Looking at new car for the admiral

I had a run in with Acura that switched me to Lexus ……. I ended up going thru the lemon law on a brand new Acura over the airbags…. My wife is 105lbs…. Her butt would not turn on the passenger seat airbags….. I went thru hell with dealers and lawyers at the end when we were in arbitration Acura had two lawyers in person and three lawyers from California on the phone…. Just me and my wife on our team…… I won but indianas lemon law is so corrupt the state decides the value of your car…… a year after I won and got rid of the car…. I was doing work for Honda and talked about my problem…..the engineer said oh ya we know about that problem it will be fixed next year….. that turned me off Acura
 
When I bought my Toyota Hghlander, I narrowed my search down to the Highlander and the Acura RDX or MDX. This was a while ago, I just didn't like the interior on the Acuras, and that the knobs were big and fat, which made no sense to me. Plus it's when they had the rooster chicken looking front end. I end up buying the Highlander, it's been an amazing service free car other than oil changes, which I do myself, brakes and fluids..

I forget, isn't the Lexus a high-end Toyota?
 
I had a run in with Acura that switched me to Lexus ……. I ended up going thru the lemon law on a brand new Acura over the airbags…. My wife is 105lbs…. Her butt would not turn on the passenger seat airbags….. I went thru hell with dealers and lawyers at the end when we were in arbitration Acura had two lawyers in person and three lawyers from California on the phone…. Just me and my wife on our team…… I won but indianas lemon law is so corrupt the state decides the value of your car…… a year after I won and got rid of the car…. I was doing work for Honda and talked about my problem…..the engineer said oh ya we know about that problem it will be fixed next year….. that turned me off Acura
I had one Acura lemon that was a problem from day one. Multiple issues for months. I raised hell with Acura and having bought maybe 8 new cars over 16 years, Honda asked me what I thought would be fair. I said, “Take this car back and give me a new one equipped just like it for no money from me”. The car had about 12,000 miles one it by the time we had this conversation. They gave me a brand new car just as I asked, and I went on to buy several more from that dealer. Good cars and great dealership support. No complaints.
 
I had one Acura lemon that was a problem from day one. Multiple issues for months. I raised hell with Acura and having bought maybe 8 new cars over 16 years, Honda asked me what I thought would be fair. I said, “Take this car back and give me a new one equipped just like it for no money from me”. The car had about 12,000 miles one it by the time we had this conversation. They gave me a brand new car just as I asked, and I went on to buy several more from that dealer. Good cars and great dealership support. No complaints.
My situation was total denial…..I showed them video and they wouldn’t acknowledge it….I assumed it was a liability issue…..I couldn’t deal with the dealer had to be direct with corporate
 
My situation was total denial…..I showed them video and they wouldn’t acknowledge it….I assumed it was a liability issue…..I couldn’t deal with the dealer had to be direct with corporate
My original thought was to file a lemon law claim. My dealer advised against that approach. They said that approach immediately escalates the complaint into an adversarial relationship. They went to bat for me and handled it with Honda. Took about 4 weeks as I recall.
 
Oh yeah, I just remembered one of the BMW dealer arrogance that drove me nuts over the time I had my last X5. The first winter after I bought it, I noticed the car was fogging up over night inside. Looked around and noticed the rear seat footwell was wet. Since I never used the back seat, that was odd, so took it into the dealer. They told me it was melting snow from feet. I said to them that no one had been in the back seat since winter started. They cleaned it and then it kept happening. Did that song and dance one more time when they told me it was snowy feet and acted like I was not following the BMW snowy feet protocol properly. "Sir, in a winter climate it is important to knock the snow off your feed when you enter your car" A-hole, I have lived in Canada all my life and have owned at least 15 different cars and ahve never had one develop a pond in the rear seat that is not being used. Finally I said this is nuts --- find the leak and fix it!

So they found that the leak was actually in the rear doors. There is a plastic liner that is glued to the metal inside structure of the door to seal the inside from the outside. If the glue gives up or is not installed right, salty outside water that goes down the window and inside the door, will drain INTO the car rather than out through the door sill. So the fix was to take the door apart and re-glue the plastic liner. So they did that. On the 3rd visit. Then after it went out of warranty and started to do it again, I just did it myself with butyl tape rather than glue. There are endless things just like that with that X5 - suspension air bags that failed repeatedly, engine cam shaft thing that failed all the time, oil leaks, memory mirrors that get alzheimers and are $1800, electronic glitch in the door harnesses that made the car think I had opened a door while driving (interior lights on and seats start moving to exit position, ding ding ding goes off), rear LED taillights on the rear hatch that fail every couple years and are $400 integrated units each. Got one set replaced under warranty, the second set I bought myself and replaced them. Etc etc. Caveat emptor.
 
So after some looking talking etc, there is now a short list (no particular order):

Volvo XC60
Acura RDX
Lexus NX 300

we have had and currently have two Volvos and two Lexus’s, so those are the devil we know so to speak. Plan is to sell a Lexus (RX330) and a Volvo V70 Wagon. Will keep the Volvo S60 my daughter drives and my Lexus LS430. I want her to take a hard look at the Acura. Still looking at either new or 2020 or newer.
Two of those are not like the other. Why the RDX vs. the MDX? The RDX is tiny compared to the other two and no longer comes with a V6.
 
Two of those are not like the other. Why the RDX vs. the MDX? The RDX is tiny compared to the other two and no longer comes with a V6.

