Gwaneum
Getting familiar with the group...
In a different thread a while back, I talked about my Genesis having a second-look moment. An acquaintance had mistakenly identified my Genesis as a Sonata, and thought I had gone nuts, to downgrade to a Sonata from the almighty BMW 3-series. She eventually drove my Genesis for a mile, and was pleasantly surprised.
Saw her again - and she came back with a newly purchased 2008 Lexus GS350, replacing her Acura which had been in too many crashes (none her fault though). It was one of the last remaining 2008s, so she got an excellent deal on it. I believe she got over $15K off of MSRP, and that V6 GS was actually about the same price as a comparably equipped Genesis 4.6. (My Genesis is 3.8, btw.) The other reason for her choice of the GS was because my Genesis looked too conservative for her tastes. (Agreed on that front.)
I didn't drive the GS - but I did everything short of driving it. It's a very nice car.
Pretty impressive - and the owner's manual looked very nice too. Blows away the one in my Genesis (though it is still nicer than the one that I had in the BMW).
Problem is, this acquaintance is NOT a car person at all. I was the first person ever to open the hood on that GS. (Everything - I mean EVERYTHING - is covered under the hood.) She also never reads the owner's manual - extremely bad idea when driving such a complicated piece of machinery - and couldn't even tell me if there are parking sensors on the car or not. (No circles on the bumpers - but she claims she hears beeps when parking.) She has no concept of a car's weight distribution, nor how a transmission works (the number of speeds in a transmission is a completely meaningless number to her). Her circle of friends are even worse (and they have even more money to blow on a 7-series or some other obscenely priced POS). Unfortunately, that's par in Los Angeles, where you are judged by the hood ornament on your overpriced luxury car, and where BMW makes its profits leasing its performance (not luxury) cars to such neophytes.
The GS is a great car, and I am pretty sure that if I get to drive it, I might even get jealous. But the GS makes sense only at the ridiculously good bargain that my acquaintance got. The Genesis, even with its suspension issues, is a far bigger bang for the buck. Sure, the Genesis navigation system needs some improvements, but then, it appears to be less with hardware and more with software. And I had bought the Genesis, already fully aware that the Koreans are great at hardware (bought an LG TV lately?) and crummy at software (cut-rate websites in South Korea, generic K-pop).
Saw her again - and she came back with a newly purchased 2008 Lexus GS350, replacing her Acura which had been in too many crashes (none her fault though). It was one of the last remaining 2008s, so she got an excellent deal on it. I believe she got over $15K off of MSRP, and that V6 GS was actually about the same price as a comparably equipped Genesis 4.6. (My Genesis is 3.8, btw.) The other reason for her choice of the GS was because my Genesis looked too conservative for her tastes. (Agreed on that front.)
I didn't drive the GS - but I did everything short of driving it. It's a very nice car.
- Navigation is touchscreen, and has a few more features. But it is DVD-based... which can be good and bad. If I could buy nav updates for my Genesis straight from NAVTEQ then I won't complain again.
- Design is certainly a bit funkier. Instrument cluster dimming is in a separate foldaway panel alongside a few other features. I didn't like that - looked like it'd break pretty soon.
- Interior lighting is dim but very cool.
- Passenger seat has 3 memory buttons, like the driver seat. That's an overkill.
- Redundant buttons for both climate control and radio. Liked that.
- AM, FM, CD changer, and cassette, but XM is optional. And the stereo isn't even the Mark Levinson.
- Tiny trunk. On the other hand, there is a modest tool kit similar to ones in German cars. First aid kit is also included.
- Rear camera, yes. But parking sensors, no.
Pretty impressive - and the owner's manual looked very nice too. Blows away the one in my Genesis (though it is still nicer than the one that I had in the BMW).
Problem is, this acquaintance is NOT a car person at all. I was the first person ever to open the hood on that GS. (Everything - I mean EVERYTHING - is covered under the hood.) She also never reads the owner's manual - extremely bad idea when driving such a complicated piece of machinery - and couldn't even tell me if there are parking sensors on the car or not. (No circles on the bumpers - but she claims she hears beeps when parking.) She has no concept of a car's weight distribution, nor how a transmission works (the number of speeds in a transmission is a completely meaningless number to her). Her circle of friends are even worse (and they have even more money to blow on a 7-series or some other obscenely priced POS). Unfortunately, that's par in Los Angeles, where you are judged by the hood ornament on your overpriced luxury car, and where BMW makes its profits leasing its performance (not luxury) cars to such neophytes.
The GS is a great car, and I am pretty sure that if I get to drive it, I might even get jealous. But the GS makes sense only at the ridiculously good bargain that my acquaintance got. The Genesis, even with its suspension issues, is a far bigger bang for the buck. Sure, the Genesis navigation system needs some improvements, but then, it appears to be less with hardware and more with software. And I had bought the Genesis, already fully aware that the Koreans are great at hardware (bought an LG TV lately?) and crummy at software (cut-rate websites in South Korea, generic K-pop).
