lowered the price by a measly $1K. About two weeks later, it either sold or they sent it auction. You never know if they won by sticking with the higher price or they called it quits and gave it back to the auction because they were too proud?!)
It was then I realized there were a few 06 LX's around the country for not much more money than the CPO 07 RX350 I was stalking. They didn't have the RSES or night vision, but they were once a $65K car! I kicked some tires online, but ultimately was turned off by its previous gen nav, it wasn't any bigger (if not smaller in some measurements) inside than the RX or GX and is a damn old car platform to boot. To its advantage, I think its a great looking car in and out. The nav was still newer than mine and the ML in it is supposed to be top shelf. I didn't drive one, but certainly meant to.
As I mentioned above, I was attempting to figure out if the LX was "worth it" and was doing lots of side by side comparisons online between the LX, RX and GX. It was then that I decided that I had short changed the GX. Granted it has an awkward (to put it lightly) center console around the transmission and center storage system, but I never had considered it before. It got slightly (ever so slightly!) better mpg, faster, featured the newest nav and offered the same (if not more) room as the LX. Plus the new 08 offers a great looking darker / redder wood trim than previous years (like the current gen 3GS). In silver, black, white and light blue, it's a very nice looking car - especially with the gray / black interior. Even so, I hadn't driven one and wasn't sure it was worth the extra $ over an RX.
After some Internet searching, it became apparent that dealers were pushing hard to clear their lots of 09 RXs to make way for the all new 2010 model. Low 2.9% financing and significantly reduced prices. I wondered if the same might be true of leftover 08 GXs. So, I took a flyer and struck gold: a dealer advertising to sell GXs at invoice (it turned out to be under invoice in fact!). My local dealer eventually matched them and today we're driving a brand new 08 GX for only $3K more than a new 09 RX! (Similarly optioned except that the RX didn't have ML, so the actual difference shrinks a bit more.). I'm ecstatic!
If I had shopped any longer, who knows what I would have bought and paid! I started out with what I felt was a reasonable budget and ended up way higher. I had to stop shopping and stop looking at what was just a few thousand dollars more! The story of my life, I think. What can I get for just a little bit more?!
> > >
Based on next to zero seat time in our new car, here's what I like, dislike and wonder about:
Likes: By comparison to my nav (gen 3), this one obviously kicks ***. The ML is strong. Exterior styling (especially the nose / front) save the rear gate. Usual Lexus V8 with its smoothness, quietness and power.
Dislikes: Awkward styling on the rear gate and center console around the transmission. No part-time 4WD. No smart key. No AC seats.
Wonderment: What and when in the world am I going to use RHAC?! Same goes for the adaptive suspension selector switch, which I'm dubious of making much difference.
* Thanks for all the info here on CL! Great resource.
Last edited by Johnny Rad; 12-08-08 at 09:36 PM.
10-26-08, 12:14 PM
#5
Good choiice on your purchase. My sticking point with the GX is the Locking Center Diff button. My wife is always pushing it by accident and then comes in the house and says "The truck is driving funny again" No matter how many times I show her, she doesn't get it. Arrrrghhh. The rear hatch sux too. But driving it is a dream a great family vehicle that will not get lost in the Walmart parking lot.
10-27-08, 07:14 AM
#6
You sound alot like what I would go through in buying a car.
A lot of fun yet very time consuming.
Congrats on the purchase and WELCOME!
I agree with the barn style rear door, I perfer the lift gate but then again when the shocks go and the door doesn't stay open anymore its a nuisance.
You definitely need to post some pics.
A lot of fun yet very time consuming.
Congrats on the purchase and WELCOME!
I agree with the barn style rear door, I perfer the lift gate but then again when the shocks go and the door doesn't stay open anymore its a nuisance.
You definitely need to post some pics.
10-27-08, 07:22 AM
#7
Congrats and enjoy! To answer your question about the RHAC, the only time I've ever used it is off-road to raise the *** a little in order to get a better departure angle. I believe that's it's only purpose.
