toyotadad

Really? Guess that "F" coming my way is a figment of my imagination.

IS_NIICE

iTrader: (1)

i went in last thursday. i was quoted 1100 a month for 36 mo. lease term 12k per year. btw the isf was silver and had a sticker of 61k with a markup for premium wheels to 66k. ridic i know.

Joe Z

iTrader: (10)

What kinda premium wheels did it have ????

What dealer??

Bass Mech

i was told 900 a month and considering i pay 705 a month now for my loaded 350 that seemed reasonable.
my delimma is this, i never thought i would see the day i could say that i could easily afford to buy 2 at that price. however my commute is 3 miles from home to the office. i had a really hard time convincing myslef i needed a 45K car to commute 3 miles and i never get over 40 mph the entire way. getting 420 hp and a 60 k car to do the same seems like even more overkill!

but, still i like the car and i do drive other places besides work still hard to justify 900 a month for a CAR!!! well it is a tax write off for me! i dunno. ill sit and think on it for a while no hurry..

Fa-suto

If it's a tax right off, what is there to think? Regardless of how long you drive it or where you drive it, will it be fun? If you can answer yes, I think that alone will do it for me, as well as an okay from the wife.

Bass Mech

true, i really could use some more things to write off on my taxes or start withholding more. last year i owed a lot of money to the IRS
but somehow spending more despite the fact its a tax write off still is not enough reason to spend that much on a car.

you know, to put it in perspective this is what really scares me, take the car payment 900 + gas 100 + insurance 150 per month = 1150 divided by 30 days = $38.33 a day just to drive a car.
now fortunatly i dont think about the daily cost to own a car but if you break it down like that almost 40 bucks a day to drive a car 6 miles a day and some additional running around all for the convience of having a ride ar your disposal.
think about that, 40 bucks a day! FOURTY DOLLARS A DAY!, hell i don't even spend that in 2 weeks eating lunch out!

you could easily rent a car for less than $40 a day!

don't get me wrong, i enjoy the Lexus but i recently bought a 93 accord EX in excellent condition for 2300 bucks i put another 800 in it to make it like new again. every time i drive it i have chuckle because it's a great little car that i dont have to worry about door dings because its already covered with them!
the best part is I OWN IT! all it costs me is gas and gets almost 40 mpg.
sometimes i ask myself why do i have a car payment at all?

Fa-suto

I totally agree and it is hard pressing when you think about all of that in that manner, but I'm going the route of buying the car so the payments is a non-factor, it's the insurance and gas that is left.

However, the FUN factor still kicks in and I'll sacrifice some lunch money and dinner outings. I know it will at the very least make going and coming from work just that much better.

Evitzee

Too many people hear 'tax writeoff' and they think it makes the car free. It doesn't. The personal Income Tax rate tops out at 35% (if your taxable income is over $350k !!). For most people here their incremental rate is 25-28%. So the $900 payment becomes around $650 - $675 after tax, IF you are in business and can write it off. Most people can't write it off so the issue is moot. But let's face it, that is still a chunk of change for a monthly car payment, PLUS insurance + gas + maintenance.

I'm amused at those people who think $900-$1,200 for this car is 'reasonable', or a bargain. I paid $48k+ for my IS350 which is more than I ever paid for a car. It is a nice car, but I'm not sure I'd do it again. I'm too practical I guess. I certainly couldn't justify an IS-F.

INHOCJP

But for some, a $900 - $1200 monthly lease payment is considered reasonable...but leasing the IS-F right now is going to be expensive.

The money factor is probably sky high and Lexus has no reason to provide any incentives on their current "it" model.

LexFather

^^^ Bingo.....

