KennyLexus

So the Lexus dealership contacted me today. They're trying to get me into a 2016 ES. So I went down to the dealership and they showed me a 2016 ES350 UL, black with a weird looking two-tone brown reddish / beige interior...fresh off the transport truck. I need a hybrid and of course UL fully loaded but they won't have any in until November.

Anyway, most of you have seen my car, 2013 UL (pic posted on recent thread). I've done a lot to it to make it unique to others. BTW, they say the payments on the 2016 would be the same...after of course, I trade mine.

So, what would you do?

Freds430

Don't buy a new car. You take such a large depreciation hit the first two years. The new leather smell is way to expensive and not worth it. Buy Zaino leather in a bottle for that smell. I have you exact car color combo and all. I love the white with parchment and bamboo color combo. I bought my 2013 three months ago selling my 2010 Acura RL. I will buy a 2016 in three years just when my certified warranty reaches 100,000 miles. Consumer Reports rated the ESh as the most reliable car. When you car is payed off invest the car payment in a good mutual fund. Pay cash for your 2016 in three years. Funny how life is. When I was younger and along with all my friends, we bought new cars about every three years. That what everybody does. Now that we are all older and mostly retired and can afford any cars we want, we all buy two to three year old Lexus's or Acura's.

Mike728

Keep what I have.

Why would you want to continue paying the same, for a longer period, for basically the same vehicle. Not to mention, all the work you'll want to do to make it unique again.

lesz

I would figure that, after you give them your 2013 ES300h, the actual depreciation hit that you would be taking on the deal would be somewhere around $20,000, give or take a couple of thousand.

For me, if I was going to trade in a 2 or 3 year old vehicle and the cost to me of replacing it with a new vehicle was $20,000, it would have to be because I really wanted a completely different model, a different type of vehicle, etc. I might consider replacing a Generation 6 ES with a Generation 7 ES (when they are available in a couple of years), but I can't imagine that I would be inclined to spend $20,000 to replace a vehicle with another of the same generation of the same vehicle as the vehicle that I was replacing.

For my tastes, there are some nice upgrades in the 2016 that I would prefer to what is in my 2013 ES. Some of the other changes are ones that I consider to be just changes and not really "upgrades". And there are other changes in the 2016 re-fresh that I really dislike, including the front end and the two-tone interiors. In any case, even if the only changes were ones that I liked, I still would not be able to justify spending $20,000 to end up with what is still basically the same vehicle.

Like quite a few other ES owners, I'm of an age where I had parents that grew up during the Great Depression. One of the results of their Depression experience was that they felt a need frequently to tell me, whether I wanted to hear them or not, their feelings about how one should manage his or her money. One of the many lessons that they tried to pass on to me was that, just because you can afford to buy something doesn't mean that it makes sense to do so. At this point in my life, I can pretty much afford to buy, paying with cash, anything that I want to buy, including cars much more expensive than an ES, and I could afford to do so each year, but I don't because, for me, doing so doesn't make much sense. And I'm quite sure that a major reason why I can afford to buy just about anything that I would want to buy is the result of remembering the thoughts of my parents about not buying things just because I can afford to do so.

I know that there will be a good number of others with very different thoughts about buying cars and spending money, and I'm okay with that.

Freds430

Lesz, exactly correct. Maybe some of these youngsters will learn something from us old coots. I wish someone had sat down with me in my 20's and told me this valuable lesson. I was VP for a major mutual fund company and when doing seminars would talk to the younger people about what Albert Einstein called the most powerful force in the universe that being compound interest.

lesz

Related to Einstein's thoughts, one of the other lessons that that I recall my parents repeating often was that if you don't have the money to pay for something, don't buy it until you do have the money. The way that they explained it was to say that the only good credit terms are 100% down and $0 per month. I wouldn't even want to guess the extent to which learning that lesson has contributed to the very comfortable life style that I have been enable to enjoy.

Jets

Your current car is mint. They will make a fortune on it and you will be driving the same car with a different grill.
If you are leasing and somehow have equity or a pull ahead, thats a differnt story.

KennyLexus

Thank you all for the great advice especially Lesz, Fred, and Mike.

I knew I liked this forum for a reason: a lot of real life experiences. I'm of that age now where I can afford to buy vehicles up to the $70,000 range but it doesn't mean I should.

