Originally posted by JaydeeEmzOwnzYo
For a "
new" member, you do like to speak so highly of Toyota and lowly of Honda. All of your posts on N&R has been "Toyota does better at this" and included some form of Toyota propaganda and Honda nitpicking.
Acura to me has always been a just a "nicer" honda, due to the fact that they arent much more expensive. For the most part, lexus's are more expensive than Acuras, and i would be willing to pay that extra difference if i wanted one. In my eyes, Acuras are for people want a wannabe luxury car at a budget price. A TL is a fancy accord that only costs a few $k more.
Any entry-level luxury car is going to be 'wannabe'. I wouldn't call the premium you pay for a TL 'budget'. It's price is not cheap. It's more like a valued price. The way you put the TL as a fancy Accord is misleading. Yes, it shares a streched platform from the Accord, but it does not use the same powertrain to its mainstream siblings like other bridge models like the ES300, A4, and I35. In fact, with the ES300 and I35, they're more fitting to the word fancy because they're basically Camry and Maxima with near identical motor and transmissions, very similar dimensional specs and mostly cosmetic changes. And you pay a few thousands more for those near identical cars just for name!!!
At least in the TL, you get a larger car than the Accord, a bigger displacement, a manumatic 5spd transmission, more options, and a Type-S higher output engine option. You couldn't get a navi option in below $40k Lexus or Infiniti before the TL came out with it.
There is definately a difference between todays new Toyotas & Lexus's both in features and especially price, which IMO keeps them more separate then what Honda does with Acura. I think they need to boost up the Acura line, to keep them farther away from the Honda lineup.
Look at VW/Audi. Both brand share the A3 and A4 platform and has been sucessful. I think there's enough difference between the Accord and TL to separate the brands. The TSX will be the bridge that connects the two brand together, like what VW has done with the Passat and A4. The sucess of separating the perception of the brands depends more on marketing.
Lexus will always carry its crowd of followers, and rightfully so. They have some nice cars, but don't discount Acura. Acura takes a different route and focuses on value and performance. Lexus has nothing to compare to the TL Type-S models. The IS300 is close, but its doesn't quiet have the performance or value of the TL-S. IMO, the MDX is hands down better than the RX300. And vice versa, there's models that Acura doesn't have to compare to Lexus or Infiniti.
Basically, through all this, you've gone way off tangent of the original discusion that Honda was and is an underdog and was the pioneer of Japanese premium brands in automobile in the USA market and turned it into a discussion of Lexus vs Acura and a propaganda for Toyota and Lexus, which was totally pointless. :slap: