New To Lexus Forum

[ilovelexus2007]

Hi All,

I've just joined the Lexus Forum here today. I didn't know such forum existed until the service manager at my Lexus dealer told me.

I've just purchased my 2008 RX400h, with Nag, Towing Package, Wood Trim, HID Xenon, 18' inch wheel for 49K. I wonder if that was a good deal or not. I purchased in MN, where there are only 2 Lexus dealers.

How much did you get for your RX400h? Where?

By the way, on average, what is your MPG? What kind of gas do you use?

Thanks in advance for all the feedbacks.

[jrober]

Congrats and welcome. Did you buy from the Maplewood or the Wayzata dealer? How was your experience. I think they are actually owned by the same owner.

Here are a couple other sources of info.

http://www.clublexus.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=187

http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.ef799f5/

It seems from the internet forums that about $4000 off MSRP is fairly typical lately (plus tax and license).

What is you initial mpg with the current weather in MN?

Here is a good mpg thread. http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=282939

[RX400h]

Welcome and congratulations!

We were one of the first buyers in San Diego, so any discounts were essentially pipedreams! With a good mixture of city and highway driving, we average 24-25 MPG, far higher than did our Nissan Quest, which averaged 17 MPG.

During cooler months, I use regular gas, but when the heat of Summer arrives, I tend to switch to midgrade. If driving to Las Vegas where temps hit 105, premium fuel is mandatory.

[SOMEONE ELSE'S GOT MY NAME]

yes, welcome!

We got our '06 IN '06, with a few thousand miles on it . . . early lease return. It was on Ebay, back in Lancaster PA, so we had it shipped to our MT property, where there is no sales tax. So, with shipping & registration we got out the door under $45k. My wife's lead foot will drop the mpg down to about 25.5mpg but that's better than she used to be. I've gotten over 31.1mpg for an entire tank, which aint shabby for a quasi all wheel drive.

Edit:

P.S. lexus2007,

Being in Minnisota, you'll find it tougher to get higher mpg's in the winter. 1st thing we looked into was an electric block heater. It really makes a HUGE difference during the first 15 minutes of driving ... which is a BIG deal, if all you do is short/15min trips or less. Plus, it'll bring your heater up to speed extra quick. Also, consider reading the threads here on snow/ice driving. As you're probably well-aware ... excelent snow tires will make all the difference in the world. It's especially true with the HSD, because of the way it's designed.

[Jim Clark]

We've averaged about 26 mpg and use premium gas. I've heard of people getting much better deals than we got which was about the same as yours. Demand was high and there was little inventory available when we bought ours so they weren't cutting very good deals.

[ilovelexus2007]

Congrats and welcome. Did you buy from the Maplewood or the Wayzata dealer? How was your experience. I think they are actually owned by the same owner.

Here are a couple other sources of info.

http://www.clublexus.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=187

http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.ef799f5/

It seems from the internet forums that about $4000 off MSRP is fairly typical lately (plus tax and license).

What is you initial mpg with the current weather in MN?

Here is a good mpg thread. http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=282939

[ilovelexus2007]

Congrats and welcome. Did you buy from the Maplewood or the Wayzata dealer? How was your experience. I think they are actually owned by the same owner.

Here are a couple other sources of info.

http://www.clublexus.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=187

http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.ef799f5/

It seems from the internet forums that about $4000 off MSRP is fairly typical lately (plus tax and license).

What is you initial mpg with the current weather in MN?

Here is a good mpg thread. http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=282939

jrober, I bought it from Wayzata, are you from MN too? If everyone here got $4000 average off the MSRP, then I'm a big failer! My MSRP was $51,200, so I got only like 2K off.

By the way, I was looking at a pre-owned 2007 RX400h, with 31,000 miles for 39K, was it a good deal?

Here in MN, my MPG in February was 23, in March about 25.5. I drive every carefully and go easy on the gas. I usually go around 55-65MPH in the freeway.

Anyone has any other experience in pricing, please share. Thanks All!!!!

[jrober]

I live in WI. It is water under the bridge now but I bet you could have done a little better if you would have dealt with the Internet Manager and also negotiated with the dealerships in WI (and maybe even in Chicago). If they know you are willing to buy from a neighboring state, they are likely to deal more. With the current economy, these luxury cars can't be selling too fast. Not to mention the fact that they have been out for 3 years and a new Rx model is not to far away.

There are lots of pricing posts here and on the net. Here is post from a guy in Indiana that just paid $46k. http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=341153

There is lots of pricing info and strategies for negotiating on this thread. http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/WebX/.ef79a30.ef79a27/423

[ilovelexus2007]

I live in WI. It is water under the bridge now but I bet you could have done a little better if you would have dealt with the Internet Manager and also negotiated with the dealerships in WI (and maybe even in Chicago). If they know you are willing to buy from a neighboring state, they are likely to deal more. With the current economy, these luxury cars can't be selling too fast. Not to mention the fact that they have been out for 3 years and a new Rx model is not to far away.

