RR99

I have a custom order base 450h that will delivered next week. I have been reading about the expected changes for 2019 and am tempted by Apple Car Play, Enhanced Safety Features and incremental changes and am thinking of waiting for 2019 instead. The dealer will not be happy but I will be buying the 450h for sure and will buy it in a few months. What are your thoughts?

mikemu30

Personal preference - the next model year frequently will have some bells and whistles that the last one didn't so if you think that way, you may never pull the trigger. And from my perspective, I don't get the hoopla over CarPlay but again that's just me.

kellens

Much depends on when you need the car. Longer you wait for ANY technology, the better. Bejing auto show kicked off today and NO 2019 RX. The next RX may not be out in Fall and be in the end of January as the 2018 RX was released, will have to wait a while to see. It is due for an upgrade. Likely the joystick controller will get changed to touchpad as all the others have gone, and a few other little mods. Carplay likely. They sell soooo many RX's. They don't have to do much to 'keep up'. Another consideration, is the more the 2019 is changed, the less discounts you will see for quite a while.

EXE46

I am in a similar situation, SO is ready but for now I am advising to hold off to wait for the 2019 due to the refresh expected. What sucks is that nothing has been announced yet.

ryanSC300lover

iTrader: (1)

......2019.......

jaymk

After seeing the 2019 Lexus ES, I think it will be worth it to wait for the 2019 model.
Might have the new touch trackpad and Apple carplay with revised front and rear lights and some extra chrome trim.
If the changes are more serious and have some extra must have features that will make it future proof for the next few years, than it might even have an effect on the resale value of the previous 16-18 models.
Thank You.

johnhey

I highly suspect Lexus delay 2019 model pass November 2018 because:
2016 model was in dealers November 2015, many people leased the car for 36 months and their lease will be due in November 2018.
Now if [refreshed] 2019 is not available at that time, those people will look for another car and Lexus loses customers.
Those with their lease end do not get 2018 because 2018 is identical to 2016.
That is one of the reasons every car manufacture make some noticeable changes every 3 years. otherwise people do not lease same car again.

Unless Lexus does not care about this, we should see 2019 model around or before November 2018

Cocal

Here your assumption is that most people lease, I don't know if that's right! Leasing is common in N.A. but not as common if at all elsewhere. Lexus is a global company and model change is influenced by global trends.

PeeVee

My 2016 is leased for 39 months, finishes in july 2019.

We wanted to buy it BUT opted for lease for 2 reasons:

- Interests rate was way lower.
- Instead of putting the down payment up front (but we still added 20K upfront (cut the pear in 2) to decrease the capital, hense less interests paid and smaller payments+ the 10 K of safety deposit), we pay the residual value at the end (30K - 10K coming back from the safety deposit = 20K).

Also, if we were not happy with the car, we could go away and lease or buy another year/model/make.

But we plan on keeping it for at least 5 years, and so far we did more than 10 years with each car we owned.

But I keep an eye of what is announced for 2019 and 2020.

johnhey

You are right about lease but still it is odd to release a car in January (most countries are in northern hemisphere hence Jan is dead winter)
That is why almost every new car comes late summer/ early fall (Aug - Nov)
Last year for RX was different because they want to release it with RX 350L.
Many People do not like to buy a brand new car when there is salt and snow on street.
We will see if Lexus cares about business model or they just sell too much and do not care about losing some customers.

PeeVee

On the contrary, go shop in the winter! The sales people have to meet their objectives of sales and it is the best time to get great discounts, even if it is brand new!
We negotiated from December and signed at the end of March, our sales person have even cut on his commission to be able to get a bonus from his sales, and we took delivery at the beginning of April. But being in continuous talk with him, he knew that we were interested and that he had to close a deal with us. So shop early and take your time, and you will be able to get a new car at the beginning of spring!

Cocal

Right-on, I always buy in Dec, Jan or Feb and March if in a pinch, I've got the best deal in Jan-Feb as there are the fewest buyers then. In Jan they are recovering from Xmas spending, in Feb they are still in shock at how much it shows on their credit card bills so their minds are not on spending more on a vehicle. Dec is also good as dealers try to meet year-end goals, but not as good as Jan-Feb.

johnhey

Not everything is about discount, I rather pay few thousand dollars more and enjoy my shinny car when we still have warm sun in sky and grass on lawn as oppose to salt on my brand new car.

Anyway, the purpose of this thread is for people that want to buy the car soon to get 2018 or wait for 2019. (if it comes in fall)
I don't think people that are in the market now wait until Jan/Feb 2019, that's almost another year

dchar

FlexusM

If the '19 has CarPlay, I'm definitely waiting for that one but want to find out before I just pull the trigger on an '18. What are the next big autoshows that a refresh would likely be to show up at, similar to how the NX refresh was introduced last year?