Welcome to another edition of Daily, Garage, Sell, JNC‘s version of Bang, Marry, Kill. By the late 1980s, Japanese carmakers were taking on the established luxury brands with guns blazing. Tired of the sales price glass ceiling that names like Toyota, Nissan or Honda could command, they launched marques like Lexus, Infiniti, and Acura and introduced them with deluxe flagship sedans. If presented with prime examples of all three today, which one would you drive into the ground, which would you keep pristine, and which would you unceremoniously throw on Craigslist?
Daily, Garage, Sell — Lexus LS400, Infiniti Q45, or Acura Legend?
The most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What’s the best JNC for extreme social distancing?”
We don’t think a single QotW has ever elicited such a diverse range of answers. Your bug-out cars included everything from Lee L‘s S30 Z 2+2 to Angelo‘s murdered out (do kids still say that?) Toyota Century to Lil Yung Killah Pandaface‘s Mitsuoka Orochi, each with compelling and sometimes hilarious reasons.
There were serious suggestions too, like Andy P‘s FZJ80 Land Cruiser, Negishi no Keibajo‘s Sugawara Hino 500, エーイダン‘s Nissan Patrol patrol car, all of which deserves serious consideration. However, the winner this week was Crank_case, who offered an answer so absurd it was actually brilliant:
You’ve got this backwards. Forget your notions of bugout vehicles and getting away, as you won’t be allowed travel far from home anyway.
One way or another you’re going to need supplies at some point, so get yourself a Daihatsu Midget and suddenly every store is a drive-through.
Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!
Garage the Lexus LS400 due to significance, sell the slightly awkward Infiniti Q45, and daily the Acura Legend for driving fun. Just my opinion. 🙂
Daily the Lexus, garage the Acura, sell the Infiniti.
The Lexus is the most coveted/collectible of the three, but also has likely the largest amount of parts available, so would be easiest to keep going given its well-established reputation.
Between the Acura and the Infiniti, the Acura looks better to me and appeals more. I know the Infiniti is supposed to be the sporty, charismatic one, but a first or second generation Legend coupe just looks so much better to my eyes. So, that means the Infiniti hits Craigslist to fund the other two.
Sell: Q45 – not sure why, it just doesn’t appeal to me like the other 2
Daily: LS400 – that’s what it was made for. Reliable, comfortable, fast enough but a little thirsty
Garage: Legend – bring it out when the Lexus needs a timing belt service because that takes a while
Daily – Lexus – This is a no-brainer for me. I know by today’s standards it’s far from a luxury car, but I have been driving a 2008 Yaris hatch every day for the past 12 years, so comparatively the LS400 is the picture of luxury. Not only that, but it does not have all the tech bloat that modern luxury cars have and is easy to work on and known for its reliability.
Sell – Legend – I’m just not drawn to it at all.
Garage – Q45 – By “garage” I mean slap a big turbo on the VH45 and enjoy 450 WHP on a stock bottom end.
Daily – Lexus LS400 due to it’s reliability and availability of parts.
Garage – Honda Legend because parts become increasingly hard to find.
Sell – Infinity Q45 because I never liked the styling
Buy – Toyota LandCruiser HJ61 with 12H-T engine (should have never sold mine, d’oh!)
Daily LS400 – There may never have been a better JNC for the purpose of dailying!
Garage Legend – If we’re going off pictures alone, then as the oldest/most retro of the bunch it’s good JCCS/Radwood material, so deserves to be kept out of the elements and preserved.
Sell Q45 – It’s slightly weird so someone’s bound to pay over the odds for it…
In my eyes, the Infiniti is the best looking of the bunch. With that being said:
Garage: The Lexus. It’s significant historically (made the Germans run for cover), socially (Lex, Cruise, Bimmer and The Benz!) and economically (It’s the only one of the three still around…for a reason). First gen Lex with low miles is money.
Drive: The Acura. You want reliability and anonymity on the daily? This fugly Honda is for you!
Sell: Remember the Q45T with active suspension? Neither do the Infinity mechanics. As Toni Braxton once sang, “Let it go. Let it go, let it go. Let. It. Go.”
Sell the Acura, because to my eyes it’s an accord in a fancy suit.
Drive the Lexus, because it’s a classic, it looks like a Mercedes, tint the windows and watch everyone get out of the way. The Toyota build quality is as you can expect, superb. The room inside is also, superb. Let’s not forget that in the Top Gear budget Police cars challenge in the 2000s, James May used one.
Garage The Q45, because I’ve never seen one in real life before and that has to mean that they aren’t too common anymore. It also has the styling of an older Chevy Caprice, which I really like. Also, how often do you see an Infiniti model that isn’t the SUV thing or the G37? (with the addition of a loud exhaust and a pimple-faced backwards cap-wearing teenage moron behind the wheel)
Sell the Legend! Not that they’re bad cars, but years ago my cousin ripped one in half on a telephone pole at a buck 25, and they just bring back bad memories. (It’s not you Acura, it’s me!)
Daily the LS, cause duh! But put a sweet exhaust on it cause that 4 liter v8 sounds RIGHTOOOOUUUUSSSS under load!
