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I really like my mark levinson sound and heated wheel.
The leather is very nice, but not amazing. Not sure if it's worth extra over the regular leather. I'm sure even the base base pleather is fine. I drove a new 4runner with pleather which was nice enough, and I'd expect Lexus offering to be above that.
I could do without the adjustable/air suspension. If I didn't have it, I doubt I would notice. I leave it in the normal setting all the time - comfort is too floaty, sport a tad too harsh. But you can feel a difference between the settings. Again, I drove a new 4Runner with no fancy suspension and the ride was just fine, actually pretty similar to the GX but obviously not as heavy. If it was air on all 4 wheels and you could lift and lower the whole truck, it would be a cooler, more useful feature. I'm not particularly worried about failure, but I'll keep my fingers crossed.
It was an easy choice for me since I bought used and the difference was just a grand or so over a non-premium. If I was buying a new one, I'd probably save the money, maybe even go full base, add heated seats. I can't imagine paying extra for this nav which is somehow still an optional extra. At low $50s MSRP, mid-high 40s with discount, this is a very nice vehicle new.
Depends what you will be using it for the most and who will be in it the most. We are replacing our Honda '15 van touring elite model - I want to spend less than $50K if possible with as much luxury as possible for the money. '16-'17 Audi Q7 would be ideal but slightly out of our range and more of a crossover and we want something that sits higher up. I always try to get the most loaded out car when buying used as prices vary very little in my experience. '15 - '16 GX models with luxury, rear screens, and driver assist are easily available in pre-owned and wholesale market (friend is an auto dealer who can hook me up). Wife and two small kids will be primary users and down here in Texas it's safer to be in a stout car that she wont have trouble parking hitting things like in an LX 570 or Land Cruiser due to it's width. Know 5 families with newer LX/GX models - no issues - of course all are mall haulers.
What are your intended uses for the vehicle? If you are only concerned about the air suspension and possible issues than get the base model without air suspension. Are you a DIY kind of guy or do you have everything serviced by someone else? If you are DIY than the air suspension will cost you around $300-$400 in parts and a couple of hours of time on a weekend. If you have an independent shop work on the air suspension the prices will vary. If you have the dealer do the work out of warranty it can cost upwards of $2,400, but you will have a loaner vehicle for the afternoon that it takes to do the work. I did my research and its true that these vehicles will require some work on the air suspension. The airbags are rubber and will eventually crack/fail. It is an occurrence that will happen between 50,000-150,000 miles. It all depends on the environment. If you are in a warm climate and use the vehicle dirt roads every day your airbag lifespan will be much less than a mall crawler located in San Diego. Any luxury vehicle with air suspension will have this maintenance issue. The good thing is we are driving a Toyota product that tends to have less issues across the board.
I personally went with the air suspension model because one primary uses of the vehicle was going to be towing a boat to lakes.
I’ve narrowed it down to two vehicles. First is a 2014 premium package with 61,000 miles certified for $34,000. Second is a 2014 luxury with 40,000 miles for $37,000. Same color but still not sure which to get. Is the base stereo any good?
I’ve narrowed it down to two vehicles. First is a 2014 premium package with 61,000 miles certified for $34,000. Second is a 2014 luxury with 40,000 miles for $37,000. Same color but still not sure which to get. Is the base stereo any good?
Why dont you listen to both stereo?
If you are not planning on lifting the truck go for the luxury model. $3K extra is not bad for the air suspension, ML and 30K less miles. Seems like a no brainer..
We got the luxury with the sports package. We also wanted 2nd row heated captains chairs. My GX470 has the Mark Levinson stereo so that was also a must on this car. The Semi Aniline leather is also nicer IMHO, and we wanted the blind spot monitoring with rear traffic alert. I also liked the sports package. You don't need any of these and the base truck is really nice, but its hard to go back once you start piling on these additional items.
I plan to keep my truck for well over 200K miles, so that helps with the pricing.
I’ve narrowed it down to two vehicles. First is a 2014 premium package with 61,000 miles certified for $34,000. Second is a 2014 luxury with 40,000 miles for $37,000. Same color but still not sure which to get. Is the base stereo any good?
For ONLY $3000 more, get the Luxury - lower miles, ML system, Air suspension is a positive AND negative, leather is a wash here since Premium leather is 95% as good as Lux leather. If you use CARSEATS the Premium harder leather is BETTER.
We currently have 3 GX460s, I said THREE. 2014 (base), 2015 Prem, 2016 Lux and they ALL drive the same. The Lux ML sounds better (CD or high quality MP3), but sounds the same for FM and SAT. Lux wheels look better. The pleather is good enough and if you don't know it's fake you can't tell.
I didn't think it was worth the extra money, but YMMV. I almost had enough left over to buy my 2nd (used) car.
I had a previous GX470 with the air suspension, and it did have problems, but it wasn't the end of the world. Still, if its a vehicle I'm keeping for a while, I prefer a conventional suspension.
If you're on a budget (and most are) I think it's a lot better bang for your buck to get a base model and I also think the really loaded models don't recoup much back when its time to sell. Most of the features people care about come standard.
I ended up getting the premium model. The dealer was more willing to make a deal. The dealer that had the luxury wouldn’t even come down $500 but has since reduced the price $300. I think I would be happy with either one but at least mine is certified.
I ended up getting the premium model. The dealer was more willing to make a deal. The dealer that had the luxury wouldn’t even come down $500 but has since reduced the price $300. I think I would be happy with either one but at least mine is certified.
Very cool... not a bad choice either way. I got them down about $500 for a Certified '14 that had been sitting on the lot for eight weeks, and I had a couple of "repair" items thrown in. One was a slight interior blemish repair. The other was the remote control for the rear entertainment system. It was in the truck, but was missing the battery compartment cover. "It's a safety hazard," I said. He told me it was a $250 part. (I've since seen it for sale on eBay for $99.) We went back and forth over that remote control for the longest time, but they finally bought me a new one - for much less than their claimed $250, I suspect. They held a firm line against replacing the floor mats. But I got $200 off extending the factory warranty. Not the toughest deal I've ever made, but no regrets over the outcome.
11-02-17, 01:05 PM
