toyota vs nissan

Hello, All! I know it may sound strange, but i have a question about subj. May be there are some people out there who have some experience with both Nissan and Toyota? I am so tired of my Nissan max 02 and thinking to replace it with RX. Is it worth the money? I only would do it if Lexus is not that much trouble and their reliability is what Toyota and all those consumer reports claim. My Max is only 5 years old but it already started falling apart. I looked at the bottom it's all rusty , i just don't believe it will survive another couple of years. So if anyone can advise, how much is it possible to compare ? Thanks D.

Reply to
Gully Foyle
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On Sun, 26 Nov 2006 00:43:14 -0500, "Gully Foyle" graced this newsgroup with:

well...for one the Maxima and the RX (Suv) are *completely* different vehicles so comparing them would be a moot point.

As far as reliability, a good place to check is Edmunds.com for new/used car reviews, which include reliability ratings.

Having said that, Toyota vehicles (which obviously include Lexi), are some of the most reliable in the industry. Can you get a lemon? Of course. Will you get a lemon? Probably not. If it's used, get a Carfax report. If you're getting new, I'd recommend an extended warranty. The probability that you'll need is low (most problems on new cars show up during the initial warranty period), but IF someone does go wrong, you won't have to pull out a second mortgage to fix it.

For example, my retracting side mirrors on my 02 LS430 crapped out (car wash guy gorilla handled them when trying to fold them back) but fortunately they were covered by my extended warranty and didn't cost me anything to replace. Had I *not* had an extended warranty, the cost for EACH mirror would of been over a thousand dollars. Yeah, ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS.

Get the extended warranty. If you decided to buy used, IMHO, you're much better off paying the $1k or so markup and getting a Certified Pre Owned Lex from a Lexus dealer. Trust me, you'll be happy you did if something goes wrong. Third party warranty companies will do everything they can to avoid paying you IF they even manage to remain in business the entire term of your policy.

Reply to
amstaffs

As a general rule, vehicles designed and manufactured by Toyota Motor Co. are more reliable than Nissan's product offerings. I've owned multiple vehicles made by both companies and my Toyota and Lexus models have been a lot better built than the Nissans; which lead to them being much more reliable downstream. Although Toyota Motor Co. has had an uptick in quality issues/recalls over the past few years, their overall production has also increased quite a bit as well. Of the 'Asian Big 3', meaning Toyota, Honda and Nissan, I would rank Nissan third in build quality and downstream reliability. You'll always have exceptions to the rule when dealing with automobiles, but again, I personally think that this assessment is pretty accurate when speaking in terms of the past ten model years.

Best of luck to you with your automobile purchase decision.

Regards,

Ron M.

Reply to
Ron M.

Hi, thanks for the reply,

Is this the only issue you had with your lexus? I'm curious about real experience. Did you have it since 02? Yes i know about edmunds and carfax, i already read tons of info from various sources. Now i'm trying to get what's in peoples mouth :-)

Interesting, the same is recommended for any other luxury cars. say BMW. I also could get extended warranty from NIssan for my Max. Huh, no easy way out. I don't want to spend big bucks just for luxury. i want spend money on reliable car with decent features (not bare bones) D

Reply to
Djavdet

On Sun, 26 Nov 2006 20:23:56 -0500, "Djavdet" graced this newsgroup with:

..I bought it used in 05. It just came off a three year lease and I bought it certified. Besides the mirrors and a nick on my rims that they polished out, that's been pretty much it. Oh, just after I bought it, the Nav's DVD drive crashed and they replaced that under warranty as well.

You have to pay to play. If you want a luxury car, BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, you're going to have to realize that it will cost you to maintain it. Maybe not in the beginning but luxury car parts are expensive. If you're handy with tools, you can save a LOT of money doing minor stuff yourself. Also, independent technicians are just as good, if not better than a lot of dealership technicians. Don't count them out for repair work. If it's under warranty, get it done at the dealer, if it's routine maintenance, or out of warranty, find a good independent technician to do the work. You'll find it just as good and usually much cheaper on the labor rate.

Reply to
amstaff

Well it turns out that the 50-100K part of the warranty on certified pre-owned Lexii is really just a third party warranty that the Lexus dealer buys and rolls into their markup. I discovered this when I needed to use the warranty on my CPO LS400. With less than 50K miles, it's still the Lexus factory warranty that you'd get if you were certified pre-owned or not.

Reply to
xyzzy.dude

On 1 Dec 2006 11:38:58 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com graced this newsgroup with:

that's not what I mean. Even if Lexus uses a third party warranty company, everything is *guaranteed* by Lexus and is honored at any Lexus dealership for repairs.

Completely third party warranty companies, (and believe me, do a google search on "extended auto warranty", and you'll get thousands of hits), are a completely different story. There was a local news spot on the myriad of fly by night extended warranty companies that routinely collect a huge sum of premiums, deny just about anything they can through technicality and then suddenly disappear with everyone's money only to show up again a few months later under a different name and start it all over again.

