mmarshall

An old friend of mine (and a colleague of mine at my church) moved out further away from D.C. some years ago, into the outer-VA suburbs. He and I were going to go shopping soon to replace his old Toyota Highlander. Well, of course, he's married (I'm not), so he has to answer to his better half...a girl he met, years ago, when he was In Seoul, South Korea with the U.S. Air Force. Instead of a new Korean product (say, a Kia or Hyundai SUV, or even a new Genesis G80/G90 sedan), he told me, on the phone tonight, that she had fallen in love with a new White Pearl Lexus RX350. So, they took it home (I wasn't there this time, during the deal or to test-drive and inspect it for them, as I often am for others). He sent me some cell-phone pictures, but they didn't come out very well, so, instead, I'll post some look-alikes from Google. It's a standard, AWD, (non-F-Sport) RX350......yes, spindle-grille and all LOL.

My own new car, a Lacrosse, if all goes well and according to the schedule, will be built tomorrow (July 31) or sometime during this coming week, and be shipped and ready in a couple of weeks after that.

(BTW, as a new Lexus owner, I invited him to join CL....we'll see if he takes that up, although he's not as deeply interested in vehicles as I am, and doesn't have a lot of time to post)

Toys4RJill

Wonder if your friend will take to the remote touch. But overall, a safe choice. Interior is pretty good. Power train is tried and true.

mmarshall

If I can get him to join CL, he'll tell you all about it himself.

Agreed it's a safe choice. The RX is as reliable as the sunrise.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Congrats to your friends. The standard Lexus SS+ is great. Judging by the 20" wheels they got premium package, navigation. If they don't know already you can tell them it is tuned on regular 87 octane.

Btw, that 'white pearl' is called Eminent White Pearl. It replaced Starfire Pearl, and is supposed to mimic the snow-covered hills in Hokkaido Japan. I love those little 'stories'.

chromedome

Looks like Eminent White has a more matte, mother-of-pearl sheen to it, whereas Starfire has a blue/silver tinge. I'd prefer an F-sport grille on the new RX because it tones down the aggressiveness of the front.

Still, it looks like an Imperial staff car from Star Wars...

mmarshall

I think they know that.....it probably has the same engine the old Highlander did.

Years ago, Audi, Cadillac, and Infiniti, not Lexus actually pioneered that type of white paint job, although, in original form, it was almost matte in texture, had very little gloss, and had a more pronounced metallic/oyster-effect to the looks than today's versions do.

pbm317

Congrats on the purchase for your friend, but does this part really have anything to do with the story? I find this borderline racist. Does everyone from Korea need to prefer and only consider Korean products? I'm from Korea, and while I absolutely think they're making much improved products, I don't own one.

LexBob2

Maybe just saying his wife preferred the RX would have been sufficient.

Johnhav430

back in the HMO days, my doctor was Korean. He asked me what I thought of my BMW, and I said I love it. He said all his brothers/sisters drive German cars, and he is quite happy to not have the maintenance bills they are always complaining about, and besides, he feels good driving a Kia and supporting a co. from where he hailed. Smart guy, one of those MD/PhDs.....

On the 350 front, I always think about my friend's brother who ordered one and it came up to NJ from MD, driven, not on a flatbed. Asked me what I thought and I said I don't like it, I want my new car with < 20 miles, actually < 8 if possible. So he emailed his concerns and then he forwarded the email to me from the NJ dealer. The NJ dealer claims to have checked, and rest assured all the car jockeys are old so they would never speed in the new customers' cars. I thought that was a big pile of BS and sounded really dumb, but my buddy said his bro doesn't care if it has 200 miles when he gets it...so to each his own.

Congrats to your friend, new cars rock! You should convince him to join...

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

so you haven't seen your friend's car. those pictures are just off the internet. what's the point of this thread?

SW17LS

I was debating posting exactly the same thing...

Johnhav430

From where I sit, I don't think it was like that. One of the candidates I would have supported for potus was a US Sentator from VA, and I happen to know he speaks Vietnamese and his wife is Vietnamese American. If he preferred Vietnamese food, it would not surprise me. His Navy Cross, silver and bronze stars, purple hearts at least in my mind speak for themselves. I don't quite understand that if someone's background is mentioned, why it is racist? That's me.

Johnhav430

Haven't you ever heard the Neil Young tune, "Only Love, Can Break, Your Heart?" In it he sings he has a friend he's never seen......

davyjordi

I was as well...

SW17LS

Let's use food then. If somebody said that the senator and his wife had dinner at Mortons last night, and that they were surprised that she would eat a steak and not Vietnamese food since she's Vietnamese. That's a racist statement, and it's the exact same statement Mike made.

Mentioning of her race isn't the issue, it's the insinuation or expectation that she would want to buy a Korean car because she's Korean.

Now I'm not saying Mike is a racist, I highly doubt he is. Most racism though is casual, unthinking, and unintentional. Doesn't make it less wrong.

Just in the future, when commenting about people's preferences don't assume they prefer certain things because of their race. Treat people as people, not as some preconceived notion you have about them as an example of their race. It takes some effort to do that really for everybody.