jjbodean

SUBJECT: 2008 MY RX350 Price Announcement
Your strong sales efforts helped to make 2006 another successful year. The RX 350 significantly contributed to our sales achievement and is in a position to do so again this year.

The Lexus Division is pleased to announce prices for the 2008 MY RX 350. The 2008 MSRP for both RX models will remain unchanged at $37,400 for the FWD model and $38,800 for the AWD model, which will help RX continue to offer unsurpassed luxury at an incredible value.

The 2008 MY RX 350 features new design enhancements both inside and out. Exterior updates include a revised front grille, exterior chrome door handles, new available 7- spoke 18” alloy wheel with Liquid Graphite finish and two new exterior colors, Brandy Wine Mica and Desert Sage Metallic. Inside, RX models will offer an additional interior color combination - Black Bird’s-Eye Maple interior trim with light gray interior.

In addition, we will continue to enhance the value of some of the most popular options on the RX 350, and we are very pleased to announce that Luxury Value Edition packages will continue for 2008 MY. Optional equipment content and prices remain unchanged, and with the price adjustment of $900 on the following option packages RX will offer superior value to your customers throughout the year.

Kan-O-Z

Any pictures of the 2008 yet? I am interested in seeing what the wheels and grill look like.

Kan-O-Z

jjbodean

i have seen them but cant seem to find the pics right now. will keep looking and post when i do find them

700t

I've seen the new wheels, they look great, very upscale, also the chrome door handles add class, I've also seen the newcolour sage, not sure what to make of it!

Threxx

Why in the hell is the 2008 model coming out in early 2007?

The only time that's even partially excusable is when a ground-up redesigned model is released a little late - like for example the 2006 Silverado and Sierra came out in the fall of 2005 and were unchanged, but then the all new ground redesign was ready for release about this time last year, so they went ahead and called it the 2007 to save confusion.

But with only a few changes to colors and wheel options, is there any valid explanation behind releasing a 2008 model car almost a year before it's actually 2008? I have to assume, also, that this means there won't be a redesign on the RX until the 2009 model year? It needs one pretty badly IMO after the new MDX came out.

jjbodean

all new completely redesigned 2009 RX coming next spring. i guess lexus wants to offer the 2008 for a full calendar year or so

salimshah

One US requirement for 2008 models was a more realistic MPG. What does the sticker say now?

Salim

jjbodean

dunno, the vehicles wont be here for another month or so

Kan-O-Z

While a redesign is nice and it's nearing that time, the current RX is still one of the nicest crossovers out on the road today. The advantages of buying one now are incredible prices (probably $10k less than an MDX for a vehicle with higher prestige, luxury and quality) and great reliability (at this point in the lifecycle, many of the issues that new models face have been corrected). I'm currently enjoying our RX350 especially because of these factors. The styling does not look dated as it's still got nice swoopy lines and a unique and original look (unlike the MDX).

Now as far as the new MDX goes, it is hardly a reason a redesign is needed. I have been seeing them for a couple of months now and already the styling has become normal...for me at least. It's like the TL. When it first came out, it stood out but that lasted a whole 3 months for me. After that, the style lost it's appeal. The MDX is doing the same thing for me. It just looks normal now except with a very eccentric front grill. Once again just my opinions and I'm sure many disagree.

I didn't want to turn this into another MDX thread but your statement above needed a comeback

Now for those wheels. Please post pics if you have them!

Kan-O-Z

rxdriver

If I'm reading this right, base price didn't change, but the option packages (just about every RX has one) went up $900. So there is a net price increase of $900 unless you get a bare-bones RX, correct?

Threxx

It only needed a comeback because you own one and felt the need to defend your purchase.

I stand by my opinion. If yours differs, that's OK - I am not just making a passive uninformed judgement on the RX - I've driven several RX loaners and my mother in law's RX350 quite a bit.

It's certainly a nice car but next to the MDX it just seems dated in almost every way - especially chassis dynamics (especially when you considered how Lexus tried to market it as high performance when the 350 first came out by showing it impressing all the german engineers on the track).

The new 3.5L is the saving grace for the RX for now, IMO - the 3.0/3.3 was really out of date, and the transmission feel was poor, too. The new 3.5 is nice, but the interiors still seem to have quite a few build quality glitches, especially for being this late in the model's design cycle...

RXSF

i have to agree with kan, i dont really like the new MDX. I think the grill is hideous, and to take the rear from the failing Q7 was the worst decision ever. the interior looks like crap mainly because of the joystick looking think for the nav, which is really unclassy. again, i know many people like the car, just my opinions here.

the RX to me, still looks great. I bought mine is 2003, and i still think it looks good...maybe cause i own it 0.o The refresh should make it a fair competitor.

btw, lexus cars always came out early for the next year. Like April was the usual date you could get the next year's model. So...in essence, its only 2 months early or so.

Threxx

If the all new redesigned from the ground up RX came out right now, I wouldn't have any issues with it being called a 2008, because there's already a 2007 and they don't want to cause confusion.

But the thing is this isn't a redesign. I mean - they want to sell the 2008s for a full year? Why? Then they just cut the 2007 model year down to a very short time frame. I mean, was it better to cut the 2007s short to avoid cutting the 2008s short?

jjbodean

no, the $900 decrease was made last year, technically changing the names of the packages but with the same content at a lower price point

rob22909

Are there still no pics out there (that can actually be shared to the rest of the group) of the new tires, grill, and door handles of the upcoming RX 08's?

So much talk about these changes and several out there mentioning that they've seen them, I can't believe there's still no pics posted.

c'mon, if someone out there has really seen them, post, post, post away!