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12-07-08, 03:02 PM
#8
Instructor
Thread Starter
And finally a pic six weeks later. Yup, it looks just like all the other '08 GXs out there. Maybe I'll check out 18" wheels when the OEM rubber is due for a replacement. (I added the clearbra and XM via Vais Technology, which is SO much better than the FM modulator I use in my GS.)
12-07-08, 03:23 PM
#10
Man I miss those old brick Utah homes!!! Oh wait, this is a car forum
Congrats on the GX. I bought mine at invoice too, but it was a CPO. I used to really hate the rear gate, until I discovered I can actually get into the back without opening the garage door, so it kinda evened out for me. The center console is a great junk catcher too, so you may grow to accept it as well. Wait till you take a long trip with your GX. That will seal the deal on the new ride for sure.
Congrats on the GX. I bought mine at invoice too, but it was a CPO. I used to really hate the rear gate, until I discovered I can actually get into the back without opening the garage door, so it kinda evened out for me. The center console is a great junk catcher too, so you may grow to accept it as well. Wait till you take a long trip with your GX. That will seal the deal on the new ride for sure.
12-08-08, 09:51 PM
#12
Instructor
Thread Starter
Six weeks later, here's what I like / dislike about the GX (compared to my OP with no seat time):
Likes: Smooth. Quiet. Even with the semi-offroad tires, it's probably quieter than my 2GS. Just what I wanted. Also, easy to drive and see out of. Nice feeling leather seats that aren't plastic coated. I'm getting old, but I appreciate the running boards more often than not when getting in and out. Sweet XM functionality.
Dislikes: Seems that the rear suspension can get choppy / bumpy over certain bumps, like it needs IRS. Front seat arm rests that have to go up to go down. The only thing more irritating than the arm rests is the trip computer and its operation. A cheap, plastic button to cycle through functions is not Lexus quality and is unacceptable. Why wasn't mpg and E/T built into the nav system?! The ergonomics of leaning over to tap the button blows. No smart key. No AC seats. These two will bug me more when I get an ES loaner.
The "whatever" category: The new gen nav is a novelty so far. Screen resolution is nice, but I've yet to use the added functionality. I need to figure out how to enter addresses on the move. Also, with the dressed up speaker enclosures up front, I'd like to have seen wood around the power window switches on all four doors. Spice it up more with little wooden class. Will anyone open the rear side windows?! With the rear seats in place, it's gotta be 10X harder to do. Give it the LX's motorized opener. Trip computer's barometer is overkill. Is it a luxury-ute or a super offroader?!
Overblown on my part: The center console is fine. Not great looking, but it doesn't bother me anymore. The side swinging gate is in the same category, but needs to stay open easier (I think I need to read up on that one...).
Likes: Smooth. Quiet. Even with the semi-offroad tires, it's probably quieter than my 2GS. Just what I wanted. Also, easy to drive and see out of. Nice feeling leather seats that aren't plastic coated. I'm getting old, but I appreciate the running boards more often than not when getting in and out. Sweet XM functionality.
Dislikes: Seems that the rear suspension can get choppy / bumpy over certain bumps, like it needs IRS. Front seat arm rests that have to go up to go down. The only thing more irritating than the arm rests is the trip computer and its operation. A cheap, plastic button to cycle through functions is not Lexus quality and is unacceptable. Why wasn't mpg and E/T built into the nav system?! The ergonomics of leaning over to tap the button blows. No smart key. No AC seats. These two will bug me more when I get an ES loaner.
The "whatever" category: The new gen nav is a novelty so far. Screen resolution is nice, but I've yet to use the added functionality. I need to figure out how to enter addresses on the move. Also, with the dressed up speaker enclosures up front, I'd like to have seen wood around the power window switches on all four doors. Spice it up more with little wooden class. Will anyone open the rear side windows?! With the rear seats in place, it's gotta be 10X harder to do. Give it the LX's motorized opener. Trip computer's barometer is overkill. Is it a luxury-ute or a super offroader?!
Overblown on my part: The center console is fine. Not great looking, but it doesn't bother me anymore. The side swinging gate is in the same category, but needs to stay open easier (I think I need to read up on that one...).
12-09-08, 06:14 AM
#13
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