Well, the decision seems to be made; it appears that we'll be going with the 2006 Acura RL rather than the Lexus or the Infiniti. We test drove all three--the Acura folks were kind enough to loan us the car for the day, so we drove it to the other two dealerships to allow for the most precise comparisons on the same driving route--and the Infiniti was the first to get ruled out. Good car, but the iPod interface is cumbersome, the seat bolsters are too deep in that "bucket seat" way that I find confining, and there were a few little things that didn't feel as comfortable as I'd like. The Lexus... well, who can say? The Lexus dealership had no ES 350's in stock with the Ultra-Luxury Package and the Mark Levinson sound system, so I had no way of testing the car that interested me. Sure, I could drive a basic model, but I hated the idea of paying an extra $11k for features that I couldn't sample at all until I put down a deposit, ordered the car, and was ready to close on the deal.
Susan really liked the way the Acura performed; she said tha she felt comfortable as both a passenger and as a driver as soon as she got into the car. The sound system was rich and crisp, the noise cancellation technology worked quite well, the seating was comfortable (although it doesn't have cooled seats... *sigh*), the real-time traffic was a real plus, and I like Honda/Acura's navigation systems better than anyone else's.
At one point, Susan said, "I like the Acura better, but that's choosing a car for emotional reasons rather than logic." But what better reason to buy a car than that one likes the car? When a car is instantly appealing, that's the car you should get!
Looks like we'll have the Acura by the end of next week (another plus--the estimated wait for the Lexus was 8 to 12 weeks). I'm sure I'll say more about it then...
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