Are you thinking about an RX350 and XC90? The Lexus NX and Volvo XC60 both have 4cyl turbos and are within an inch of the size of the RDX. We are not looking for a big SUV, it's just me and my wife these days and rarely anyone besides us in the car. Will probably look at a new Lexus RX, but wife doesn't want anything bigger than her current RX330 - car models seem to grow in size over time. The MDX while a nice car (SIL has one) is just much bigger than what we want.
 
Are you thinking about an RX350 and XC90? The Lexus NX and Volvo XC60 both have 4cyl turbos and are within an inch of the size of the RDX. We are not looking for a big SUV, it's just me and my wife these days and rarely anyone besides us in the car. Will probably look at a new Lexus RX, but wife doesn't want anything bigger than her current RX330 - car models seem to grow in size over time. The MDX while a nice car (SIL has one) is just much bigger than what we want.
You are correct. Had the wrong Lexus and Volvo in mind. Neighbors have an MDX and RDX. But the RDX has a v6 and is pretty quick. They love them both. My wife wants one last SUV, we have been all Mazda for the last 8 years. She loves her CX9 with the venerable Ford block 3.7L V6. Plenty of power and we tow 3-4,000# several times a year. Mazda pretty much took all the cars and SUV to various tunes of a 2.5L inline 4. The turbo version works great in my 6, but not for an SUV we tow with. So I think the MDX will be next.
 
We travel in a 2021 GX and it is a great road car. It never leaves the garage when we are at home. When we bought the new GX, we traded a "long in the tooth 2005 LS 430" and retained the best Lexus we ever owned, a 20120 GX. That GX had a paint problem that Lexus recalled……..right…. they Recalled a 13 year old car and repainted about 70% of the body. Lexus of Huntsville gave us a 2022 RX-350 loaner with 3500 miles on it to drive while the 2010 GX was in the body shop. I never got a chance to drive the 2022 RX except to return it to the dealer when my GX was ready, because my wie loved the new RX and was in it all the time.

It wasn't like she was "car-less"…..her regular car was a perfect 33,000 mile Lexus SC-430. We put the convertible on the market (thanks to a knee replacement) and low profile and started looking for a deal on an RX-350. We found a low mileage one and bought it and my wife loves the RX 350. The SC430 was sold to a friend so we are now back to a "reasonable" number of cars.

The RX is perfect for my wife and a small advantage is the predecessor model , the RX330 has a design flaw in the valve cover causing them to leak engine oil (a very expensive repair on an RX-330 because the rear valve cover must be removed 6+ hours!). The RX350 is a +bit larger but it still has the same seat configuration that your RX-330 has and we found it a perfect fit for my wife, plus it has all the modern safety features you will probably want your wife to have access to.

My daughter has an Acura RDX that she loves, never been in the shop except for regular service. She loves it, but has already decided to get an MDX next time around. The 80 lb Boxer and she is an active paddle boarder which has something to do with her MDX decision.

Good luck with your decision.

Frank
 
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We travel in a 2021 GX and it is a great road car. It never leaves the garage when we are at home. When we bought the new GX, we traded a "long in the tooth 2005 LS 430" and retained the best Lexus we ever owned, a 20120 GX. That GX had a paint problem that Lexus recalled……..right…. they Recalled a 13 year old car and repainted about 70% of the body. Lexus of Huntsville gave us a 2022 RX-350 loaner with 3500 miles on it to drive while the 2010 GX was in the body shop. I never got a chance to drive the 2022 RX except to return it to the dealer when my GX was ready, because my wie loved the new RX and was in it all the time.

It wasn't like she was "car-less"…..her regular car was a perfect 33,000 mile Lexus SC-430. We put the convertible on the market (thanks to a knee replacement) and low profile and started looking for a deal on an RX-350. We found a low mileage one and bought it and my wife loves the RX 350. The SC430 was sold to a friend so we are now back to a "reasonable" number of cars.

The RX is perfect for my wife and a small advantage is the predecessor model , the RX330 has a design flaw in the valve cover causing them to leak engine oil (a very expensive repair on an RX-330 because the rear valve cover must be removed 6+ hours!). The RX350 is a +bit larger but it still has the same seat configuration that your RX-330 has and we found it a perfect fit for my wife, plus it has all the modern safety features you will probably want your wife to have access to.

My daughter has an Acura RDX that she loves, never been in the shop except for regular service. She loves it, but has already decided to get an MDX next time around. The 80 lb Boxer and she is an active paddle boarder which has something to do with her MDX decision.

Good luck with your decision.

Frank
The valve cover leak is well known issue with the Lexus/Toyota V6. Our 2006 RX is at 145k no leaks at all, my 2005 ES started leaking at 120k, was still leaking - not enough to ever add oil - when I sold it. The time to repair that is when you do a timing belt.
I also have a 2004 LS430 that was my late FIL's and is what I drive now - I LOVE that car! It has 142k on it and is in perfect condition - it's the Cypress Pear color. Other than a one off BMW and Honda, we have only owned Lexus's and Volvos the last 20yrs. And while the Lexus is hands down a better long run car -- the Volvo's have been mostly trouble free also. We generally put 100-150k on a car - just not the go buy a new car every few years type.
 
One thing to keep in mind when shopping for a used Acura is the transmission. Some models had some issues with the trannys. Always in the hunt for better MPG and lower emissions, 6, 7 and 8 speed transmissions are being introduced to comply with federal regulations. Some of these are better than others. It's a good idea to do a search of problems specific to models to make and informed buying decision.
 
You may want to consider an Infiniti. I have a Q60 coupe and love the fit/finish and performance.
+1. We have a Q50, a bit smaller than the Q60 and love it. We're on a trip right now, crossing the Cascade Mountains and most of the trip has been up and down hills. Getting 26.7mpg so far. I can live with that.
 

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