Hello all,

I'm on the brink of an LS purchase, although I may wait for the '08. My local dealer has several L's on the lot, so they are mostly what I browse. I find that the extra length gives the car a leaner look which I find absolutely gorgeous (in no way denigrating the SWB, as it is stunning also). Aside from the occasional lucky backseat passenger, I really don't need an L, but I was wondering if there might be a payoff at resale time for the L vs. the SWB. This might get me to part with the extra 10 grand. Do you folks think there will be a premium to the L or will the percentage depreciaiton work out the same for both models ? Understanding that there is no crystal ball, just curious about your opinions as I find this a very astute and knowledgeable group.

Mike

 

Longwheelbase always have better than short. Historically you can see 7/S sales with the lwb are better than swb. There is the very very very RARE enthusiast who wants the SWB and more than likely the car is black/black. BMW sells a rare swb 760 V-12 for instance but hell its only 50 lbs ligher than the lwb

Audi doesn't even bring us their swb A8.

GO LONG!!!

 

While the LWB has a nice lean look that I was drawn to initially, I was gifted with a great and rare low-key salesman who steered me away from it onto the SWB. It is his opinion that the difference in price will shrink and may even be difficult to recover on trade-in. Either way he said, I would be paying less for an almost similar automobile now, and not have to take a bigger loss on trade-in. Big, big cars may also lose their cachet on the shifting sands of environmental consciousness. Remember the big V8s of the early 1970s? I believed him, and went for the shorter one.

 

I personally likes the appearance of the LWB version more too, but the general truth is, the more expensive & loaded with options a car is, the more it tend to depreciate faster. In the case of the LS460 & 460L, it's not only the cost of the extra length, but the L model have more options available on it too. But if it makes you happier, the difference in retaining value should not deter you from getting a well optioned LS460L, it certainly won't for me.

Look at the following thread posted a while ago, although lease residuals may not necessarily always predict eventual resale values, it can give you an idea how the different configurations of the LS may depreciate relative to each other (look at post #3) - https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ight=residuals

There's a good possibility I may still get an executive package though

 

For the price I think the SWB makes more sense, but
the LWB's road presence is amazing

 

When you are spending this kind of money I think its more important to get the exact car you want regardless of the resale value. Since you are purchasing the vehicle, clearly you intend to keep it for 4 or more years. Almost certainly there will be no "payoff at resale time". My SWAG would be that in 4 to 5 years you'll get about $4000 of your $10,000 back.

For example, a new BMW 750Li costs $3000 more than a 750i. However, a 2002 745Li has a resale value of only $1468 more than a 745i. So of that $3000 more paid back in 2002, the owner recouped less than half.

 

Further, who would want those extra electronic/electrical/mechanical goodies "out of Warranty"? Now there's a crapshoot I would avoid. Maybe the Kelly's Blue Book folks know something about the reliability of an overloaded used car.