I’m not a complainer. I’m not generally particularly vocal. In fact, I guess most people would say I’m a rather quiet and conservative sort respecting most things. All of that notwithstanding, I am really ‘ticked’ right now and I need to get it off my chest. It has to do with my recent experience buying a new car.
I provided a deposit on a Lexus HS 250H hybrid in June with anticipated delivery in September. In doing so I was expressing my intent to buy a car based on nothing more than information supplied in small part by the dealer and gleaned primarily via the Internet. The Canadian Lexus site was kind of stingy with information, until just recently providing a brief general description only, with additional information and pricing added in the last couple of weeks. But there was a lot of press respecting the introduction of the car in Japan. And the American site! WOW! Significant information has been available on the US site since the Detroit Auto show in January and that has been eclipsed lately by multimedia everything and a television campaign built around the idea that ‘SOMEDAY JUST MIGHT BE NOW’. They are using four main ads, all expounding the marvellous technology inherent in the HS 250H; radar, infrared, satellite and sonar.
I looked at the brief list of features on the super-duper Ultra-Premium HS 250H I had ordered in June and wondered why the Canadian description didn’t list all of the functionality I had read about on the web. But an HS 250H is an HS 250H isn’t it? The market is apparently limited to Japan and North America. This isn’t being marketed as a world car with changes nation to nation. Surely the relatively minuscule number of Canadian cars would be essentially the same as the much larger numbers of US cars delivered to these shores. I mean, I ordered the Ultra-Premium HS 250H and was told it had everything included. So I put it down to just a lack of information, a conservative marketing approach consistent with the very limited information on the Lexus Canada website. The difference was just with the ‘juiced-up’ American hype generated by a good marketing campaign. I mean, what else could it be?
And then, after almost four months of waiting I got the dealer invite to drive one of these marvellous high-tech cars. I was ecstatic.
My sales person at the Lexus dealership did a superb job and in fact has performed in exemplary fashion at all times. As the demo concluded, I asked questions. If the demo car was the Ultra-Premium HS 250H with all the options just like the car I ordered, why was the heads up display button plugged with plastic? The demo didn’t include info on the pre-collision system and the TV camera mounted up by the mirror. What about the parking assist? And how do I turn on the wide-view front monitor? What about the dynamic radar cruise control? Where was the lane keep assist and departure system? And why was there no mention of Lexus ‘Enform’?
I was told that this is the Ultra-Premium CANADIAN model of the HS 250H and it doesn’t have those features. Oh, I think to myself. I thought this was an HS 250H like the other people in the world were getting. But now I find out that the technology, relative to what was expected, apart from the very good hybrid system and a few neat but largely inconsequential innovations, consists of a bunch of commands via a very nice and intuitive interface that allows me to operate things like picking the radio station. HMMM! This isn’t the car I have been reading about in the Google reports delivered automatically to my e-mail account every single day for almost four months. This, in my personal opinion, I think to myself, is an emaciated hollow insipid shell of an HS 250H. But how could that be. Was it just my imagination that led me to believe that my car would come with all the ‘bells and whistles’? A July 15 Internet article on “Driving.ca” seems to infer that the Canadian car is the same as the US car because it is a Canadian publication and they include a full description of the technology features. Surely, I think to myself, an organization the size of Toyota Canada has a public relations department capable of ensuring the rather small and contained Canadian automotive press has the correct information.
But no, I decide that couldn’t possibly be the problem – or at least not the only problem. Why? Because Toyota Canada issued an official Toyota press release on the Canadian model of the HS 250H that stated in part: “An available wide-view front monitor helps the driver to check hard-to-see areas. Using a camera mounted in the front grille, the monitor provides a 190-degree front view on the Navigation screen with the push of a button on the steering wheel.” Well, the super-duper Ultra-Premium Lexus HS 250H I was shown didn’t have a front camera and I was told it wasn’t available.
