So, today, i took off work couple hours early to take a look at couple of cars.
first, the lexus. at a local lexus dealership.
as i enter the lexus dealership, i see a LFA. holy fx.k. that car is sexy. right beside it is the new LC..500?.. anyway. that's sexy as fx.k too. looks better in the flesh than in the pic. in the pic, the rear of it has odd angle to me, but in the flesh, dang, it looks good. interior is flawless. not opulent, like say a bently, but luxurious and impeccably built.
but that's not why i went here. i called ahead, made an appt, to see the NX hybrid.
dang, it was nice. 2015 with 34k on it.
interior has very nice fit and finish with better than good materials. doesn't feel like toyota at all.
power liftgate was slow as hell though.
this one was loaded to the gills,
had HUD, which was barely visible and i didn't notice it at all after al while.
infotainment was little difficult to use, using that stupid touchpad.
screen seemed to be about 7", which is small by today's standard.
the important bits, the driving.
steering : was pretty good. numb steering, but very direct and light effort but intuitive at the same time.
handling : was better than i expected. it's sprung like a small hatchback. somewhat like newer golf. fairly refined but firm. didn't expect this. from a lexus. this didn't even have sports package.
seats : comfy. soft leather seat is very huggy. (it did have a weird wear spot in the middle of the seat back ) fat guys need not apply though. not that bolstering is heavy, but the seat itself isn't very big. just enough bolstering to hold you in place. it's not overtly designed or ornate, it kind of disappears from your consciousness. it's a chair. nice one that you forget about. heated and cooled. seat heater took a while to kick in though. (also had heated steering wheel which kicked in much faster.)
power : dang, this thing is slow. in town driving, it's perfect. electric assist is seamless and combine with the engine, is good enough to propel you to about 70 km/h in reasonable amount of time. but from there to 100, it feels like it takes forever. and engine is LOUD when WOT.
Transmission : CVT. funnily enough, I didn't notice this at all when i drove the RAV4 Hybrid, but there's this constant whine from the transmission. i thought i had window open at highway with all that high pitched whine... my SO has tinnitus so she says she doesn't hear it, and sales guy, that guy says it's normal.... i'm not sure.
Ride /noise : firm , but pretty well damped. noisier than i expected a lexus to be. suspension noise is fairly well masked but i thnk it's on par with RAV4 Hybrid. or maybe a little worse?
braking : regen braking. fairly intuitive, but it does feel a little different from normal braking. it's fine.
overall, i was impressed. HOWEVER, this particular example had some sort of damage repaired, front side bumper for sure, and fenders. not sure why fenders were replace, as every component under the hood looked factory to me.
lexus dealership experience, not sure what the hoopla is about. about the same as all other luxury dealership to me. maybe a little less defensive and less pushy? (or maybe i'm just not giving a sh1t anymore...?)
Lincoln MKC, this was a cream puff. 2015, 2.3 turbo, loaded to the gills (had every option available at the time) with about 70k on it, 1 owner, cream beige interior, champaign exterior.. it's very nice inside.
instrument cluster is unexpectedly nice, good heated steering wheel, nice and heated and cooled seats. these seats were about 3.5 times better than the ones in the Escape titanium. all the buttons were soft touch, and smooth in operation.
Centre stack/infotainment is ... well, it's myFord Touch system, which is OK. Gear selector buttons, i got used to it within seconds so it's not an issue.
rear view camera resolution sucked but power liftgate was so much faster than lexus.
now the driving ,
steering : very light effort at low speed, gets significantly heavier at higher speed, and the stupid thing follows road ruts. was unexpected. it was weird. i get that they were going for somewhat sporty here, but it came off a little crudely done.
handling : drives like a little truck. it's competent to be honest, but it does feel like SUV rather than sports sedan/hatch.
seat : pretty comfy. i was surprised. i had to fiddle with lumbar adjustment a bit, but soft beige leather seat hugged me pretty good and heated and ventilated. this seat felt a LOT more like chairs than the lexus , less like car seats. i think it's due to positioning. even at lowest level, it's pretty high off the floor.
power : good. 2.3 has good power. no problem accelerating.
transmission : umm.. yeah... it wasn't that good. acceptable for something from late 2000' era. shifts were sometimes jerky. it's 6 speed auto. this technology's been around forever!!. anyway. it wasn't bad though.
ride / noise : slightly less firm than lexus. it rolls a little more, but damping's good and suspension noise was handled very well felt quieter than lexus on the road.
braking : normal brakes. nothing remarkable to report.
sales guy was funny, this was at a ford dealership, and he was saying how this was a porsche cayenne competitor and ford/lincoln is right up there with german and japanese luxury marques in quality. i didn't scoff in his face though. he was otherwise nice.
side show sh1t dealer visit : so i went to see the Touareg locally listed by used car dealer. it's owned by big dealership group. i called ahead to make appointment to see the thing, , when i get there, this old stereo typical domestic dealership sales guy, let's call him 'ken' comes over, walks us over to the touareg, asks me what i think. umm.. i just got there. i haven't even spent a minute looking.
i spend like 10 minutes looking over the thing. it's not as good in the flesh as in the photos. lots of wear and tear. it still is a solid deal though, so i'm thinking, and he and i chat for a minute about price and condition of the car, ask about accident history if any, etc, standard stuff. it looks like no accident car as it had the "globali" stickers dealerships sell when the car is new on all the panels, but just to be sure.
he checks computer, says it's accident free, gives me the price plus fee plus tax number, then asks me what i want, do i want to buy the car or take it for a ride or what?
i'm still thinking, it's not that pristine, it's huge, likely have hard time fitting in my garage, and looking at the tire, holy crap it's huge.... and it was a smoker's car, there's cigarette burn on the b-pillar. while i'm thinking all this, the sales guy goes "you know, i'm a busy guy, there are guys coming from lethbridge , red deer, blah blah blah, let me know what you want " then walks away.
ok.... i'm looking at the car all over, under the hood, under the rear suspension, etc, and i look over, and 'ken' is sitting on a desk (yes, ON a desk, not AT a desk) dicking around with 2 other guys. . ..the fx.k? thought you said you were busy???
so i walk out. the end.
