Lexus V's Ford

[Matty]

Heres a thought.

Went back to work on Monday, which requires me to hire a car and drive from Limerick to Dublin Airport.

So, on Sunday afternoon, I ring my local car rental agency in Shannon Airport and reserve myself a car. Have been doing this for a while now, so I usually hire something that can handle the Irish roads like a Mondeo or Vectra, something relatively strong.

I knew that this would be quite a come down, after driving my 250 Sport for the past 2 weeks.

Anyway, to get to the point. I get to Shannon and am given a 2005 Ford Mondeo LX with 21500kms on the clock.

I hit the road home and guess what. Not a fuking rattle, creek or squeek to be heard anywhere!!

The only noise was the sound of the road and it was quite loud. In all fairness to the Lexus, the quality of the sound insulation within the cabin is excellent.

Had to laugh though. Here I was, driving a car that costs less than half my 250, has 21500kms on the clock and not a sound.

Surely, if the boys form Ford can do it...............

[Kremmen]

In recent reports and tests Ford have consistently increased their quality and reliability whist all German makes have declined.

I heard a rumour that BMW have lowered quality to raise profit whilst still charging premium prices ?

[Bobski]

Or mebe the road noise disguises any squeaks rattles etc?....or to put it another way, the lex is sooooo quiet you could hear a fly f@rt, hence all the problems................

:)

Rob

[Scarlet Pimpernell]

I even noticed my Neighbours '54 Mondeo Ghia has puddle lamps under his mirrors...just like my IS...

They are alot better now, reasonable family transport. And yes as many of them on the roads as the 3 series...

[Habeeb]

The amount you pay has nothing to do with the quality of the product, or the true cost of manufacture of the product. You are paying for the badge,brand, and image associated with it. The best car I have ever had in my family in terms of reliability, and build quality, and not having any problems in terms of dash creeks, corroding alloys, err3 on stereos, and just general reliability is actually a Hyundai coupe, which has never had anything go wrong with it and is dead silent inside. I will probably get a lot of bad response for saying that but we have cars ranging from mercedez S class to lexus in our family, so i am comparing it to cars that cost several times its price. Unfortunately it is consumer behaviour which dictates price and not quality. BMW could sell a rust bucket on wheels for £25k because people would be willing to pay for it due to the image associated with it.

[Pip]

There is nothing wrong in stating the truth and your finds.

Fords quality has consistantly improved since the launch of the focus. It hasnt won european car of the year awards for nothing!

Fords only gripe used to be that their cars didnt age as well as the competition but it seems that too is improving and that they didnt produce powerful enough competition which again has been answered with the Focus ST 3. (waiting for a test drive, orders are tailing back till 2007!)

And with confirmation of the Focus RS II on the horizon i know where i will be heading in the future. ;)

There has always been a bit of snobbery because people in regards to ppls attitude of: 'its still a ford (with exception of the Cosworth)' but i say it doesnt really matter if it does what yours does and it does it a lot better. :winky:

BTW My previous car was a 1994 escort cosworth lux hence my fondness for ford.

[Dave Jones]

As someone who had a Focus, then a 3-Series Coupe and now a IS250, I would say the Lexus is by far the nicest place to sit while driving. The Focus was awesome for handling, and indeed when replacing it, my main criteria was that it had to handle at least as well - hence the 3-series. But in terms of quality, the Focus always beat it hands down. No faults whatsoever with the Focus, but the 3-series.......seals, window mechanisms etc. nothing major but all irritating. And as far as the dealers go, I asked 2 BMW dealers to arrange test drives of the 325i, but both cancelled at the last minute and then never came back to me. So I bought a lexus, and I'm still smiling. My only criticism is the road noise - quite obvious until you put on the amazing stereo. no creaks, rattles etc - lets hope it stays this good. And the MPG is better in the IS250 than in my 318ci (not quite sure how). The Top Gear roadtest of the IS250SE finished as follows:

You can imagine the BMW engineers getting hold of this new IS250 somewhere in a darkened warehouse and torturing its secrets out of it with military-grade intrusion software and miniature toffee hammers, while swearing softly in Bavarian and trying to think of an excuse.

The less hardy marketeers have already sloped off down the pub to get slowly drunk and sing secret corporate karaoke songs about the good old days when Lexii were merely confidence-boosted Toyotas and BMW could sell you a bent piece of angle iron and we'd all pay extra for the rust.

Looks like the 3-series finally has some competition

[Pip]

I had that problem Dave when i asked for a 325ci sport and 330ci sport test drive. They never got back to me so one phone call from a VIP customer of theirs, shouting the the odds (my mate) and they bent over backwards for me. Picked me up, dropped me off and even asked the rep who picked me up to take me to the shop for a newspaper and fags (my hand was broken at the time) made him go in for me as well LMFAO!!

[Scarlet Pimpernell]

It took 'em 5 days to find me a 320d to test drive...it's only their most popular car!

[marjohn]

It took 'em 5 days to find me a 320d to test drive...it's only their most popular car!

We did a few test drives on the day I decided on the Lexus; Honda, Peugeot, Audi, Lexus & BMW. They were all very helpful and treated us as you would expect, except BMW. We got the feeling THEY were doing us a favour by allowing us in thier showroom; to top that, the salesman we had arranged to see had gone out ( we WERE 5 minutes late after all!), and when he came back, he all but ignored us.

I'd already had this sort of experience when I last bought a BMW, but had thought it must be the dealer I used in the midlands, apparently, it applies to more than one dealer.

It would seem BMW dealers sell SOO many cars, they can afford to ignore prospective customers.

Oh well... it's thier loss, a Lexus gain.

[maneesh]

That is definitely one factor. Lexus are usually so quiet on wind, road and engine noise, that you can hear rattles more easily. Having driven many hire cars such as Vectras and Mondeos in the last 2 years, all I can say is that the GAP between quality of mainstream saloons and executive saloons has narrowed. I expect that gap to narrow further as the years pass.

A car like a Mondeo or a Vectra will be designed to be "competent" in every area, whereas a Lexus or BMW is designed to excel in one particular area of focus, be it reliability or driving entertainment.