This past weekend experience, it reinforced my opinion of so much of a great value the 4G TL SH-AWD was in its time (I drive a 6MT)
My wife got a new Infiniti Q50 Sport in September, fully loaded.....very nice car, amazing electronics, quite comfortable....a bit more cramped than my TL but not as cramped as a 3 Series.
Last week we decided to get a second dog, an adorable Lab-Boxer mix puppy.....both dogs would be a quite cramped in the back seat of my wife Infiniti with all the protective cushions.....she would be the one driving them around mostly.
The back seat of my TL is a bit wider but she does not want to go back driving a manual (she traded her STI for the Q50), on top of that my TL is already 4 years old and there is always a good excuse for car shopping :wish:
So the idea was for me to get the Q50 and trade my TL either for another large sedan or an SUV....and possibly to buy Japanese for the long term reliability.
The SUV route was the least favorite by my wife.
The cars we tested:
Lexus NX F Sport: One of the nicest SUV on the market, very nice and well executed interiors but on the road it feels like the tarted up Toyota RAV4 that it is, not very sporty. The frumpy looking Lexus RX was a non starter.
Infiniti QX70 Sport: the sportiest of the Jap SUV, some sort of "rising sun Cayenne", very beautiful and aggressive on the outside (for being an SUV) quick, very good fit and finish but somewhat antiquated dashboard...the nav screen it's only 7"...it's just a warmed up FX and I do not feel like paying top dollars for this...I think they should have restyled and updated the interiors a bit more to keep it more modern.
Infiniti Q70 3.7 AWD: Beautiful interiors but same issue with the QX70....tech feels a bit antiquated and Infiniti ask top dollars for this sedan....as for the 5.6 V8 option, even if it's listed on the Infiniti, the salesman told me thy have not seen one...he strongly advised me of not considering the Q70 for my next purchase, that car is at the end of the run and depreciation would be horrendous.
Lexus GS F Sport: Amazing interiors, very nice outside even if a bit conservative. Crisp handling and top level refinement all around. There are very good deals going on right now..the GS F Sport was on our September short list when we got the Q50.
Hyundai Genesis: Fit and finish very nice, the car look way better in presence, it drives not as sporty as the GS, dead quiet, no AWD available on the 5.0 V8, that would have been a killer combo.
No car in current Acura lineup is worth of any consideration in our book...the TLX went too much downmarket, it's down on power and is not that attractive, the RLX...well..do I need to say anything?? :wish:, the MDX look a bit weird especially at the back.
Just for kicks we did look at the Chrysler 300 AWD...sorry I cannot do it......for fun we quickly tested the Taurus SHO....excellent engine and brakes, it actually handle good for the size but everything else is plain wrong, the look (inside and outside), fit and finish is only acceptable and Ford service dept horror stories are not encouraging. It is huge on the outside but quite smaller inside, it's based on an ancient Volvo platform from the 1990's, the AWD is the mass market Haldex one even if it has brake based torque vectoring. Antiquate transmission. No amount of lipstick can make that pig attractive.
So I did realize that in order to play in the luxury big midsize sedan market 300+ HP AWD with sporting pretensions sandbox, nicely loaded, you need to fork out 60 grand more or less (even more with the Germans...when I did buy my TL I seriously cross shopped the 535i)
Frankly, as nice and quiet as it is and with more modern electronics, coming from the TL the GS does not wow me that much in the dynamics and performance department, I actually prefer the TL.....
Yes fit and finish is superb but, especially for design, the TL cabin still hold its own very well....obviously electronics are not as advanced and the lack of a big display in the instrument cluster clearly it's a sign of age.
Same for the big Infiniti sedan....amazing interiors but on the road is not that impressive dynamically coming from a TL SH-AWD
If you want to get out of the 300 hp neighborhood in AWD and in a refined package, loaded, you need to spend much more and you need to go German...we are not interested in hybrids...translation, you are looking at the 80-90K ballpark (E550 4MATIC, 550i xdrive, S6, S7, etc...)
Basically I'm almost at the end of the road as far as Japanese brands go. Even if I would make a leap of faith and go the Cadillac route, the CTS V6 AWD cost as much as the Lexus with unknown reliability record.....if you jump to the incredible V-Sport with its twin turbo engine, sorry no AWD!!!
The problem is that if we swap cars (I get the Q50 and my wife get a large sedan/SUV) it delays my plan to eventually get a Nissan GT-R because I would get "stuck" with the just purchased Q50 Sport....not complaining though....:smile:
However, considering that my TL had a MSRP of 44K at the time, it represent truly an outstanding value which I do not believe is currently matched by any other car in the marketplace....only the Genesis come close....at discount prices you either get power or refinement or sporty handling, not all of them.