Evitzee

No doubt some find it reasonable, just as some find $3,500 - $5,000 mortgage payments reasonable. Whatever blows wind up your skirt.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

i agree. while i also think the current is-f lease is a bit expensive, 900-1200 is nothing as lease payment for some people. that's just how life is. some people are paying over 2000 bucks a month to lease a car and they don't even notice

Bass Mech

it really is all just relitive to how much money you make. back in the day when the 5th gen prelude came out i sat in one at the dealer and said, "i dont like the color of the illumination, the dash looks plain, the headlights are ugly ect..." but around a year later when i was finally able to purchase my first brand new car off the lot it was the very same car and you know what? i really liked that car.
my point is we all justify things to ourselves or make excuses why we feel justified in not buying somthing because the real reason is we cannot afford it.
when you have the money to buy it all of thoes reasons you thought it wasnt worth the money fade away.

however in this case i like absolutly everything about the ISf except for the nav system you still cannot program while driving!! but in this case the payment on a lease borders right on the edge of just plain retarded to spend for a car. however if i was making a mil a year a 2000 payment wouldnt scare me at all. it would probably feel like i was spending a 20.00 bill ecah month. course if i had that kind of money it would feel like spending $6,000 cash to own it outright! in fact i might even buy 2 in different colors just to have some kind of variety.

but you see ad this to the mix.. i live in colorado where rear wheel drive cars stay parked from time to time and the cost to own a home is stupid cheap. i have a 4000 sq foot almost new home with a 3 car garage on almost 1/4 acre lot i paid 274,900 my mortgage payment is 1800 a month. to buy a car whos payment is half the cost of my home seems a little nuts especially when i cannot drive it every day of the year.
however 1 thing that keeps drawing me back to the IS-f is the fact with a 350 i paid for 306hp however at 6200 feet i bet i get less than 225hp you need an IS-f just to make up for the loss of proformance in this thin air.
if my 350 ran like you guys who live at sealevel i would be perfectly happy with my 350 in every respect.

Evitzee

I'm not so sure. My wife and I dream about what we would do if we won a big lottery, and we both feel that although you can change some behavior (fly first class instead of coach, eat at better restaurants, for example), for the most part you aren't going to completely give up your value system. We grew up in the mid-west with 'mid-western' values, it would be pretty hard to just chuck that value system now that we had a lot of money. We might buy a second house somewhere, but we wouldn't sell our 2,400 sf house we have now. It would be nice to buy a Ferrari, but I probably wouldn't be happy with spending that kind of money. That's just me. Other's are different, but I think those are the ones that blow through the money in a year or so and then go broke. Your reluctance to buy an IS-F is really rooted in your internal value system. The older you are, the better grounded you are, the stronger that value system. IMO.

Bass Mech

i agree, but i also know how people are. its impossible to imagine or assume how you might react if you had the money. ive personally met several of the denver broncos and installed car audio systems back in the day i know how rich people live.
you might think what you would or wouldnt do with the money but believe me intill you have the money in your bank account there is no way in hell your going to convince me you would stick to your values.
sooner or later your going to be laying in bed all night knowing you got millions in your bank account. in your case you would probably think of ways to invest most of it for retirement and then justify spending the rest on somthing.
sooner or later you would start to logic and say "well we are still working our regular job, i got enough for retirement and if i didnt have all this money life would still be great just as it always was... so what the harm in spending a little of it and get an IS-f????" or at the very least you could logic not having a carpayment and pay cash for one. either way your value system to some degree will go right out the window as soon as you actually have the money in your bank account.
sure one can dream, but dreaming and actually doing are quite different.

i know this for a fact because 5 years ago i would have told anyone that a 30,000 car is PLENTY for anyone why would anyone need anything nicer than that? anything more is a waste! i would have said paying more than 400 a month for a car is stupid!
now look at me.. im making easily 4 times the amount i was making back then and my income increases by about 200 bucks each month! in 10 months i could actually justify another IS-F in addition to my IS-350 but my value system tells me it's not smart.
but i can definitly say because of the additional income i look at things differently and the value of a dollar is worth a lot less to me now than it was 5 years ago. 5 years ago i was on the verge of bankruptsy.
perhaps your income has remained relitivly contsant over the years? but if you have a sudden increase in income and have more money than you know what to do with you will find places to spend it trust me!

you know for about 2 weeks i have been thinking about buying my first firearm. ive decided if i get one ill probly carry it occasionally and plan to get a CCW. ive decided if im going to use it for personal protection im going to get a semi auto .45 ive decided that gul will be a springfield armory champion loaded model in stainless steel. i can get it for 799.00 at the local sporting goods store. ive been in there at least 5 times and each time walked out without buying it.
part of me is a little nervous about owning a gun but mostly im having a hard time justifying spending 800 bucks for somthing that scares me a little and also somthing ill end up shooting at paper targets.