Exactly! - special orders are pain the xxx for the dealers. If the customer cancels the order (anytime and gets full refund on paid amount) after build started, dealer will be struck with that unique vehicle.

Also, special orders are verified and confirmed by Lexus Japan for any incompatibility (on options) and such . Its about a week long process between the dealer, customer and Lexus. Dealers would want to avoid such headache. Typical response one would get from dealer is 'based on your requirement, we will try locate one in US'.

If one has history with a particular dealership, they would help him/her with special order. But again how much can be negotiated is doubtful.

 

A long time ago my BIL had a custom car ordered from Porsche and they told him the price is not negotiable on a special order.
He had a talk with this credit union and they negotiated on his behalf and got the price lowered.

Another option since you want a custom car is to call every Lexus dealer in the country and work out a deal over the phone. My BIL just purchased the new Escalade this year and wanted the platinum edition fully loaded so he called every dealer on the east coast and worked out a deal over the phone, had the car delivered to his house.
I would say there is no reason why you need to step foot in a dealership and waste time with the whole high pitch sales antics.

 

Yes, it takes a lot of extra work to get a good price on a special order. Call lots of dealerships, getting progressively further away from your location. Eventually someone will want the sale badly enough.

If I were living in Texas, even with the occasional trip north, I wouldn't order AWD. Weight and potential maintenance headaches are the two reasons why. The performance difference isn't too noticeable on these cars except at the very upper reaches of the tachometer where, if we spent time, we'd probably have bought a sportier car.

 

The issue with AWD (aside from already mentioned aspects) is that it would be fine for the wealthy buyer who trades in his car every year. But in this case - you are looking for 10-15 years out of the car - you really should consider that all those extra parts (and there are a lot) represent added potential for failure and of course higher repair bills. The more parts a car has, the more it can/will break. A car with no power steering will never, ever experience a power steering leak.

In an aside....in 2007 my wife wanted an Infiniti FX35. We looked at some on the lot and gained a feel for the prices. The next week I was busy so I told her to go buy whatever she wanted - but AWD was not an option we were willing to pay (about $3K) for, so don't get it.

She went down and bought one. I had it on the lift the first year several times for oil changes, etc. One day, after about a year of owning it, I had it on the lift and noticed the front spindles had axles and CV joints....sure enough, they had sold her an AWD and we never realized it. The mystery to this day is 'why'....I assume the dealer had it and wanted to sell it badly enough that they 'threw in' the AWD. I can say that because the price was well in line with a well researched 2WD price.

 

I honestly would not be worried about the AWD from a reliability standpoint because of Toyota/Lexus track record of success in that area. The oldest Lexus sedan AWD systems are going on 9 years old now, I don't think I've ever seen mention of a transfer case failure, etc...

 

I appreciate all the feedback. I'm already making calls to various dealerships in-state & out-of-state to obtain special order pricing. The AWD is something I think I can drop to negotiate lower costs. Even if I drop that, the pre-collision and even my color combinations are already very difficult to find.

I can post what dealers are willing to discount, in case the information may help others.
If you have additional tips to obtain discounts or can report the discounts you received for special order pricing, please feel free to share.