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Happy owner of a 2023 IS350 Special Appearance Package with less than 20K miles here and just placed a non-refundable deposit on a 2025 IS500, Incognito with red seats that should be here in August.
Buying the IS500 is a final decision for me but I am now faced with the dilemma to keep the paid off IS350 as a daily to face the horrors of Houston driving and keep the IS500 as the weekend car, or trade-in/sell the IS350 to ease the financial slap of buying the 500.
The IS350 with the Special Appearance Package wasn't cheap. Carvana is only giving around $40K. The dealer is sure to give me less as trade in.
At this point I am thinking of keeping both and drawing funds out of the market to soften the blow.
The 500 is a wonderful daily, it's why I switched from my M2 CS to the IS. If I could have 2 cars I would have kept both probably but the CS was just too hardcore for a daily (and rare so I felt bad putting miles on it). Having the 500 as a weekend car isn't out of the norm around here (usually paired with an SUV it seems). I'm not sure I'd want 2 IS, it would make the 500 feel less special for me,
The 500 is a perfect daily driver, it is not harsh or much different than your 350! I just use my 500 for the weekend or evenings on week nights to minize the damage from the daily driving. Personally,.i would.dump your 350 but get a daily driver that is less expensive...or just daily drive your 500. I think if you keep both, the difference wont be enough to make you appreciate your 500 when you get in
We have a Corolla hatch as a daily driver and is great for what it does (18 inches and sporty look) but i sure notice a difference when i get in the 500.
1. Your IS350 is unlikely to be worth more than it is right now so if you're worried about taking the gut punch on trade in, keep in mind it could get worse. Maybe pay it off and try to sell it to a private party if you want to get the best value? I think someone will definitely want it (for how much, that remains to be seen).
2. If you're nervous about DDing the 500 for whatever reason, variety is the spice of life -- that unrealized 40k you have tied up in the IS350 could be used for other things. I have an older Tacoma as my second vehicle and may soon pick up a Miata. Or go the other direction and get a used hybrid. In any case, jumping back and forth from an IS F sport and then into an IS F sport with a V8 just has too much overlap.
3. I'm not entirely convinced running costs will be higher -- except insurance maybe. It will eat tires and consume gas about as much as your 2GR sedan.
Congrats! So you got confirmation that this car will be built and here in August or your dealer said they’d try to allocate it and they’re hoping it’ll be here by August? There’s a few of us on here that have put deposits down these and we’ve been waiting for months. I put a deposit in January, at this rate the UE will be here before the USB I asked for.
Congrats! So you got confirmation that this car will be built and here in August or your dealer said they’d try to allocate it and they’re hoping it’ll be here by August? There’s a few of us on here that have put deposits down these and we’ve been waiting for months. I put a deposit in January, at this rate the UE will be here before the USB I asked for.
Which dealership did you place a deposit at? Also just something to keep in mind that any new builds or not in transit at this point will be getting a price increase starting July (not specific to the IS500, just increased fees for Lexus in general)
Sell the 350, put some towards the 500 and pocket the rest.
driving the 350 and then 500 will be pretty redundant to an extent. You will probably even get close to the same gas mileage as the 350
Sounds like keeping both isn't the popular choice at all.
I can't help but feel that holding on to both of these N/A cars is a good choice for the future. Everything is getting more expensive, uglier and less reliable...I just don't like most of the new vehicles coming out anymore...
Having said that, keeping both will mean rarely driving the 500 and that is a waste. Not to mention I'd hate selling some CVX shares to cover a downpayment at a time were they might take off again...
It is good to know the 500 is a good daily. But don't you guys feel bad about all the wear and tear it gets every day?
Regarding the down payment, this is a vehicle allocated to the dealership and I had asked a long time ago to get a call as soon as there was one from the sales manager. Not sure how all this new bs works really.
It is absolutely pathetic that this is how it works now. I remember the days were the only thing you had to worry about was choosing the color you liked from the 20 cars in the lot...
^^ well, as I said, i dont daily drive mine at all and is my fun toy only. Never saw a drop of rain and is stored in the winter. An inexpensive but reliable daily is all you need.
It is good to know the 500 is a good daily. But don't you guys feel bad about all the wear and tear it gets every day?
Not at all, I've only ever had manual trans. cars and one of the biggest factors that got me to give that up was the reliability record for this engine and of course Toyota/Lexus in general. I'm hoping that I'll have this until it is the highest mileage vehicle that I've ever owned. Another major factor is I wanted a car that doesn't exist anymore and that's the original/early M and AMG cars from the '88 m6 to the AMG E55 and E39 M5 ca. 2002 all with the intent of doing some major cross-country road trips in comfort (but with power... and reliability of a newer car).All of those early sporty sedans still had (soft/compliant) rides befitting a daily driver. I can dig numbers as much as the next guy but the Nurbugring has kind of ruined a lot of cars, my commute to work isn't a track day and I don't want it to feel like one.
I like the idea of the 350 as the daily and 500 for when you wanna have fun. Same care basically and just more power with the 500. Unless that's too boring for you. Upside is it doesn't feel like you're driving such a downgrade when you're driving the daily vs the Special one.
Deposit Placed on IS500
