Okay, we had been in market for a replacement SUV for awhile now to replace our RX. My wife still loves the RX, even the 2010, although our family has maxed out 5-passenger vehicles. My wife was also not ready to take the mini-van plunge, so we were just hanging with our RX300.

She attended the Lexus CT200H event in NYC last week, and was so royally ticked off by the personnel there, she went with my choice and we got our 2010 MDX this weekend. I'm not really sure what happened, but we went from waiting to get a CPO to a brand new MDX.

My wife had asked an organizer there if she could have a t-shirt that they were putting out. She was met with a snobby "oh, this is for our top VIP management executives." COME ON ?!?!?! A stinkin' t-shirt? Are you kidding me? We own two Lexus and visit your dealership for service plenty of times and I guess we're not VIP enough?

I wrote to corporate that night, but did not receive a reply at all. I guess we really are insignificant to Lexus.

Anyway, you lost our business just on recent bad rep and your bad events. Now we're hanging by our '04 LS, which should last a long time, but we just might sell that and get something new from either Acura or Infiniti.

 

Service makes a difference definitely, but I personally would not have quit the brand for the reasons you mentioned. Hope you enjoy your Acura, I would never buy an MDX just based on its exterior styling alone.

Hopefully the service of those personnel improves in the future.

 

Honestly,, you and I both know that the bad actions of 1 person should NOT reflect upon the entire brand product as a whole. I understand that it DOES sometimes influence an important decision, being a car purchase in this case, to a direction in which you were ALREADY leaning anyway. You, yourself, even stated that your current RX had outgrown your family, and it looks like the MDX may have just been large enough to fill the bill. Many here, will bash Acura(myself included) for their lack of originality, style factorization, etc. I, personally, am not a fan of ANYTHING in their current lineup; however if you have found a vehicle which meets the needs of your family and you are satisfied with it, then congrads on the purchase.

Could the Lexus rep have found a beter way to convey his public relations,,yes. Should his actions reflect upon the entire Lexus lineup,,no. You were right to be disappointed, but sometimes giveaway items are not "giveaway items" for the public. Anyways,, congrads on your new purchase.

 

Congragulations on the MDX. Not one of my personal favorite SUV's, but well-built, reliable, with good assembly quality, versatility, and resale value.

Break it in well...that will be important for engine/transmission/brake life.

If you want to dump the LS (it's a superb car, though, and I'd think twice about getting rid of it), the same people that sold you your MDX would probably be happy you sell you a new RL. Much has been written and discussed here on CL about the RL's smaller size, Accord-like styling, FWD V6-only powerplant, and 5 transmission speeds instead of 6 (the 2012 model, as I understand it, will have the 6-speed), and I won't re-hash all those pro/con arguments here. But the RL's build quality is, IMO, superlative, and the whole car has the feeling of being carved out of a block granite. It has (admittedly) been a poor seller, nationwide, though we have a number of them in this area, and that probably means good deals and steep discounts when new. But, when it comes to resale time......you could be loking at significant depreciation, too, to offset that new-car discount.

 

so you guys quit lexus over a squabble about a t-shirt?

what else are you not telling us......

it sounds like you already had your mind set on the MDX way before the lexus incident.

 

LOL. stuff like this always cracks me up.

 

I feel your anger, but I wouldn't let one person's actions (over a shirt) dictate which car you own.
Best wishes.

 

Congrats on the MDX, it is one of the best if not best 7 passenger SUV/CUV on the market. By doing research you should have clearly seen that a MDX was a top choice so it sounds kind of odd that you would just get the MDX on a whim because you felt the Lexus dealer disrespected you.

 

Congrats on the MDX. When I replace my gen 1 MDX, the gen 2 will be a contender.

 

There was no way the Lexus rep knew what you drove or how many years you have been with Lexus so you shouldnt take it personally.

 

Not including T-shirt giveaways in my car buying criteria, sorry.

 

Don't worry about the teeshirt, sounds like you're taking it waaay too personally.

The MDX is an excellent truck, in many ways much superior to the RX. Besides it's questionably designed front grille, it is my personal favorite SUV on the road.

Check out this video to see what your MDX can do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YidkaqlW9ns

 

^^ lol it was sponsored by acura so Id take it with a grain of salt. and every time I see that clip, the music gives me chills

 

I'm not sure what on earth makes you think that owning two Lexus vehicles makes you sufficiently important to demand products from Lexus. Do you go waltzing into a dealership and ask for free Lexus gear too? And I can only guess you believe you will get VIP treatment from Acura. Well, I wish you the best with that.

Also, I want to point out that at these types of Lexus publicity events, most of the workers are not Lexus reps or actual Lexus employees; they are simply contracted out by or work for whatever company Lexus uses to run those events. This was true even at the Chicago Lexus LFA preview event, for example (in fact, many of the staff I talked to were employees of the event venue). This does not excuse rudeness on their part, but it is an important factual distinction.

 

While the t-shirt thing seems a bit much, I totally understand where he is coming from. I own an IS-F and a LX570 both from Longo. So I figured I'd go for the trifecta and buy an LS460L. I sent Longo Lexus's internet department a price quote request. I specifically requested that they do NOT call me and did not include a phone number. Well, sure enough, they looked up my number and bothered me during an important client meeting. Furthermore, the salesperson absolutely refused to give me a price quote via email and blew me off. That was the last straw. When I got my IS F from them, they actually did send me an email quote and when I went in to buy, they refused to honor it! I had to complain to corporate for a resolution. That's when I learned not to trust them without getting everything in writing. After blowing me off over the LS, I went out and got a Porsche instead. I was sick of Lexus "customer service" which I frankly do not find any better than Toyota/Hyundai/Nissan/Honda.