rayaans

Well my wifes car was having problems. Went into the Mercedes dealer to get it fixed while having the service done at the same time. It cost me £200 for a turbo pipe and an extra £500 for a bloody service! What a rip off.

My RX F Sport is going into the Lexus dealer and having a service for £300 and its less than a year old! My missus' car is 8 years old and parts are readily available!

Also, have any of you guys been into a Mercedes showroom recently? The customer service sucks. Maybe its just me being pampered by Lexus but Mercedes are rubbish. Another thing I noticed was that even though the cars look great, you sit inside and everything feels cheap. Cheap plastic buttons like those found on a laptop and hard leather which reminded me of a KIA.

And NOO, this isnt the CLA im talking about, the cheaper models just get worse. I was considering buying an SL63 AMG as a leisure car. I loved it when I first saw it. Black with red leather sitting there, shiny and new in the showroom. It had a sticker price of £114,000 and materials which seemed to be recycled from a plastic kettle + no HUD, no LED headlights. Instant turn off.

Maybe its just me, but I think my RX450h F Sport was superior to the SL63 AMG, both in materials and the feelgood factor and to be perfectly honest, it made me realise the potential that Lexus have if they continue to offer great vehicles at awesome prices. Basically, the moral of the story, the more you compare other cars to Lexus, the more you realise that Lexus is the best!

Cruiter

Wow, I can remember the days back in the business when I was with Porsche & Audi (they were together then) and wondered if Mercedes would be a better place to push cars out the door. Sounds like their day in the sun is over.

But like you I realize each and every day how well designed and screwed together our RX's are. Even I'm guilty on here of having said something like a particular item could be designed to function better but all in all not very many of us would trade back and start all over I suspect. Your post is a good reality check .

rayaans

I think Mercedes has lost their touch. Their making maximum profit and not giving anything to the customers. I can remember when my wife bought the C220 CDI from Mercedes. They were helpful and friendly and the car is extremely well screwed together. Its even got real wood and leather dash considering it only cost her £26k brand new. Now the new C220 CDI costs £35k and has a plastic dash and fabric interior. Really confused at what theyre doing to be perfectly honest.

azinn

Bought a new Mercedes ML430 in 2000 for around $50,000.00 thinking they had all the problems worked out since the 1998 introduction. After 9 1/2 years of ownership it was the absolute worst car/truck I've ever owned. Had around $16,000.00 worth of warranty work done in the first four years in addition to many more problems after warranty. Looking forward to purchasing a trouble free 2014 RX 350 next year. In the meantime I've been driving a couple of Nissan 2.5S Sedan Altima's a 2009 and now a 2011 which have been great vehicles with no problems. Just my 2 cents.

kitlz

Spoiled indeed by Lexus. But not all are created equal. I won't go anywhere near the local Lexus dealers. The way I've been treated is deplorable. So sometimes it's a matter of finding the right place.

Now I don't have personal experience with MB, just a story from my former boss. About ten years ago he was interested in looking at a CLK I believe. Went to the local dealer with his teenage daughter in his C4. They wouldn't let him take a test drive without putting major bucks ($10K) down. Needless to say he walked out and not only drove but purchased an MB from another dealer. My brother-in-law worked at the same crappy MB dealer years later. He left after a few months. A coworker swore by them. But I think it's because she paid the price listed in the window

Oh wait, I did drive an S-class at a Lexus event years ago while my friend tried the C320. Me for fun, her because she always wanted one. We went around a track at various speeds and even had big foam blocks thrown at us. It was a fun day. But when we got out of the cars, the first comment we both made was about how horrible the steering was. My friend has never looked at MB the same way again. BTW, she's been in Camrys for the past 25 years.

rayaans

Dont know about the reliability on other mercs but my wifes C220 has been fine to be honest. 8 years old with 70k on the clock and the only thing that happened was a blocked intercooler pipe so pretty good. The old mercs were solid though so im sure the new ones will have reliability issues.

corradoMR2

Reliability and quality surveys speak for themselves and Lexus (and Toyota) is at the top over and over not just in N. America, but globally. Ever since my dad bought the family's first Toyota (Camry) back in 1987, it was no turning back with 12 Toyotas and Lexus owned since combined, with the latest being the new RAV4 for my dad. In between, we had fun too with two MR2s (Gen 1 + 2), a Celica, and a Scion Tc. We're a loyal bunch and for good reason. Now I'm still looking for a nice mid-90s Supra...

Agree with the MB interiors - they are too stark and plasticky for the price and luxury pretensions, and the brand as a whole is overly-presumptuous for my liking. Never liked the radio/HVAC controls and same goes for BMW and Audi. But to their credit, they have the most engaging driving experience although Lexus is closing the gap and even surpassing them with their latest F-Sport GS and '14 IS models. The future looks amazing for Lexus, and there's more with the upcoming NX and RC.

vlad_a

I got to drive both C-class and E-class at BMW driving events. Absolutely nothing special about these vehicles. Cheap is one of words that comes to mind in describing it. BMW is nothing special, IMHO, but at least it handles well. Mercedes doesn't even do that.

I love the new Lexus interiors. The 3RX is great in that department!

The thing about Lexus, you don't have to spend a ton of money maintaining it. Being a Toyota underneath, it requires little work to be done. Most of it is changing the oil and an occasional filter.
I owned my IS300 for over 10 years now. I rarely go to the dealer, mostly to mount/balance tires. I never thought I would say this, but Lexus has been an economical car to own in the long run. That's why I have 2 in the garage now.

Cruiter

Same for me, especially the 450h model. Things like changing the cabin filter I do myself and let Toyota change the oil & rotate the tires. Goes a long way in justifying the (h) upgrade cost as it has even less required maintenance. The end of June will be 4yrs 50K for me so vacillating whether or not to buy the extended factory warranty. Right now thinking 'NOT'.