Cars We Drive!

jbarwick said:

Infinity and Acura never achieved the success Lexus did for an offshoot brand. I will never understand Infinity's decision to make every car part of the 'Q' line. 'Q' alone for cars, 'QX' for SUVs. Then just random numbers that don't make a whole lot of sense...not that any other brands numbers make sense anymore. Acura...errr....I have no idea about them anymore. If you took the badges off, any normal non-car person would have a problem picking out which brand its from. Not a good thing.

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Infiniti is due for another overhaul of their naming. It has been 2 years.

Thrift Vader said:

woah, was going to disagree with one post, but agree with the second....

That Acura guy is a moron. Acura is not the premium of Honda. Honda is.
and until recently, Lexus was nothing more than a diluted,more palatable for racial bias Toyota.

The Toyota Century, Majesta, Crown Royal Saloon,Crown Athlete,etc are/were the gold standard for luxury sedans. at least here. Going German would mean getting less. less options,less power,less dealer support.
Case in point: was there a Lexus Supra?
until say, 2004- lexus was a middle of the road Toyota. a bit of what you might be able to have. but not the whole meal. (sometimes i wish i had bought a Crown Athlete)

Now? Lexus is bringing all the toys. on par with the mother brand. and being used as the division to bring the glorious LC500 and RCF type cars to shop floors under one brand. is it sad they used this division? meh.

Anyway,
If you want to buy a car over there, Japanese brand, with delusions of grandeur?
-Infinity G35/7
-Late Lexus LS430
-Acura Legend

But to agree with @ridethecliche ? anyone posing without knowing jack will always be rolling in a base E-class,C-class,A6,Or a 320i. possibly debadged.

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The Acura guy is a complete jackass just based on his wanting to drive something in an effort to put on a sad act about how successful he is. It wouldn't matter if he did it purchasing an Acura, a BMW, or a Bentley. He is simply too stupid, and picked a brand that really has no cachet.

You bring an interesting perspective on Japanese brands because you live in Japan. However, here in the US it is still very different. Honda and Toyota may be the premium brands in Japan, but around here they are just thought of as basic transportation, nothing special. We don't get any of the models you mentioned. If you asked people in the US, even car people (who are not specifically into cars sold in Japan), they would have no idea what a Toyota Majesta is, and may think a Crown Royal Saloon just sounds like a bar in the old west. Most people here just associate Toytota with Corollas, Camrys, 4 Runners and Highlanders. I'm sure the domestic stuff you guys get there is far more advanced than what they send here, and maybe that contributes to our limited our perception of Toyota. A friend of mine from back when I was in college, came here from Japan. He said with regard to stereos, TVs and other electronic goods, that in the US we were at least a decade behind in terms of Japanese products being sold here. He said that all electronic stuff that Sony and other Japanese companies were selling here, was stuff they were getting rid of, because in Japan they were already using and selling more advanced TVs, stereos, and electronics ...so it was like we were just getting their left over or old technology. Its possible that is less true today, because of the internet and living in a faster paced world.

I think with average Americans in the US, Lexus has always been thought of as the highest end Japanese car you can purchase here. I don't think most other people care or think much about the status of Acura, and Infinity just seems like one of the most forgetable brands.

brokencycle said:

Infiniti is due for another overhaul of their naming. It has been 2 years.

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Ha!

What about Nissan?
Off the back of the GTR, They should have dropped the Infinity name. and said 'Hey, this is us'.
and
Damn, Japan. step up. shut them up. bring out all the toys. I know what you can do.

things like a 4 wheel drive,4 wheel steer, 2.5L,V6 turbo, Nismo S-Tune Wagon?
http://www.goo-net-exchange.com/usedcars/NISSAN/STAGEA/700120029830170412001/index.html
Just add Rays Homura wheels. and exhaust?=Cooking.

In electronic it used to be Asia was more of a rest ground (MD never made in the US), though given US smart phone dominance (more just iPhone...) not sure what’s the case. There are a lot Japan only model, but Japanese still wants BMW/MB if they can..., at least that’s my perception...

Dino, I think you're right about the acura to be honest.

They had a hit in the TL in the 2000's but really didn't do too much that was memorable. I think they're coming back in a pretty big way now.

Totally agree re: putting on airs and brands like BMW (with an M badge bought on ebay), Mercedes, and Audi.

