http://jesda.com/2011/09/20/bringing-ho ... niti-qx56/
Back in August I went car shopping for my mom [http://jesda.com/2011/09/01/comparison- ... niti-qx56/]. She was interested in a new three-row SUV to replace her Lexus GX470, so I went window shopping on her behalf with my friend Ian. We took a glance at Cadillac and BMW and took the Mercedes GL and Infiniti QX for a test drive. We came away quite impressed with the build quality and expensive materials used in the Infiniti, and it drove like a much smaller, livelier vehicle.
My mom leaned toward the Mercedes GL450 for its styling and appearance, at least as depicted in the brochures I gave her, but I urged her to go see the new Infiniti QX56 in person. As strange looking as it was, it drove and felt like something much more substantial and luxurious than its relatively competitive sticker price.
Additionally, my friend James, an engineer at Nissan who I met through NICOClub, offered us a generous Infiniti VPP discount coupon that took seven thousand dollars off the sticker price, eliminating any negotiation or haggling.
On September 14, 2011, she called me and asked me to meet up with her at Bommarito Infiniti. A week earlier, I e-mailed Bob Maher, our salesman at Bommarito, and told him she had decided to keep her Lexus for a few more years. Then suddenly, the night before at around midnight, she called and told me she wanted to see what was out there and asked me to meet up with her in the afternoon.
It was a gloomy, rainy Wednesday, generally terrible weather for buying or selling automobiles. I picked her up in my Seville and drove her to Bommarito Infiniti on Manchester Road. We took a white QX56 for a drive and Mom was immediately impressed, commenting that it “drove like a car.”
She called my stepdad to have him take it for a drive and share his opinion -- he favored it as well, especially the birds-eye-view camera system and the generous living room-inspired interior. [He arrived at the dealer in his impressively clean 2004 Lexus LX470 with 320,000 miles on the clock.]
Mom’s GX470 was still at the Lexus dealer for service, completed weeks earlier but never picked up because of her travel obligations. She intended to keep it for a few more years, especially after having the timing belt and water pump serviced, but said that after being without it for so long, she didn’t miss it.
And that’s the problem with so many Lexus products. A handful will make an impact, like the LS sedan, the first generation SC, and the current F-series performance cars, but the rest tend to be filler, tucked into well-defined marketing segments without any inspiration.
Even my mother, an automotive layperson, acknowledges this problem.
As questionable [that’s me being exceedingly polite] as the Infiniti’s styling may be, it’s still a joy to drive and an absolute pleasure to be in. Her agenda that day was supposed to be restricted to window shopping and kicking tires, but there was no reason to visit the Mercedes dealer or go anywhere else. For her, the Infiniti was the one.
That’s what happens when a driver emotionally connects with a vehicle, it cultivates (or breaks) brand loyalty and transcends test numbers in magazines or specifications in brochures. All the black and red dots in Consumer Reports mean nothing when it comes time to drive, look at, and feel a car.
Perhaps, then, the average Camry driver isn’t a boring, soulless person as I often tease. It’s possible that he or she hasn’t been exposed to the automotive greatness that’s out there, the motoring joy that's waiting to be experienced. Like art, like food, like music, like everything in life, it takes time and effort to make a connoisseur out of a mass market regular.
In the words of my friend Gary, “Life is too short for boring cars.” Preach on, Mr. Hebding.
Back to the QX…
My parents decided to keep their ’06 Lexus GX as an extra beater car, something for house guests to drive around. This made it difficult for Bommarito to make a profit on the deal since a trade was out of the equation and the VPP voucher set pricing well below invoice.
They decided to finance it and purchased the optional dent coverage and maintenance package, so at least the dealer made a few coins.
They took delivery of a gray AWD QX56 with black leather, 22-inch wheels, door and bumper sills, a roof rack, and rear seat entertainment. The sticker was $68000 but thanks to the VPP discount from James they took it home for $61000, a massive discount.
Bob introduced my mom to some of its most important functions and paired her iPhone to the head unit.
The truck has grown on me, but the look hasn’t and probably never will.
Bommarito’s clean but small service bay.
It’s hard to tell from a blurry camera phone photo, but the stitching is impressive.
Lighted sills.
My role as an advisor was complete, so I headed home while mom and her husband finished up the deal. I drove over to her house later that night to take a closer look at the new truck.
It barely fits into the garage, a modern home built in the 1990s. I’m still having trouble accepting its weird face.
Her Lexus was short enough to park behind the freezer. The QX had to be parked at an angle to get around it. My aunt’s Subaru Impreza will be moved to this space instead.
To inaugurate her purchase, she’s driving the Infiniti to Minnesota. A road trip is an excellent way to bond with a new vehicle, learning its quirks and discovering new features. [She was surprised when I told her about the heated steering wheel.]
Big thanks to my friend James Sisson at Nissan for the discount, Bob Maher at Bommarito Infiniti for the sales experience, and the engineers in Japan for creating this Godzilla on wheels.
Ka-Chow!
