Need Input In Finding My Next Car

[SW03ES]

nc's usually wrong too ;) Except here he was right because he agreed with me...as was LEXI. Hey...good day guys! (pats them on the back)

[nc211]

oh brother ....you just keep racking up that tab, steve! One day, when I'm in DC, I'll come a knocking! Granted, it'll probably be to steal your ES so you'll have to finally go buy that LS!

[SW03ES]

Bring it on big boy ;)

[cduluk]

Well it's been a few weeks and i am still loving the Rx400h!! Still searching cars.com and autotrader etc too see if anyone else's got a price better than what i got, and there's only one silver one with low mileage for 30k, but there's accident history (even has the older style 06-07 headlights lol...). All other 08's are in the high 30's or low 40's even with the same mileage as me!

So i'm pretty darn satisfied :)

[SW03ES]

I think you got a great deal from looking around here...

[cduluk]

Thanks SW, really seems so :)

[RickyB80]

I could say the same thing for a recent experience I just had. The job I just transferred to cut my daily commute from 150 miles/day to 25 miles/day. Since I no longer had to commute a long distance, I figured I'd sell my 2000 Honda Insight Hybrid 5 speed w/o cruise control in lieu of something more "lavish", so I decided to upgrade to a nicer car and I bought a Jaguar XKR with low miles. After driving around in my Jag for a few months I realized how impractical it was as a daily driver. Don't get me wrong, the car was comfortable, fast, supercharged, had a good road feel, etc. etc. However, I didn't like the amount of attention I was receiving while driving it, I couldn't keep the black exterior clean no matter how hard I tried, and from time to time it would have mechanical and electrical issues. It was a real pain in the butt to stay on top of it. 3 months after I bought it I had to take it in for emissions testing and it failed due to some engine fault codes that registered in the OBDII connection. The next day a check engine light came on, and the day after that the windows started rolling down on there own! Needless to say I was mad because I had just bought this car that had supposedly been "babied" and "garage kept" by some old guy for 10 years and it was giving me all kinds of problems. So I started looking for a way to get out of it. I definitely wanted something fast and sporty, but first and foremost it had to be reliable. I obviously also wanted something aestheically pleasing inside and out, and preferably with 4 doors. I had bought my wife a GX470 a few months prior and I liked the fit and finish of it so I decided to start looking at Lexus'. I spotted a nice GS450h that more than met all of my requirements. I decided to drive my "Lemon Jag" 3 hours to the dealership and I blew a tire out on the way up there. After erasing all the engine fault codes(thus clearing the check engine light), throwing a donut on the back of the Jag, and praying the windows wouldn't start rolling down on there own again, I traded my Jaguar for $6,000 less than what I paid for it just 3 months prior. The good news was that I bought a GS450h w/ 40K miles for $27,000 out the door. The retail book on the GS450h at the time was $37,000 so in my opinion I still got a good deal. Two days later the dealer had my Jaguar on the lot for $5,000 more than what he gave me for it on trade. Am I mad? Absolutely not. Because I still got my GS450h for $10K below retail book, and the dealer will probably get low-balled by whomever decides to buy the Jaguar. Let's be honest, in most cases a dealer will not sell a car for advertised price. There is usually a good amount of room to negotiate with. For example, I traded my Jaguar for $13K, they'll list it for $18K, some guy will walk in there and offer $16K and they'll probably agree upon $16.5K or $17K. In the end I still ended up with a good deal on my Lexus and the dealer made money too. Moral of the story is.....1)DO NOT buy a Jaguar and 2)if you got a good deal on your car because the dealer was able to pass along some of his savings to you, it's only fair that he should try to get back some of his money by selling your vehicle for more than they gave you for it. After all, there is an incentive to trading in a vehicle versus selling it on your own. #1- you don't have to go through the time and hassle of finding a buyer #2- you only have to pay taxes on the difference of the amount between your trade and the vehicle you are buying #3- you can stop paying insurance on the vehicle you are trading in right away. So I paid $19K for the XKR and turned around and traded it in 3 months later for $13K. Sure, I made a bad decision in buying the XKR to begin with. Had I bought the Lexus initially I would've saved myself alot of money. The good news is that I saved myself $1183 in taxes by trading it in, I didn't have to pay to register it seeing as the registration was due the same day I traded it, and I the dealer ended up having to put 4 new tires on the car, and fix the mechanical problems it had with it. So in the end I don't think I made out to badly. You can't turn back time, and dwelling on something that disappoints you is only going to embitter you further. The name of the game is "everyone wins". The goal for the dealer is to get as much of your money as possible, and your goal is to keep as much of your money as possible. Seeing as your playing with your parents money anyways, consider yourself fortunate to have parents that are financially able to provide you with such luxuries because I'm 30 years old and I've had to work my butt off for everything I've ever had with little to no help from anyone.

I've had my GS450h for 3 weeks now and I love it. It's just as fast as my Jag was and it has 10x the amount of features and technology. I feel alot more comfortable being in a car that has built the history of reliability that Lexus has.

[RX in NC]

If you had done your Jaguar research, you would have known not to purchase any pre-2005 model. By 2004/2005, the reliability issues had been resolved and you get about as good a bang-for-the-buck deal as there is. I bought a 2005 S-Type with 18,000 miles in December 2008. Two years later at 52,400 miles, the car is performing flawlessly. Granted, I purchased the Jaguar Technical Information Services CD off Ebay and spent many hours learning how to do the necessary maintenance procedures myself, but that's what it takes if you plan to keep a semi-exotic car in pristine condition yourself. We bought it as a sleek and comfortable highway cruiser to drive back and forth between North Carolina and Florida, and it has performed that role flawlessly. Best overall car we've ever had in more than 40 years of driving. But if you cannot do-it-yourself, a Jag is not for you....

Glad you're enjoying your GS but if that car is anything close to being as fast as your former XKR, there was something seriously wrong with it....

[cduluk]

I really like the GS450h. If it weren't for the Rx400h i would have looked into the GS450h instead.

Now that i have a hybrid, i don't think i'd like going back to a regular car...