There are lots of pricing posts here and on the net. Here is post from a guy in Indiana that just paid $46k. http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=341153

There is lots of pricing info and strategies for negotiating on this thread. http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/WebX/.ef79a30.ef79a27/423

Thanks for the info jrober. Yeah, I guess it's too little too late now. It just *BLEEP*ed me off when knowing that I was being cheated. It was my first buying experience (I'm 25), I did a lot of homework prior, but I guess I was never taking the real exam so I failed. I must have overpaying 2-3K, that was a costly lesson. Btw, when buying from a different states, how about shipping? Free? Do all models generally have 3-4K average discount? My uncle looking at buying the 2008 ES 350.

How much did you get for your's if you don't mind I'm asking?

[s10]

Hi,

We just bought our Rx400H yesterday.

Full price was just above $53,000.

We managed to get $3000 of the price and another $1500 more for our used car than they were offering in the beginning.

We almost walked out of the dealership when we realised how little the vendor new about the actual car but he did know all his vendor tricks... All of a sudden we started to feel that we were there just to make them money.. which is of course true, but a client should never ever feel that way... then his boss saved the sale by quickly offering more for the used car and discounting the new one... maybe not enough, but it made us feel "clients" again and we decided to buy.

I would prefer to use regular or medium gas instead of premium... any problems?

[vinovelo]

Hi,

We just bought our Rx400H yesterday.

Full price was just above $53,000.

We managed to get $3000 of the price and another $1500 more for our used car than they were offering in the beginning.

We almost walked out of the dealership when we realised how little the vendor new about the actual car but he did know all his vendor tricks... All of a sudden we started to feel that we were there just to make them money.. which is of course true, but a client should never ever feel that way... then his boss saved the sale by quickly offering more for the used car and discounting the new one... maybe not enough, but it made us feel "clients" again and we decided to buy.

I would prefer to use regular or medium gas instead of premium... any problems?

What was your model and equipment list?

/Steve

[ilovelexus2007]

Hi,

We just bought our Rx400H yesterday.

Full price was just above $53,000.

We managed to get $3000 of the price and another $1500 more for our used car than they were offering in the beginning.

We almost walked out of the dealership when we realised how little the vendor new about the actual car but he did know all his vendor tricks... All of a sudden we started to feel that we were there just to make them money.. which is of course true, but a client should never ever feel that way... then his boss saved the sale by quickly offering more for the used car and discounting the new one... maybe not enough, but it made us feel "clients" again and we decided to buy.

I would prefer to use regular or medium gas instead of premium... any problems?

Congratuations! Wow, your must be fully loaded! Mine was $50,500 MSRP with everything including towing package (except DVD entertainment). My dealership was really nice, they treated me like royal(holding door, call me sir, open vehicle's door, pulling chair, bring me water etc...) that made me ALMOST uncomfortable. I thought Lexus has a reputation of treating customer REALLY WELL in their dealership. Where I live, the BMW dealership treat people like crap, I vowed not to come again!

What car did you trade in? How much? They usually rip you off when you trade in. Why didn't you sell online on your local listing? (unless your car is still worth a lot so the tax credit may worth it).

I have been putting on 91, .20 difference. But my dealer told me it's ok to use 89, don't use 87.

[RX400h]

Hi,

We just bought our Rx400H yesterday.

Full price was just above $53,000.

We managed to get $3000 of the price and another $1500 more for our used car than they were offering in the beginning.

We almost walked out of the dealership when we realised how little the vendor new about the actual car but he did know all his vendor tricks... All of a sudden we started to feel that we were there just to make them money.. which is of course true, but a client should never ever feel that way... then his boss saved the sale by quickly offering more for the used car and discounting the new one... maybe not enough, but it made us feel "clients" again and we decided to buy.

I would prefer to use regular or medium gas instead of premium... any problems?

No, but as I mentioned, if you travel (during Summer) to Arizona or Las Vegas, stay away from regular; it'll choke any resemblence of power at high temps. I pumped in mig-grade today, as ambient temps reached 82 degrees.

[s10]

Hi,

We just bought our Rx400H yesterday.

Full price was just above $53,000.

We managed to get $3000 of the price and another $1500 more for our used car than they were offering in the beginning.

We almost walked out of the dealership when we realised how little the vendor new about the actual car but he did know all his vendor tricks... All of a sudden we started to feel that we were there just to make them money.. which is of course true, but a client should never ever feel that way... then his boss saved the sale by quickly offering more for the used car and discounting the new one... maybe not enough, but it made us feel "clients" again and we decided to buy.

I would prefer to use regular or medium gas instead of premium... any problems?

Congratuations! Wow, your must be fully loaded! Mine was $50,500 MSRP with everything including towing package (except DVD entertainment). My dealership was really nice, they treated me like royal(holding door, call me sir, open vehicle's door, pulling chair, bring me water etc...) that made me ALMOST uncomfortable. I thought Lexus has a reputation of treating customer REALLY WELL in their dealership. Where I live, the BMW dealership treat people like crap, I vowed not to come again!

