I guess it’s the same mentality as accepting a recommendation from a janitor as opposed to someone who owns 2K cars. An ignorant who act like a genius is a loud ignorant.

I associate Infiniti with BMW-reputed performance but with a different take on style – not necessarily regional. Yes, a Lexus is more refined in a smooth way, but an Infiniti kicks butt in a performance way. Infiniti’s major drawback is that, for the money it does not offer more than it’s established competitors but it also does not have the brand panache or dealership experience. I also have to admit – from Day One I thought the sound of the name “Infiniti” was lame and contrived. Same with the Acura name.

Somehow Lexus cranked their prices and made it stick, but Infiniti has not had such luck. Not too many people are willing to part with much more than 40k for an Infiniti for whatever reason – although they are superior vehicles to their Lexus counterparts.

Honestly, while it’s not a bad car, I would be going straight to BMW at this price point. I wouldn’t even look Infiniti’s way. Or I’d go over to Cadillac once the CTS-V arrives.

I have AC/heat, all that stuff in my exuirban house, and I use them. It get’s hot as a fool here. In Southern cali, there are these great things called Thomas Guides.
If you like “Nav,” that’s fine. I’m actually not against it. I would not mind having it if it were thrown in for no cost, but I’m not paying dealer markup.

daihatsus (at least in australia) were decent, but there’s a reason they left the U.S. market. I wou’d even take an ACCORD over a daihatsu!

Best “Jap” (sic) cars are probably either Nissans (Incl. datsuns) or Subarus — although I drove the new Tundra (for work) Friday and i was impressed, which didn’t match my expectations

Tempos, I understand, are supposed to be crep, but mine, even though I let in run out of oil twice, was the first car I ever sold.

Mazda5 is a nice little car, but not realistic for my family. I’m almost certainly going Lambda

That’s a jackjimturkey (all lowercase) post!

do-over

1115; i’ll admit that the diamante, for whatever reason, wasn’t a sales winner. The 929 was a nice enough car; the Millenia aimed really high, but just didn’t work.

It was like a lot of the GM products early this decade: a great car, but without much style. That’s ironic, because mazdas today have plenty of style.

But, it was NOT a 626. In retrospect, maybe mazda should have launced a luxury division, but then they would’ve had to either come out with another “luxury” model, or just rebadged the 626 (and maybe the Navajo/Explorer)

Anyway, the fact that the TL is a gussied up accord, is a valid point to stress. Now, someone said the NSX was essentially an accord, and while they kmight have had the same taillights or something, that comparison just doesn’t make sense.

I’ve driven just about every car I’ve commented on.

what “lesser vehicles” have I praised?

I like teh acadia more for some reason, but i’ll probably get an outlook, just to make up for the saturn i should’ve bought instead of my honda. But I might get a CX-9; the Mazda5 is cute enough, but realistically, if I’m going to carry kids and cargo, it’s going to cost me some coin.

maximus: datsun’s what i choose to call Nissan’s faux-luxury division when I’m not on the clock.