thrang

Took about three weeks to hook up with someone, and another three weeks to complete the process.

You "lose" your up front money, any financial incentive you give (I gave $500 to cover the slight overage of my miles incurred to date), and the $480 fee BMW charges to do the transaction, though in my case, I negotiated to pay $150 and the assumer paid the balance of that.

It wasn't hard - used leasetrader.com Swapalease is another I think...

thrang

On the LS? You can't key in entries and POIs while in motion. Some wind noise; having it addressed with the laminated window fix Monday.

luxury1

My wife is expecting a baby in February and I am thinking about doing the lease trader with my boxster. I have 15,000 miles allotted per year and I am currently way under so that is good.

I really LOVE the car but with a baby it will not be an option anymore. Hopefully the process will be as easy as it was for you.

Nospinzone

Congrats on the baby!

Oh well, one baby leaves and a new one enters the world!

encore888

Let me add my congrats. Wonder what could succeed the Boxster?

luxury1

Thanks for the congratulations guys! It is a good question what will come next. I want a full size luxury SUV so I have been considering:

Escalade: Inexpensive which is good. But the fit and finish aren't that great and the dealership near me is so sleazy
LX570: Very nice (and it would be great to own 3 Lexus cars) but the lease rates will be horrific (I definitely want to lease).
Range Rover: Very nice except for the pricing and reliability.
Navigator: Grill turns me off.
QX: There isn't a dealership even near me.

It is a very difficult decision for me!

encore888

Sounds like a good idea to get an SUV. Just to note, even though a dealership is not even nearby, the QX has the worst reliability ranking of any Asian-built vehicle, that's an additional concern. However there are strengths to each of those vehicles....

EDIT: to note, the QX is actually Asian-designed/origin but built in the U.S., with lots of quality problems regardless.

luxury1

I didn't know that about the QX. Well I can cross that off of my list

Hopefully I can get Lexus to be reasonable on lease rates. The more I look at that car (especially the interior) the more I like it.

thrang

Here are a few exterior shots, and a few interior with some modest add-ons.

Exterior: Noble Spinel Mica
Interior: Champagne


Exterior1



Interior 1


Exterior 2



Vasitech ipod kit, installed in glove box



iPod screen shot 1 (folder view) - your playlists


iPod Screen shot 2 (file view) - songs in your playlist



iPod screen Shot 3 (detail view)



Escort 9500i radar/laser detector (with GPS) - hardwired




Escort smart switch on right driver side lower dash, above footwell

rominl

iTrader: (4)

very nice! so it was easy for you to tap into power for the 8500?

GFerg

Very nice. And great review.

I havent seen that color yet. I guess its pretty rare.

Luxofreak

That color is nice, congratz on the new car!

encore888

Great pics! Love the Noble Spinel Mica!

thrang

9500i....

Well, I'm not a hands on guy - my neighbor owns a car stereo shop, so he did it for $25 bucks....

I've always understood that the higher the better for radar detection, but perusing the manual last night, it seems for the GPS to work correctly in this new unit, the top of the unit should have clear line of sight to the sky - so I'll probably relocate it to the lower middle portion of the window.

luxury1

Nice Color!

The radar detector hardwire is a great idea. I might do the same thing for my V1 as the cord looks so sloppy.