What Other "luxury" Brand Car Have You Owned?

[rickgus]

I'm still pretty active over at the Mercedes forum I've haunted for about 7 years now, even though I've left that brand behind(for now). There's been alot of discussion over there lately, comparing quality and features of the major luxury brands, I.E: Benz, BMW, Audi, Jag, and Lexus mostly. Alot of those folks see Lexus as pretty much a joke, Japan's feeble effort to compete. Of course, anyone with a pulse can see Lexus has done well. But there's no convincing the dedicated Benz owners that Lexus is never going to be anything more than copy-cat wanna-bees.

I've pointed out that I see alot more ex-Benz owners here, than ex-Lexus owners over there.

So how about a bit of a roll-call?

[Lexusfreak]

My Dad's owned 2 Cadillac's in the past & they were really sweet rides. Personally I considered several different Luxury brands.....Infiniti, Cadillac, Audi & Benz (I've driven several BMW's in my time & could never figure what all the hype was about with them.....they didn't even appear on my radar when I was shopping)......a few professionaly mechanics have told me pretty much the same thing of all but the Infiniti.....unless the Caddy, Audi & Benz have a long time to go on the warranty.....you better stash some considerable cash away when (not IF) problems start to happen.

Drove Infiniti's & for about 8 seconds I considered Acura as well.......as of today......I am on my second Lexus ES.....nuff said. :D

[djspawn00]

I've owned a caddy, still own a BMW, and acura, and an infiniti... but I've never owned a Benz... and don't plan on getting one... i like my car to spend more time on the road and less time in the shop.

an R8 would be sweet though.

[SOMEONE ELSE'S GOT MY NAME]

A (what we dis-affectionatly call) 'strange rover' ... man ... what an overpriced POS they turned out to be. 12mpg, and tons of time in the shop. 6 weeks prior to the warranty going away, we unloaded that thing. Biggest warranty claim? A yellow light comes on, 'maintenance required'. No other symptom. $6,000 tranny charged back to the manufacturer. Thank you Lexus for quality.

[1990LS400]

I owned three Mercedes cars over a 21 year period from 1969 to 1990 when I bought my first LS400. Personally, I don't have a need to convince "dedicated Benz owners" that Lexus cars are better. Why bother? I live in a culdesac where there are five S-class Mercedes cars owned by other households. It is as if my Mercedes owning neighbors are living in the same Mercedes fantasy I once lived in. I don't say anything bad about Mercedes to my neighbors or to my best friend who bought a new Mercedes and has had a bizarre string of crippling problems with it. I let them all have their fantacies. I do, however, vent my opinions about Mercedes on this forum.

[rickgus]

The Mercedes I owned were old ones, back when they REALLY built a car. Had 2 '68 diesels, a '67 230 sedan, and the last was a '83 300SD(turbodiesel). The SD was one hell of a car. Hated to let it go. Had a little over 360k miles on it, and still solid as a rock. But a lot of "little" issues were happening, power windows, A/C marginal, ect. So I decided to step up a few years. Did lot's of research. Was going to buy a late 320E. Found too many issues. Looked at Audi's. Waaaayyyy too many issues. Not a Bimmer fan, so that was off the list. Caddies scared me. A few relatives have them, or had them. No thanks. Lincolns are plain wierd looking anymore.

Then I thought "Hey, I like the Lexus GS series!". Bought one.

Yeah, I'm not really trying to "convince" those fellas "over there" about the Lexus vs Benz issue. Lost cause. There's the whole status issue that's like trying to argue politics or religion. Not going to happen. But it's fun to bat it around with them. They're mostly a pretty good bunch, so it's MOSTLY in good fun. :D

[rickgus]

Drove Infiniti's & for about 8 seconds I considered Acura as well.......as of today......I am on my second Lexus ES.....nuff said. :D

What did ya not like about an Infinity? I did consider them, but Edmunds.com showed a few too many issues.

[Doc H]

BMW M5, driven for 4 years on the autobahn in Germany....ahhhhhhhh

Doc H.

