tidom78

Hi,

We need a bigger car and my wife will drive that. So I will have my wife car's (IS250 2006 MT with about 68000 miles (~110 000km)) to travel to work (about 75 miles (120km) per week day).

What do you think?
Do I have to sell the IS and buy a newer smaller car with ou without awd or just kept the IS to go to work?

Thanks for your opinions

calvin2376

iTrader: (2)

These questions are hard, because it all depends on what you value. I'll throw out some considerations you should keep in mind though:

Do you love and care about driving? That is, do you value handling, performance, driving excitement, etc? If not, then I'd say sell the IS and get a car that gets 40 MPG and save yourself some money since you're driving so much.

If you do care about driving, then the IS is probably a good option, because it offers a nice blend of luxury, sport, and good gas mileage.

I hope for everyone's sake on here that this doesn't turn into an AWD vs. RWD debate, but I can say that unless you personally find that AWD is very valuable to you given your weather and driving conditions, I would say avoid AWD because it just adds weight to your car and causes you to get lower gas mileage. Simply having AWD won't make a huge impact on someone who doesn't drive very much, but for you, driving 75 miles a day, getting 1-2 MPG less simply because you have AWD that you don't need will add up in cost.

Another consideration is that at least in the US, the used car market is crazy right now, and so now is the time you'll probably get the absolute best money for your car if you sell or trade it in.

One last consideration: Lexus's are very reliable cars and are relatively inexpensive to maintain. However, they are highly advanced luxury cars and have lots of expensive moving parts, electronic and otherwise. If parts fail, repairing or replacing them is expensive. You're going to rack up some serious mileage on the IS if you drive it 75 miles per day, and as you get up in the mileage you have a higher risk of parts failing and your needing to replace them. Since you have such a commute, you might want to consider a car that is cheap to maintain and repair and gets great gas mileage, like an older Toyota or Honda sedan.

DreamerzCC

iTrader: (1)

drive the IS.....The best part of my work day is the ride in and home from work. I love my IS!

NickTomsyc

I'm in the exact same boat....

To/from work only driving is 70 miles a day - I bought the IS250 because I wanted 4-doors, AWD (wisco winters), looks, and creature comforts ....

With gas like it is and the fact I'm at 68k miles makes me think I should sell the IS, take the money and pickup a fun/summer car (350z) and a winter/daily beater (Civic)....

It is a really hard decision, the main thing holding me back is buying/selling cars is a PITA

cloo7

drive the IS to the ground until the maintenance is higher than the car value. that is the way i would do it. no sense in getting rid of the car for another with equal or lower value for no logical reason. the fuel price is obviously high, but you probably won't save that much even if you are trading in for a better mileage car. you will have people low ba**ing you for the IS. this will lower the gap between the value of your IS and the price of the car you want to acquire. your IS should last another 68000 or more.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Well I think it comes down to do you like the IS or would you rather get into something else.

shui3000

I have the same car (IS250 w/MT). I drive at least 135 miles/day. At 70mph with the AC on, I get 34mpg, 35mpg with no AC. At 65mph, I get 37mpg. At 80mph, I get 29-30mpg. Fuel efficiency in this car is pretty awesome.

It's up to you what you want out of a car, but I personally think awd is a waste of money. If the snow is so high that you NEED awd, a sport sedan is not going to have the clearance to get through the snow anyway.

NickTomsyc

Having AWD version cut my insurance by $600 a year.... was worth it for me.

calvin2376

iTrader: (2)

Never heard of this, why would that be?

NickTomsyc

Safety I assume.... given the winters

before I bought the car had my agent run what my cost would be and came in at $1650 for the year.... then called again since it was a LOT higher than I was paying for my old car, I mentioned it had AWD and the price for the year came to $1100 for the year. Nothing else changed between quotes (unless he just keyed something in wrong the first time)

Its a bit high because I'm 23 (nothing I can do about that) - but do have a good student discount going for me. But again it could have been a typo on their end (350 instead of 250 or something).... but the 2nd time I called it and mentioned the AWD it dropped a lot.

calvin2376

iTrader: (2)

Wow, that's just very surprising to hear. Would never have guessed it made that much of a difference. I'm your age and have the good student discount, but I have a 350 and live in an urban area, and my annual insurance cost is about the $1650 you quoted. So if you're not in an urban area and have a 250 as opposed to a 350, you definitely should have a lower premium than I do, with or without AWD. I'd be surprised if they'd actually charged you $1650/year for a RWD 250 - I'm thinking they could have keyed something in wrong on the first go-round.

NickTomsyc

While not an urban area we do have an ASSLOAD of deer.... enough where there is always an extra hunting season. That could factor into it a bit, if you can go 2+ years without smacking one its quite am accomplishment.

... since deer are usually won't change your rates since it is "act of god" accident, maybe they just jack our rates up right away to accommodate for it

iRock

iTrader: (12)

Couple years ago my insurance peps said that AWD was more to insure.... maybe a demographic thing.... also for me 350 is only about 100 more a year vs 250.

I myself would drive it till its dead lol no point in gettin another car to make payments on, or spend extra money if u have money to buy outright....

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

If the insurance on my 350 was cut by $600 a year I'd be paying very close to 0.


Which is why it's kinda silly for folks to "compare" insurance prices when they can vary massively not only from state to state, by even within states by driver experience, record, etc...


(but your fuel costs are hundreds of bucks higher with AWD, so there's one offset to any insurance savings that might or might exist with it )