Aiyeeee!

[cute fuzzy bunny]

So the wife wants a lexus.

Not just any lexus, the "big one".

Guess what we're going shopping for later today...

So much for LBYM...

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

And you want the woman in your avatar. We can't have everything we want, right?

 

[Andre1969]

Well, a big Lexus shouldn't be too expensive. Here's a link to one: http://www.classiccarmall.com/carsfs/sale2935.htm

Hey, the spelling is only off by one letter! And it's definitely a big 'un!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Well, i'll pay about 60k for it. She wants new. I agree. The used ones dont depreciate enough to take on someone elses mystery car history.

I'd be a little more freaked about a big expense, but it looks like we'll get 60-70% of the value back in five years when we resell it; the way we drive it'll have under 20k miles on it.

Oh well, we're young, we have plenty of money, we dont tend to spend too much, my wife works hard and we should enjoy our life. Maybe we'll be eating campbells instead of progresso in our 80's, but thems the breaks.

Worst thought I've had is making room in the garage to park it, and having to do maintainance on a 3rd car (again). I'm sure this is like my infiniti too where they 'seal' the engine with top and bottom pans that require 20 screws to be removed before you can access the motor...

 

[73ss454]

Th, (), CFB,

Are you going to wait for the new body style?

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

Th, (), CFB,

Are you going to wait for the new body style?

He seems to have a "new body style" in his avatar. As for the Lexus, it's up to his wife.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Theres a new body style? I havent really looked into it.

The extent of this so far has been:

Mrs CFB: We should get a new car.
Me: Okay.
Mrs CFB: We should get a nice car. (mrs cfb has learned from cfb the process of incremental selling)
Me: Of course
Mrs CFB: Maybe a toyota or a honda, or a lexus or something (mrs cfb has also learned the process of upsell insertion)
Me: Those are good reliable brands, that makes sense
Mrs CFB: We dont need to buy it right away (now we take away imminent decision fears)
Me: Well, the longer we keep our current cars the better
Mrs CFB: But we make good money and we dont spend a lot, and we deserve nice stuff (hook!)
Me: Absolutely.
Edmunds web site: you should pay about $60k for that car
Aiyeee! to ER web site.

I was actually hoping there might be a new 2005 still sitting around on one of the two lexus dealer lots in the area. I could get a better deal and the insurance and 'car tax' would be a shitload lower.

 

[73ss454]

Well, if Mrs, TH,(),CFB doesn't know about the new body style grab one laying around the lot if you can find one. Should save you a lot of dough. If your keeping it a long time and like the old body style go for it.

The 430 is a wonderful car. Enjoy it!

 

[SteveR]

CFB,

You have the assets and DW wants it. DW sets the emotional tone for the house. DW sets your emotional tone here.

Buy her the damn car.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Never in question. What momma wants, momma gets.

I did tell her "You do realize this means you might have to work an extra year or two before ER'ing"..."Oh, i'll probably work the rest of my life. I like my job".

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

And buying the 2005 wont really buy us anything except maybe a slightly lower price and lower resale. Saves nothing on the car tax as they determine it from when the car was bought new, not the model year, and the insurance is ~1600 a year for the 2006 and 1556 for the 2005.

 

[73ss454]

Never in question.  What momma wants, momma gets.

I did tell her "You do realize this means you might have to work an extra year or two before ER'ing"..."Oh, i'll probably work the rest of my life.  I like my job".

In that case get the S500 benz!

 

[73ss454]

And buying the 2005 wont really buy us anything except maybe a slightly lower price and lower resale.  Saves nothing on the car tax as they determine it from when the car was bought new, not the model year, and the insurance is ~1600 a year for the 2006 and 1556 for the 2005.

Then if your not in a rush wait for the new one. I'm not sure when they will arrive though.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

In that case get the S500 benz!

Ugh...one of the worst reliability records right now belongs to MB. Since they removed most of their QA controls a few years ago presuming that the quality was "baked in" to their people and processes.

They were wrong.

Either that, or they caught the reliability disease from Chrysler during the merger...

