Picked up my special order IS 350 yesterday. The car was ordered in early March, built in April, and arrived at the port in mid-May. This is my first Lexus - although I've been a Toyota owner since the early 80's.

I'm basically OK with the ordering and delivery process, other than a minor hassle over options that were added post-order such as 18" wheels, trunk mat / cargo net / wheel locks (all of which are apparently automatically added by the port to each order), and of course the "dealer added optional equipment" including:

Appearance Protection: $599
Theft Protection: $299
Nitro Filled Tires: $89
Door Edge Cup Guard: $299

Since I had agreed on a price pre-order the dealer ended up eating the options - most of which are nothing but pure pack-on profit for them anyway. But it leaves a bad taste in my mouth to see a dealer trying to charge anyone for filling their tires with nitrogen. Do they really let the air out of the tires and refill them with nitrogen, or does the vehicle come from the factory with nitrogen in the tires?

And then there was the "closing experience" - where every additional profit opportunity was presented to me - and summarily rejected. When I asked why I'd want to buy LoJack ($695) when I already had Enform, the closer said that 'knowledgeable thieves know to knock off the shark fin antenna so that Enform won't work'. Really? Well, if the car get stolen I don't want it back, so no LoJack for moi.

Like the car but don't especially love the purchasing experience. It felt like every other car dealership I've dealt with - at the end of the day I wanted to go home and take a shower.

I expected more of Lexus.

 

I loved that he sales guy was "Lexus are the most reliable cars in the industry". While the finance manager was like "you always should get the extended warranty because cars always break". Haha.

 

Congrats on the new ride! Sorry to hear about your buying experience. It really does come down to the dealership. In my experience, I've had both HORRIBLE and really enjoyable encounters with various manufacturers.

 

I think you got one out of the pipeline that was already being built and was "close enough" to what you ordered. I ordered mine in early March as well, and it was born today! It boards the ship next week, and I know they probably didn't make any with my exact configuration, so there weren't any in the pipleline to route to my dealer.

I think the add-on experience probably varies by dealer. I can't say I blame them for trying. It's easy money and I think they get a lot of takers. If I owned the dealer I'd probably do the same thing.

My first IS350 came with Nitrogen in the tires but there was no attempt to charge me for it as an add-on. I know for add-ons, some dealers probably did all of those add-ons like the door guards because they tell people that "all cars" get these options as I think they try to take the stance that "we can't take them off" even though you can usually negotiate them off the price, as you did, because enough people just pay it or get talked into it.

I do love the concept of Lo-Jack and "Data Dots" and other things. Like you said, if it gets stolen I don't want it back. A lot of other add-ons are really only important if you think you'll keep the car for a really long time. And I know there are people who will keep their cars for 10+ years and 100k+ miles, I think a majority of cars that are bought new at dealer aren't kept that long thus they really don't need to buy the extended warranties. I know I'm not keeping mine past the original warranty.

 

They offered you the rip-off add-ons lol. 299 for 4 small pieces of clearbra? No thanks. I didn't had to deal with any of that here in Chicago.