Car Shopping

[rob_s]

The biggest hangup against Kia is the dealer experience. A 50K vehicle doesn’t belong on a Kia lot - even if the car is well sorted, that price comes with an expectation of premium dealer support Kia currently isn’t geared for. Even though German cars tend to break more, their dealerships treat you like royalty. Good luck getting that attention from your local “subprime” Kia shop.

I went from a 2005 Pontiac GTO to a 2005 CPO Cadillac Escalade. I went from having the most premium car available from a totally shit brand to having a premium car from a premium brand. The dealership experience was night and day. When I pulled in to the Cadillac dealership the service manager knew my name, had my upcoming service requirements in-hand, and if I wanted a rental had it ready to go in the lot for me to take the keys and drive off. The Pontiac morons couldn't even spot that my car was a GTO.

[randyho]

I think the best way I heard it put was (and I forget if it was Demuro or the Grand Tour blokes), "This car looks like they didn't know when to stop designing it."

Exactly that. Too much F1 and German Touring Car influence.

[orionz06]

I like the Civic on paper, but I don't think that its looks appeal to anyone over 22.

Pretty much. It's done well on lots of track tests, but that only goes so far when you're arriving at a meeting and some old fart may judge you based on driving Kyle's car.

The biggest hangup against Kia is the dealer experience. A 50K vehicle doesn’t belong on a Kia lot - even if the car is well sorted, that price comes with an expectation of premium dealer support Kia currently isn’t geared for. Even though German cars tend to break more, their dealerships treat you like royalty. Good luck getting that attention from your local “subprime” Kia shop.

To this end, Hyundai is building an entire new network to deal with the Genesis cars. The Elantra and Sonata customers aren't the same as what they're seeking for the Genesis. Per an Audi sales rep it's 3.42 visits per sale for them and 1 visit per sale for main line dealers, hence the hounding.

[rob_s]

To this end, Hyundai is building an entire new network to deal with the Genesis cars. The Elantra and Sonata customers aren't the same as what they're seeking for the Genesis. Per an Audi sales rep it's 3.42 visits per sale for them and 1 visit per sale for main line dealers, hence the hounding.

I worked for the Florida office of a national construction firm, briefly, and the head of the local office (who presumably is pretty well paid) drove a Genesis. I always giggled thinking of him sitting at a Hyundai dealership with their clientelle waiting for his oil change.

it looks like they're even spinning it off to a different website.
https://www.genesis.com

I remember hearing somewhere that Lexus and Acura are just US brands because no American is going to buy a $80k Toyota or Honda.

[mmc45414]

I like the Civic on paper, but I don't think that its looks appeal to anyone over 22.

Well, I am kinda young at heart, and I think it is over the top, but mostly because of the wing. I think the STI can be specified without one, perhaps the Honda could be (or unbolted).

My problem is "thirty six thousand dollars" and "Civic" being in the same sentence. You could say the same about the Focus RS. I am very happy with my ST but when asked if I got the RS I usually reply that I had eleven thousand reasons to not get the RS. There were some other reasons, and I am not saying the RS isn't cool (or the STI, or the Type R), but the Juice/Squeeze ratio on my ST is pretty solid, IMO.

[ragnar_d]

Exactly that. Too much F1 and German Touring Car influence.

The funny thing is that the Civic Type R TCR car looks less over the top/ridiculous than its street car brother. Take the large wing off of the TCR car and it looks like something I’d be okay with driving the street version of.

To this end, Hyundai is building an entire new network to deal with the Genesis cars. The Elantra and Sonata customers aren't the same as what they're seeking for the Genesis. Per an Audi sales rep it's 3.42 visits per sale for them and 1 visit per sale for main line dealers, hence the hounding.

That doesn’t surprise me at all. I had reserved a full-size rental for a work trip a couple years ago and they bumped me to a “P-Car” because they were out of full size cars. Ended up with a brand new Genesis sedan with the 3.8L V6. I could still tell it was kinda sorta/barely a Hyundai, but it was a damn nice ride for a week. The 3.8 moved well for a 4500 pound car with 300-ish horsepower too.


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[BehindBlueI's]

I remember hearing somewhere that Lexus and Acura are just US brands because no American is going to buy a $80k Toyota or Honda.

Qatar has a Lexus dealership and I saw one in Paris. Don't know about Acura.

[rob_s]

Qatar has a Lexus dealership and I saw one in Paris. Don't know about Acura.

I didn't so much mean now as 25 years ago when the brands started.

[BehindBlueI's]

I didn't so much mean now as 25 years ago when the brands started.

Well, I was in Qatar in 2003-2005. Not exactly 25 years ago, but not really today. Lexus was pretty big there, and since trademark enforcement is non-existent you had Lexus fruit stands and Lexus clothing stores, etc.

Regardless, it was not a US-only brand even in the beginning. It was certainly exported to the US, and preferentially because Japan had agreed to limit the number of vehicles exported to the US voluntarily to avoid a trade war. The deal was for a certain number of units, not a certain value, so it made sense to export the most expensive vehicles that would sell. However it was not specific to the US, nor even to North America.

From Lexus' history page:

...Drivers were first introduced to Lexus vehicles in January of 1989, when the first model rolled out. It was called the Lexus LS 400. In 1990, the cars began to be exported to the UK, Australia, Switzerland, and Canada.

[LittleLebowski]

I'm pretty sure that Acura is an American-only brand.

I'd sure like an older NSX