[Lexusfreak]

Drove Infiniti's & for about 8 seconds I considered Acura as well.......as of today......I am on my second Lexus ES.....nuff said. :D

What did ya not like about an Infinity? I did consider them, but Edmunds.com showed a few too many issues.

Inferior quality to the Lexus in addition to what you have mentioned.....and lower resale value. ;)

[Brendon Bosy]

I've never really cared for German cars. Some of the older Beemers and Mercs had excellent reliability back in the late 80s, but they've gone down hill significantly. They want to joke about Lexus, but when's the last time you seen a Merc reach the 200k+ mile mark? For Lexus, its quite common. My Dad owned a 96' ES300 which made it to 260k miles. It wasn't the engine that died, but the exhaust/catalytic converter which would have cost more to replace than the car was worth. He used that as an excuse to trade in. Lexus and Japanese luxury cars have an absolutely command edge when it comes to reliability. German cars are great performers, but only up to about 150k miles. After that, get ready for the headaches.

Another thing I've noticed is that German cars get pretty sh*tty fuel efficiency compared to their equal Lexus rivals:

LS460 (380 HP) = 16/24 MPG

BMW 750i (367 HP) = 15/23 MPG

Benz S550 (382 HP) = 14/21 MPG

IS-F (416 HP) = 16/23 MPG

BMW M3 (414 HP) = 14/20 MPG

Audi RS4 (420 HP) = 13/20 MPG

[Idoktr]

I'm still pretty active over at the Mercedes forum I've haunted for about 7 years now, even though I've left that brand behind(for now). There's been alot of discussion over there lately, comparing quality and features of the major luxury brands, I.E: Benz, BMW, Audi, Jag, and Lexus mostly. Alot of those folks see Lexus as pretty much a joke, Japan's feeble effort to compete. Of course, anyone with a pulse can see Lexus has done well. But there's no convincing the dedicated Benz owners that Lexus is never going to be anything more than copy-cat wanna-bees.

I've pointed out that I see alot more ex-Benz owners here, than ex-Lexus owners over there.

So how about a bit of a roll-call?

Mercedes, but the quality was not the MB of old ??

[lenore]

Jaguar XKE (1968) by far the funnest car to drive, but what a beast. Owned a Mercedes 190E, very impressed with the strength and handling, Had its problems, but mostly from previous owner not taking care of it. Loved the way it drove, could turn on a dime, and yet had the feel of a car twice its size.

[RX in NC]

Although working on cars is now just another chore for me whereas 30 years ago it was fun, I would be willing to put up with frequent grease-covered arms and substantial under-the-hood time once again if somebody gave me a nicely-restored late 60s XKE. They were and still are supercars. But keeping the carburators in sync on those V-12s can be a full-time job, I know. I would only be willing to do that again for an XKE....

[nc211]

The Lexus has been my only true-luxury car personally. But in my family tree, we have a few older ones "we all hate new car depreciation". We have an 85' MB 500sel with about 35k "i think, can't remember mileage very well". We also have a 73' Caddy full size monster with something like an 8.0 liter V8, glass packs, with about 20k miles "all original", my brother bought my dad's 94' Jag sedan with the 4.0 V6, has about 50k on it now, prestine condition. Have had a couple BMW's "530, 318ti, 325ci". Of all of them, the Lexus was the nicest in terms of driving/riding/mechanical/comfort. The Caddy however is by far the #1 gun slinger in the garage. The MB is pretty cool, an Italian import version, but not very comfortable and quite sparse on the options. The Jag is beautiful, but rides like a true led-sled and as tempermental as a high school cheerleader at prom "dated one, and only one, thank god." The BMW's were nightmares. The 530-in the winter the stick would freeze you into just 1st and 2nd gear, and in the summer the fuel lines always broke. The 318ti was a buzzy rattle bucket, the 325ci blew electronic modulators like Mel Gibson blew his career. And the mechanical top would almost always fail after a dozen operations. Furthermore, the gas peddle required about 20lb's of force and the harmonic balance of the exhaust note would make your ears hurt after a while.