And even in the city where the official Canadian HS 250H launch took place, the September 17th Winnipeg Sun apparently was also a bit confused given they had to print a retraction saying; “The 2010 Lexus Canadian HS 250h does not feature a wide-view front monitor and lane-keep assist. Incorrect information appeared in a story in yesterday's paper.” So what gives? Does Toyota Canada know what they are selling? Do they communicate with the public media? Is it any wonder that people like me who have been waiting with baited breath for several months for their car to arrive feel they have been oversold, led astray, and/or under informed?
So here it is at 3 AM and I can’t sleep and I’m writing this trying to get my head around my disappointment because I have to make a decision. Do I buy what I can only consider to be a ‘husk’ of a car relative to what is available outside of Canada, a car that perhaps I should still consider because, (1) it is probably well made based on JD Powers info on Lexus in general, (2) has a neat mouse-like interface, (3) still has at least a few really neat high tech features not removed, and (4) uses only 5.7 litres of fuel per 100 kilometres? Or do I buy what is arguably a better driving car like the BMW, or what some might consider a better looking car like the Infiniti?
But wait! My dissatisfaction has been communicated and has resulted in at least an attempted explanation by someone who should have the answer. I’m told that all of the technology that has been removed from the Canadian version of the super-duper Ultra-Premium HS 250H is on a common wiring harness and that at least one of the several systems removed relies on the availability of the Lexus ‘Enform’ type communications system, and that because Toyota Canada has not found it economically viable, or not had the time just yet to develop such a system, or buy the technology from the Americans, or perhaps piggyback on the US system, everything on the associated wiring harness had to be removed. OK. The explanation seems reasonable. Lexus Canada has not yet developed facilities comparable to the US Lexus ‘Enform’ operation or even the “OnStar” system used by GMC and others since 1976, so many of the HS 250H features need to be removed. Leaving them on the car in anticipation of Toyota Canada eventually within the life of the car implementing an ‘Enform’ type of system was apparently not an option. Just maybe the number of Lexus cars sold in Canada does not warrant the investment in the computer systems necessary to support the technology inherent with an unadulterated HS 250H. Relative to the USA we are a small country and even with the many advantages we enjoy as Canadians, perhaps our relatively small numbers can work to our disadvantage sometimes. So I have my explanation – or at least one I can sort of push myself to accept and now I should be able to just enjoy the car, albeit without some of the significant safety and convenience features I had really looked forward to. Well – yes and no. There is still a small problem, at least insofar as I am concerned. It has to do with ‘getting what is paid for’.
If I spec out the most expensive HS 250H possible in the USA the total comes to $46,575 US, or $50,313 Canadian. I paid $51,689 Canadian, excluding GST. I‘m OK with it costing somewhat more than the same car sold south of the border. We have higher taxes occasionally, perhaps higher wages in some instances and we operate with smaller orders, and cars like everything else, are cheaper by the gross than by the dozen. Aren’t they?
However, the US Lexus site lists the technology package and park assist at $4,400 US or $4,753 Canadian. Given the package is not available on the Canadian car, it seems reasonable, at least to me, to reduce the price accordingly. Instead, I paid what the Americans pay for their fully configured car, plus an additional $1,376. Or to put it another way, a comparable car costs $6,129 more in Canada than in the USA. Seems just a bit on the heavy side doesn’t it?
Well, time to conclude. I’m a bit of a computer geek. I like the mouse-like interface. I figure if I buy a non-hybrid, gas will probably jump to $3.50/litre this time next month. So I decided to do the Canadian thing. I bought the car. However, although I’m retired and past it in a lot of ways, I don’t feel the kick of satisfaction I really expected, knowing I had opted for a high technology car, because relative to what is available elsewhere, in many respects it isn’t really very high tech at all. So I’m not parting with my money willingly for the car I thought I was going to get.
Instead, I have accepted what seems to be the Canadian experience of not quite getting what is wanted, what is expected, and what is felt is deserved for hard earned dollars. Why do I keep bringing up the Canadian bit? What choice do I have? And the ‘Powers That Be’ know it. For me it is goodbye to the WOW factor and hello to ambivalence. And as a Canadian, I don’t like that one bit!
