hello all. i been lurking around here for the pass month. i am really liking the IS350 and i am about to get myself one. as of now i still drive my old car which is a prelude. this thing is falling apart and i need to get a new car asap. i have a few questions for you guys. i live in NYC and all i see around here are AWD250's rolling around more and more. test drove the awd, was not really happy with it. my prelude is much more faster. I never drove the 350 but from what i have read on CL, this is what i am looking for. My question is... how many of you guys on CL have a 350 and lives up here in NYC?? if i was to walk into the dealer today i know for a fact i will put down a deposit. Whats a good price for these 350's?? I am aiming below 38k out the door. i am trying to get nav (MUST) and ML and X. Would you think i should sit back and wait for the 08 to come out or just get the 07? I have more questions but i would ask them next time. Please help a new guy out as I will join the family in the right direction.

Thanks.

 

there are a couple 350's around here, not too many though. i'm in queens and a couple of members are scattered in the boroughs.

in nyc, it's pretty rare to find ML and X if it's not nonexistant at all. they allocate lux/sport + nav's to nyc for 350's so you'd have to probably special order yours if you want your specific packages.

 

I can help you out with this since I am trying to buy one as well and I live in your area. Prepare to read! First off, yes it is true that mostly 250AWDs are sold up here. For some reason people all of a sudden have to have an AWD vehicle for those five inches of snow we received last year. Lexus is really pushing the 250AWD version in the Northeast.

That said, a 350 is not impossible to get if you are willing to compromise as I had to. ML is not available on the 350 in the Northeast. Yes I know this sounds stupid, but there are different versions of the same car model floating around in the U.S. In the Lexus Eastern Sales Region (which runs from Virginia to Maine), The IS350 only comes with the Luxury 18in. wheels package, navigation, and park assist. No options are available, and only certain exterior/interior color combinations are available.

In the Midwest apparently ML is available on the 350s, but not here, and most dealerships won't look outside their designated sales region because they physically drive the car from wherever they are getting the car to where you are, so they try to keep it within a day's drive I think (not that I like this idea, it's just how they do it, I had always assumed they were trucked).

I wanted an IS350, red exterior, grey interior with luxury 18in. wheel package, park assist, PCS/dynamic cruise, navigation, and ML. First off getting a 350 was going to be hard. ML I was told is not available on the car unless you special order which every dealer I talked to quoted a minimum of 4 months with 6 months more likely. They weren't trying to discourage me or pitch me on what was on the lot, they were being honest and trying to manage my expectations which is good because I had always assumed it was maybe a month or two. The red IS350 is one of the more rare cars. Only about 100 were produced in 2007 for our region (not counting special orders of course), and all the red cars come with a black interior. Since it was the end of the model year, getting a 350 was hard enough let alone one in a rare color. All dealers I talked to in multiple states said the same thing, that red ones are hard to get, but they could still find black, silver, or grey ones easily enough. I would not compromise on the color. I had already done enough compromising on options and the interior color.

What I had to do was literally harrass my local dealer every single day for nearly two weeks to search for a car for me. I know you'd think it would take five seconds to do a search and it wouldn't be such a bother, but apparently it is. Again they were only willing to look in our sales region which is stupid because why not search a little outside your normal area say further south or west where 350s are more popular because the AWD isn't needed. Finally they told me they weren't going to search for cars outside the area and it was unlikely they were going to find one and that they'd keep their eyes open for the '08s. I was ready to cave and put in a special order at that point if I had to wait at least 4 months anyway. Then about 20 minutes later they emailed me and said they found one with a sport package. A quick comparison showed that the sport package is essentially the same as the luxury package, so naturally I told them to go get it. I am now waiting, should be taking delivery in the next week to ten days. Price wise I didn't care as long as they could get the car I was happy with, so I ended up paying about $45k (including fees, tax, etc.) cash, but up here in Greenwich everything is more expensive than outside of town.

My long winded point is that it's definitely still possible to get a 350, but you have to make your deal breaker list of what compromises you are willing to make. If you don't you will be stuck special ordering. Secondly, if your dealer doesn't have the car you want, bug them to keep searching. Make them earn their sales commission.

 

jdanon... thanks!!! good to hear that you finally found the car. i was acutally read up on your threads before. thanks for the help. but 45k???? damn you must like the IS more then me. but why? may i ask?

I have to go to the dealer and check it out and see if i am lucky. Hopefully theres one on the lot. haha. I wouldnt mind special ordering it. I would mind if i was to pay 45k for lexus. i rather get something else like a benz or bmw. If i was to special order one, Would they even drop a few $$ on the price or its just going to be MSRP?

Anyone else in NYC got any other advice???

BTW.. i live away from the city. I live in NY, QUEENS. I work in Queens also.

Thanks!

 

I think you might get a much better deal if you buy an 07. I dont think anything major is going to change in the 08s.

 

if the price is right. i am going to jump on it. rather its an 08 or 07. but i would perfer 08.

 

Yeah I like the car. The lowest price they were willing to go was $42,100, then add the 6% sales tax, registration, and title fees and you get pretty close to $45k. Anywhere else I think you can easily take $3k off. Plus they pretty much had the advantage in the negotiation because I wanted the red one which is rare and they knew I wanted it. I was surprised they gave me any break over MSRP since I harrassed them so much to search for me. I think if you special order you will get a break on the price as you should since the dealership at that point is only there to file the paperwork and order. If it was $50k I probably would have reconsidered and got something else. I'm also doing a trade-in worth about $25k, so that'll reduce my sales tax as they agreed to use the trade-in to offset the new car cost and that will save me about $1700 in sales tax, so in the end I think I'll pay about $18k to upgrade to the 350.

 

Just call a Lexus dealer in Cali and have them fly you in. I was willing to drive my car back 1700 miles from Cali if I could save some serious $. Don't e afraid to look out of state. Longo Lexus in Cali won't work with out of staters, but Glendale and Westminster will. I used those outfits to negotiate my deal in Houston. I paid a few hundred dollars more in Houston, but didn't have to go to Cali to pick up the car.

 

nice!! so at the end, 18k is what you pay for. thats a nice upgrade. but then... (if you dont mind me asking) what did you trade in??

would you think i would be able to get under 38k out the door? even if i special order it and with which ever packages they have. If i was to spend over 40k. i would look into something else.

thanks

 

fly out? thought about it and i am not that crazy yet about the car. if i could find one here and if the deal is right, special order it would not be a problem. if i do fly out to cali and drive it back home to NYC. i rather just special order it.

thanks

 

I'm trading in my '05 ES 330 w/10k miles on it. Still looks brand new, but I switch out my main car that I use for every day commuting roughly every two years.