chalie

Hi All, Beckie, no, I purchased the NX in Mo. Thanks to all for your comments. I looked at other NX's on the lot and they all had similar "orange peel"...the BMW's were indeed quite noticeable. I had a good conversation with the collision repair manager. He did not see a difference in paint between an entry and high level Lexus. He also noted the difficulty of trying to match the poor paint finish with the BMW's. They intentionally have to apply a bad coat of paint to match the rest of the body. As far as my NX, the service manager took some pics to send off to the regional guy. No one said the paint on my NX was atypical. I am not trying to spread hate and discontent between brands...this is what I've seen and have been told. Both brands are very high quality. My last new car purchase was 9 yrs ago and the paint was glass smooth. How auto manufactures now feel the current quality of paint is acceptable is beyond me. I am opting not to drink their cool-aid. I just traded the NX in with less than 2k miles for a completely different make and model. My decision to do this was not based solely on the paint. I had other concerns as well. I may look again at Lexus down the road, but you can be sure I'll have a good look at the paint first. Thanks again for your help.

Hey Jeff, Couple final comments on the headrest. I checked on another forum and the F-Sport has adjustable headrests. Perhaps you could try that and have the leather matched. My guess would be around $500-$700 based on what I've seen (for a single unit). A quick fix that worked for me was to simply turn the headrest around. Perfect fit for me. It may not work in your situation as we are all not the same. You can't adjust the height for example, but it fits me just fine. My guess is this would not pass an NHTSA crash test. So do this at your own risk. I wish Lexus has a fix for this.

Hi all, After washing the NX a few times I finally had a chance to look closely at the paint in my garage under bright lights. I noticed my shiny Atomic Silver paint job was not glass smooth. There is only one way to describe it..."orange peel". Top and sides, everywhere. I called the 800 customer service number. Karen was nice but said I should take it back to the dealership and see what the service shop had to say, or perhaps the "field rep" could have a look. About 5 minutes after the call (coincidence?) my sales guy calls. We talk about a different question and then I mention the paint. He says (basically) to deal with it as all the new cars look like that....even the BMWs the dealership. My 4runner did not have this orange peel effect, so what gives? Does the 2nd coat of clear cause this? Or is this just the way it is and I should lower my standards? This is my 1st premium car and I'm trying to manage my expectations. Is this crummy paint job the standard with Lexus? I'm sure I am missing something here. Could someone please help? I think I'll make the drive in a couple days to the dealership. I'll update this post as necessary.

Hey Jeff, Ditto on the headrest. I'm 'bout 6'3" and told my sales guy I was shaped like a comma in the seat. Not very comfortable. He said the headrest protects against whiplash. True, but not a good answer. I do like the idea about looking for a non-US replacement. Sorry I could not bring anything worth while to the discussion.