What car did you trade in? How much? They usually rip you off when you trade in. Why didn't you sell online on your local listing? (unless your car is still worth a lot so the tax credit may worth it).

I have been putting on 91, .20 difference. But my dealer told me it's ok to use 89, don't use 87.

Thanks!

I absolutely love this car! and am so happy about the all silver/grey and black color combination.

The car is fully loaded, more than we wanted really, but it was the only one like it on the lot... and we were lusting for it.

an AWD, It has everything including the towing package and rear dvd entertainment and 18' wheels... only thing missing is the radar cruise control.

I traded in a 2 year old FJ Cruiser, Kelley Blue book indicated 19000 - 21000, got 19000. I could have had more for it if I sold it online, but since I'm about to travel abroad, I didn't want the hassle of selling it privately. I did go to several places for quotes, they all told the same story: your car would be worth more if the used car market wasn't flooded with that kind of bad mpg SUV's.

Thanks for the info on the gas.. When I need the fill up I will try 89!

Next monday they will install the Ice link for my iPod/iPhone, perfect!

[wwest]

yes, welcome!

We got our '06 IN '06, with a few thousand miles on it . . . early lease return. It was on Ebay, back in Lancaster PA, so we had it shipped to our MT property, where there is no sales tax. So, with shipping & registration we got out the door under $45k. My wife's lead foot will drop the mpg down to about 25.5mpg but that's better than she used to be. I've gotten over 31.1mpg for an entire tank, which aint shabby for a quasi all wheel drive.

Edit:

P.S. lexus2007,

Being in Minnisota, you'll find it tougher to get higher mpg's in the winter. 1st thing we looked into was an electric block heater. It really makes a HUGE difference during the first 15 minutes of driving ... which is a BIG deal, if all you do is short/15min trips or less. Plus, it'll bring your heater up to speed extra quick. Also, consider reading the threads here on snow/ice driving. As you're probably well-aware ... excelent snow tires will make all the difference in the world. It's especially true with the HSD, because of the way it's designed.

I wonder if you have considered the cost, dollars and carbon emissions, of powering your block heater the ~98% of time you are NOT using your RX400h...??

The old Corvairs had a gasoline powered cabin heater and I can't help but wonder if that wouldn't be a better solution, overall, for the lack of ICE derived heat in these new hybrid designs.

[SOMEONE ELSE'S GOT MY NAME]

hi wwest,

The EBH runs 90 minutes, in the winer, on days you use the car, if it's on a simple timer like you'd use for Xmas lights comming on and off. So it's not used 98% of the time (or less). (Hydroelectric) Electricity in the Flathead Valley comes from the Hungry Horse Dam Co-Op. Or if we're in CA, electricity is a mix of hydroelectric, natural gas, nuke, photo electric, wind (no coal) etc. Then of course, turning it on at 3:15 am (when we usually get up) is a 'non-peak' time ... so even if we were in a "coal-primary" area ... the power is there anyway. Pretty much a non-event, especially considering those things. Maybe you could reframe the question? I don't think I get it.

As for the Corvair thing, electric is ALWAYS more earth friendly than gas. Heck, the experts say that even refining fossel fuel takes nearly 1/3 of the fossel fuel (turned into electricity) just to refine the fossel fuel ... from pumping to manufacturing to (amortized over 30years) refinery costs, exploration, admin, etc.

As for power on hybrids running the heater ... except for the first couple minutes, the cabin heat DOES come from the ICE. Ergo, the niceness of an EBH

[riwyle]

Or if we're in CA, electricity is a mix of hydroelectric, natural gas photo electric, wind (no coal) etc.

I realize this is getting further off topic, but I believe it important to correct misconceptions. A large amount of power is imported into California from large out of state coal fired plants, such as Intermountain, Four Corners and Mohave (or is it Mojave?). Of course the cleanest imported power comes from sadly under developed nuclear energy such as the large station outside of Phoenix.

[SOMEONE ELSE'S GOT MY NAME]

Or if we're in CA, electricity is a mix of hydroelectric, natural gas photo electric, wind (no coal) etc.

I realize this is getting further off topic, but I believe it important to correct misconceptions. A large amount of power is imported into California from large out of state coal fired plants, such as Intermountain, Four Corners and Mohave (or is it Mojave?).

http://www.energy.ca.gov/html/energysources.html

The CA web site shows 3 sources for its power, of which coal is 15%, in one of the 3 'pies' ... which would make it 5% of the total 3 sources. But the point was, most find that MPG's (the topic) ares improved using an EBH. The fact tha electricity warms the ICE is a more efficient way to bring it up to speed. Electricity is also a cleaner source ... especially when electricity is used "off peak", since it's going to waste, otherwise. Even coal fired electricity is cleaner, because it's way easier to filter / scrub coal exhaust from a hand full of coal fired furnaces, than it is to clean millions and millions of car's exhaust.

My money's on the EBH ~ for better MPG's. Works for us. But if you're driving w/ your foot into it anyway, yea, it would be a waste.