nx2000

Well, it's been 3 months since the introduction of this car, about the time the dealer said it would take to "special order" one. Has anyone out there taken delivery of a "special order" car yet? If so, what did you get, what options or colors required the special order? I'm just currious because I have been waiting a while and it would be good to hear if someone actually got their car yet, or are we all still waiting......

techlover

we too ordered our rx330 a little more than 3 months ago. finally last week our dealer called and said that our car is now showing up on their inventory sheet. he did say though that it could still be 4 more weeks out. we are patient folks but my wife is finally reaching her limit. i was hoping it would have come in a little quicker but we were told to expect up to a 4 month wait for a unique order. we do have most options but i think the breakwater blue color with the black interior will be rare. also we wanted the mark levinson sound system and rear dvd/ nav package. i think the hardest option to get that held us up was the laser cruise control..... but i heard such nice things about it i really thought it was worth the wait. plus we still have a nice car already so we were in no great hurry. we do need the 4 doors though for our grandson! let me know when you hear something and i will too. surely there are more waiters out there than just us! but i think the wait is almost over.. andy

NeverSatisfied

I've been waiting a month for my MSM/black premium plus. The "common" exterior color here seems to be Flint Mica, interior being light gray and package being leather. The lame Hawaii dealers opted for us to have available ONLY the following packages: leather, premium or premium plus. NO performance package, NO multi-moonroof package. My biggest pet peeve that everyone here and on Maui seems to know, is NO factory 18" wheel option. (why should I pay $1,800 for rims ONLY thru the parts department when it's a $200 factory option?) Mine better not take more than 3 months to come in, being as simple as it is!?!

You might ask why I didn't just buy what I want from a Mainland dealer... the good guys at Lexus Hawaii have a greedy sales control over us; I can't even receive a brochure on-line, let alone purchase one via phone!

Sorry, had to vent.

Good luck and hope our babies come in soon!!!!

eyebike

Boy, it is really ashame that the dealers are ruining your car buying experience. These RX330's are expensive cars and you should be able to get what you want.

amontgom

My special-ordered RX330 is due to arrive in CA on July 22 (ordered March 28), with another few days needed for delivery to the East Coast. Since the NAV/Levinson was not available on the East Coast, and the laser cruise was not available on any preordered vehicles, I had no choice but to place a special order. As long as I get what I want, I don't mind the wait! I'm only disappointed with the lack of info about my order from the dealer. I initiated EVERY call to my dealer about the car, and finally had to ask one of the managers to call his contact at Lexus Corporate to find out the ETA. I'm not very happy with their customer service thus far....

Bjorn

I special ordered my 330 the end of April and is due in early August. The dealer said it would be 90-120 days for a special order. My dealer calls every 2 weeks or so and updates me. I ordered the multi panel moonroof, crystal white/gray. Not many of these are made with gray interior. I'm willing to wait since I'm probably going to have it a while.

JRB

Still waiting on our special order, which was placed on April 19th. Dealer says that it is not yet showing up on his "allocation" and was going to check with the Lexus rep and give us an update. It was supposed to have been a "June build" but so far the dealer has not been able to provide an estimated delivery date. Not a huge problem as my wife's '98 A4 still looks and runs like new, but she's starting to get anxious.

On Order: '04 RX330, Breakwater Blue w/Light Gray, Perf. Pkg, Nav, Power Liftgate, Heated Seats, Towing Pkg.

JRB

Well I just heard from the dealer today and they located our special order vehicle. Somehow, it ended up at the other dealership in town, which shares common ownership with my dealer. This is, apparently, why the car wasn't showing up on my dealer's allocation. Again, this vehicle was officially ordered on April 19th, so it took about 80 days to get delivered, slightly less than the 90-120 day range that they originally estimated.

There is one slight "problem" with the order: they somehow missed the heated front seats! Suffice it to say, this is a "must" here in Minnesota, and our previous three cars have had it. The dealer was very apologetic for this slip-up, which resulted from a miscommunication between them and Lexus. Without asking, the dealer offered to convert the seats at the dealership, and also agreed (without asking) to absorb the cost of the option. The only issue is that he thinks this can be done only with the 2-position settings (high/low) rather than the variable **** that you turn. I asked him to fully explore the possibility of installing the variable heated seat option, as normally comes with the Performance Pkg and what we had become accustomed to in our two Audi's. Not a huge deal, especially since they will now come without charge, but still a nice extra. Otherwise they got the order right, and with the Performance Pkg and Nav combination, it will be a very unique vehicle in this area, as otherwise none of their four options packages here in the Midwest come equipped this way. And the Breakwater Blue/Light Gray color combo is not a standard Performance Pkg color, so this will add a little more uniqueness to it also.

