Certified or New
 

I'm about to purchase my first RX 350, a certified 2016 with 19k miles for $40,668 out the door. The options are navigation, premium package, touch free rear door, blind spot/rear cross traffic, heated/ventilated front seats, and 20" wheels. This afternoon a dealer sent me a quote on a new 2019 with identical specs for $46,485 out the door. I'm perfectly happy with the 2016 - it looks brand new and only has 19k miles. At the same time, I wonder if it's worth $5,800 to have a car that is three years newer, even though the body styles and options are the same. Any opinions?

Personally, I would take a new car of the same year for $5.8K more vs a 19k mile car. When you sale your car, 1st ownership + 19k lower in mileage + 3 years newer in model will worth more than $5,8K in resale value.
The new car warranty should be better than a CPO also. For example, if you have noise in the cabin, they may fix it for you if the car is new. If you are already stressed in terms of monthly payment, it would be another story all together. In that case, I would recommend the less expensive option. Good luck

A couple of years ago we bought a 2016 RX350 very similar to the one you are looking at. Ours was an 11 month old dealer loaner with 13,000 miles on it for $41,000 plus tax. The original sticker was $52,800. The CPO warranty was a big plus. It covers a lot for 6 years with unlimited miles plus gives you 4 free scheduled service visits. The 20K and 30K services are a bunch more involved than the odd mileage visits. We kept the car 18 months and put 28,000 miles on it. During that time it had an alternator go bad, the drivers door lock/latch assy failed, the rear defroster grid stopped working in a 12 inch area, the NAV computer screen froze up a couple of times requiring a firmware flash / update and the drivers seat heater would stop working after 5 minutes or so. All of these were covered repairs but the driver seat heater was never fixed and the dealer claimed that it was functioning normally. While it never had a direct affect on the car, the first service it received was the 10k service at 12,500 miles. we traded it in on a brand new 2018 with similar features for about the same price as your 2019 price.
My suggestion for you would be go for the new 2019 if you can handle the extra cost. We like the RX350 but that one had some issues and the wife was not going through another winter with the malfunctioning heated seat. Our 2018 RX350 has 7,500 miles on it and absolutely no issues.

Disclaimer: CPO Cynic here

if you can swing 5k, go new. CPO essentially its a seller advantage for the most part to justify the premium vs a non-CPO used vehicle. Certification means nothing, both types of vehicles get refurbed just enough to look acceptable (accidents included).

To many people, the CPO extended warranty is a major factor.

I just bought a 2016 CPO RX 450h with 19k miles. With the CPO warranty extension, I'm covered for 3 years (1 factory, 2 CPO) and free maintenance that will cover both the 30 and 40k services. I was pretty happy with that deal.

$5800 is tough though - that's right on the border and I understand the conundrum.

I might ask how long you own your cars typically? I don't know if you are borrowing (or how much), but on a 5 year loan that's about a $100/mo difference.

If it were me, and I planned on owning it for 6+ years, and the extra $100/month wasn't an issue, I'd lean toward new. I tend to swap out of mine every 4-5 years, so CPOs work for me because I deal with less depreciation and the car still has respectable trade in value at only 7-8 years old. Also with Lexus having such a strong reputation for quality, I'm not concerned owning one that gets that old.

But there is something fun about a new car and being the first owner. :)

I'd personally avoid 2016 models and go with 2017+ instead. For whatever reason a simple search here in these threads will show allot of issues with specifically the 2016 variant. Not so much engine issues but small stupid stuff that is annoying and very un-Lexus like. CPO is one of the biggest scams by dealers and a major money maker for them. You are essentially paying for that CPO certification and on average a CPO vehicle will cost $2k more than a non CPO. You have to keep in mind the dealers pay Lexus to get the vehicles certified, so what do they do they add on to the sticker price and pass those costs to you. Some would tell you all the perks from a CPO but when you look at the cost maintenance schedules (relatively low and can be done for a fraction of a cost) a certification is almost a wash and sure you get 2 more years tacked on the original factory warranty but again if you were to purchase an extended warranty it would cost you the same as the 2 years CPO, so again it's all a wash. Tons of discussion on this topic alone that you can look up. Good luck.

I personally wouldn't go so far as to call CPO a scam. It's a known fact they cost more and that's basically the cost of the 2 year warranty extension. It's not much different than buying one from a non-Lexus dealer and buying a 2 year extended warranty. I realize I'm paying for it. And it is fully inspected and brought up to a better standard than a non-Lexus dealer would do. That's no doubt in the cost too.

I bought a very slightly used 2016 IS 200t back in 16 from an Infiniti dealer so non CPO. It was missing floor mats and a nav card, and I didn't really know where it was for the 900 miles before I bought it. In contrast I know exactly what happened to my RX and how it was maintained.

All that being said I don't think CPO is a "bargain", it's additional peace of mind that you pay for.

Most of the (very) low mileage vehicles went to CPO anyways.

Thank you all for your input! I just brought home my new 2019 RX (silver lining with black interior). At the end of the day, the difference in price was small enough that it justified getting the 2019 ;) I think I got a great deal - $7k off MSRP plus 1.9% financing for 72 months. I put additional down to keep the payment the same as I originally planned with the certified. I am very excited to join the Lexus family!

Congratulations!

What standard are we talking about exactly? The non-CPO and CPO vehicle travel the exact same channels through a dealership to get to the lot. Imho the best thing to do is to treat the CPO as simply a warranty extension product, and still do your own due diligence into the history and current status of the used vehicle.

Congrats to the OP!

My CPO came with a complete inspection report showing the state of all wear items, they performed the 20k service, they replaced the floor mats and trunk liner, and they knew the previous owner personally so I even know how it was owned. My non-CPO Lexus was missing all floor mats, trunk liner and the nav sim card, and came with no explanation of the state of the wear items or any evidence a mechanic had gone over it, and all I had was the Carfax.

I'm not trying to defend its some great bargain - you pay for all that. But Lexus does do more after receiving a car they will sell as a CPO than a non-Lexus dealer does who just puts it out on the lot. I strongly suspect much of that has to do with the extended warranty, and Lexus would want to lower it's risk of future claims. Which is good for me.

Yes & No, in as much as the CPO is the creme de la creme of used cars, only the best kept/maintained and lowest mileage will qualify for CPO and of course the additional warranty.