I've decided to keep my car. Although the 2016s are nice, there's just not a lot of major differences to justify me trading mines. I had a 2011 (black on black luxury) and sold it to buy the 2013 (white on beige) UL; a generation change. I work for TMC so I get good deals on Lexus vehicles and buy my cars instead of leasing them. I also have a 2013 370Z which I drive from time to time. It's a 6-speed manual fully equipped. It satisfies the younger side of me. I enjoy modding it just as I do my Lexus. I've got just a few more minor mods for the Lexus and more on the Z.

Again, thanks for all the advice. So, for now, I'm keeping Stunner

DrDDay

Honestly, I haven't seen a color combo for the interior of the '16 ES that didn't make my stomach turn.

Stick with the 13, unless you're in a lease and you just want to refresh it with all numbers being the same.

waikiulee

I'm in the process of buying my first Lexus and debating whether to get a 2016 or 2013 ES300h and in a similar situation.

I've reserved a 2013 in Deep Sea Mica in parchment w/ 29k, Navi, and BSM for $31k at CarMax. And the other option is to buy a brand new 2016 at $46k, and although I can live w/ the new grill design, I can't stand the new brown trimmed interior. And extra $15k doesn't seem to make sense.

Jets

I think the new interior is much nicer looking. The brown gives the plastic surfaces a higher end appearance.

waikiulee

agreed, all the plastic doesn't scream luxury automobile. Lexus should have done better

SW17LS

Since its a purchase, gotta keep what you have. If it were a lease I'd say do it.

lesz

Wow! The tone of your post makes me wonder who peed in your coffee.

I thought that I had made it clear in the last sentence of my post that I understand that there are others who will have different thinking about managing money and that it is fine with me if others which to take an approach that is different from mine.

What I'm not fine with, however, is when someone arrogantly tells me that my "parents should have taught me" something other than what they did or who tries to tell me that I have chosen an approach that is not the "right one" for me.

There is a difference between "not buying something just because you can afford it" and depriving yourself of things that you really want and that do meet your needs. Just because I don't buy things just because I can afford to buy them doesn't mean that I am depriving myself of things that I really do want to have and that I would really enjoy having.

And, even if it is likely that I will die with money that "I can't take with me", I will still have found value in having had that unspent money. For me, there is considerable value in knowing that, if the furnace needs to be replaced or if I discover tomorrow that I need a new roof, I am not going to have to spend one second thinking about where the money for that furnace or roof is going to come from. For me, there is value in knowing that, if I wake up tomorrow and decide that I really would like buy a Porsche, I can go to the dealer and come home with one without having had to think about whether it is something that I can really afford. Further, it gives me peace of mind to know that, regardless of whether there is bad news about the economy of the country or of the world, I'm not going to have to worry about whether I have a mortgage that is going to be under water or about whether I'm going to have to make adjustments in my lifestyle.

For me, peace of mind has a very high value, and having not bought things "just because I can afford to buy them" has been a major factor that has put me into a position that gives me that peace of mind.

As I said with my earlier approach, I understand that a good number of people are going to decide to take a different approach, and I'm fine with that, but please don't try to tell me that my values should be different or that my parents should have taught me different lessons.

Freds430

Great post Lesz and could not agree more. This is one that you and I and 5thaccord will agree to disagree. Before retiring early and living the great life, I was vp of sales and marketing for at the time was he world's largest mutual fund company. Kind of know what I am talking about here. If you read the first post kennylexus stated if he bought the 2016 his PAYMENTS would be the same as his current one. This is the trick of the dealerships to have you keep paying a car payment for ever even if it does not go up.

The median retirement account value for Americans aged 35 to 44 is just $42,700, while the median retirement account value for Americans aged 55 to 64 years old is $103,000. If one does not have a pension with social security one would need a minimum of $1,000,000 in their retirement account to draw the manageable 4% withdraw amount to receive $40,000 a year. Remember the average account is $103,000. That would give someone $4,120 a year withdraw to retire on plus Social Security. Lets look at kennylexus's situation of the car payments. Assume for five years if he did not have a car payment of $500 and invested the $500 in a S&P index fund. Than he stops investing the $500 and took the proceeds of that which would be $37,251 and kept it in the same fund not adding a penny to it. Assuming he is 35 years old and the money grew until he was retired at 65 that five years of no $500 car payment would have grown to $767,861. That new Lexus he bought 35 years ago would now be a recycled park bench that he is sitting on at his beach retirement house.

Lesz, thank goodness there are people that enjoy the smell of new leather for a three year hit of a loss of 46% or there would be a lot less used gems for you and me to buy. If kennylexus is ahead of his retirement plan and maxing out on his 401k contributions, has his emergency fund set up than go for it especially if it makes him happy. Statistically however the majority ain't even close to this scenario.