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Buick, Lexus top J.D. Power survey, as vehicle service improves overall

Buick and Lexus returned to their customary place atop J.D. Power's scorecard of satisfaction with dealership service departments. In the Customer Service Index Study, out Thursday, Buick scored 860 on a 1,000-point scale for mass-market brands and has topped this ranking in three of the past four years. Lexus topped the list of luxury brands with a score of 874. Fiat and Land Rover were the bottom-dwellers in the two categories. Buick and Lexus also ranked highly in the research company's overall Vehicle Dependability Study rankings out recently. The customer experience at car dealerships has improved steadily, with the overall industry score rising in seven of the past eight years. And one statistic is particularly remarkable: 94 percent of customers say their car was fixed right the first time. The dominant area of difficulty in repairs seems to be infotainment systems. Only 80 percent of respondents said their stereo was fixed right the first time. And in last month's Vehicle Dependability Study, J.D. Power reported that infotainment systems were the most commonly reported vehicle issue, accounting for 22 percent of all problems reported, up 2 percent from the previous year. J.D. Power surveyed 70,000 customers for the Customer Service Index Study. For the Vehicle Dependability Study, it surveyed 35,186 first owners of 2014 model-year vehicles after three years of ownership. Below are charts for both the current study and the complementary overall brand dependability survey. Related video:

Are you the 2015 Lexus RC F?

With less than two weeks before the start of the 2014 Detroit Auto Show, we're starting to get a better idea of what some of the hot debuts are for this year's installment of America's premiere auto show.
The latest leaked image to hit the internet is what purports to be the Lexus RC F, the Japanese premium brand's long-awaited return to the coupe market and the latest challenger for the upcoming BMW M4, a model that will also be arriving in Detroit. This image was reportedly originally leaked by a Chinese magazine, and was then picked up by our friends at AutoExpress.
The image fits with the teasers and spy shots we've seen of the car so far, meaning that this could very well be the real deal. As we've previously reported, Lexus is expected to offer the RC F with a 460-horsepower V8, while a lower-power RC 350 with two fewer cylinders will also be available. We'll have the full set of details on the RC F when it hits the stage in Detroit.

Lexus IS 200t gets a 245 hp turbo four-cylinder, comes here in 2016

The exact timing isn't clear, but now that we have the good news we're ok with a little wait: in Europe Lexus just replaced the 2.5-liter V6 in the IS 250 with its 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder, and we'll get it. The 2.0-liter currently serves in the NX 200t, putting out 235 horsepower and 258 pound-feet. Car and Driver says it will be tuned differently for what will become the IS 200t, with an output of 241 hp and 258 lb-ft. Those numbers whoop the 2.5-liter V6 by 37 hp and 73 lb-ft, and they're just 65 hp and 19 lb-ft under the 3.5-liter V6 in the much more popular IS 350. Improvements continue in the transmission, the IS 200t getting eight cogs - there won't be a manual option - instead of the six-speed 'box mated to the 2.5-liter now. That means buyers can expect a car that's not only more powerful and more responsive, addressing the two fundamental omissions in the IS 250's list of talents, it will also get better fuel economy than the 21 city, 30 highway miles per gallon the old six-cylinder musters. What they can't expect according to CD is all-wheel drive. We're told the engine swap should come "in the early part of the 2016 model year," and it will only come with rear-wheel drive. C/D says that Lexus will bring a third engine to the range that will power an all-wheel entry, which seems a tad complex to us, but if true it wouldn't be the first time the words "Lexus" and "complex" have cozied up together. A press release from Lexus Europe is below. LEXUS TO LAUNCH IS 200t WITH INNOVATIVE 2.0l TURBO PETROL ENGINE • New turbo engine offers superior smoothness and responsiveness, with no turbo-lag and high fuel efficiency • Engine mated to 8-speed Sport Direct Shift transmission • IS 200t on sale in Europe as from September 2015 Brussels, Belgium, 26 Jun 2015 - Lexus is expanding the range of vehicle equipped with its new 2.0-litre turbo engine. Following the launch of NX 200t in early 2015 and the announced arrival of RX 200t by the end of the year, IS is the third Lexus model to be fitted with this new engine. Powered by a new 2.0-litre petrol turbo engine – with innovative D-4ST fuel injection technology for both fuel economy and instantaneous torque – the Lexus IS 200t sports sedan delivers 245 DIN hp (180kW) with a maximum torque of 350 Nm. Capable of rapid acceleration up to a top speed of 230 km/h, its 8-speed Sport Direct Shift transmission was developed for the high-performance RC F.