Tradein Dilemma

[ramblnman]

I'm going to place a special order on an 08

RX400H this week for which I will probably have to wait 4-6 months for delivery.

I am going to trade in an 04 4-Runner which should fetch about 19.5K as of today. The problem is by the time the new car comes in the 08 4-Runners will arrive and my vehicle will then be worth around 17.5K. I wonder if there is a way I could turn the Toyota into the Lexus dealer now and make a deal on a

loaner or something. Any ideas out there?

[RX400h]

I really doubt that the dealership would rent you one of their loaner vehicles for that long a time. However, you could

1. Sell your Toyota to a private party now for more than what the dealership would give you.

2. Buy a 1999-2000 Honda Civic for about $5000 - $6000. They are out there.

3. Drive the Civic until the 08 RX arrives.

4. Sell the Civic for about the same price as what you paid.

It requires a bit more paperwork, but by buying a vehicle that doesn't lose value very quickly, you could end up loosing very little or nothing vs losing $2000 on your Toyota.

....food for thought....

Dave

[w@ntonsoup]

Regardless, sell your vehicle yourself. Trading in means you're literally throwing several thousand dollars away.

[ramblnman]

I'm going to place a special order on an 08

RX400H this week for which I will probably have to wait 4-6 months for delivery.

I am going to trade in an 04 4-Runner which should fetch about 19.5K as of today. The problem is by the time the new car comes in the 08 4-Runners will arrive and my vehicle will then be worth around 17.5K. I wonder if there is a way I could turn the Toyota into the Lexus dealer now and make a deal on a

loaner or something. Any ideas out there?

I wound up ordering an 08 RX350 because

I only drive 6000 miles a year and it made no

sense to pay a premium for a hybrid. I figured

I woud have to drive 25000 miles a year to

break even if I went green and besides by

driving the limited mileage I am already green. Does anyone know how I can change

my personal profile in this group?

[RXREY]

You DON'T understand why we get hybrids! It's not about getting your money back in gas savings...it's about having the money to make a personal statement and do your share. I drive about 8K a year and I am proud to have a 400h. The RX350 is NOTHING like the 400h except it looks alike. Drive them both, you'll pay the extra just because it's such a superior car for pete's sake. When you are not moving too fast on the freeway, at least this is my experience here in L.A., I LOVE that my car becomes fully electric and as everyone else is using gas as they wait for traffic to move and are burning emmisssions like crazy, I am happily aware that my car is not using a drop of fuel nor polluting during this time. If you can afford an RX350, you can afford a 400h. When I get the RX350 as a loaner I am always so glad to get into my 400h afterwards. By the way, many people are jeolous of people with nice cars here in L.A., mine got dowsed in acid and won't have it for a while as it gets totally stripped and repainted! There are some really sick, petty people out there, anywho, that's my story......Rey Bustos in L.A.

[Gryphon]

Following is a letter to the editor of Car and Driver magazine a few months back. I think it states the case for choosing a hybrid quite well.

"In your long-term 2006 Lexus RX400h AWD story (April 2007), you use a common financial argument which suggest that buying hybrids often doesn't pay. In doing so, you miss a huge point that does our nation and our troops abroad a disservice.

You write, "Assuming premium gasoline stays at $2.39 a gallon, it would take more than 91,000 miles of driving the RX400h to recoup that $3800 difference in base price compared with the RX350. That's a lot of driving. Purely on a financial basis, it doesn't make sense to pay the extra money for the RX400h, unless you're thinking it will help save the planet."

No! The issue is not just how much money one saves or spends but also where that money goes. In other words, even if I don't drive 91,000 miles, I'd rather give a little extra money to a hybrid automaker, realizing that in doing so I'm sending less money to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Environmental issues aside, any effort that saves gasoline reduces the money we send to the largely unfriendly countries from whom we purchase oil and the anti-American cause they often fund or support."

[RX400h]

I'm going to place a special order on an 08

RX400H this week for which I will probably have to wait 4-6 months for delivery.

I am going to trade in an 04 4-Runner which should fetch about 19.5K as of today. The problem is by the time the new car comes in the 08 4-Runners will arrive and my vehicle will then be worth around 17.5K. I wonder if there is a way I could turn the Toyota into the Lexus dealer now and make a deal on a

loaner or something. Any ideas out there?

I wound up ordering an 08 RX350 because

I only drive 6000 miles a year and it made no

sense to pay a premium for a hybrid. I figured

I woud have to drive 25000 miles a year to

break even if I went green and besides by

driving the limited mileage I am already green. Does anyone know how I can change

my personal profile in this group?

