toyota vs nissan

Post by Gully Foyle
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.

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.

Djavdet

2006-11-27 01:23:56 UTC

Hi, thanks for the reply,

Post by a***@home.com
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.

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 :-)

Post by a***@home.com
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.

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

a***@home.net

2006-11-27 01:39:22 UTC

Post by Djavdet
Hi, thanks for the reply,

..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.

Post by Djavdet

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.

x***@gmail.com

2006-12-01 19:38:58 UTC

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.

m***@dontspam.me

2006-12-02 23:11:42 UTC

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 www.dogpile.com with the following search string for
some interesting reading on extended warranty scams:

attorney general auto extended warranty

x***@gmail.com

2006-12-05 14:42:59 UTC

Post by m***@dontspam.me

Post by x***@gmail.com
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.

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.

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.

Elmo P. Shagnasty

2006-12-05 15:18:15 UTC

Post by x***@gmail.com
It was never disclosed to me
that it was a third party warranty until I needed to use it.

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.

x***@gmail.com

2006-12-05 16:18:28 UTC

Post by x***@gmail.com
It was never disclosed to me
that it was a third party warranty until I needed to use it.

Yes, it was. It was fully disclosed in the contract that you signed.
That you chose not to read the contract, is YOUR problem.

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?

Elmo P. Shagnasty

2006-12-05 23:44:35 UTC

Post by x***@gmail.com
It was never disclosed to me
that it was a third party warranty until I needed to use it.

Yes, it was. It was fully disclosed in the contract that you signed.
That you chose not to read the contract, is YOUR problem.

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?

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.

x***@gmail.com

2006-12-06 15:59:57 UTC

Post by x***@gmail.com
It was never disclosed to me
that it was a third party warranty until I needed to use it.

Yes, it was. It was fully disclosed in the contract that you signed.
That you chose not to read the contract, is YOUR problem.

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?

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

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

m***@dontspam.me

2006-12-07 03:10:10 UTC

Post by m***@dontspam.me

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.

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.

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.

Ron M.

2006-11-27 00:30:14 UTC

Post by Gully Foyle
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.

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.

kitzler

2006-12-07 18:07:55 UTC

Post by Gully Foyle
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?

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.

mcbrue

2006-12-08 03:28:41 UTC