Stew4HD

Not trying to bust your ballz but there is no such thing as a car paying for itself. The initial cost of the car wipes that out. I thought the same way when gas jumped up to $4+ a gallon in '08 and my F-150 cost me over 100$ to fill up, I bought an Acura TL, getting 30 mpg vs 17 mpg... 28K spent on the car would have bought many years of gas in my truck.

If the price of fuel had stayed the same.. 4$ * 25gals= 100$ x 26 bi-weekly fillups = $2600.00 spent on fuel a year.. would take 10 years to cover the cost of the TL...

Now I feel silly for pointing out my own irresponsibilty! Not only that, I traded my '08 for a '12 Sh-AWD getting 24 MPG, then traded for a 13 GS getting the same mpg but cost even more.. dammit, I love driving the car!

2013F

It's weird that you traded in a F150, that's what I traded in a 2006 Crew cab Lariat getting 10 miles to a gallon. I was filling up twice a week at 75 dollars a fill up, my car note is only 300, so I'm happy with the Accord. Due to the high miles I drive to work, I don't want the Lexus getting driven in those conditions so I bought the Accord as a second car,

Stew4HD

No.. I didn't trade in the F-150. It was paid for and, being a home owner and runing a small business, I needed the truck.. which I still have. An 04 F-150 with 56K miles on it.

I was picking on you about the "pay for itself" because I used that excuse too. The new Accord looks much better than the last version!

praetor

Calculating ROI is what I do best. Having a second vehicle or trading a vehicle for the sole purpose of gas savings rarely ever works out. You have to drive a whole lot of miles and pray nothing goes wrong just to break even in say about 10+ years.

10 years to cover the cost of the TL, then you have to factor in maintenance, insurance, registration, ...etc. And when you finally think you have the cost of the car paid for, it's time to get another car. LOL

Stew4HD

Good info! that was why I quit telling myself that and admit that driving a sports sedan is fun! My next car might just have 2 doors.. like the good ole days... a '72 Challenger R/T I drove for many years.. I miss that sometimes... but not enough to buy the new Challenger

praetor

Stew I use to ride a motorcycle that got 40+MPG thinking I could justify the price of the bike with the gas savings alone. The bike was used and it ran flawlessly. I only paid $4,000 for it too. But I learned really quick, a second vehicle, especially a bike was a money pit. LOL

Even at $4K, more than double than gas mileage of my Camry and I put 5K+ miles a year on it. I was never able to break even. But I had tons of fun! The fun factor can not be quantified by dollars and cents.

1111GS

When the prius and civic hybrid came out, I did similar calculation too. I never like small cars but wanted to see if there actually is saving. As you stated, 10 years is about right to break even given nothing breaks.

Now back to the topic... I thought you were selling the GS because you moved to a house with lots of dirt/land around. Anyways, glad to hear you were able to sell your car. Having an extra vehicle sitting around is no fun. Accord is definitely nice for its segment. If you look at the front at night, it does resemble the GS from far away.

GSFreak

yes, i know i m late to the party but...to the OP.

FWIW: Just bought a CPO 2013 Luxury with 20k on it for $38k plus, since it was CPO i get a 3 year, up to 100k mile bumper to bumper warranty.

SW17LS

Thats an unbelievable deal...

flippd

How much were they advertising it for?

Trek

As a first time Lexus owner, I considered the luxury package and decided it wasn't worth it. F-Sport, Luxury package, or Premium, it's the exact same engine, and the engine isn't powerful enough to take the car to a track. It's a street car. I don't get the point of the adaptive suspension for thousands more. The only thing the premium and cold packaged GS 350s are missing is power folding side mirrors. Then again, I don't think the luxury package has power folding side mirrors.

SW17LS

The main reason I got the Luxury package was quite honestly the interior trim and the seats. IMHO the interior is MUCH nicer with the linear espresso wood than the standard matte burlwood, and the wood/leather steering wheel to me dresses it up much more. The 18 way front seats and the upgraded leather are big plusses too.

The AVS and the rest of it really doesn't matter to me. I haven't used Sport S+ mode in months...

They say the car rides better with the AVS, but the Premiums and Luxury models I drove when I was shopping rode about the same.

praetor

For the track the engine is more than powerful enough. To drive fast at the track, it's not always about power. The most important thing is suspension, brakes and of course skill. I've done my fair share of track days on my motorcycle and I can out run a lot of the more powerful 1,000cc bikes on my 600cc bike. It's the same with cars. Unless, you are talking about the drag strip where it's all straight lines.

Trek

Maybe it can go on the track, but who would take a luxury cruiser like this onto a track? Same goes for BMW 5 or MB E350 or Infinity M or Audi A6. I doubt if I'll even use the Sport mode more than once. The same would go for Sport+. A lot of features are nice to haves but get little if any use. I haven't opened the power sunroof on my Acura in 3 years, or used the shift paddles in sport mode in almost as long a time. If I could've saved money by not having those things, I'd have done it.

I learned yesterday that my 3 week old Lexus GS 350 has headlight washers. I posted a pic and someone on this board pointed it out. I didn't even know it. I'm sorry I paid for it because I'll probably forget about it and never use it. I also have a power rear sun shade. I don't know why I need it. That's what I'm talking about when I say the Luxury package is a waste of money. I think a lot of things in the premium and cold packages are a waste of money.

Maybe I just haven't developed an appreciation (yet) of having a luxury sedan. This is my first.

praetor

Exactly my point. People love to spec race. But in the end thee are luxury street cars. You can push it every so often but they are not track cars.