Then just deal with the dealership that HAS the vehicle with nav? Seems like the logical thing. He may be right in saying you'll have to wait until Jan. That dealer may not have any with nav currently, and they may not be getting in their allocation until Jan.

BTW. which 2 dealerships are you referring?

 

I suspect, but cannot confirm, that the ML will be availible as a standalone option. Here is my reasoning:

At IS300.net on the first day the new IS came available a post, from a Lexus dealer, included a scanned Lexus internal document from his region ( Midwest, IIRC) with prices and packages and it clearly showed the ML as a standalone option.

Two days later, when the conflicting info came up on www.lexus.com for the IS, he pulled the document from the internet because it was inconsistant with the corperate line.

My guess is the the first cars being made will only have the ML with NAV bundle and Lexus wants to move them in this configuration to the "early adopters" . Either that or they figure that if you want the ML badly enough, you'll swallow the whold $4,000 bundle.

 

ML is available as a stand alone option outside of Hawaii.......we ordered ours the beginning of November from our dealer in Michigan through the District Mgr and it should arrive in Feb. We could clearly see it on the dealer spec sheet as a stand alone for $944. It appears that the question is whether or not you are willing to wait to get your IS configured that way.

 

I just ordered today an IS 250 RWD with the Luxury Package (w/o 18" wheels) and the ML as a stand-alone option ($940). I am not interested in the NAV, so I was pleased when I found out about the separate ML option. The car should be here in March.

 

Luxury wit ML & Nav...that is what you need to get. You are killing the dvd option if you do not hve the nav screen.

 

Yes, I realize that I lose that option, but I am not interested in watching DVDs in the car. My primary interest is the wonderful ML audio system.