Right... thank God I leased. Short term, the residual values will be in the toilet and they may not recover for a while given the glut of these cars Lexus has on hand as it is (they weren't selling well before the recall).

I had an interesting conversation with my dealer this morning. They offered to provide me with a replacement loaner car until the vehicle can be fixed, but that's not really an ideal option for me because I leased the car with 15,000 miles a year for 2 years. Even if I'm without the car for only a month, the only way a loaner car makes sense for me financially is if I can still manage to put 30,000 miles on my car before the lease ends, which becomes difficult the more time that goes by. If I can't get to 30,000 by lease end, then that's money on the table that Lexus gets to keep.

It's really a moot point if a fix can be identified quickly, but this becomes a real problem the more time that passes. If this goes on much longer with no fix available, I would think Lexus is going to have to give lessee's the minimum option of turning their cars in and getting a different Lexus, or worse for Lexus - just turning their cars in and going elsewhere.

While i don't believe for a moment that this issue is as severe as the Pinto fires in the 70's, the PR and consumer confidence affects are certainly likely to affect anyone's ability to sell these cars, new or used, moving forward.

- T

 

Called Lexus 800 number, and while they indicated this "might not be a major deal", if we felt unsafe driving the car (which my wife does and it is primarily her car; I drive a 92 Lexus SC400 with 220,000 miles bought new, and NEVER seem to have any issues). I called the dealer and they said they would exchange my car for a loaner (our car is leased which I am really happy about as it was my first lease in many years, thus resale value, even if the problem is fixed won't be an issue). By the way I insisted I get a 4 door car (we have 2 child car seats) and navigation as I could have this loaner for quite awhile(???), If you do get a loaner be sure you get options you need for the possible long haul

 

Another point to consider is that IF this recall takes a long time, should you guys demand an "equivalent" loaner?? The HS gets about 35 mpg. And the reason that you guys bought this car is because of its good fuel economy (among other things). So, if this recall takes a long time and they gave you an ES350 (for example) as a loaner, then you basically still paying the bank for the HS AND paying for more gas with the ES. This is a double negative for me.

 

Good point. There are other hybrids in the Lexus offerings they could offer. I wouldn't have a problem with a "short term" loaner being what is available as long as it has what we consider neccesities such as the 4 door for the kids and nav for the wife. If this were to drag on I think they need to supply "equal or better". Thanks for the response.

 

Well this sucks big time. The only thing I did to make myself feal better about the situation was to visit:

http://www.motortrend.com/used_cars/recalls/index.html

One of my favorites is 2009 Volkswagen Eos: Recall ID # 09V333000 - POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION

Can you find a better one? I suspect so.

 

What really upsets me is the reason I buy a new car is not to have problems. A fix is a OK. But NOT really because that means they have to take apart the car to fix the problem. On of the best reasons I bought this car because all the HS250 were made in Japan.
Looking at all there different cars Lexus has I still prefer the HS.
The other is a resale problem. My car is a few weeks OLD!

 

The next best Lexus in fuel economy is the IS250 right? So wouldn't that be the most like the HS250 for a loaner?

 

Yeah, but the IS has a tiny backseat...really tiny!! If i had to pick, then i would get the RX hybrid...similar gas mileage.

 

So exactly what are you doing in the back seat?

 

more than likely you will either get an RX350 or an ES350. I dont think it is worth it to get a loaner at all, besides maybe saving your car a few hundred miles.

Seeing as how Lexus tests show that the HS passes regulations on fuel leakage, then it will probably be hard to reproduce. Also note that all crashes are different in real life and do not contain the exact inputs that are used in crash tests.

Given this information, it would be foolish to think that the HS is unsafe, given that the chances of a rear end collision at 50mph has to take place within the next month, two at the longest, and the gas has to leak in the same way that NHSTA witnessed, and then there also as to be some sort of ignition. just my thoughts.

 

But...don't they put all the cars through the same testing? And this one failed . Even though it it not thus far anything to panic about, it, at the same time, does not inspire confidence .

 

Interesting - the Lexus recall site says they've sold only 13,000 of the 17,000 made so far. Given they've been on sale since last summer, that's 3 months of backlog sitting on dealer lots. I was actually surprised they sold that many - I've counted maybe six on the road since I got mine 4 months ago. And since I drive right by the dealer on my way to work, a few of those may have just been test drives.

 

At my local dealer they have been selling well (Brooklyn, NY). A friend tried to get the same lease deal that I got at the end of May and was told they were "sold out". They would be able to order one for him but at a higher price.

 

I think more people are concerned about the potential fix. It could be anything from a new gas tank to a substantial change in the car's design. A simple dealer fix on a replacement part is one thing - modifying the car's rear end design/construction is another. The former most people will find acceptable. The latter... not so much.

 

Its too late to change the entire rear end design. My guess is just a fuel tank design change.