jayinco

So....after almost 2 weeks of ownership I thought I would share my initial thoughts of this vehicle.
First, some info about me....
I'm a car guy....My personal vehicles have been (since 1986) Mustang, Accord HB, Accord Cpe, TSX, Mazda 6, Maxima, TSX. I like driving....it doesn't have to excel at any one area....I just want to enjoy driving it.
I like almost all forms of music at high volume (no country please!!!!). I can easily go from Judas Priest to Depeche Mode to Muse to Tool/Perfect Circle back to New Edition (although I lean toward ROCK). I do have a soft spot for 80s and 90s rap and R&B. I'm from WA so Sir-Mix-A lot is a favorite. Others include: LL, Beasties, 2 Live Crew, 2 Pac, NWA/Eazy-E, etc. However, my favorite online station now is still 102.5 KATT out of OKC (I was stationed there for 12 years).
Anyway...car meets all of my wife's ever-changing requirements (1-SUV, 2-Room for 6'2" 14 YO old son, 3-cargo room for long weekend).
Meets most of my requirements (1-Wife happy , 2-Fun to drive (can't wait to break 1K mile break-in), 3-car-ish driving dynamics (hope to lower and get 19 or 20s), 4-decent stereo (TSX was great....hard to beat).

What I like so far:
Sport Mode - I could get addicted here....but at what cost to mileage. I've been trying to spend most of my time in 'Norm"....but dang!
Comfy Ride - This car at 85 on the highway is awesome (quite and smooth). Do I ruin this by putting 19s or 20s on it in my quest for fun and looks?????
Seats - Base...very soft, comfy with some side support. I wanted F-Sport but dang the seats are tight. I'm 6'1", 190 and they were tight...my wife is less tall.
Lights - TSX had HIDs, MDX has LEDs...could not go back to halogens. NX lights are very strong.
Back seat - Stretch (the kid) is very comfy (even in the typical slouch-mode) behind me or the wife - win!
Cargo - We can get 3 mid-size suitcases in the back (our typical 5-7 day trip) with the back seats up.
Sound Settings - Each sound source (FM, CD, IPOD, XM, etc) has separately saved Bass/Treble settings. This may sound stupid, but music quality is HUGE to me.....I love this! Wish my home receiver had this.
$4K+ off sticker (Never seen this on Lexus vehicles).

What I DON"T like so far:
Compared to my TSX (with 18's BTW), not sporty handling at all (duh....but such a comfy HWY ride). Maybe improved with springs....but like I said, at what expense to comfort?
Tight quarters - It took me three years of fiddling with the TSX seats to get a comfy driving position. The NX quarters seem tighter and may take longer.
Off The Line - In normal mode, the engine feels dead until it hits about 2.5k RPMs (yes...I know that's a turbo 'thing'). Maybe this will improve after break-in, but I doubt it. I feel like acceleration is like 1, 1, 1, 5, 7, 7,7.
Storage - DANG!!!! There is no where to put things. My TSX had more door storage, equal-if not bigger center storage, center console storage, center leg storage, top-center storage. I almost kind of like this as this might keep some of the wife's ***** out of the car
Looks - I like every view of his car (base model) except the front. Wish I could get F-Sport front end, with base seats....C'est la vie.

I honestly think this car will grow on me. When we got the 09 TSX, I didn't really like the looks, but I loved the way it drove (we were on our way to Germany so that was a priority). Now...I love walking up to it.
I think once I get a comfy seating position, get the windows tinted, get the Escort installed, and (hopefully) install springs and/or bigger wheels, I will be much happier.

For me, a car is NOT transportation....it's an extension of who I am and what I portray as a person...Hopefully the NX says "I value quality, sportiness, intelligence". I think it will.

Just curious as to others thoughts.....

kent2174

I can only say I look forward to driving the NX FSport and enjoy more every day.
Learning to use accelerator avoids turbo lag, and/or I am used to it.
Drive in normal most of the time except when on freeway on ramp, then Sport Mode.
Cant believe not a rattle anywhere after 16 months. (Fixed license plate rattle)
While our 17 RX is soft ride and more powerful, I still grab the NX most of the time, as it is so much fun.

DampDuffer

Agree with everything above except for using Sport Mode. I too tend to use Normal all the time (I think I've almost forgotten Sport is a choice), but I tend to go to the paddle shifters a lot and either use the transmission for braking or crank the RPMs quite high during acceleration. (The couple of times I did use the Sport Mode, I also had the Active Sound Control dial turned to max and used the paddles....thought I was 16 again, but not sure the police would have understood the fun I was having).

I too love there are no rattles (I only have 1100 mile on my F-Sport) because by previous 60,000 mile RX Hybrid was always rattling so much I finally got to the point I no longer asked the Lexus technicians to ride around in the luggage area listening for extraneous noise. (Frankly, I really think most enjoyed the chance to get out of the shop, and they generally found the noise source and fixed it).

I'm still experimenting with tire pressure. Started at 38, dropped it to 36, and just now dropped it to 35 after a noisy road trip....curious to know what pressures others are using, but there's another thread for that.