racinghart

wondering... when i got mine awhile ago it didnt seem hard to get the one i wanted for the price i wanted. ive been reading a lot lately of ppl pre-ordering them and waiting sometimes months to get one... im trying to understand... why cant ppl go in and just find the one they want and get "lucky" like i did... im not trying to start drama or anyhting im just curious... are these cars rare these days? are the mostly "made to order"? any reading material would be greatly appreciated

aznpapaya

iTrader: (12)

when i first set to buy my IS i thought all it is is i go to the dealership, tell them what i wanted and they'll be like here you go. but it turns out that thats not how it work, especially for the 350. after a month of waiting and searching i settle for a 350 that has everything i wanted except for the luxury package. why can't the salesman be wizards and make the car you want with all the options you want magically appear right before your eye.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

it has to do with the options allocations. For example Texas area mainly gets premium package, or Lux+Nav. I wanted Sport + ML. So normally this is a special order. However when I emailed dealers asking for a quote on a special order, one dealer happened to have Sport + ML on the lot. Lucky

kilo6_one

iTrader: (2)

In general they are very common, i see atleast 5 per day. Their are 3 on my street alone, all three belong to older women. a standard IS250 without nav is about the same price as a V6 leather accord so what i have noticed is alot of people including myself have decided that the difference between the two price wise is minimal. And that paying an extra 2-3k to get a lexus is worth it, becasue the three on my street are all previous honda owners, with exception to one who owned a Audi A4.

they are dime a dozen now.


Now 350's are rare, i dont see very many of those. I think people see the difference in price and think "man i dont need that extra HP, its virtually the same car so i will get the 250"

that is how it seems to be in fresno

sirkfc

I think if people stick to the configurations on "Build your Lexus" on the web site, the supply situation wouldn't seem so dire.

Having cars shipped regionally with a limited number of package options makes a lot of sense from a logistics point of view. Imagine how many cars a port would have to handle if each dealer wanted a vast selection.

Even now, at dealers.
2 (or 4 if you count AWD and MT) of 250 and 350
5 different configurations
7 different colors (maybe more)
1.5 of each car.

that's already 2X5X7X1.5 = 105 cars a dealer would theoretically have to carry just to have 1.5 of each car. And everytime one sells, they'd have to replenish it. Imagine the wild swing you'd see at the port and in Japan.

So yeah, I agree, finding EXACTLY the car you want is next to impossible, but generally if you compromise a little, you'll find it easily and get a better deal.

jdanon

Yeah Lexus allocates certain cars to certain parts of the country. In the Northeast (Virginia to Maine) I found out that IS350s are hard to come by, and only come in the one configuration of Luxury+Nav. They also only come in black, silver, grey, or white. Now you can get something different if you special order it or find the car you want on someone else's lot. I see the IS250 AWD everywhere here in the NYC area because that's all the dealers are pushing and they make it very hard to even get a 350 let alone one in the color you want or with options other than what comes on the car. Even if you tell them you'll pay MSRP or more, they'll just tell you the cars don't exist which apparently they don't. I finally gave up after months of searching and special ordered a 2008 IS350 in the color I want with the options I want. The downside is of course waiting 3-4 months for it.

TimboIS

Based on your sig, you car is VERY common place. No ML, no Lux or Sport, and only a 250. So yes, very easy to find that on the lots.

y2ks2k

Still dont see a lot around here (Portland). Every couple of days Ill see on wander by. Rarely see an IS350, never see one in sport.

kickin8

iTrader: (1)

250s are easy to find. the hard to find ones are 350s. (esp with nav + ML)

llamaboiz

I will say i probally have the most basic of 350s, xpack+hid, i coulda bought a more loaded one but i really didnt want to spend more money, i really wanted just xpac but that evil dealer used the EmptyTheWallet-jitsu on me so i got it with HID (which i am very grateful for). Having said that:

I have seen lots of IS, 250 or 350 i dunno since its always the other direction and im busy looking at the driver rather than the brakes, in parking lots i have seen a few 350's but deffinately more 250's, i can count the ammount of confirmed 350's on one hand so far.

*Smart ppl will notice thou that im in here posting all the time, so just when is it that im out there actually looking around *

Swisha

the ratio for 250:350 ive seen is 6:1 around here in OC.

OC 335d

^^ I see plenty of ISx50s in OC. There's not a day that goes by where I don't see several on my 10 mile commute from home/work.

kilo6_one

iTrader: (2)

I was at the local dealer, they had 5 ML with NAVS........... different colors too. I guess they order them that way, according to the sales manager they get thier allocation, but order fully loaded models as well. Since they are the only dealer withing 150 miles they are really the only option if you want a lexus brand new or you use a broker.

llamaboiz

Oahu has only 1 Lexus stealership, in some ways its bad, some ways good.

Bad: You can haggle the price as much as you want but in the end, they win.

Good: BECAUSE they're the only stealership and Lexus is soooo popular here, they have just about whatever you want already (i never tried for a rare combi thou cuz thats not important to me). I assume the service techs know what their doing cuz for atleast the first 5k free service everyone goes to them and there are thousands of Lexi on the road here.

ben_r_

250s are everywhere...