My wife got a new Infiniti Q50 Sport in September, fully loaded.....very nice car, amazing electronics, quite comfortable....a bit more cramped than my TL but not as cramped as a 3 Series.
Last week we decided to get a second dog, an adorable Lab-Boxer mix puppy.....both dogs would be a quite cramped in the back seat of my wife Infiniti with all the protective cushions.....she would be the one driving them around mostly.
The back seat of my TL is a bit wider but she does not want to go back driving a manual (she traded her STI for the Q50), on top of that my TL is already 4 years old and there is always a good excuse for car shopping :wish:
So the idea was for me to get the Q50 and trade my TL either for another large sedan or an SUV....and possibly to buy Japanese for the long term reliability.
The SUV route was the least favorite by my wife.
The cars we tested:
Lexus NX F Sport: One of the nicest SUV on the market, very nice and well executed interiors but on the road it feels like the tarted up Toyota RAV4 that it is, not very sporty. The frumpy looking Lexus RX was a non starter.
Infiniti QX70 Sport: the sportiest of the Jap SUV, some sort of "rising sun Cayenne", very beautiful and aggressive on the outside (for being an SUV) quick, very good fit and finish but somewhat antiquated dashboard...the nav screen it's only 7"...it's just a warmed up FX and I do not feel like paying top dollars for this...I think they should have restyled and updated the interiors a bit more to keep it more modern.
Infiniti Q70 3.7 AWD: Beautiful interiors but same issue with the QX70....tech feels a bit antiquated and Infiniti ask top dollars for this sedan....as for the 5.6 V8 option, even if it's listed on the Infiniti, the salesman told me thy have not seen one...he strongly advised me of not considering the Q70 for my next purchase, that car is at the end of the run and depreciation would be horrendous.
Lexus GS F Sport: Amazing interiors, very nice outside even if a bit conservative. Crisp handling and top level refinement all around. There are very good deals going on right now..the GS F Sport was on our September short list when we got the Q50.
Hyundai Genesis: Fit and finish very nice, the car look way better in presence, it drives not as sporty as the GS, dead quiet, no AWD available on the 5.0 V8, that would have been a killer combo.
No car in current Acura lineup is worth of any consideration in our book...the TLX went too much downmarket, it's down on power and is not that attractive, the RLX...well..do I need to say anything?? :wish:, the MDX look a bit weird especially at the back.
Just for kicks we did look at the Chrysler 300 AWD...sorry I cannot do it......for fun we quickly tested the Taurus SHO....excellent engine and brakes, it actually handle good for the size but everything else is plain wrong, the look (inside and outside), fit and finish is only acceptable and Ford service dept horror stories are not encouraging. It is huge on the outside but quite smaller inside, it's based on an ancient Volvo platform from the 1990's, the AWD is the mass market Haldex one even if it has brake based torque vectoring. Antiquate transmission. No amount of lipstick can make that pig attractive.
So I did realize that in order to play in the luxury big midsize sedan market 300+ HP AWD with sporting pretensions sandbox, nicely loaded, you need to fork out 60 grand more or less (even more with the Germans...when I did buy my TL I seriously cross shopped the 535i)
Frankly, as nice and quiet as it is and with more modern electronics, coming from the TL the GS does not wow me that much in the dynamics and performance department, I actually prefer the TL.....
Yes fit and finish is superb but, especially for design, the TL cabin still hold its own very well....obviously electronics are not as advanced and the lack of a big display in the instrument cluster clearly it's a sign of age.
Same for the big Infiniti sedan....amazing interiors but on the road is not that impressive dynamically coming from a TL SH-AWD
If you want to get out of the 300 hp neighborhood in AWD and in a refined package, loaded, you need to spend much more and you need to go German...we are not interested in hybrids...translation, you are looking at the 80-90K ballpark (E550 4MATIC, 550i xdrive, S6, S7, etc...)
Basically I'm almost at the end of the road as far as Japanese brands go. Even if I would make a leap of faith and go the Cadillac route, the CTS V6 AWD cost as much as the Lexus with unknown reliability record.....if you jump to the incredible V-Sport with its twin turbo engine, sorry no AWD!!!
The problem is that if we swap cars (I get the Q50 and my wife get a large sedan/SUV) it delays my plan to eventually get a Nissan GT-R because I would get "stuck" with the just purchased Q50 Sport....not complaining though....:smile:
However, considering that my TL had a MSRP of 44K at the time, it represent truly an outstanding value which I do not believe is currently matched by any other car in the marketplace....only the Genesis come close....at discount prices you either get power or refinement or sporty handling, not all of them.