I agree the Japanese cars to me don't have value except Mitsubishi Evo(not bade i can live with it ).
Lexus, Acura, Infiniti < Opel and i don't wily like Opel.
Well, Japanese cars have their own history and heritage, which also includes Toyota. I wouldn't say they have no value.
But not Lexus. Lexus has no real heritage. That short time from 1989 to now doesn't even give them 1/3 of the heritage, achievements and developments that companies like Mercedes-Benz in particularly have achieved.
I've heard people say silly things like
"Lexus has heritage because of Toyota." This is total BS. Lexus may have been created by Toyota but it is still a separate brand that like other brands has to start at ground zero.
Lexus has no real history, no motorsport heritage, no real innovation, no ground-breaking safety technological developments etc. Mercedes-Benz on the other hand has a history of inventing such things in every decade and has a motorsport history that can rival pure sportscar brands like Porsche or Ferrari.
So when people compare Lexus to Mercedes-Benz in terms of brand prestige, I get really upset. Because Lexus is nowhere near Mercedes. Lexus is not even near brands like Tatra or Fiat, which have a history of innovation and technological breakthroughs in the past and have created cars that have captured the imagination of people. Lexus might be an equal or superior competitor, but in terms of brand prestige Lexus has done nothing worthwhile except exploit the willingness to believe of the American consumer with heavy dosages of marketing - and in some cases false marketing.
Sure, they're reliable and used to offer good value, but aside from that there is really nothing that makes a Lexus an interesting vehicle. More importantly, they lack passion. Brands like Benz or Daimler, BMW, Rolls Royce, Aston Martin, Jaguar etc. were created or founded by men with a vision and passion. This was during the time when the automobile was in its infancy and the desire to make money seemed secondary. What these people wanted was a challenge - to build a car that would carry their name and to have fun while constructing and tweaking it. They saw the rivalry from other constructors as a challenge and spend nights or weeks trying to find the technological solution that would give their product an advantage over their neighbors. Now this is how many of the European brands started out - passionate creators. And because of this many European brands have an illustrative and rich heritage and well-deserved brand prestige and recognition.
Lexus was created not because of passion. It was created to steal market share from the European luxury brands in North America. Then their cars were accompanied with an overload of marketing hypes and slogans to get people to buy them. No passion whatsoever. Just Toyota trying to make money by selling well-engineered, yet incredibly dull and boring cars to the wealthy.
Honestly, I really despise Lexus and how people overrate them. Lexus design lacks any sort of harmony. There is no clear design language - except the Hoffmeister kink they shamelessly ripped from BMW. Worse, their interiors are so damn cheap - and people don't see it. Lexus knows how to dress up a cheap interior and make it look "expensive". I wonder how they got away with the IS, LS and LX interiors because those interiors are dirt cheap in my opinion. Several reviews have also mentioned this.
Either way, I think of myself as an enthusiast. I have some respect for Lexus because they did force the German luxury car makers to step up their game, but they're honestly not as good as people make them out to be. Being reliable and good-value isn't much to brag about when there are many other criteria that matter. Lexus is piss poor when it comes to utilizing interior space or making their ergonomics practical etc.
