neoprufrok
12-05-2004, 05:04 PM
A friend of mine is considering either an Audi S4 or a Lexus IS300. I had a good experience buying my car at an Audi dealer I was familiar with - so I had my friend come from his house (which is 45 minutes away) to this dealership to test drive the S4. We ahd scheduled an appointment for about 6pm - and the dealership closed at 7pm. My friend got caught in traffic and so we called and indicated we would be late at about 625pm or so. When he arrives, the dealer iniitially refused (in a very impolite way) to let him test drive the S4 - at which point I indicated a few things to him - that he came to this specific dealership because of my recommendation and that we had both never heard of a dealer denying a test drive jsut because they closed in 30 minutes. I also told him that they had 7 S4's in stock - and if they wanted to move one - it would be in their interest to test drive the car. After talking to the sales manager - we were able to take the auto and stick version on a test drive. (See my other post for our opinions on the S4)
The Lexus dealer was far more accomodating. The salesperson was a very good looking woman - we were 15 minutes late to that appointment, but yet she was more than willing to give my friend a long test drive 15 minutes past closing time.
A few other things - if you live a little father away from the dealership they will offer to come to your house with a courtesy vehicle (another lexus) take your vehicle in for service, and return your vehicle and pick up the courtesy vehicle from your house. This is the best treatment I have seen yet in the near-luxury, mid-luxury category. Furthemore, every Lexus dealership has little "cubicles" for those waiting for their cars to connect to the internet and get work done.
The cars were also amazingly plush. I am not a HUGE fan of Lexus cars. I prefer the personality and looks of german cars more. However, the level of luxury in their cars is hard to surpass. The "airline" seats in their flagship LS is incredibly comfortable with reclining rear seats and an incredible sound system.
A comment on the Sound System. I'm an audiophile at heart. I will easily spend 2-3K on a CD player and 1K on speaker cables. I do this because hi end audio offers a listening experience second to none -with an incredbile clarity, soundstaging, imaging and "you're there" experience. The only sound systems in cars I've thought come close to this experience is Lexus' Mark Levinson systems. Mark Levinson's home audio products are very expensive - but well known to be state of the art in terms of performance and technology.
A CD transplort/DAC from ML systems can go for 10k easily. An amplifier starts at around 6k and goes upwards to 50k I believe. Thus, its no surprise to me that Lexus does so well in that regards. I think MBZ needs to take a lesson from Lexus and develop a system that competes with Lexus' system.
The Lexus dealer was far more accomodating. The salesperson was a very good looking woman - we were 15 minutes late to that appointment, but yet she was more than willing to give my friend a long test drive 15 minutes past closing time.
A few other things - if you live a little father away from the dealership they will offer to come to your house with a courtesy vehicle (another lexus) take your vehicle in for service, and return your vehicle and pick up the courtesy vehicle from your house. This is the best treatment I have seen yet in the near-luxury, mid-luxury category. Furthemore, every Lexus dealership has little "cubicles" for those waiting for their cars to connect to the internet and get work done.
The cars were also amazingly plush. I am not a HUGE fan of Lexus cars. I prefer the personality and looks of german cars more. However, the level of luxury in their cars is hard to surpass. The "airline" seats in their flagship LS is incredibly comfortable with reclining rear seats and an incredible sound system.
A comment on the Sound System. I'm an audiophile at heart. I will easily spend 2-3K on a CD player and 1K on speaker cables. I do this because hi end audio offers a listening experience second to none -with an incredbile clarity, soundstaging, imaging and "you're there" experience. The only sound systems in cars I've thought come close to this experience is Lexus' Mark Levinson systems. Mark Levinson's home audio products are very expensive - but well known to be state of the art in terms of performance and technology.
A CD transplort/DAC from ML systems can go for 10k easily. An amplifier starts at around 6k and goes upwards to 50k I believe. Thus, its no surprise to me that Lexus does so well in that regards. I think MBZ needs to take a lesson from Lexus and develop a system that competes with Lexus' system.