bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Seems to me that most people don't change vehicles because they need to. In my case I've done that once (sold GS after moving because it wasn't ideal for living in the boonies and there's no Lexus dealer in my area) but the other times I was just bored with what I had an NEEDED (haha) a change.

I've roughly kept each vehicle 5-6 years.

Agreed.

soakgame - good for you getting your car paid off. As you know your Lexus will keep going a long time if you maintain it.

But if it's become unreliable or just flaky or you're bored with it, then it's time to move on if you can.

Lil4X

My late uncle drove Cadillacs from the '40's through the '80's, but always a 2 year old model. He had an arrangement with a local dealership that worked pretty well for him. In those days Caddys took a big price hit in the first two years of ownership, so he simply found a dealer that matched him up with a guy who bought a brand new Caddy every two years. He got the guy's trade at a bargain price because the dealer only checked it out, washed it and never had to put it in inventory.

The downside was that he got whatever the guy had bought two years earlier. Two cars I recall - a gorgeous '54 green Eldorado convertible, and a horrific pink '62 coupe. He soon began driving El Caminos to hotshot parts for his company, but they were always outfitted like the Caddy. My aunt was the proud driver of the "new" Cadillacs for the last 20 years.

At the end of two years, he traded the car back to the dealer and picked up his next "legacy" car, sight unseen. They were always clean, low-mileage, and well appointed (well, excluding that pink one) and a fantastic deal. I wish I could find a Lexus dealer who would make me a similar arrangement!

BCP43002

I mostly go by mileage. I normally buy used. Once it hits the mileage amount I start looking. On my daily driver, a 98 TL it is 200K(167K as of today). My GS is also set at 200K(83K now). Only twice did this not work out. Both times it was with a FORD. First time my wife's Windstars engine siezed on a family vacation in Vermont. This lead to my only new car purchase, an Explorer which was traded in only 1 year later on a Max. In my dreams my GS turns into my DD and a NSX is my garage queen.

soakgame

might have to go with this method.. i'm going to wait 2 years at the very least.. that's my goal

200k on the gs (165k now)
200k on the commuter (127k now)

TwiBlueG35

95 Toyota Camry -> 01 Acura 3.2CL -> 07 BMW 530i
95 Honda Accord(bought in 07 used) -> 03 Infiniti G35 -> 08 Lexus IS350
96 Honda Accord -> 04 Lexus RX330

So pretty much every 5-7 years my family replaces a car. But if we really really like that car, we probably would keep it as long as possible, just hasn't happened so far. I really want to get rid of the SUV so my family would only keep two cars.

soakgame

funny thing is i've never owned a car past 2000.. all my cars are 1998 and below

the g35 is what i really want.. i just can't afford a new one.. maybe in a year or two when those current drivers get out of their two/three year leases