Ford or Lexus?

My guess is that this has never happened in the auto industry, but I could be wrong. Who has ever found themselves deciding between a Lexus and a Ford? Anyone? Anyone? Well, I found just such a person last Sunday in the Home Depot parking lot.

Let me take a step back and confess that I am a firm believer in the American automobile. I feel that I should support our industry no matter how financially strained it is at the moment (Big 3 payouts to unions and CEOs, etc.) or how supposedly inferior their quality may be. I feel that the only way we, as Americans, are going to keep up with the world is to believe in our own products and buy them. I currently drive a 2005 Ford Freestyle. Before that I drove a 1994 Mercury Sable (still have it). And before that, I drove a 1985 Dodge Caravan...with wood paneling.

Back to my story in the parking lot. As Katie, Amanda and I were making our way to our typical parking space at our local big box retailer, I noticed an older gentleman attempting to cram some 4x4 wood sheets into the tail end of his Lexus RX330.



It's an extremely popular automobile and quite possibly the best-selling SUV on the market. I can't exactly say it revolutionized the segment, but it did make its presence known and I see them everywhere. The thing is, it's soft. It's not meant to go to a hardware store and bring home lumber. It's supposed to LOOK like one would bring home lumber with it (or 4x4 wood panels), but no one really DOES it! Well, I found the first guy who does do it and he was in the Home Depot parking lot on Sunday.

As I was rounding the corner and eyeing a spot next to him, I said to Katie, "I'm gonna ask this guy if he would like to swap vehicles so he can get those sheets of wood home in one piece." I mean, the guy was practically destroying the roof liner right in front of me.

I park the car and walk up to him (make a quick judgement call if he was going to snap at my conjecture) and say, "Would you like to swap veicles? I'm sure that would fit into my car..." He replies, "Ha. Ha. Good idea. Is that a Freestlye? I was seruously looking at that vehicle and bought this one instead. I should have bought the Freestyle, I don't like this one."

My mouth dropped. Did he really say that he was trying to choose between one of the world's best luxury brands and a little ol' home-grown Ford? Yep, that's what he said. It's kinda neat. I love my Freestyle.