 

[73ss454]

Ugh...one of the worst reliability records right now belongs to MB.  Since they removed most of their QA controls a few years ago presuming that the quality was "baked in" to their people and processes.

They were wrong.

Either that, or they caught the reliability disease from Chrysler during the merger...

I didn't mean to say they were good, just that they look cool.

Just buy the extended warranty so they give you a car when you bring it in weekly for repairs.

 

[MJ]

Theres a new body style? I havent really looked into it.

The extent of this so far has been:

Mrs CFB: We should get a new car.
Me: Okay.
Mrs CFB: We should get a nice car. (mrs cfb has learned from cfb the process of incremental selling)
Me: Of course
Mrs CFB: Maybe a toyota or a honda, or a lexus or something (mrs cfb has also learned the process of upsell insertion)
Me: Those are good reliable brands, that makes sense
Mrs CFB: We dont need to buy it right away (now we take away imminent decision fears)
Me: Well, the longer we keep our current cars the better
Mrs CFB: But we make good money and we dont spend a lot, and we deserve nice stuff (hook!)
Me: Absolutely.
Edmunds web site: you should pay about $60k for that car
Aiyeee! to ER web site.

So Ozzie, when are you and Harriet going to have the next episode of "Life with the CFBs"
I would have thought a retro mode of transportation might have been your preference. I've got a lovely 4 person buggy (future growth) powered by a fast mare. The fuel is cheap and the resulting furtilizer good for your garden.

MJ

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Ozzie is home alone with the baby today, so no ozzie and harriet until later. I can transcribe some of gabes klingon dialect for you. Actually he's got about 10 words down so far and he's adding one or two every day or two.

As far as car buying, I really enjoy the haggle but has anyone used the costco auto buying program? I stuck a thing in there last night and got a vmail from the dealer this morning. I already know what the invoice, sticker and 'price most people are paying'. I'd also anticipate a little less flexibility in cutting a high end lexus down to a buck fifty over invoice like I did with my expedition, but perhaps i'm wrong about that?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

For what its worth, Ozzie 'squeezed' one lexus dealer over the phone and got about 5k off over the phone. Might get another grand or two in person with a couple of visits. Checked the Costco option with the other nearby lexus dealer. 5K off. So the costco deal is actually pretty good (at least for this car and these dealers) for someone who hates negotiating. The dealer also said we'd get kid glove handling, as apparently a single complaint to costco about dealing horseplay results in them losing their referrals.

I checked with Edmunds and they provide both the invoice and sticker, along with an average amount buyers reported paying. For this car they report people getting about 4600 off.

Harriet and I are heading down to the dealer tomorrow...

 

[Marshac]

Have you tried http://www.carsdirect.com? I used the # quoted there as a baseline when negotiating the price of my ex-Forester XT.

Kapla

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I checked them, but it told me there were no participating dealers in my area. The list prices they had for the cars was also wrong, on the low side.

 

[laurence]

Wow, the top end Lexus, eh? All I know is when we test drove the lexus ES300 we were beyond impressed. I can vouch for you on the used vs. new thing, this was a 2 year old lexus with 30k miles on it, and they still wanted almost 30k for it, might as well go new.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yep. I looked at a 2003 and a 2004, with 40k and 30k miles on them respectively; 38k for the 2003 and 43k for the 2004. I think i'll just go new. At least the fact that I'll get more than half my money back in 5 years when we sell it is making my wallet a little less tender...

 

[Nords]

At least the fact that I'll get more than half my money back in 5 years when we sell it is making my wallet a little less tender...

It can really suck having your own sales logic used against you!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Eh, i'm liking the idea more and more.

I get to revisit the dumbest feeling in the world that i havent gotten to experience since selling my bmw and my infiniti.

Driving through the jack-in-the-box drive-thru in a 50k luxury car in a pair of crappy shorts and a crappy tee shirt, ordering the 99c value cheeseburger, and having everyone in the place think I just pulled off a carjacking...

 

[MJ]

Checked the Costco option with the other nearby lexus dealer. 5K off.

Will they honor the Costco no questions asked return policy for the Lexus too?