Car Shopping...Acura vs Lexus...and reliability?
02-14-19, 11:36 AM
#46
Please don't waste your time but others use those numbers regularly, because they DO make sense and they convey important data, again probability theory is required but you can actually compute how good is the sample of 36K comparing to millions, believe me it is enough, you can compute (I don't have Poisson formula handy) but you can actually arrive at some number that would tell you that 36K sample out of a million gives you a (say) 99.XX percentile of confidence, how do you think political polls are done in this country, you can't call 200 mil voters, you only take a sample, the sample has to be large enough but it doesn't have to include everybody, sorry this is the basis of all statistical analysis, you are welcome to dismiss it, but that's just out of sheer ignorance.
02-14-19, 11:54 AM
#47
Please don't waste your time but others use those numbers regularly, because they DO make sense and they convey important data, again probability theory is required but you can actually compute how good is the sample of 36K comparing to millions, believe me it is enough, you can compute (I don't have Poisson formula handy) but you can actually arrive at some number that would tell you that 36K sample out of a million gives you a (say) 99.XX percentile of confidence, how do you think political polls are done in this country, you can't call 200 mil voters, you only take a sample, the sample has to be large enough but it doesn't have to include everybody, sorry this is the basis of all statistical analysis, you are welcome to dismiss it, but that's just out of sheer ignorance.
I have repeatedly said that "It may not mean anything to others" ... "It" being what i can infer from these statistics. Some people don't care about anything past a pretty chart, others do. But apparently i am not allowed to ask questions and think for myself, instead i'm "ignorant" if i don't take an overly generalized chart as gospel. Marketing people love people like you that can't think for themselves! Contrary to what you may believe, I am not disputing the findings in the chart--i'm simply asking others to think about what is being presented and how the research was conducted. It tells a limited story - as all surveys do.
I'll use one of my original examples. 10,000 TPMS failures vs 5000 engine failures. One will have a better "dependability" score, but who would you choose as more dependable? which company would you feel comfortable "depending" on to get you from point A to point B? I'd choose a TPMS failure over engine failure any day. But oh noes, they have a worse dependability score!!!~!~ If you don't take the time to think about this stuff, but instead just read the chart as one is more dependable than the other, then that is true ignorance IMO. Smart people ask questions and do research. Sheep just take what is presented to them without question.
02-14-19, 09:45 PM
#48
Pole Position
At the end of the day, we all buy whatever cars we want. It’s pretty well known that Toyota/Lexus is the most reliable in general. This is shown on paper, surveys, and word of mouth. We can sit here and argue what goes into these surveys etc, but all of us here bought an IS for a reason and I’m sure one of those reasons was the reliability factor that comes into play with Toyota/Lexus’ reputation. Not trying to ignore the paragraphs you guys wrote, it’s good info, but you guys are taking it a little too far lol.
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arentz07 (02-15-19)
02-15-19, 09:00 AM
#49
I agree, we went too far off on a tangent. Yes it's well known Lex/Toy have the best reliability. And actually i just went back and read the OP's post...
With that said, I began reading Consumer Reports and saw that Acura is currently ranked #22 in reliability vs Lexus at #4. Seeing Acura at #22 has me slightly hesitant to purchase because I plan keep whichever car I purchase for at least 5-8yrs.
For anyone that may have been or currently in this situation...How do you guys feel about the reliability aspect and/or quality of an Acura vs Lexus?
Any opinions, info, etc. are welcomed!
Thanks
It's funny because a few of us have been debating the JDP report that someone posted here, but i didn't realize the OP mentioned Consumer Reports lol...at this point i don't even have the energy to look into what metrics Consumer Reports uses.
OP, i'll give you this advice:
-It is widely known and excepted that Lex/Toyota is the most reliable.
-This is a Lexus forum, so you will get answers biased towards Lexus anyway haha
-Do the actual research on the specific models and trims that you want, to see if that changes anything. If you read my paragraphs above (and i don't blame you if you didn't), then it's easy to see how generalized results can be skewed by reports like this. While Lexus definitely has a better ranking than Acura, find out if the actual model and trim TLX you want has worse problems than the IS300. For example, the JDP report said most problems these days (across all manufacturers) are with infotainment systems, so if infotainment systems aren't very important to you then it may be worth doing the research to see what problems the survey recorded that ARE important to you. Also, the 2018 JDP report actually surveys 2015 cars--not sure if Consumer Reports is the same way. If they are the same, then the ranking you see, is not based off of 2016-17 model cars that you are shopping for. And yes 1 model year can make a difference as we saw between the MY14 and MY15 IS.
Much like you, i've owned many Honda/Acuras in the past, but they're all from the 90's and early 2000's when there was a lot less tech and reliability was easy. Our newest Acura was a 2002 RSX that went 170K miles and most expensive repair was a $600 AC Compressor. Other than that, i only had one side airbag sensor replacement for less than $100 and 1 engine mount which was inexpensive as well.
Having that said, my 2015 IS350 has 30K miles on it and has already been into the dealer for both air-mix modules and it seems one of those replacements has already failed. I don't expect to have a ton of issues with this car since it's a Toyota but who knows what will happen. The thing that worries me the most is getting a proper transmission fluid flush on this A/T. Other than that, i don't foresee any huge maintenance/reliability hurdles for long term owners.
With that said, I began reading Consumer Reports and saw that Acura is currently ranked #22 in reliability vs Lexus at #4. Seeing Acura at #22 has me slightly hesitant to purchase because I plan keep whichever car I purchase for at least 5-8yrs.
For anyone that may have been or currently in this situation...How do you guys feel about the reliability aspect and/or quality of an Acura vs Lexus?
Any opinions, info, etc. are welcomed!
Thanks
OP, i'll give you this advice:
-It is widely known and excepted that Lex/Toyota is the most reliable.
-This is a Lexus forum, so you will get answers biased towards Lexus anyway haha
-Do the actual research on the specific models and trims that you want, to see if that changes anything. If you read my paragraphs above (and i don't blame you if you didn't), then it's easy to see how generalized results can be skewed by reports like this. While Lexus definitely has a better ranking than Acura, find out if the actual model and trim TLX you want has worse problems than the IS300. For example, the JDP report said most problems these days (across all manufacturers) are with infotainment systems, so if infotainment systems aren't very important to you then it may be worth doing the research to see what problems the survey recorded that ARE important to you. Also, the 2018 JDP report actually surveys 2015 cars--not sure if Consumer Reports is the same way. If they are the same, then the ranking you see, is not based off of 2016-17 model cars that you are shopping for. And yes 1 model year can make a difference as we saw between the MY14 and MY15 IS.
Much like you, i've owned many Honda/Acuras in the past, but they're all from the 90's and early 2000's when there was a lot less tech and reliability was easy. Our newest Acura was a 2002 RSX that went 170K miles and most expensive repair was a $600 AC Compressor. Other than that, i only had one side airbag sensor replacement for less than $100 and 1 engine mount which was inexpensive as well.
Having that said, my 2015 IS350 has 30K miles on it and has already been into the dealer for both air-mix modules and it seems one of those replacements has already failed. I don't expect to have a ton of issues with this car since it's a Toyota but who knows what will happen. The thing that worries me the most is getting a proper transmission fluid flush on this A/T. Other than that, i don't foresee any huge maintenance/reliability hurdles for long term owners.
Last edited by CLUM; 02-15-19 at 11:20 AM.
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