@Dino944 the whole perception that Japanese cars couldn't
sell irks me. they dominate the enthusiast market. to the point where fanboys drive up the prices worldwide on cars released 25 years ago.
and the laws that locked out the best Japan has to give? to protect the local markets?
led to some truly epic oddballs here that fanboys never heard of. or just can't get. (my car?)so no, i don't mean skylines.
the ones you got? Labelled as difficult to work on. by mechanics at level 1. 300zx,etc.
We had the Athlete. a straight 6 (1jz),single Turbo slimmed down luxury 4-door saloon.
http://www.goo-net-exchange.com/usedcars/TOYOTA/CROWN/700020458430180623001/index.html
yeah, a lean,mean Barge.
and other crazy stuff.
-My Sti Has the Y2000 spec MD player in it. that thing is staying. and i need to find all the JDM Pop and Rock i can find for it.

The american market sucks for cars right now. Everyone's buying crossovers and SUV's.

Even ford is discontinuing most of its 'fun' cars. They're killing off the FoST and FiST which are both pretty solid enthusiast cars in the price range from what I've seen.

it just seems like the German's got a free pass at our expense. and the consumer lost out.

ridethecliche said:

The american market sucks for cars right now. Everyone's buying crossovers and SUV's.

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Even the crossover/SUV market sucks. Trust me, been shopping for the last year. I'm starting to come to terms that we might be a 2 Subaru Ascent family.

Thrift Vader said:

@Dino944 the whole perception that Japanese cars couldn't
sell irks me. they dominate the enthusiast market. to the point where fanboys drive up the prices worldwide on cars released 25 years ago.
and the laws that locked out the best Japan has to give? to protect the local markets?
led to some truly epic oddballs here that fanboys never heard of. or just can't get. (my car?)so no, i don't mean skylines.
the ones you got? Labelled as difficult to work on. by mechanics at level 1. 300zx,etc.
We had the Athlete. a straight 6 (1jz),single Turbo slimmed down luxury 4-door saloon.
http://www.goo-net-exchange.com/usedcars/TOYOTA/CROWN/700020458430180623001/index.html
yeah, a lean,mean Barge.
and other crazy stuff.
-My Sti Has the Y2000 spec MD player in it. that thing is staying. and i need to find all the JDM Pop and Rock i can find for it.

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Japan has made some great cars. But here in the US...the companies and their products are viewed differently in Japan. Here we understand the interest in cars like the NSX, the S2000, the 300XZ Twin turbo, the Supra Turbo, the RX7, the STi,...but I'm not sure there is the same level of excitement or cult like follwing of their luxury cars.

If I showed a bunch of car guys I know the Athlete, I don't think they would get excited about it. Some would probably ask where it falls in relation to the Camry and the Avalon.

Maybe Japanese cars, particularly sedans, would do better if they used letters and numbers for models. Everyone knows a 7 series is the top of the line BMW sedan and the S Class is the top of the line MB Sedan (I'll skip getting into the M series/AMG etc). While names like the Crown Royal Saloon and Crown Athlete sound like cars made for someone's grandparents

jcman311 said:

Even the crossover/SUV market sucks. Trust me, been shopping for the last year. I'm starting to come to terms that we might be a 2 Subaru Ascent family.

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The 2018 acura MDX or RDX with the SH label looked pretty nice to me from what I've seen of it. Then again, I don't know what your needs are at all because those cars are ginormous lol.

Crown Royal Saloon sounds like a Canadian bar that serves ****** whiskey.

I’d prefer we never had these Lexus, etc brands. I agree that the Japanese brands had no trouble selling what they wanted in the 90’s. Because they made good cars.

Lexus was born out of this notion of Toyota thinking its cars were good enough to command a premium price but no one would trust them enough to pay that price. So hilariously, they straight up slap an L badge on a totally stock Camry, Altezza, Soarer, etc. and up the price by $10k. And Americans just ate it up!

This story says as much about the American consumer as it does Japanese carmakers...i wish we were discerning enough for these games not to work, but they 100% did

HRoi said:

Crown Royal Saloon sounds like a Canadian bar that serves ****** whiskey.

I’d prefer we never had these Lexus, etc brands. I agree that the Japanese brands had no trouble selling what they wanted in the 90’s. Because they made good cars.

Lexus was born out of this notion of Toyota thinking its cars were good enough to command a premium price but no one would trust them enough to pay that price. So hilariously, they straight up slap an L badge on a totally stock Camry, Altezza, Soarer, etc. and up the price by $10k. And Americans just ate it up!

This story says as much about the American consumer as it does Japanese carmakers...i wish we were discerning enough for these games not to work, but they 100% did

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Take a guess which Bar you could find me in. . .

ridethecliche said:

The 2018 acura MDX or RDX with the SH label looked pretty nice to me from what I've seen of it. Then again, I don't know what your needs are at all because those cars are ginormous lol.

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Yeah, the MDX is the only other competitor I'm looking at unless I wait until fall for an XC90. (3-row suv, would like a hybrid, not a fan of the Highlander)

Guess what?

The Barge is dead.

1 Million miles ******.