The gentleman from my dealer reached out to me offering a lease waiver on the 9 last months /payments on my 36 month lease for a new Lexus. Is the IS 300 AWD in that much demand, or is it because residuals on IS models have gone down significantly since the last 18 months or so? I've received a 4 month waiver on a two year lease on a 2015 RC 350 AWD, but this is crazy early! Anyone else have super early lease waivers offered to them from Lexus?

 

Not really, though I have already been offered a 3-month waiver, almost a year in advance.

I suspect the residuals being lower could have something to do with it.

 

Apparently, the dealers were left with end of lease vehicles with inflated residuals causing then to be a hard sell and relatively expensive. To counter the loss, the dealer is offering a very early buyout for these "inflated" models because they are easier/better to resell now since the residual is locked in until the end of the lease.

Hope this makes sense.

I remember the good old days of 2015 where you could lease a loaded RC 350 AWD F-Sport for two years and no money down for under $500 a month because the residual was 72%.

 

lol yup. Lexus residuals are trashed now. I got around 60% back in 2016. They just want your car back due to exactly what you said, residuals dropped hard and they are getting stuck with end of lease returns just sitting. Might as well get the car back earlier and offer you a 9 month waiver, not surprised at all.

My lease is actually ending in a month so when I did call and ask for some updated pricing, the residual last given to me was 42% for an identical vehicle to mines, its just a 2019. Not sure if the 42% was a mistake since that is much lower than the 49% they told me a few weeks ago.... Anyways, it would drive the payment up by about 100 a month for the same car. At that pricing, you can get other luxury brands for around the same monthly. I have no intention to get the same car I have been driving for the past 3 years for 100 more a month. I may just extend my lease or if my deal with BMW works out, move to the German side lol.

Lexus is really hurting themselves with these horrible residuals, I anticipate low sales now with their ALREADY dropped IS sales from the past. Not that I don't like the car (love the interior and exterior of the car), it's just not appealing at these lease rates.

 

This is the exact scenario I dealt with on my GS. I had a 15 coming off lease. I loved it and wanted another, but my residual on the 15 GS was around 57%, and on the 19 it was 47%, which would drive the monthly payment up by about $200 a month, for the same car. It ended up making more sense for me to just buy a '19 as the finance payments were around the same as the lease payments, and I was happy enough with the GS that I'd like to have one long term.

The IS and GS are in sales slumps, and I'm no business guy, but I have to think Lexus could fix this by making their leases attractive again.

 

A great and reliable brand, but not attractive right now. Not sure what is going on at corporate, but they need to realize they ain't benefiting at all.

Sales guy told me lowered residuals benefits Lexus (obviously....) long run since when they get the cars back end of lease, they don't lose much or any money selling them after. He fails to realize that in short term you are hurting yourself by driving up a payment. You are now competing with your competitors such as BMW and Mercedes in that price range. So in a sense you're right, it'll benefit you after 3 year, but fail to realize you're competing with other brands so your sales will FURTHER drop.

 

It could be adjustment to real world residuals. They were likely inflated prior to 2017 because of the economy and need to push cars off the lot. It's funny you mentioned about leasing a newer same model and same priced for significantly more. Said the same thing to my contact at Lexus that it wouldn't make sense for me to lease another IS or RC for a significantly higher lease payment than paid previously for the same models at the same MSRP. I'm waiting to see what the 2020 RX 450 F-Sport is all about or else will likely lease a BMW particularly because of significantly better fuel economy and better acceleration times. The higher residuals and higher MF equates to about the same as the lower residuals and lower MF from Lexus.

For example, the 330i has a combined 30 mpg. On my IS 300 AWD, the average is 21 mpg on ECO mode in combined city and highway driving. That equates to a lot more money for gas on the Lexus than the BMW. And while the 330i is a 4-cylinder turbo, it beats the IS 0-60 time by almost a full second.

Which brings me to another Lexus anomaly ... Why does the RX hybrid have an equally as potent engine offered in an F-Sport as the non-hybrid version, yet the ES and NX only offer a non-F-Sport hybrid with a significantly weaker engines than their non-hybrid counterparts? I would totally consider an IS 450H F-Sport or ES 450H F-Sport if offered in an equally powerful engine like the RX.

 

Don't even get me started on the fuel consumption on the IS, by far the worst I have ever seen. Turbo engine to help 'increase' mpg, LOL... I have a whopping 19.6mpg average of the last 3 years. Never even hit 20mpg average after 6 months into having the car.

The 330i M-Sport is actually what I'm looking to get, once I get it if all goes well, I'll be glad to share any details and the SA as well.