October would have been perfect for me too. Also not interested in the LE. The Incognito and black wheels don't appeal to me. Cloudburst/White is the combo I want. It's a bummer if we have to wait until early 2022 to get a non-LE.

As far as markups go, no way.

 

I've been on the fence with the LE. what initially turned me away was how much of a mark up they would put on them but if the LE is only $3k over the regular version AND the regular version really won't be available until next year, I might go for the LE. obviously the market will dictate whether marked up cars will sell or not but the dealers located near me are in fairly affluent areas so I think the vehicles will sell no matter what. we'll see. hopefully they will release production times along with pricing Sept 10th.

 

Ceramic is not really that hard. You can do it yourself for less than $200 and 4-40 hours of your time depending on how good of a job you want to do. If you just do a strip, wash, decontaminate, then ceramic you're looking at like 4-5 hours. If you want to polish and prep more that adds time.
I polished my ES but I didn't polish the RX as much. They both look great to me.

 

Welcome to reality. dealerships are for profit, not a charity. If they don’t mark them up “market adjustment”, someone else will. Just a matter of adjusting to the market. but I see you are in Canada, I don’t think that is allowed there.

FYI there are actually people who flip cars making money off dealerships who don’t mark them up. I always love me a deal and experienced this market first hand trying to buy a Rolex Daytona 116500LN. Looked at the msrp and said I can drop 13+tax. Well I was in for a rude awakening to find no one has them in stock and if they were to get one, it’s reserved for buyers with purchased history. Soon learned theses are being flipped for almost 3x. Gotta pay to play.

 

you can get the LE for sticker, just don’t be the first one or 2nd to try and buy one.

 

should always paint correct before applying a good ceramic coating. thats the hard part to do safely and correct

 

That is what I thought too, which is why I did it the first time on my ES. Depending on the car, it may not be needed. My RX had no swirls, no scratches, just a few chips that I wasn't going to fill so I didn't do a full paint correction and the ceramic looks excellent on it. It is Eminent White Pearl and the pearl looks amazing in the sun still after all these years. With a brand new IS coming in I doubt a ton of correction will be needed. Lexus paint is usually pretty good.

Ceramic isn't the permanent solution its made out to be. It can be removed with a polisher if you mess up or want to do correction and polish later. Until then, I would apply the ceramic and enjoy its protection!

 

Thought this was interesting. First one I've seen without a moonroof. 😎



Images from Redline Reviews.

 

^^^ if I could, that's how I'd spec mine.

 

same, i wont take the moon roof even if it was free. extra weight, cost you some money, just another thing to go wrong, less head room (sucks with a helmet on the track)
sucks how they will tie the moon roof to other luxury amenities.

 

I’m still hunting for a replacement set of wheels for this IS5. Starting with the basic manufacturers, BBS and Enkei, there aren’t many options to match the staggered setup or even 19” for that matter. I’m contemplating going square (is that the term?) with 18”. Lots more to choose from at least with that sizing.

 

18s?? I think it will look too small. a square set up would be good for the tires so you can rotate them. you'll also need to make sure the wheels will clear the front calipers. post up some ideas when you come across likely candidates.

 

interesting that it has the triple beam LEDs. Maybe motoman was wrong that there will be 2 trim levels, base and fully loaded - unless base includes triple beams.

 

Is there a video of a real test drive yet??

 

You won't find many options if you limit your search by brand like that. One of my favorite wheels is the Advan GT - it's a time attack wheel that was originally engineered for the GTR. But it was so popular that Advan caved to public demand and made it available in multiple sizes (18"-20") and lug patterns. They also made a few variations of it - Advan GT, GT Premium, GT Beyond, and the GT for Porsche. Pretty light-weight and a nice simple design - I like wheels that are easy to clean. lol

Unfortunately, these are not exactly "cheap" either. But since you mentioned BBS, I thought I'd throw these out there...


edit: added a GSF from another thread CLICK HERE



I'm thinking this is the "base" as it is not only missing a sunroof, but it doesn't appear to have parking sensors either. Maybe the triple beams will be standard equipment for the IS500... unless this is just another oddly built press vehicle.