I'm not sure why you thought that the RX400h requires premium. The owner's manual clearly states that the 400h requires 89 octane fuel. In my book, that's midgrade gas! Most new vehicles have knock sensors that will essentially communicate to the engine control computer that timing needs to be dialed back a bit. This is also true if very warm weather causes the engine to knock. Therefore, you can actually run regular gas in an RX400h, although power will be a bit lower.

Dave

[ramblnman]

Following is a letter to the editor of Car and Driver magazine a few months back. I think it states the case for choosing a hybrid quite well.

"In your long-term 2006 Lexus RX400h AWD story (April 2007), you use a common financial argument which suggest that buying hybrids often doesn't pay. In doing so, you miss a huge point that does our nation and our troops abroad a disservice.

You write, "Assuming premium gasoline stays at $2.39 a gallon, it would take more than 91,000 miles of driving the RX400h to recoup that $3800 difference in base price compared with the RX350. That's a lot of driving. Purely on a financial basis, it doesn't make sense to pay the extra money for the RX400h, unless you're thinking it will help save the planet."

No! The issue is not just how much money one saves or spends but also where that money goes. In other words, even if I don't drive 91,000 miles, I'd rather give a little extra money to a hybrid automaker, realizing that in doing so I'm sending less money to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Environmental issues aside, any effort that saves gasoline reduces the money we send to the largely unfriendly countries from whom we purchase oil and the anti-American cause they often fund or support."

C'mon guys, drive the 400H because you enjoy doing so or want to save money at the gas pump, but don't give me the patriotism bit. If we really wanted to support America we'd be buying a Ford or GM product in the first place. There are millions of Americans who would never buy a Japanese or German car no matter what. The 400H is manufactured. in Japan

so how many jobs is it creating in the States and

how many is it taking away? Someone mentioned

doing it for the troops. How many American troops died in the Pacific?

Ask yourself that.

[SOMEONE ELSE'S GOT MY NAME]

I'm going to place a special order on an 08

RX400H this week for which I will probably have to wait 4-6 months for delivery.

I am going to trade in an 04 4-Runner which should fetch about 19.5K as of today. The problem is by the time the new car comes in the 08 4-Runners will arrive and my vehicle will then be worth around 17.5K. I wonder if there is a way I could turn the Toyota into the Lexus dealer now and make a deal on a

loaner or something. Any ideas out there?

Hmmm, we sold our '02 Range Rover, all bells & whistles, 70K miles 2 years ago for $11K. It's way more of a gas hog, but much pricier ... so ... curious about how realistic the 19.5 K was for the '04 4-Runner I looked up expired ebay prices.

Here's an '03 that DID sell ... meaning the price was deemed good:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/L-K-4-RUNNE...1QQcmdZViewItem

Here's an '04, that didn't sell ... meaning the price was deemed unrealistic:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/04-Toyota-4...1QQcmdZViewItem

There's another '04 on the expired lists that didn't sell either .... for $1,600 less than the one above, but it wasn't fully loaded. We tried ebay for our Range Rover, and couldn't even get a bite at $11K ... so it ultimately sold in the local autotrader. Bottom line ... sell local for more $$$ and buy national to save a boat load ... even if you have to pay $1,000 for shipping, it'll likely be a better deal.

We bought our '06 RX-400h (lease return) on ebay in '06 paying out the door, $42K with all the bells & whistles minus rear DVD's. It had appx 10K miles on it. So even after the added 1K shipping, it was a great price. Just something to consider.

[SOMEONE ELSE'S GOT MY NAME]

C'mon guys, drive the 400H because you enjoy doing so or want to save money at the gas pump, but don't give me the patriotism bit. If we really wanted to support America we'd be buying a Ford or GM product in the first place. There are millions of Americans who would never buy a Japanese or German car no matter what. The 400H is manufactured. in Japan

so how many jobs is it creating in the States and

how many is it taking away? Someone mentioned

doing it for the troops. How many American troops died in the Pacific?

Ask yourself that.

