zircon

Basically it comes down to a willingness by some persons insecure in their lot in life to spend whatever it takes to be a 'big-shot', no matter the cost. Some will even buy 2 vehicles from these suspect companies, further enhancing their endowment - kind of like a car-based John Holmes.

I think Junkster has identified a central problem that is hurting these luxury brands. To keep on step ahead of the posers like Acura, they add mor and more state of the art electronics. There exists so much electronic wizardry in these cars that they are highly vulnerable to bugs etc. Very different from you old '85 F150.

Buff-Daddy

Or maybe they just like the cars, had a great experience with the 1st one and so when it came to car #2, they went with what was successful in the past. If it ain't broke, don't fix it...
I have 3 acura dealerships within 20 miles of me and I had 2 bad experiences and 1 good one. When I leased my 99 Acura CL 3.0, it was great from beginning to end.
I went back to try and get into an MDX but they were relatively new and no one had them for a long time, even worse than the TSX. They were pretty rude to me and basically said, you want an MDX, good luck. So, I went with the X5 instead and the BMW dealership was fantastic.
When I went back to look for car #2, the TSX was still pretty hot and hard to find and I got pretty much the same treatement. They basically said look, if you are serious, we need a down payment and you are going to have to pay MSRP and wait 3 months. I couldn't find a sales person I liked and so I went back to BMW who was clearing out the 2003 3-Series and since I was a current customer, I was treated like gold again and they gave me everything I asked for, even helped me obtain the wheels I wanted for no extra charge thanks to another customer who didn't like his rims for some reason.
So, that is how important timing can be. I happened to need cars that Acura just couldn't provide for me at the time. I did want AWD, but I think if I could have gotten the deal I wanted without waiting 3 months, I might have considered the TSX. Now I would lean more toward the TL.
I have 18 months left on the X5, so I will start looking again in about a year. My daughter will be 21 months at that time, so no matter what we end up with, it will have the rear-entertainment package!

provench

I will just make a quick comment on this. I went to look at a 330 a few years ago and I have go to say that everyone at the dealership was just fabulous on the sales side. But you know what - I would be happy all the time if I made the profits and commissions that they make. I am being serious ... I think some Acura dealerships (mine excluded) have a VERY hard time attracting the good sales staff because you just can't make what you make at the high end car sales companies.

This might be a new thread altogether, but I think it is an interesing phenomenon.

my

larchmont

Even now? I woulda thought that with the TSX and new TL, they're making pretty good profits on every car, and selling them as fast as they can handle.

But on the other hand..... there seems to have been a lot of turnover lately at my local Acura dealership. I called about some stuff a coupla months ago, and they said my main salesman had gone on to other things, and as for this other guy that I had dealt with a little bit (just a few weeks previously), they never even heard of him.

Buff-Daddy

Well, it would be frustrating as hell to have cars that people want and not be able to get them. Do you know how many people they lost the 1st time around with the MDX. There was a 6 month waiting list between all 3 of my local dealers. When people go to look at cars, especially the new, hot items, it creates excitement and then to tell someone that they have to wait 3-6 months to get what they want, well that takes all of the fun out of it. It is a tricky situation with supply and demand, but in this case, not having the supply to satisfy the demand meant potential customers went elsewhere.

phile

Well before the MDX, potential customers did go elsewhere...they went to Lexus or MB for an RX300 or an M-Class.

Buff-Daddy

The RX300 and now RX330 are tough to beat, they are very nice feature filled SUV's for a fair price, but I see 90% women driving them, at least around here. The MB M-Class is junk. I laughed after driving it because it really was "that bad". I only drove it to say that I drove "everything" out there.
I liked the look of the X5 the best to begin with, and it handled the best out of the SUV's that I tested at the time. The MDX is a little bland as far as styling, but it is solid across the board. Looks just a little too much like a minivan for my taste. I think it was the best deal out of them all, but now the VW Toureg seems to be taking that title away. I could never see myself driving a VW, but I will give it a fair chance when the time comes... Maybe an RX330 in black with tinted windows will look a little more manly?

zircon

mdx is too bland on the outside IMO. It also needs to be revised to compete with the 330.

Buff: I do not blame you for walking away from Acura - I would have done the same. Treating anybody like that is boorish (abd stupid), let alone someone who is going to drop a lot of $.

phile

I actually like the MDX's clean lines. But I would like to see more chrome on the grille, xenon headlights and removal of that black plastic thing on the front bumper.