So now this thread is just beating OP down for their opinion? smh

 

I ordered a 26 RX 500h fully loaded, iridium silver with Rioja Red interior, camera, illuminated side sills, illuminated cargo side sills etc…………………………….………………………………………………...I got exactly what I ordered. How dare they do that. I guess I’m in the minority?

 

Honestly... I'm an Admin/Mod on another vehicle Forum, the trolling thing is such an absurd (read: stupid) phenomenon. We clean up so much of it, good times!

 

I agree, and I hate dealerships also. Lexus dealerships are no different than any other brand where they say they care about the customer and our experience, but they don't really care.

 

Our 2026 Premium + RX350h was "preferenced" exactly like we wanted.

We would have bought a Luxury (vs a plus), but there were >$2k worth of FIO's (Factory Installed Options) that we wouldn't have benefited from. One of these, was the upgraded "Mark Levinson" audio for $1,160. Although not a part of the Luxury package, when I checked the surrounding dealer's inventory, all of the '25 Luxury's had these specific ("Individual Options") added-on. If "options" are on ALL of the RX's in a region (if not nationwide), are they really "Individual Options"? Optional, but at-the-same-time mandatory, is a great way for Lexus & its dealers to make more $$$, verses a customer being able to "order" precisely what they want!

However, "PIO's" (Post Installed Options, I believe the acronym is) are seemingly where the money-makers are for the dealers. Out-of-the-box, when our dealer "preferenced" a RX, it was loaded with PIO's. We declined them and that was that.

But yeah, it seems that PIO's are catch-22's for pricing machinations; with folks thinking they're getting a "deal", when oftentimes what they're getting is a discount on unnecessary parts that have assumed greater dealer margins, vs factory margins baked into them. In other words, when an overall percent-off is calculated, how much of that percent is off of post production non-factory installed parts; which means that there is not much of a discount at all, when the >margins for unnecessary (& probably unwanted) PIO's are taken into account. But I digress...

Because we were fine with waiting, it would have been even better to have the ability to actually write-up a factory order for the specific production/build of a Lexus, like we could have for the competing SUV's that we test drove, one of which was a BMW X5.

Being able to actually place an order for 100% of what's wanted (no more/no less), would take the seemingly endless array of PIO's off the table, as well as the so-called "Individual Options" that either the factory, or the individual regional dealers seem to force, whether the customer wants them or not!

 

I also got what I wanted. Unless it came in the trim, color, seat color I would wait for the next year. And suddenly the exact one landed during a sale promotion.