jhale

I was curious if any fellow RL'ers have either one of these cars. My wife is hours away from delivering our second child and I'm thinking about getting rid of my 2000 Ford Expedition EB for something a little smaller and refined. We drove the V8 XC90 and it was fantastic. The car had tons of power and plenty of nice options. The Lexus has a V8 as well (no independent rear end) but it drove more like a car. Being used to a V8 and going up the mountains evey weekend I'm leaning towards a V8 powered SUV.

The prices are essentially identical and I was curious if anyone had any comments on either car. Thanks for any comments/suggestions.

JH

chris walrod

While I really like the XC90, the Lexus may be the better choice solely in terms of service from this maker. Volvo's service is a little lacking, IMHO.

Flying Finn

I have XC90 and have pretty much nothing but good things to say about it. My wife drives it mainly but I do drive it too. Drives very well, very car (not truck) like handling.

Has the booster seat (when kid gets little older) and 3rd row & whole seating engineering is way better than any other SUV I've seen. And IMO, more cool/differnet than Lexus (not big fan of Lexus).

Only negative I'd say has been fuel mileage, I don't pay attention to it but it feels it consumes quite a lot (I think town driving is 15 mpg or something).

And contrariry to what Chris sais, service experience has been good to.

I'd definitely recommend XC90.

TRINITONY

LEXUS all the way..visit http://forum.ih8mud.com/forumdisplay.php?f=26

edit: I thought you said lx470, sorry...misread

177mph

My lexus GX470 has been an amazing truck. Averages between 17-19mpg - full time 4wd -3 rows, GREAT stereo. I would buy another in a second. And the service is great. Its also built on the land cruiser platform (the one sold in europe - not the american version).

GET ONE!!!

993 Guy

My wife has the GX and can't say enough great things about it. We have had EVERY SUV on the planet and the Lexus has exceeded my expectations on every level.

I personally never thought that I would like a Lexus better yet a Lexus SUV. We had multiple Range Rovers and bought the Lexus on a whim after being treated like a second class citizen at a LR dealership in Larchmont NY while trying to buy another Rover.

Left that crappy dealership and went down the street to Ray Catena Lexus to check it out. Walked in and had one of the best dealer experiences of my life. Wrote a check that afternoon and haven't looked back since.

In short...go with the Lexus, you will be happy you did.

jhale

This is all great feedback, thank you. Flying Finn, does your XC90 have the V8 motor? Also, do any of the Lexus owners feel that the truck is under powered? Thanks again for all of the feedback- JH

obchuck

993 Guy, you should send that story to Toyota and/or LR to see their response.

jhale: I used to own a 4-Runner, no complaints whatsoever. I thought the GX shares the new 4-Runner Platform?? Maybe the European Land Cruiser is the same. Anyway, find out that platform the Volvo is built on (as everything is "shared" these days Yet another reason to love our 993s!!! ). There's enough literature/opinion/evidence that Toyota is steamrolling Detroit these days. As an American I suppose that's unfortunate, but as a consumer you can reap the benefits. Now that I think about it, my former co-workers had a Volvo (no sure which model) and swithed to the GX due to reliability issues on the Volvo, I think after the warranty. I'd go Lexus, but that's just me.

Don Plumley

We have an AWD XC90 and are very happy with it. It's not the V8, but the base 5cyl model - and I've never felt that it was underpowered. I towed my Porsche on a heavy UHaul trail with no problems. And runs up into the Sierras with a full load of kids and gear are very easy - accellerating uphill without problem. I also have nothing but praise for the Dealer service.

nota_troll

We've got two 'young-lings' too. Currently I got a RX330.

IF I want a 3rd row seating I'll get the GX. If not I'll buy a Cayenne. The Lexus service spoils you.

Flying Finn

Ours is also the 5 cyl. model which is plenty enough (this is not a sportscar, it's a truck, I don't tow though so I can't comment on that). I did have the 8 cyl model for a while and it did have more torque but like I said, I've never felt this being underpowered.
With 7 adults in a car it handled pretty good (we used to have a minivan and that was horrible with 7 adults).

Oh, and with kids, your wife propably appreciates (I know mine does) the fact that XC90 has roll over/stability control (or whatever it is) and like 20 airbags or something.

Travis

This is like deja-vu all over. My wife and I researched the Volvo back in '03 when we were expecting our second kid. It was a brand-spankin new model then and was 'The One' to get.

Needless to say, we got 'The One' at full MSRP, ouch! It was a T6 with pretty much all the stuff, like Nav, and the 20 or so airbags. This was a large car, larger than anything we have driven before and was quite surprised at how well it handled. The ability to carry gobs of stuff was down right amazing...

Then came the problems. Within 300 miles of ownership, the CEL came on (severed harness) and from then on, it just kept getting worse. In the end, we returned the car after the transmission failed and a partial electrical shutdown stranded the vehicle on our driveway. Yeah, it was safe alright, so safe, you couldn't go anywhere! Thank goodness for the Lemon law.

I'm sure the newer ones are better, but we also learned a lesson not to buy first year production vehicles ever again.

-travis

Travis

This is like deja-vu all over. My wife and I researched the Volvo back in '03 when we were expecting our second kid. It was a brand-spankin new model then and was 'The One' to get.

Needless to say, we got 'The One' at full MSRP, ouch! It was a T6 with pretty much all the stuff, like Nav, and the 20 or so airbags. This was a large car, larger than anything we had driven before and were quite surprised at how well it handled. The ability to carry gobs of stuff was down right amazing...

Then came the problems. Within 300 miles of ownership, the CEL came on (severed harness) and from then on, it just kept getting worse. In the end, we returned the car after the transmission failed and a partial electrical shutdown stranded the vehicle on our driveway. Yeah, it was safe alright, so safe, you couldn't go anywhere! Thank goodness for the Lemon law.

I'm sure the newer ones are better, but we also learned a lesson not to buy first year production vehicles ever again.

-travis

177mph

Oddly enough - my GX470 is a "first year" vehicle (a 2003) and has been trouble free. Sorry to hear about the volvo. Were at almost 70k now and it feels brand new. Maybe I should work for Lexus!

Travis

I do have a friend at work with an '03 GX470 and her truck has had a problem with the front suspension clunking. Apparently something to do with the load levelling? Not sure, but needless to say her experience with their relentless pursuit for quality was lackluster.

Lexus got her to buy a 100K powertrain warranty for a small fortune (less than retail, but still...) Gotta getcha when they can!

-travis