Stuff the Q45 in the garage long enough to dump all the money from the Acura into the motor, throw some Junction Produce drapes in the back, then blast down the road in all it’s sleeper underdog, “what the hell was that, did you see what that Mercury Sable just did?!?” Japanese luxury glory! Cause I like different.
Daily the Acura Legend: it’s comfortable, reliable and the coupe is actually an awesome looking car that appears to be what a Prelude on steroids would look like.
Garage the Infiniti Q45 because nobody wants it now, does mean it will be a sole survivor in 10 years. It’s just like the bonkers styling on the Nissan Skyline C110 and Nissan Cherry X-1R meant these cars went out of fashion rapidly and got almost extinct 10 years ago because nobody cared about them. The Q45 looks so early 90s that it will take another 5 to 10 years before people start to like them again.
Sell the Lexus LS400 because it’s worth money now and a money pit in 10 years. Toyota doesn’t bother to keep spare parts after 25 to 30 years, so that means soon the parts for the LS400 will dry up RAPIDLY because everyone commenting above me will continue to drive them.
Heyyy, wait a minute…how did you guys get into my garage? This is just weird. Talk about doing a double take: I own all three of these vehicles! (For real. And if I knew how, I’d send along photos to prove it.) Yep, all three, and while Daily and Garage are pretty easy, Sell is just cruel.
Daily is my ’91 Toyota Celsior, identical to the car above branded Lexus LS400 around these parts. It’s the same white-over-gray pictured above, and with about 110k kilometers (get your smartphone out), it’s as pleasant a daily driver as you could ever hope for. It’s JDM with right-hand drive, which throws some people off but works for ambidextrous weirdos like yrs. truly. It’ll happily go to the grocery one day, then halfway across the country the next. Reliable, smooth, ergonomically flawless and as comfortable as a BarcaLounger – Toyota/Lexus executed the design and build just right on this one. Air suspension, power seat belt height adjustment, mirror blowers…apparently nothing was considered superfluous as they came to capture the hearts and wallets of Benz and Bimmer lovers here. Every aspect of this superb sedan, from the virtually NVH-free 1-UZ V8 engine to the hush-quiet cabin with sublime audio system, reflects the best Japan has ever offered, even 30 years on.
Garage (because of rarity) is my ’89 Acura Legend sedan with 17k miles. More time machine than automobile at this point, it very quietly goes about its business, doing pretty much everything right. It feels like what it is, Honda’s big move at the time into “luxury” with leather, power everything, a very refined V6 and odd little touches like a high-mounted pushbutton to skip to the next radio station and two master cylinders, one dedicated solely to the then-new ABS system. It runs and handles effortlessly, with a well-tuned suspension, solid handling and a confident manner that belies its somewhat diminutive size. It feels and drives bigger than it is, and with so few miles, it’s still showroom new in and out. Sell it? Why? Drive it daily? Couldn’t handle the guilt. They don’t call it Legend for nothin’ friends: Honda built this fun and dynamic Acura to last, and every drive in it reminds me that it will.
Sell (only because you’re making me!) would be my ’91 Nissan President, another JDM right-hand driver known here in the US as the Infiniti Q45. It looks like a Q45 on steroids, stretched so the body is longer than its Q45 twin. 36k miles and all the finest early ’90s appointments a diplomat or CEO could want, from power curtains and a TV to heated and reclining rear seats. And hey, it’s got the best looking hood ornament of any car I’ve owned. The Infiniti V8 is a workhorse, just doing its thing without a lotta drama. On the street, this car gets more stares than Marilyn Manson at bible camp, though there is always the small matter of that Active Suspension. And if you want to master the A/C and stereo controls, your Japanese skills will come in handy. As for driving dynamics, it handles like the love child of a Mercedes S600 that mated with a DC-3. As my mechanic says, this isn’t just a car, it’s a work of art. (So yeah, sure, I’m saying I’d sell, we’ll go with that. But in reality, um, let’s just say it wouldn’t be my first lie.)
Hey, this guy is for real. When I visit him from England he picks me up at KC Airport in his Acura Legend and people go wild. Because I’m from England I’m offered the chance to drive the car, because it is a right hander, but no. I leave the driving to the Boss Man. I’ve also been driven to a Royals game in the Nissan President. Oh boy, I felt like a President. KCbobo is a great guy and really knows his stuff when it comes to cars. I wish though that Kcbobo also had a few British cars in his vast garage. My everyday car here in England, my daily, is a McLaren 720 Spider, but that’s another story.
I’d sell the Legend. I have no use currently for an FF 25-year-old luxury sedan. Let someone who wants it have it.
I’d garage the LS400. Love that car. Big fan. Love the styling. Engine is amazing, etc.
I’d thrash the bejeezes out of the Q45, because I don’t really care much for it. Improve my cornering technique, reverse entries, Sanpatsu, choku dori, all that. I’d drive it till it wont drive anymore.
Then I’ll take the LS400 out of the garage, and do it again. These cars were made to be enjoyed.
Sell the Acura, FWD are for ladies.
Daily: Lexus, are more conventional
Garage: Q45, the best.