Finally the "wait" is over
 

Friends,

I have been a silent listener for most of the time till now as I was put on an impatient wait since last week of November 2007 till last week for the delivery of my special ordered 2008 GX470 with KDSS. Altogether it was a 120-days wait. Here it comes finally and enjoying every bit of its ride and finest craftsmanship. Additional images are posted in the Photo Gallery. It is a privilege and honor for me to be apart of this highly resourceful site powered with highly decorated expertise. All the best from me to keep up the good work by you all for making this forum more resourceful.
:thumbup:

Congrats, welcome to the club.

Congrats on your new ride ....
 

It sounds like you knew what you wanted, and were patient enough to get it. The new ride looks great (I really like the mini-brush guard on your bumper). Not sure if that brush guard is a new option, where did you get it?

ADVocate,

Thanks for the compliment. The "mini Brush Guard" called the "Sport Bumper trim" is a "Lexus Genuine Accessory". I ordered it through http://lexus.dealerfit.com/store/lex...cat397_399.php where I could find the best pricing. They were very honest and timely shipping. My local Lexus Dealership quoted me almost $200 over. The item offered comes in either "Onyx Black" color or "Pearl White" only. I had to locally paint it to color code the body style since either black or white doesn’t go with Savannah Beige.

Very Nice. I'd wish you luck with it but you won't need it. It's a great truck! I love mine.

Nice looking truck hkochat, congrats.

Very nice truck! What options did you get to make it a special order?

The GX470 shown above has all available options including KDSS (Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System) except the RES (Rear Entertainment System) hanging from the roof. The only way one can get a KDSS suspension without placing a special order is to go with the "Sports Package". I was not interested in the whole sports package because I had to settle down with two key options not of my prime-preference as follows: a) I have to settle down with silver (mercury) exterior and grey interior, b) can not get the dark wood I have in it instead needs to go with "black bird's-eye maple and dark graphite finished interior trim". After all my decision turned out rewarding because, since I waited for 120 days, they haven't charged me anything for the KDSS extra.:)

Good for you and congratulations. I ended up settling with these two options plus Lexus Link. But given that I've totaled my car, 120 day wait was not an option for me :sad:.

Vadim

Congrats! Welcome to the CL.

The new born is beautiful! Its...its....a girl! no....a...boy? :)

Good for you! I wish I had KDSS but my dealer would not special order my GX since there was already a waiting list when I got mine. Since then they have told me they will special order my next one. I hope I can wait 120 days when the time come to upgrade the GX.

Hello,

I can understand why your local dealer was hesitant to place special order from your experience described above. One another reason for their hesitation was due to the non-binding nature of the purchase order. According to my dealership, almost 80% of the customers with the special order drop-off their initial commitments in the middle. I had to really talk a while to convince my seriousness to them with the help of an out of town competitive quote in addition to the deposit. Of course, the dealership can not offer you a loaner car for 90 to 120 days. However, I was lucky to get a good management team to work with and they were generous to provide me a complimentary loaner whenever I go out of town. Please be aware that 120-day wait for me shouldn't be taken as an "always case" scenario. The estimated wait time is 90 to 120 days. I know a few cases where they could deliver in 90 days too. Though Lexus doesn't has any on-line customer tracking system to check the progress of your special order like BMW, I could talk to a "special Case Assistance Manager" at Lexus customer service to track the progress of my order. The tracking information that has been transmitted to me time to time was the following:

•The official order was placed on November 19th, 2007.
•Tahara Plant, Japan, after assembly, boarded the vehicle on the ship on February 13th, 2008
•Port of entry at Los Angeles, CA (G-Status) was notified on February 29th.
•Regional office at Dallas, TX disembarked the vehicle from train on March 13th.
•The dealership in San Antonio, TX unloaded the vehicle from the truck on March 15th.
•The final notification was the scheduled customer delivery for March 17th

Actually, dealers where trying to pursue me to special order one. I had to email more than 5 dealers before one of them was able to find KDSS car, but whoever I talked to were offering me to special order one (I don't think they would have problem selling KDSS car). I could keep my rental car longer, but I decided that it is not worth the wait. The dark interior is kind of growing on me :).

Vadim

It is hard to understand why Lexus does not have a better system for special ordering cars or why it takes so long. When my wife ordered her X5 we tracked in online and it was here in less than a month. We could order any option and it was no problem. With Lexus you only get what they want you to have - not good customer service in my opinion. In todays market it is all about being able to provide what the customer wants when they want it. I have made that comment on each Lexus survey I fill out but I am not sure they care.:sad:

Man, the bumper trim looks UGLY !!!!
I don't think the GX looks the best in this color as well. I am sorry to say, the Silver looks the best choice for GX in my true opinion - I would get rid of the silly bumper trim and sell it on ebay and try recovering some $$ (hopefully someone will buy it !)
The bumper trim makes it look like some Chevy/Ford mod done at some road-side body shop (sorry !)