This is not a personal testimony that I'm making lol but today one of our clients made a surprisingly ironic comment. This guy is a big BMW fan. He is one of those guys, it's BMW or BUST.... He said he became a BMW lover since he was a kid because of all the reviews and stuffs in the magazines how the 3 series always beats the competition. Hence so this guy drives an 08 335i in the beautiful (to me) Montego Blue with every option except Navi.

Today the topic of cars was somehow brought up and he said that yes he's a BMW guy today but someday his dream car is still a Lexus LS!

I find that odd coming from a BMW fanatic because I know BMW owners (sorry to anyone else who has a BMW here also hehe) are biased and would never go with any other brand once they are in the BMW world. They say that other companies like Lexus and Mercedes are trying their best to be BMW-wanna-be's but that's not true. Every company has their own style. Lexus is for luxury, comfort and reliability. Mercedes is a mix of sportiness and luxury while BMW is more of sporty and road-hugging handling.

Interesting though hehe

That is odd, since the LS is basically the opposite of the sporty BMW he's in now- the BMW is tiny and fast, and the LS is big and luxurious lol.

I guess if i drove an IS for a while i wouldn't complain about moving into a BMW 7 at some point

I don't know, I'm not sooo surprised I guess. The LS is just an undeniable luxury car icon. Look at where that car came from. Here in America we tend to think of Lexus as a new car company which it is, but the car line up has been around for years and years. The LS has evolved from a very solid back ground. The Toyota Celsior is very well known in Europe and Asia as one of the best cars ever made......ever! In fact I just read an article about the best deal on wheels for under 10k is a 15 year old Toyota Celsior. (I hope the link works but here: Autospeed Magazine

Even consumer reports says the Lexus LS is the most reliable car ever built. With so many publications and such a long history of reliability, I can easily see even European car buyers conceeding to the facts of the LS.

I rode in a new 750 il this past week while on a business trip. Not only is that thing so overly-complicated to figure out, the gear selector is on the steering column just like the turn signal switch, and figuring out which gear you're in is not so easy, as evidenced by the guy driving it (the owner) thinking he was in park, when in fact he was in reverse, but the seats were hard as bricks! Nice interior, obviously, cool looking, but not as "refined" in the smoothness category as a LS, not even my old 95. Might have been those monster-honker wheels though with the low profiles. Great looking car, VERY hi-tech.

The LS is a very reliable and refined car, no doubt about that. trust me though, people who buy these German cars are really addicted to it. Its not uncommon to hear owners who drove a 328i for 5 months traded that in for a 335i in a blink of an eye! There's a lot of guys on the forums who would die to own a M5, even if it means selling their new 550i (which is already a V8 geez!) for a used M5!

Complicated? Yes. These cars were built with buttons that you have to figure out what the symbol means. Took me awhile to figure out the star looking buttons on my steering wheel and which of the A/C buttons was for the A/C, and which was for the Auto A/C

I was only surprised because this guy who made that comment is a young guy, early 30s guy, someone who really will beat the s@^*t out of a BMW, would someday like to drive an LS. One thing is for sure, once you start off with these german cars and get addicted to them, it's hard to like a Lexus, I will honestly say this. It is a totally different driving experience.

I could clearly see NC getting into a world war with some of those BMW owners who bash other companies, especially Lexus lol. But I would still rather drive the GX than the 528i for some reason haha

Before I recently leased my new 09 LS I had two VW Phaetons which is basically the Bentley Flying Spur without the turbo. Even though my LS is quick and has a lot of electronics the Phaeton didn't have, the Phaeton was a much better driving car. I can't drive the LS like I could the Phaeton because it goes into skid protect all the time. Even though the Phaeton is a heavier car 5,400 lbs it just sticks in the corners becasue of the all wheel drive. Unfortunately you can't get the Phaeton in the US any more or I would have leased a third one. You may say why would you want to push the LS? with a 0~60 time of 5.5 seconds why not?

If you wanted a car you could push...the LS isn't the right car. Its just a totally different kind of car than a Phaeton (which is a wonderful car).

You'd have been happier with an Audi A8 or a BMW 7 probably.

I almost got the A8 but their money factor sucked so Lexus got my business. VW is talking about bringing the Phaeton back to the US in 2010~2011. My concern is that they will cheapen out from Piech's orignial vision (current design) to make it profitable in the US market. Meanwhile I get a lot more sleep in the LS

I think thats a very real possibility. They have to bring the price of the Phaeton down in order to entice buyers in the US, people just aren't going to spend $70k on a VW in the US...

Especially seeing as how the Audi name has much more "prestige" for the same dollars.

It's all about promotion. Once you realize the Phaeton compares better to the Bentley Flying Spur @ $200K you realize it's true value. Also, I got a much better lease deal on the Phaeton @ $76K than I did on my LS @ $69K with free rental and maintenance. And service on the Phaeton was only every 10K as opposed to the LS 5K. And I never had to top off oil etc.

My Lexus has 140k miles and I never have to top off the oil.

Doesn't matter, Americans just aren't going to spend $70k for a Volkswagen. Could be the best car ever, just isn't going to happen.

The lease is because its heavily subsidized from VW to sell a slow selling vehicle. The Lexus costs more to lease because Lexus doesn't need to subsidize leases to move their cars.

I agree. That's when the money factor in leases vary from time to time, depending on the sales of a particular vehicle. I remember when SUVs were selling at a SLOOWWW pace, that's when I got a really good lease deal on my 4Runner.