monkey1

I was back at Longo Lexus on 5/23 and counted 14 rx400h's. Salesperson said the ones with the sticker still on the window were not yet under contract - there were at least 3 like that. Reason for return visit was to pick up our car! Total wait time: 14 days. (Car had actually arrived 3 days before.) It was exactly the car we wanted: silver/gray with DVD. Paid sticker price. Salesperson said dealership policy was to not charge over sticker. They didn't try to add any weird after-market stuff either. I think they're a good dealer. Car is great, love it.

You mentioned that the MD-text doesn't work in your car... Do you have the standard or upgraded stereo for the RX400h? Do you have the rear DVD entertainment system? Mike

I'm opening this thread for people to post FIRST HAND information they have on the rx400 supply, e.g., from personal dealer visits. So, if you have been to a dealer recently, please post any info you may have gathered! I'm kinda thinking the rx400h supply is not as bad as the dealers are trying to suggest... I was at Longo lexus in So. Cal today. I saw at least 12 rx400h's in the garage downstairs, and maybe 4 more scattered about the other lots. Estimating that they had a few more I didn't see (I didn't do an exhaustive search), I would guess they have about 15-20 on the premises. I was expecting to show up and see a couple at most! They are a large lexus dealer - the salesperson said the largest in the western US. (Where in the entire US would they sell more lexi than in so cal?? I don't know!) Salesperson explained that most of these cars are already bought, which I believe. But, how long will a new rx400h hang around before it's picked up by the owner - I bet not more than a week or so (just guessing). So that implies there is a decent throughput of cars for there to be 20 there at any one time. Dealer also offered me one rx400 on the spot - ugly color combination though. I believe he also had a gold one, not sure. I did order a particular color/options combination, and got other hints that other color/option combinations (that I didn't want) were available with no wait or a short wait. So... I agreed to pay sticker price, but my gut feeling was that perhaps people won't have to pay sticker price for too many months longer, particularly if you are not picky on color, etc. and shop around dealers. After the wait is gone, the next thing to give has to be the price. As it is, I am only waiting 3 wks for exactly the car I wanted... maybe I got lucky, but maybe not! (Hence my request for more first hand info!) Anybody else have a count of specific numbers of rx400h's at specific dealer lots? Be as specific as possible on your info. HINT: you can quickly distinguish the rx400h from the rx330 from the front by the foglights: rx400h has 2 circular foglights, rx330 has (roughly) rectangular ones. Happy shopping... P.S. Oh: also, if you think you are on the "waiting list" at the dealer: I get the feeling that it's VERY fuzzy. I get the feeling that there is essentially no strict list. I suspect that if you ordered a car, you will get that specific car; however, if someone who ordered a car cancels, that car does not go in a "fair" way to the next person on the list that matches the same car. Basically, I think the orphaned cars skip all the people on the list, and the dealers use those cars to sign up new people by promising a short wait. So, customers may be satisfied out of order, but in the end the total number of people agreeing to pay full sticker price is larger.