Analyses of Luxury Marques- a Must-See!

Nice Summary! Hey, where is Licoln? heh..

Crimony, where is the edit button when I need it. I mean't Lincoln!

Excellent write-up S4.

Unbiased

Factual

To the point.


Good job. ;)

Thanks!

That's what I was going for!

delan-

Lincoln, besides the Navigator and "MKZ", doesn't exactly make the best cars...

Oh, but the new Navigator is rubbish. I forgot!

One Range Rover, please.

Oh and I forgot Land Rover. Land Rover's great.

i like it, nice review.

cabriofox, my mention of lincoln was pure sarcasm :-)

Oh thank god!

This is very good I have to agree and unbiased.

Congrats

BMW530i gets his belly scratched.

Well said dude!

very nice.

That is how i see it.

^^^Agreed

i think lincoln's an awsome company...right now it shouldn't be on the list. Just wait for Lincoln to make a come back later on. The new MKS is going to be awsome. Just wait im telling you.

P.S. The Acura TSX is very under-stated. it really is one of the best cars i have owned.

TSX Overrated

Last weekend I drove my neighbors TSX. The handling, acceleration and ride don't quite compare to my A4 or my Mom's 3 series. The TSX seems to lack quite a bit of chassis rigidity as well. However, the TSX was about $4000 cheaper than the A4 and BMW.

^^^ kpaxx what year was the TSX becuase i should of added the 2006 model was the best. I hate the 04-05 models, they are ugly and slower.

whats the difference?

added Hp refreshed exterior new rims standard bluetooth....the list goes on. It has everything yet its cheaper then all 3 german entry-level sedans

s4cabriofox,
hats off to you for a very accurately written article. it's good to see unbiased information such as this. truly a great article. look forward to more articles like this one.

It is because it was an honest and unbiaest opinon...even tho i dont think saab is lux, its more like near-lux

I agree, not bad. Great effort.
By the way was this posted bec. of the intense BMW vs. Lexus vs. watever arguments before. Lol, ;)

In England things are a bit simpler...

We dont have Acura's, Infiniti's or Cadillacs (or Lincolns)

M6-

Yes. This website is purely a flame war now! Everyone on it is just like "Audi is so much better than Lexus!" or "Lexus is so much better than BMW!" or "BMW is better than everything!"

And I, for one, am tired of it. We're enthusiasts, like I said.

matt635-

Yes, but if I'm not mistaken, won't Infiniti be coming there soon?

And the Honda Legend is the Acura RL, the Honda Accord is the Acura TSX (we have a larger Accord here), and the Honda NSX is an Acura that just recently went out of production.

I think I remember seeing ad's for the FX45 (?) once. But I've never seen a 'finiti on the road.

What I don't get is why companies like Ford, don't bring the new Mustang over here... they sell tons of them.

matt365 - I thought Europeans don't like big engines. The Mustang will need a big engine no matter where it goes.

i think infiniti will expand in 2009 or similar. still a while off.
geez, the mustang. value for money or what?
matt,
and do you know how little it costs in america? 13000 pounds! thats like the same as a vw golf!
BUT, to compare, in west virginia, the avergae salary is just 16000 DOLLARS per year. in the uk its 50000 dollars. thats partly why everything is more expensive here and cheap in the US, that and the fact that your government keeps inflation very low through clever adjustment of interest rates.

s4fox, land rover...how could you forget the best brand in the world :P

i saw an acura (some big ish suv) in britain. looked quite nice, i could see it doing quite well here.

but anyway, yay for s4cabriofox!

Great article! A breath of fresh air.

I love the honest approach! What a breather!

mg is chinese.
tvr is about as driveable as a dog, and a damn sight less well put together.

ohhh....i see what you mean now.
mg rover is dead, BUT its new chinese owners might put it back in production.

tvr....not sure. think it is still alive. wouldn't buy one though, very hard to live with. a noble is easier.

Yeah, I know guys that have imported the mustang, and it's cost them less than £18k - it might not be the best car in the world, but it's pretty eye catching, it's not exactley slow, and a damn site cheaper than most similar cars. They'd sell loads in the UK - if not just for novelty value!

Rupert, you ever driven a TVR?, they are not that bad. Not the most reliable of cars granted, but they make a hell of a noise and they do go pretty well!