Any thoughts on the heated seat deal? I don't know how much labor is involved in the conversion, but my initial reaction is that the dealer is being very fair about it. Other than the two-level only heating element, which I will probably be stuck with, the dealer says there are no other downsides to having this done at the dealer rather than at the factory.

lexguynj

Today at the dealership, I was also told the same thing about special order vehicles taking 90-120 days for delivery.

The only aspect that would make my near-future purchase a special order would be the Mark Levinson Audio option I planned on getting. I love the ML system in my current GS, but not sure if it's worth the wait, when the current audio system is decent. That wait with the NAV would be only around 6 weeks.

eyebike

If they can install the heated seats with just a toggle switch, that would be nice. I find it a big pain with the standard rotary switch. Presently, to adjust the setting, you have to push the switch, have it pop out, then turn it to the proper setting and then push it in again. Also, the high is not very high, so usually leave it in the highest setting when I have it on.

JRB

Went in yesterday to see our special-order vehicle, and discuss things with the sales manager. On the heated seats conversion, I was assured that the shop that the dealer uses has lots of experience doing this, plus other special work such as radar and DVD installations, adding leather and sunroofs, etc. They will not be able to install the factory rotary or multi-stage seat heaters, however, as retrofitting the Lexus harness and OEM parts would cost close to $4,000! Instead they will go with the standard Hi-Lo toggle switch set-up, which I agreed was OK. On the plus side the dealer said the custom install seat heaters would actually warm up faster than the factory seats, and he also assured me that the toggle switch itself would closely match the existing switch for the suspension adjustment and would be mounted next to it in the same place as the factory control would be. So it should work out fine, and I certainly can't complain over the fact that dealer is absorbing the cost. He also agreed to throw in a cargo protector as I noticed that it wasn't listed on the window sticker, unlike all of the other RX330's that the dealer routinely gets in. I can do without the wheel locks that they also always order.

We also discussed and agreed on the trade-in value of our '98 A4, and I think they are allowing a fair, but not great, value on it. I plan to get a second opinion from the Audi dealer that's serviced that car since it was new. It's been very good to us and will be missed, but at 5 years and 60,000 miles, maintenance and reliability begin to enter into the picture, so I think it's wise to move on.

The sales manager also let me take the new RX330 for a test drive and I found that it drove great, and everything works as advertised. It looks sharp both inside and out, and can't wait until we get it home in our garage! Tomorrow (Monday) the seat heaters go in, and we hope to sign the paperwork Wednesday or Thursday evening.

HiTechRX

I finally received my special order RX330 last Saturday (7/12). It took 105 days from order to delivery! Johnson Lexus in Raleigh did a wonderful job with the order and delivery process. Here was what was ordered and received:

2004 Lexus RX330 AWD
Neptune Blue Mica/Light Grey Leather
Performance Package
Navigation System
Rear Seat Entertainment System
Dynamic Laser Cruise Control
Heated Seats/Headlight washers

At the time of the order (still true today), the Mark Levinson Package was not available with the Performance Package and the factory Tow Prep package was not offered with AWD. Since delivery of the vehicle, our Lexus dealer told us that Lexus is no longer building AWD models with dynamic laser cruise. Anyone else have dynamic laser cruise with AWD?

The grey interior came with grey floor mats. The dealer also threw in black floor mats and a black Weather Tech cargo mat at our request.

We've had tons of Toyotas in the past, but this Lexus takes the cake! We are loving it!

JRB

Well, your User Name says it all! That's as loaded of an RX as I've seen. Please follow up with a complete review after you've driven it a while. Somewhat surprised that the tow prep package was not available with AWD, since yours was a custom order. In our area (Upper Midwest) ALL of the incoming RX's have AWD with the Tow Prep Pkg., so they clearly are available. Of course they won't do anybody much good until Lexus actually starts producing the tow bar itself ... my sales manager was bemoaning the fact that Lexus can't seem to offer these in a reasonable time after a new car's introduction, as the same thing apparently happened on the GX. Up here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes we have a LOT of boat owners, and many people need their SUV's for towing duty, which no doubt has led to many complaints on both of these vehicles. I did get a hitch installed on my FX45, so at least we aren't in a situation where we're not able to take the boat out, and we can wait for the RX hitch to be made available (Infiniti took about 4 months to come out with their hitch also).

Also wonder why Lexus stopped building the Laser Cruise on the AWD RX's - could there be some kind of a problem or conflict? Hope yours works as advertised, and good luck with your new ride!

lexguynj

How exactly does a trade in vehicle work out when you special order a new RX330 that will take 90-120 days to come in?

I would assume the dealership appraises your car at the time of making the deal (already taking into account the delivery time for the new vehicle and how much longer you will be driving the trade in vehicle).

Is this correct? Thanks for your help.

johnnieliu

Does the above statement apply for only NON special order vehicles? I am planning on special ordering a vehicle to get the laser cruise control. Can I still do that today?