I have this debate with myself every time I trade, and what I come back to is this is the sort of car I like. If you don't have some need for the attributes of an SUV, why get one? Why not enjoy the fact that we like something that isn't popular and enjoy the savings?

Even when you buy new like I do, why compete for an SUV when dealers will beg me to buy a sedan which I really prefer anyways?

 

Good news. Driver's Mart Sanford has a Black Friday sale with $1,000 off!
Bad news, they raised price by $1,000. So effectively it is the same price,. Haha!
Sales guy is telling me the prices do go up based on Market conditions. Right.

https://www.driversmartusa.com/used/...a9e821e88f.htm

 

Hahaha! Thats pretty good.

 

I saw that. At least they stopped sending me the daily emails and videos from half the staff.

 

I got a note today that someone bought the 13 L from Drivers Mart. Anyone here buy it?
​​​​​​

 

Not me, I am ogling 2016 LS460 with 60K here https://www.carvana.com/vehicle/1273189
Not pulling the trigger because it doesn't have Mark Levinson and not a long wheelbase.

Prices on LS are dropping like crazy every week. Probably true with all Sedans.

 

I've been in almost the exact same situation as the OP, Spudo, in the past 12 months.

My '08 L, with the Levinson, sport air suspension, and minimal other options (soft close doors, maybe a couple of other things not in the Levinson package), I'd had for two years and 40K when an idiot in a late-90s Acura TL, or something like that, totaled it. She turned right, from the left-center lane of the freeway, drove across two lanes, a sizable exit apron, and was turning left onto the two lane exit. I was in the left lane of said exit, and when I saw they weren't stopping, I cut to the right (there'd been a pickup there seconds earlier). My LF wheel hit their turned to the left RF wheel, hard. Almost no body damage to my LS, given the impact, but it was launched in the air, and we "flew" for about 110 ft. It was long enough for me to realize I wasn't on the ground, then WHAM, I landed. I could see where the wheels hit because of the diverging skid marks on the pavement where we hit and the landing, later.

Sheared-off the LF LCA, and the trunk was misaligned/sunroof opening had buckled corners. I hit 'em at 70 MPH. It was ugly. Still, I drove it on to the wrecker, and it would "lot drive" around the Bodywerks Lexus-dealer run body shop.

I hadn't had the car long enough to get tired of it and want something else. I looked at a CL55, an E55, and would have looked at a, ugh, Genesys or whatever the LS Hyundai clone is, but they were all unavailable or being repaired. Three of them. Nope.

Personally, I cannot STAND the pinched "Predator" grill. My wife has a '17 RX 350, and I have to see it every time I go to the garage. Not as painful as it used to be, but the car is not attractive. Thankfully, I don't have to look at the outside of it while driving.

I found a '12 which was on a lot where it was too much for their clientele. Had 74K on it, about, December of '18, dark blue, very light, but not parchment, interior, and the ultra-luxury package.

$21,275 out the door, plus another $200 for shipping from Georgia to Fort Worth. I know people who were down the street, and they checked it out while I was on the phone with 'em. So I have every goody my old one did, plus rear side windows shades, semi-aniline leather, leather door cards/bottom of dash, driver monitoring system, lane keep-assist (damned annoying), radar cruise, rear A/C and cooler...i.e., everything the first one had, and way more, save for the sport suspension computer and larger brakes. I may not need larger brakes, which doesn't mean I don't want the largest ones which fit using 18" snows, but I want to swap the suspension computer and see how much of a difference there is. I have a spare 'normal' suspension computer, for when I was working on the old one's suspension, but that's a dupe of what I have, now. I need to find someone who wants to trade.

This car had 19" OEM put on it, the spare is still 18", and honestly I'm glad I went back to the LS, because it is a car I truly enjoyed, and wanted to rack up insane miles upon. The only downside I've found is they neutered the Levinson, badly. It'll take some major wiring surgery to get the old head unit to work with the 2010+ cars because the wiring is different. The changes may not be in the head unit, but I think they are, as reprogramming is the easiest way to do this, at the source.

All in all, I'm glad I went with the pre-facelift model. Still cannot believe I found my current one for the price I did. It's in quite good condition, and while I've had to do a couple of things to it, nothing horribly expensive or in-depth. The radio died, I'm working on exorcising the front door wind noise, and I'll do a couple of other things to it for myself.

I've been in an LS 500, and I'd take mine over a brand new one of those, honestly.

 

I don't think theres any comparing the spindle grill on the RX to the one on the 13-17 LS. I don't care for that generation RX either, the spingle is MUCH more aggressive than whats on the LS and the body has all kinds of crazy creases and such. Even the refresh 2020 RX though simplifies the spindle grille and is much more attractive.

Personally, the 2013-2017 is a huge upgrade in both the exterior and the interior. The spindle grille is very subtle, and does make the car look more modern. Elsewhere the trim changes to the car make it looks more aggressive and less soft. Interiorwise the layout is more modern, the big wide screen is great, material quality is improved, seats are improved as well, ML audio is improved.

 

The differences between 07 and 12 aren't too different, however, I would definitely say that 10+ cars are better looking with the updated grille bumper and wheels. Bluetooth audio streaming is also a big plus.

 

One thing I like about my old LS, it still has a touch screen in the center stack. I don't need to use a "mouse" to move a cursor around the screen. I know it's not the wide screen version in the '13, but I've yet to become a convert to those.

 

Once you get used to it the mouse is a non issue.