I no longer own the Jeep.

You talk as if the RX isn't sold with steep discounts and cheap leases. I could lease a $50,000 RX for $450 a month with nothing down, about $100 a month less than the Jeep. I chose the Jeep. Dealer offered me $6,500 off the RX with zero effort.

Jeep has no problem selling the GC lol.

They literally cannot give me an RX, I refuse them as loaners. Hopefully the new one will be more substantial.

To bring this back to the topic, just because you don't like a vehicle doesn't mean it doesn't compete. I'd say having owned 6 Lexus vehicles I'm a pretty good Lexus customer, and they lost $100,000 in SUV purchases from me to Jeep. Customers every day ship the SRX Zandt choose it over the RX, and they will this new XT5 even more so because I'm sure it will be a vastly improved product as all Cadillacs are.

I dislike the RX strongly, but I don't deny that it's a very worthy competitor..

 

Really?
Who is gonna own a Jeep then? Every new Jeep owner I know is on a short cheap lease!
Because the really price of Jeep GC is less than a similarly equipped highlander, and RX, even at the end of its life circle, costs a good bit more than similarly equipped highlander. They are different in transaction price. Why should you keep telling they are in the same class? What is more! RX holds its value very well VS Jeep GC drops like a rock in used car market. Lease price is based on the depreciation.

Honestly, I dont like previous RX much either, but I can see why so many people love to own them one after another(not just 2-3year lease).

What makes new Caddy a very worthy competitor to RX? They may make some improvements over themselves, but still lags big in competition. No wonder that there are few and fewer Customers in Caddy's dealership showrooms.

 

No Jeep owner I know is on a "short cheap lease". In fact, I was the only Jeep lease in the neighborhood and there are 4 on my street. I also posted on the Jeep forums and most people own.

They aren't especially cheap to lease, unlike the RX where the vast majority are leases. When I leased both of mine the finance manager said they lease maybe 2-3 GC's a month, the rest were purchases. Seeing that neither one had any idea really how to do a lease I believe them.

You keep saying this but it doesn't make it any less meaningless. You talk about "transaction price" I'd like to see your industry source as to what the transaction prices are. I bought two of these vehicles, you bought none, I posted on Jeep forums and participated in a mid atlantic group buy organized by the forum, you didn't. I know what the bottom price is on a JGC.

You say "its less than a Highlander" but thats meaningless, because MY GC was significantly more than a Highlander, perhaps equipped similarly the JGC is less, but its available with more equipment in ritzier trims than the Highlander...so what does that statement even mean? You know what else was cheaper than a loaded Highlander when I was shopping? A Lexus RX. No joke, the Highlander had just come out.

Anyways, like I said...the Highlander is a three row vehicle, its not really comparable.

In the end for me it came down to the RX or the Jeep specifically, my wife liked the RX. We chose the Jeep because it was a nicer vehicle, better built, more comfortable, better looking, and more capable. Like I said...they definitely compete whether you want to believe that or not. All you have to do is go through the Jeep forum and look at what people are comparing to upper trim JGCs.

The current SRX sells 4k-5k units a month, and its a pretty outdated vehicle IMHO. Its Cadillac's best selling model. Looking at Cadillac's latest vehicles, the ATS and CTS they are very worthy competitors in their classes, I have no reason to believe the XT5 won't be an excellent vehicle.

Again, I've traded in two Grand Cherokees...you haven't. They actually hold their value quite well. Lexus by comparison has been inflating their residuals in recent years to get cheap leases, since Chrysler isn't really lease focused they don't do that. The RX has nearly a 60% residual, the Jeep was 50%. I traded both Jeep leases in and made money. Even the 14 which was traded in only 11 months into the lease I was able to trade out of with no negative equity. I've leased several Lexus vehicles, that would not be possible on an RX because the residuals are artificially high.

Your bias is showing and you really have no idea what you're talking about.

 

Good points on JGC and RX. Some folks just like to argue based on personal preference and bias alone.

 

This is true.

Lexus is foolish if they don't think people are cross shopping the RX with Cadillac and Jeep, they certainly are. With this new XT5 they will be even moreso.

To me where Cadillac's issues are looking at the ATS and CTS are:

1. Interior finish. The interiors are nice, good quality materials, but what is lacking is detailwork and finish. They just aren't as polished as the competition.
2. Pricing. Cadillacs are too expensive.

 

Pricing is probably more of a factor than interior finish. Cadillac actually does a pretty good job inside now.....much better than in years past. Where we first really saw some major improvements inside, IMO, was on the 2Gen CTS and SRX...the 1Gen interiors on those vehicles was a joke. But I agree that some current Cadillac models (not all of them) have too much sticker-shock.

 

When we bought our RX, these vehicles (GC, SRX) in addition to the MDX were the exact vehicles we cross shopped.

We had an SRX for a loaner when on vacation in Hawaii and really enjoyed it. Our only issue was the cargo room was a bit tight when we put our jogging stroller in it. Otherwise it would have placed higher on our list. I'm excited to see the new XT5.

 

Good point. The MDX seems to have been overlooked in this thread-discussion of the SRX/XT5 and its competitors....yet it is still a big seller, and basically keeps Acura's head above water.

That's partly because of the way they designed the roofline...that droop-down rear end does have a tendency to eat into cargo room. The new XT5 seems to avoid that, with a more traditional SUX box-shaped rear.

 

Our issue was really the cargo floor. The stroller took up most of the floor space, requiring that we place our suitcases in the rear seat. The RX could fit the jogging stroller and suitcases back there.

When we go to replace our RX in another year or so, we'll be looking at the Highlander, XT5, and the new RX.

 

I'm sure it's named XT5 to allow for an XT3 to compete with the NX class.

As for pricing, Caddy has shot itself in the foot by refusing to undercut competitors on MSRP to gain traction until they can solidify the vehicle reputation, and ended up in the same place with gobs of incentives.

I'm sure they will use the same strategy, rolling their boulder uphill with a stick, on the XT5.

 

Jeep compares more with 4Runnner than it does a RX350. The RX is in slightly higher level of prestige than a Jeep. Jeep is not really a high end brand.

 

Well said on the problem of pricing for Cadillac. Aside from the Escalade it is a pretty big problem they have right now.

 

The Highlander, of course, is in a slightly lower price/market class, although loaded ones can approach or equal RX territory in pricing. I'd also recommend at least taking a look at the new MKX, if you don't get one. For the first time in years (perhaps for the first time ever), Lincoln is doing well-done, competitive products in the small-to-medium size upmarket SUV class.

 

i am sure Lexus marketing and product planners know that every car is cross-shopped with other cars, and thats how new vehicle is built.

But you cant compete with everyone on every feature, thats impossible.

As to the XT5, I like it front and back, a lot, but profile is too simple, looks like it does not fit outragous front and back... I agree on interior and pricing, they need to do much better interior than recent vehicles and price it competitively.

 

I agree, but some cars are designed to be specific for a segment and not everything is copied across a segmetn. The RX does not have a 3rd row and that is deliberate, wheras the MDX having a 3rd row is essential. Eventually the Lexus lineup will offer a 3 row RX type SUV but it will be named something else. The success of the RX is because does what it does the same way since inception.