Have any of you had long-term experience (or your friends) with a '03-present Jaguar XJ?

Getting an XJ8 would make my wife oh-so-happy. I've heard that it's completely fine in the winter if you get the right tires, and she's smitten with the looks. The only obstacle: reliability.

She has a Lexus so she's used to trouble-free cars. However, my Audis have also been angels. Which leaves me wary. Have I just been lucky with Audi, or are most brands easy to live with? The hype sure doesn't say so.

S4cabriofox

In getting the XJ, watch out for build quality. And body parts fit and alignment. I saw one in a dealer in Philippines and the the hodd is not aligned.

I meant hood.

Ok, here's my 2 cents:

ACURA: It IS the Japanese Audi. Audi is known for using all wheel drives in all it's cars. And now it seems Acura is going towards that route with it's high tech SH-AWD. I predict Acura will equip all it's cars in the future with SH-AWD. Audi and Acura arguably have the best interiors. In Car and Driver's noted $55,000 question article of the major sport sedans, the Acura RL was the only car given a perfect 10 in fit and finish. As good as Acura is, they aren't ready to compete with the big boys untils they offer a V-8 and avoid front wheel drives.

AUDI: very underrated and for some odd reason, doesn't appeal to Americans. Perhaps it's the conservative styling. They generally build superior cars, but they've had quality problems lately(especially with Volkswagon) and are working to fix that.

BMW: the true innovator. BMW is always trying to be the 'first' in everything. They produce the cars that are the most exciting to drive. The steering, chassis, balance, etc...are all the benchmarks which other companies use when developing their vehicles. Not much to complain about BMW except the I-Drive. If progress is making life easier, how can 4 or 5 scrolls(when in other cars it takes a push of a button) through a screen show progress??

Cadillac: Yes, once the stand out in the world market. Now, nowhere they used to be. I disagree that they are a match for BMW. The fit/finish/quality of materials is below average and handling is lousy. Understeer is relentless. They really need to get their act together if they wanna compete with the rapidly progressing Germans and Japanese. Instead of developing new high tech engines to compete, all they do is supercharge the heck out of the existing Northstar V-8.

INFINITI: The Japanese BMW plain and simple. Offers near BMW performance for less money. They're getting better and better every year. Most critics say the interiors are the only nagging complaint, but the new G35 and M45 are slowly changing the problem. Infiniti won't achieve higher luxury status until the lagging Q45 is TOTALLY redesigned from the ground up.

JAGUAR: a company with a long history and heritage. Lots of potential. Unfortunately, FORD(fix or repair daily) taking Jaguar(and VOLVO) over never helped themselves or the company they acquired. Jaguar is rumored to be up for sale, and Jaguar's quality/reliability is still not good...no matter what you've heard.

LEXUS: the giant of Japanese luxury cars. Looking for world domination. Dominates the US landscape, but has ways to go in Europe and Japan. Lately making enormous strides in all aspects. Before just a high quality car, now a true competitor with more style, performance and technology. Look for Lexus to become a major(and I mean major) player in the coming years.

MERCEDES: The 'king' of brand names. The lap of luxury.(E500 models and up) Mercedes in 1989 before Lexus arrived was renowned for being #1 in reliability. Then Lexus came along(also

I had a longer post but this system cut off the rest of my writing.....

s4fox,
i'm pretty sure the xj is fairly reliable, certainly the most reliable xj ever, maybe the most realible jag ever. aluminium construction, very nice interior (touch screen sat nav), BUT if you want rear legroom, go for the long wheelbase, the standard isn't enough, due to the low seating position.
also a fair bit cheaper (here at least) than the bmw/audi/merc. comprable to a lexus maybe.

LWB is too big... mind you, she has a fairly small SUV-crossover now (RX), and she doesn't want a HUGE sedan.

It is a huge bargain-- not noticed, but starts at only $62K here. I think it's worth it over the current LS, because it looks better, drives better, is just as comfortable, and is only about $69K for a loaded XJ8.

I think it's beautiful, but the only nagging problem is AWD. I recently read that the only car in its class that's more reliable is the LS430, which was news to me. We'll drive it on a winter-ish day and see if it feels secure.

did speedracer54 really call 04-05 TSX'S ugly in comparison to the 06 models?that's pretty moronic.the cars are nearly identical...and 04-05 are slow..but 06 is fast?