IMHO, strictly third party warranty companies aren't worth the paper they're printed on and you're advised to stay as far away from them as possible. It's a notoriously bad industry that state AG's get a lot of complaints about.

search under

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with the following search string for some interesting reading on extended warranty scams:

attorney general auto extended warranty

Reply to
max

In my experience this is not the case. They want you to think you're getting a Lexus warranty but you're not. It was never disclosed to me that it was a third party warranty until I needed to use it. I had two claims during the 50 - 100K period that my certified pre-owned was under the third party warranty disguised as a Lexus warranty. Both times the Lexus dealer told me they would have to get permission from the third party warranty company to fix it.

One of the fixes was $250 and it was approved. The other was over $1,000 and it was not. When I pointed out that it was clearly a defect (on my rear window defogger a set of wires had stopped working so now I have a frosted stripe across the center of my rear window on winter days) the dealer just shrugged his shoulders and said "warranty company said no, it would require replacing the rear windshield and they aren't willing to do that, there's nothing I can do." Nothing could or did move them, they just passed the buck back to the "warranty company" and no, they would not tell me who it is or let me contact them myself.

As a matter of fact with a real third party warranty, if it's legit, you can talk to them and have repairs done at a number of places. With the Lexus CPO third party warranty disguised as a Lexus warranty you can't talk to them and the work can only be done at Lexus dealers. So I'm not sure I see why the Lexus CPO is any less of a scam or any better.

Assuming you do the research and get a legit third party warranty, you're probably better off with that than Lexus CPO -- I bet it's cheaper to buy a non CPO Lexus and buy a good third party warranty than to buy the same Lexus with CPO, and you can get the work done in more different places.

And as far as the warranty being "guaranteed by Lexus" I don't see any particular value there. In my case the bottom line is I could not get legitimate warranty repairs done, the fact that it was "Lexus warranty" not only didn't help, it actually hindered because they would not tell me who actually held the warranty or let me try to negotiate with them myself. I was just as out of luck as if a warranty company had gone under. The bottom line result was the same, but more expensive.

Reply to
xyzzy.dude

Yes, it was. It was fully disclosed in the contract that you signed.

That you chose not to read the contract, is YOUR problem.

I hope that's a lesson learned. NEVER sign anything without reading it. No one has your best interests in mind.

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

Are you positive of this, or are you just talking out your ass? Have you personally seen and examined the paperwork that people who buy Lexus CPO sign?

Reply to
xyzzy.dude

Dude, there is no single set of paperwork used by any dealer. The dealer sells the products he wants to sell.

And the paperwork states exactly what the terms of the contract are. For all parts of the deal--the car, the financing, and whatever additional warranty the dealer sells, be it Lexus or third party.

Yes, I know for a fact that he didn't read the contract. I know for a fact that he made a lot of assumptions based on what some salesman told him.

You don't know your way around a car dealership. When you come in, the sharks circle.

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

So in other words, you are talking about your ass when you claim it was disclosd and I simply did not read it.

Reply to
xyzzy.dude

On 5 Dec 2006 06:42:59 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com graced this newsgroup with:

  1. I have yet to see or hear from any dealership or independent technician that recommends *any* third party warranty company. Most of them will tell you that they wouldn't deal with them unless they absolutely have to and most of them will do everything they can to find a loophole to prevent a repair on their dime.
  2. I have the number for the Lexus warranty company. If you want it, just call your Lexus service department, they'll be happy to give it to you. All you have to do is ask. Or, call Pohanka Lexus in Chantilly Va., they'll give to you over the phone.
  3. Even a NEW car doesn't guarantee you a replacement (trust me). It's still subject to approval by the manufacturer or dealer. There are no absolutes in insurance. It sounds to me, (and I may be wrong), that you felt something needed to be replaced, and nobody else did.

I'd love to have a new paint job. Not because it needs one but because I'd like to see fresh paint on the car but I seriously doubt that's a reason for my warranty to cover repainting it.

Reply to
max

Two comments to you Gully, first the Carlos Ghosn resurected Nissan by squeezing the dickens out of his Nissan suppliers, read "Le cost cutter", doing that you naturally invite reliability problems.

Second, most Lexus vehicles, like my GS300 are built in Tahara Japan. The Tahara plant has been rated by JD Power as the very best auto assembly plant in the world. Given that, and given that the work is done there in a country club atmosphere, I think it is fair to say, you will have fewer problem with Lexus vehicles.

If that is not enough, Toyota is real finicky about reliablity. Some Toyota badged vehicles are also built at Tahara, however, where parts rejects for Lexus vehicles approach one in a million, part rejects for the Toyota badged vehicles are much less stringent, probably by a factor of fifty. That said, the reject criteria for Toyota vehicles parts is still in the top ten percent for all makes, including brands like Mercedes as well as Subaru or GM...

/N.

Reply to
kitzler

Lexus is so great! Driving my car is like driving a cold refrigerator down the road. It jumps when you shift it, jumps and rumbles when you stop it using the brakes, the windshield sucks for four or five reasons, and even the trunk closer has started squeaking. Some great car! Glad the junk bag was made in a country club!!! That sure makes me feel good. Oh well ... at least it won't break down and leave me stranded the way a German Luxury Kar would.

Reply to
mcbrue

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