Sorry, but more and more Fords and GM's now days are made in Canada & Mexico than ever before (buy american? ... HA! right) evan as Toyota continues to build more & more manufacturing plants here in the Good ol' U.S. of A. Bottom line, even the GM workers (which are being laid off left & right with the continuing U.S. manufacturing plant closures) feel no loyalty to skum bag GM ... whose quarterly profits are all that matter to them, obviously. They failed to look at the world wide situation, with mid east oil imports from terrorist nations, etc, and decided the $10K easy profits they make on old technology SUV's was the easy way to go. Now toyota is eating their lunch ... and is why GM is only getting what they deserve. Don't even get me started on their quality ... you can read that in consumer reports. But if / when they ever to get their act together? Like with both quality & a real hybrid? Sure, I'd consider it.

[ramblnman]

I'm going to place a special order on an 08

RX400H this week for which I will probably have to wait 4-6 months for delivery.

I am going to trade in an 04 4-Runner which should fetch about 19.5K as of today. The problem is by the time the new car comes in the 08 4-Runners will arrive and my vehicle will then be worth around 17.5K. I wonder if there is a way I could turn the Toyota into the Lexus dealer now and make a deal on a

loaner or something. Any ideas out there?

Hmmm, we sold our '02 Range Rover, all bells & whistles, 70K miles 2 years ago for $11K. It's way more of a gas hog, but much pricier ... so ... curious about how realistic the 19.5 K was for the '04 4-Runner I looked up expired ebay prices.

Here's an '03 that DID sell ... meaning the price was deemed good:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/L-K-4-RUNNE...1QQcmdZViewItem

Here's an '04, that didn't sell ... meaning the price was deemed unrealistic:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/04-Toyota-4...1QQcmdZViewItem

There's another '04 on the expired lists that didn't sell either .... for $1,600 less than the one above, but it wasn't fully loaded. We tried ebay for our Range Rover, and couldn't even get a bite at $11K ... so it ultimately sold in the local autotrader. Bottom line ... sell local for more $$$ and buy national to save a boat load ... even if you have to pay $1,000 for shipping, it'll likely be a better deal.

We bought our '06 RX-400h (lease return) on ebay in '06 paying out the door, $42K with all the bells & whistles minus rear DVD's. It had appx 10K miles on it. So even after the added 1K shipping, it was a great price. Just something to consider.

$19,500 was the KBB tradein value for an 04 in good

condition. Perhaps I could have gotten another

thousand or two if I had tried to sell it myself, but I

didn't want the headaches of dealing with weirdos

and such. Inasmuch as I paid 2K less for the new

vehicle than Edmunds says people in my area were

paying I am satisfied.

[Gryphon]

I'm going to place a special order on an 08

RX400H this week for which I will probably have to wait 4-6 months for delivery.

I am going to trade in an 04 4-Runner which should fetch about 19.5K as of today. The problem is by the time the new car comes in the 08 4-Runners will arrive and my vehicle will then be worth around 17.5K. I wonder if there is a way I could turn the Toyota into the Lexus dealer now and make a deal on a

loaner or something. Any ideas out there?

I wound up ordering an 08 RX350 because

I only drive 6000 miles a year and it made no

sense to pay a premium for a hybrid. I figured

I woud have to drive 25000 miles a year to

break even if I went green and besides by

driving the limited mileage I am already green. Does anyone know how I can change

my personal profile in this group?

I'm not sure why you thought that the RX400h requires premium. The owner's manual clearly states that the 400h requires 89 octane fuel. In my book, that's midgrade gas! Most new vehicles have knock sensors that will essentially communicate to the engine control computer that timing needs to be dialed back a bit. This is also true if very warm weather causes the engine to knock. Therefore, you can actually run regular gas in an RX400h, although power will be a bit lower.

Dave

I'm not sure what manual you have but my 2007 manual clearly states "premium unleaded gasoline with an octane rating of 91 or higher."

Tom

[RX400h]

My 2006 manual that minimum octane rating of 89 is recommended. This means that Lexus allows mid-grade to be used. I will look up the exact words, this weekend.

Perhaps the 07s have higher compression engines and need higher octane fuel? If so, I am glad we have an 06!

[ramblnman]

My 2006 manual that minimum octane rating of 89 is recommended. This means that Lexus allows mid-grade to be used. I will look up the exact words, this weekend.

Perhaps the 07s have higher compression engines and need higher octane fuel? If so, I am glad we have an 06!

With the HP increase for 07 and moreso for 08 premium is required for the RX.

If you drive a 400H 6K miles a year and I a 350

the same mileage yes you are greener than me. However if someone else is driving the H

12K a year then I am sticking it to Osama more than he is. You can spin it anyway you like. Besides I can always buy carbon credits

like Al Gore and burn more energy than any

10,000 normal people.