So, my brother is rather blunt in his opinions. He said Lexus are garbage. He likes Acura better…
I currently drive a Corolla. I assume since Lexus is basically a higher end Toyota, it should be at least as good as a Toyota. Correct?
I don’t have any preference between Honda and Toyota, or their higher end brands. Is there any quantifiable reason why a Lexus is better or worse than an Acura? 
Nope. Lexus is one of the best luxury brands to own, especially in terms of reliability and maintenance cost. The European brands tend to be superior in the area of driving dynamics and performance, but that’s not something most Americans care about (or drive well enough to take advantage of).
I’ve noticed that Acuras don’t seem to age well, I’ve noticed that they tend to go a little shabby looking pretty quickly.
Consumer reports labeled the Lexus brand #1 for reliability in 2015. However I don’t know what difference there is between the models.
Your brother sounds like a Honda fanboy to say Acura is appreciably better than Lexus. They are probably comparable in initial quality, but it seems to me that most 10 year old Lexus’ I see look better than the 10 year old Acura cars I see.
Sure, they’re good. Toyota is a fine marque, and Lexus is the epitome of pretentious.
Lexuses hold up great, just like the big dull taxicabs that they are. Acura was never as good reliability-wise, but they at least made some interesting cars.
I’m sure he has a reason for saying that, but I doubt it’s what anyone else would call a good reason.
I have owned a 1992 Lexus coupe with a 5-speed manual since new. Other than a starter, it has needed nothing other than the normal timing belt service and tires. Original clutch & brakes at 105,000.
Depends on what makes a car “good” to one person or the other. My dad was a Toyota fan-boy. He made all his purchasing decisions based on the reviews in Consumer Reports which, as some have noted, consistently rated Toyota/Lexus as tops in reliability. And if that’s your only metric, then they could be considered the best cars on the road.
IMHO Toyotas/Lexus are boring as fuck to drive. I haven’t driven every single model out there, but have driven several (all my parent’s cars over the years) - Camry, Rav4, Highlander, ES series, GS series, etc. Just meh, no personality, no fun.
The Toyota/Lexus and the Honda/Acura have been brought up, but what about the Nissan/Infiniti line of cars? I would certainly rank them far above the Acuras, and maybe even above the Lexus.
I wouldn’t kick one out of my garage. The closest thing I’ve ever owned to a foreign car however was the 1986 Merkur xr4ti (sold as Mercury but made for Mercury in Germany). It was beloved. It was black with sea foam leather interior and I loved the double spolier look on the hatch.
I’m curious about this comment. If you had said Americans don’t drive fast enough to take advantage of the European cars’ abilities, that would make sense to me, but not well enough? I mean, yes, that’s possibly true for me personally, but collectively for the American public? What is it about how Americans drive vs. Europeans (besides speed) that makes the difference?
I’ve run two Lexus’ up over 300k miles, and only retired the last one because it got totaled by a deer at 314K. I think I could have gotten it to 350K no problems. The car had withstood 2 previous deer collisions in it lifetime but the third (a huge buck) was just too much.
I replaced that one with a newer used Lexus with 100K miles. Still going strong.
Comfy, reliable, gets me where I need to go in all weather. No engine issues, just gradual wear and tear over time.
I didn’t make the comment but I have always felt that Europeans love driving and Americans love cars.
Consider that few Americans want a manual transmission and few Europeans want automatics. Europeans also tend to drive smaller, more nimble cars, on narrower, more winding roads, which demand a little more attention to driving than turning on cruise control on your Lexus GS hurtling down I-95.
Thanks for all the responses. I’ve driven a Honda and a Toyota, never a Nissan and never any luxury car. I was thinking of upgrading from my Corolla.
Yeah, my brother, upon hearing I was looking at cars asked if I want a car or a ‘driving appliance’.
What I’d like is something reliable, with some luxury features. Not really sold on any specific brands.
What do you think of Audi?
Great cars when everything is working, but, like many European brands, is maintenance heavy. I have two European cars in my garage (one Benz, one BMW), and while the “big parts” like the engine and transmission are great, little things like electrical components, sensors, and the like will eat up your car budget.
If I didn’t do my own wrenching, there is no way I could afford my two European cars. In addition, I have a reliable third vehicle, a Honda Ridgeline, that I can always count on.
For the handful of miles worth of all of I-95 that you can be “hurtling” down on a given day…
Ah, here’s the crux of the issue. “Driving appliance” is a term used by certain car enthusiasts to criticize cars for being reliable, safe, comfortable, efficient, and handling in a predictable manner.
I was still making payments on that deer.