So as the time passes by our much-loved RL are getting older... anyone care to share their experience, thought process or story about what was their next car? I'll go ahead and get started...

GS350 F-sport
I know many will say that natural replacement is Lexus GS350 (F-sport), but I have to say I test drove two of them and they simply felt slower than RL is. AWD on RWD based car, perhaps that is the culprit, but still it is a pretty big compromise to get "slower" car and pay fairly big money for it... another compromise is that joystick navigating piece to deal with...

2014 Acura TL SH-AWD (with the risk of oil burning car which may come with the lower sticker price)
It would really depend on what is the price vs mileage ratio considering 3.7L engine and oil burning issue...

2016-2018 Acura RDX Advance (with VCM eliminator installed)
I don't know... VCM eliminator part does not 100% convince me that it will eliminate VCM from making RDX miserable (which it is in the stock option) from the vibrations perspective caused by VCM and active engine mounts...

2018/19 Wrangler JEEP Rubicon Unlimited (JL)
Way too expensive for my budget, I know - but thinking about SUV that is a real SUV, not the body modified mini-vans that have nothing to do with "SUV" but have everything to do with mini-van like purpose with SUV like shape...

OR... what else???

 

getting a RWD GS350 F sport will fix the slow issue, the AWD got 6spd AT where the RWD receive the 8spd gear box from the old LS460.

Perhaps its my dilemma too since Acura line up are nothing but boring lately and Lexus is going away from its root (simple and reliable) now they want to be like BMW. This is why I rather dump money fixing my RL until I found something worth the investment.

 

My next daily driver will be a diesel 3/4 ton truck that is for sure. This will be down the line, I'm saving for a house so the old RL will have to do for a while longer, 93k and climbing daily

 

^^^^ lol except I already own a house, I don't feel like getting another payment on top of my house lol.

 

 

 

Huh, I had the same hint of 550xi but one of the previous owners who I met shared insight info, those have issues with overheating (turbos on V8 that's tightly packed under the hood) - he mentioned BMW tried to fix the issue by installing another battery dedicated to the cooling of the engine alone and an annual servicing requirement. Now sure of the accuracy as I did not care to check what he shared. Instead, I did test drive 535i xdrive (2015) and I liked it a lot... absolute great car - but not for my budget. I can pay the car, I can maintain the car for most of the issues I foresee - deal breaker is the principle that European BMW is much more reliable and here in the US is nothing else but a money pit.

I even entertained at one moment getting a sports car (SS, GT, or even used ZL1) and keeping RL alive for as long as she will cooperate... sigh

 

What's funny is I spotted a good looking car in the mall parking lot the other night from a distance, as I got closer, realized that it was another RL (silver, very clean). I really don't know of a car I would really want in the future. Only car I would love to have is a BMW 6 series, but I know the maintenance costs\parts are ridiculous, so thats out.

 

Since my RL is not my DD and I have everything I need/want in my stable I wont have to make this decision. ONLY thing I would consider is a 993 C4S but again not as a daily.

 

Driving my RL to the ground. currently at 140k. I have an S2000 and recently purchased a 2010 Honda Fit lol. I like the new RLX SH but it doesn't have android auto or carplay. No rush for me since car depreciates and the longer I have my RL the more money I save and the better the deals when the time comes.

 

Same here, the car doesn't really get daily'ed, so no real worries there lol

 

The Michelin Premier LTX's are very capable tires, but they do wear out fast too.

 

I have the Premier's on my Optima... Hmmm... They are rated for 60K miles...


I know that is in best circumstances, but my Bridgestone Dueler Alanza H/L's on my RDX have atleast 70K miles, and theyre finally looking almost done for... That tire seems firm, but has little grip... Will cause drifting in fast coners and horrible in snow/ice...

 

What attracted me to the RL was that it offered excellence with very few compromises in so many areas – style, performance, comfort, tech, reliability (I didn't buy an '05) – and yet, because it's such a secret, had a used car price far beneath its value to me. I'm just like HDNBenjamin in that my RL is now nearing 140k, is still fresh and enjoyable with very few things wrong, and I'd love to keep it a good long time and avoid car payments just as long as I possibly can.

Now, if some bozo crashes into me tomorrow: When I look at the current crop of used cars, there's so much value to be had in large sedans today. The golden-age Lexus LS430's are getting up there in years, but if I found a nice one with a paper trail, that would be very tempting. If I had to go newer, I'd give a long look to the Avalon as a comfortable, quick, durable and comparatively economical sedan with nice bang for the buck.

This may be heresy to say, but driving some perfectly average late-model cars has changed my whole attitude about auto choice. It's a cliche to say there are no bad cars anymore, and I won't believe it until I'm impressed by a Versa test drive, but there are so many cars now that are more than good enough. The only aspect of today's cars that frequently turns me off is the cheap, hard and hollow interior plastics. Other than that, I've realized to my own surprise that I could drive cars as diverse as my wife's Prius or my recent rental Fusion Hybrid, and be more or less perfectly happy with them. In the end, they're just cars, and I think we car nuts talk and read and examine and tweeze them to the point where we start to think the differences between them are greater than they really are.

 

The car market sucks. Cars are now dominated by technology and the pure driving enjoyment (good brakes, responsive suspension, great steering) are far down on the list. Manufacturers are squeezing every last MPG out of their vehicles by using lighter (and sometimes cheaper) materials in their chassis and interiors, it's very frustrating. I plan to continue driving the RL, and not sure what I will do when the time comes. Electronic power steering has not been perfected yet.

 

I mostly agree, especially about the cheaped-out interiors and tech gimmicks. I'll agree about electronic power steering too, but I do think modern cars mostly handle well. If anything, I think they're made to handle almost too well, because ride quality is being sacrificed on the alter of getting good road test reviews, which is pretty useless when so much of our real-world driving is on roads as pockmarked as the lunar surface.

All in all, yeah, I'll be driving my RL until somebody slams into it or its wheels fall off, whichever comes first.

 

There should be a law we can go to our cities and get passed: 'My right to be safe from self-driving cars and electronically-controlled steerings and brakes!'

 

Mine has been daily-ed since I got in June of 2011


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Quick update: I test drove 2015 GS 350 AWD (non F-sport) with about 30k miles and I was seriously surprised how much better the ride was than the other two F-sports I test drove months ago... I guess I must have tested F-sports that were being driven pretty hard...