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Lexus RX 330 Prices Paid and Buying Experience
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Would a person have need of AWD in the southern states? No, not even light off-roading. Maybe an occasional trip to snow country. The only possible weather would be ice/black ice and don't know if anything can help you there.
I should be taking delivery of a silver FWD with premium package and 18" wheels by late September. And have a weekend in Dallas to go with it.
- I think HID are nicer, but I personally wouldn't make it a deal breaker.
- The rear door can be opened manually.
And happy Labour Day!
Steve, Host
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This is a bulk email regarding a RX330 that has become available in our
inventory.
2004 RX330. Front Wheel Drive,Breakwater Blue/Ivory Interior
Navigation Package,no rear DVD or Mark Levinson Sound
18"Wheels
Available for immediate delivery.
1) "Out The Door" is EVERY cost involved with the purchase: Purchase Price + (Doc/Admin Fees, Taxes, Title, License, Tire, etc.)
2) Nav System: Some people REALLY like it, others have listed minor complaints against this unit. I'll just add one new perspective: It doesn't hold its value well come resale time. Expect 60-70% depreciation on that $2350 option after 3 years. (Sorry to be such a grinch!)
3)What part of the country do you live in that no longer has Premium Plus packages? Back in June I was looking for the basic Premium package, to save some money, but all dealers in region didn't have anything less than Premium Plus. HID is nice, but I would have preferred to save the money.
4) yes - no problem. (as already answered)
5) AWD doesn't help on black ice. We also live in the south, with a rare trip to snow country. We preferred a 2WD unit because of the lower cost, better fuel economy, and slightly better acceleration (due to less weight). Also, this is a FWD vehicle, not RWD (such as the FX35). I argue that a FWD vehicle tends to do better in snow than RWD, with a majority of the weight over the drive wheels. The FWD RX330 may still be a half-decent performer on snow. It performed just fine on some desert trails for us last weekend, and I have pictures of the dirt all over the back window to prove it! Oh, one more thing. Are there additional maintenance costs for the AWD version of the RX? Our AWD Acura MDX required periodic $75 rear differential fluid changes that would not have been required if it was a FWD vehicle.
I do recall that Lexus Financial considered the Nav option (think it listed for $2k back in Dec 2000; no rearview camera then) to have ZERO residual value in a lease - in effect, they depreciated it to $0 after three years. My wife wanted it anyway and while we all get to vote - she gets two votes.
Come time this month to sell it and and make room for the new RX330, lo and behold, I received about 20 calls after placing a local newspaper ad plus an autotrader.com online ad.
I would say that 18 of those calls started off with..."Your RX...it has the factory navigation...right?"
So it might have been a relatively rare option three years ago, and it never will be as important as air conditioning...but it's come a long way and it certainly helped me sell the vehicle quickly and painlessly for 73% of what we paid. Not bad.
When selling our '01 MDX, I did some research to see how much value would be added to our MDX if it was equipped with the Nav option ($2000 new). I believe I was seeing about $600, give or take. Maybe the Nav systems are too new to accurately gauge their worth on used cars? Maybe it is the difference between what a dealer will pay for trade-in versus what the private sector really wants? Who knows??
By the way, our MDX was also nearly 3 years old and had 59K miles on it when we sold it at 73% of its original MSRP. Most people around here didn't ask about Nav. They just wanted us to lower the price!
Driving home on the Interstate, it didn't seem to be as quiet riding as I thought it would be. Is there a break-in period for quietness?
Steve, Host
I still need to wait a few more weeks for the purchase due to some unexpected developments.
Thanks for the continued interest. I have cleaned up my mail. I will let you know the minute I am back in the market. Is there anyway you could email the sales person's name and your info that you want me to convey to the dealer just in case we could not met up at the dealership?
Thanks once again!!!
Park Place Lexus agreed to match the deal in Austin, but they didn't have my car color. I will tell you, though, that they (PP Lexus) verbally offered to sell me a car on their lot (the same car that I bought except in black) for 36,000 (before TTL). Long story short -- I would have bought that car from them, but I thought Sewell had the car the color that I wanted for an additional $380. Sewell "took back" their deal, though, so I went elsewhere.
Lexus of Austin:
MSRP 40078 (PP w/ 18", heated seats, HID, etc)
Discount: 3698
Before TTL: 36380
I think it was a good deal, and no dickering.
Now that the holiday weekend is over, I came back to work and decided to contact a fleet management company that I get access to as an employee from my company. They quoted me a little over $43K for the same thing.
So, my questions:
- Anyone have any experience with fleet buying companies? What's the catch? Are they going to try to sell me a bunch of add-ons like leather and paint protectant?
- What do I stand to lose by not going directly to the Lexus dealer? I live in the Northwest, and I guess the fleet company works directly with the cars coming in to Long Beach.
- Based on other messages in this thread, looks like either of these prices are okay, not great deals?
Could you please be realistic Edmund.
Please fill out our Feedback Form. Thanks!
Steve, Host
The salesman at the dealer tells me that the Mark Levinson audio package is no longer available on any RX330s. Ditto with the laser-assisted cruise control--no longer available on ANY RX330s.
Has anyone else heard anything like this?
So anybody that already has an RX330 with ML - now you have an Instant Classic!
Guess no more debate - for now - on ML vs. regular audio unit.
As for RX without navigation (MSRP $39.0), I don't think prices are up dramatically, and I had several chances to pay in the $36.0 to $36.4 range (before tax and tags only) on that car over the last few weeks.
Hope this info helps other buyers, this board has been very helpful for me. Am interested to know if others are hearing the same supply and demand story from dealers.
we were giving upwards of $2000-2500 off NAV units and only $1000-1500 off non-NAV units.
The color choice also affects price ... Silver is hard to find out here while Bamboo and Savannah are plentiful.
the right MSRP value? From lexus.com?
Thanks
That was an awesome deal you got! I think it's the best (discount off of MSRP) on this board that I'm aware of. Congrats!
Thanks much
drew
And yes, freight would be the destination charge.
Steve, Host
Opps, guess that's not the Fool's link ;-)
Steve, Host
Thanks,
Tedcruiser