jimbonic

I am a pretty patient guy, but really have a hard time understanding why it would take as long as it is getting me my car I had ordered back in December. My dealer really is no help at all getting me any information on where it is. I had one call from him back in February saying it was being built so it should be here in a couple weeks after that. Still nothing.This is going on 15 weeks now, anyone that has ordered one, have you gone through the same thing?

I placed my order on Dec. 17th. as they could not find a loaded Fsport anywhere around me. I'm impressed with the car and all, but this seems crazy. In today's modern era, surely they are capable of building these machines a bit quicker than this and get them over here a little sooner than this?? These are not hand built cars and unless I am mistaken, they still use a fairly simple but effective assembly line so it should be able to get completely built in a couple days time start to finish tops. Add in paper work for processing/prep, waiting for the correct paint line to come up maybe an extra couple weeks work, shipping and inspections, and customs, and we should be at maybe, 6- 8 weeks, as these cars are not being made at 100,000 per year. These are low quantity cars for select individuals rather than high volume cars for masses. This is not 1970 any more and we theoretically know how to get things done more efficiently today.

Plenty of other nice cars out there such as the CTS-V, Jaguar , or uggh even if I have to go to BMW but if Lexus can't get my car to me very soon, I may have to go elsewhere.

AL13NV8D3R

Well, I was on the same boat as you. I ordered mine in November 29th of 2013 and today its March 23rd of 2014 and still no sight of my 2014 GS 350. I got tired of waiting and found another GS that had everything I wanted excluding Radar Cruise Control and Precollision system.

I ordered 2014 Gs350 Luxury RWD with every possible option included down to the type of rims and tires. But settled with one on the lot that came in which was also a special order from someone else but that person also could not wait and ended getting the Fsport instead. Lucky for me, this person has similar taste as I do because he ordered the car exactly how I wanted minues Radar Cruise/PCS.

SW17LS

Lexus is just not a carmaker that is equipped to do special order cars. Dealers highly discourage it, and everybody thinks its because "they want to sell something from the lot"...but really THIS is why. Every company is different, MB and BMW are very accommodating with custom orders, and they legitimately get built quickly...Lexus just isn't that way.

It is what it is, if you want the GS...you should find one somewhere in transit or on a lot that is as close to yours as possible and buy that.

Abermac

Placed my order in November, received at the end of February. I'd say you're very close to receiving. Possible dealer delay before processing order?

5thavenue

I put in my custom order on something like November 2nd or 3rd. I car came in on February 27th and I picked up a day later. It was almost 4 months exactly for me.

What made it harder for me to wait is that on my first custom order only took 2.5 months for the vehicle to come in.

dagwag77

Not sure how valid this is generally, or if its just specific to my dealer, but they told me that they only place custom orders once a month. If you show up one day after they place the order, sounds like you're SOL until the next time that dealer places custom orders. Again, not sure if they were trying to dissuade me from custom ordering, or if its legit. I didn't end up custom ordering because I wanted to purchase during december to remember and the pricing wouldn't stick - the deal would be written with any sales incentives at the time of delivery. I really wanted a HUD, oh well, next time around I'll plan accordingly.

spwolf

its 120 days for custom order to be built... it can not be any sooner at all and it wont be any later either... it is the way their system works.

puckhead85

My special order was ordered in Mid January, got the car at the end of May...

Needsdecaf

Ridiculous.

It was less time for my Porsche to be custom ordered. That was just under 4 months, and that was with a 4-6 week delay for the 2014 order book to open up. Normal time is just about 3 months.

RNM GS3

Not sure how MB works but BMW lets u track the whole build on their website.
So u can track every step - order placed, build pending, build finished, in transit, etc.
Takes about 6 weeks, i have had all my BMWs custom build.

SW17LS

Yup, much better than Lexus in that regard. MB is very similar to BMW.

Lexus doesn't want to do special orders, so they make it difficult.

Afrosheen

I think the main difference is in build philosophy. Lexus/Toyota builds almost 100% to predictions. BMW/Mercedes/Porsche are very flexible with individual options (to jack up the price fast) so they build to order.

Nissan/Infiniti is the same way. If you want a special vehicle, you have to either get lucky by snagging a car that's already entered into quarterly production and can be modified on the line, or you get a new order just for you inserted in the next production run.

My father worked in Germany and Switzerland alot during the mid 80's oil boom, and he said everything in both countries was either BMW or Mercedes, even the taxis. He said the difference between a stripped taxi and what most people buy is huge. So, apparently the Germans have been building highly modular cars for a long time.

You take the good with the bad I guess. Since the Japanese have standard packages (and a few little one-off production items like the HUD), chances are, what you want is on the lot and cheaper than the Germans. However, the Germans will equip your car a lot more personally, at a huge markup of course.

dagwag77

It sucks that they refuse to build any "stock" models with HUD/PCS/etc. There are simply zero on any dealer's lot. This is where their predictive builds fail them - there is no data in this area to allow them to extrapolate demand. I'd imagine that these options would sell well given the GS's segment, the weight placed on other tech items in the car, and the overall insignificance in price (especially compared to a 60k luxury package, HUD is around 1k). Other manufacturers, i.e. Cadillac, had some CTS vehicles on the lot with all the bells and whistles.

Abermac

Same for my order. Once a month, although I would have thought the special pricing would have stuck??

Afrosheen

The more I see people wanting (and not seeing on dealer lots) the HUD, rear wheel steering, etc. the more I think how lucky I was to get one by total accident. I went there looking for a graphite/cabernet car they sold before I arrived so I ended up with obsidian/cabernet and all options minus the cold weather stuff. It was definitely a loaded model which maybe they scaled back on thanks to slow sales last year.

Also I wonder how much of this is regional; i.e., do Lexus customers in Texas buy different option combinations more regularly than in California, Washington, etc.? It seems like alot of the cars at Park Place up in Plano were loaded to the gills on options and strippers were the exception rather than the rule.

Sorry to derail the thread and I hope your car arrives soon.