exBMWowner

Hello everyone. I'm 45 days until the end of my lease on my 2007 LS460L. I'm still trying to evaluate whether to purchase a 2010 SWB, a 2010 LWB, switch entirely to a MBZ E550, or keep my LS460L (or extend the lease month to month until I decide).

I did a thorough comparison of the 2010 SWB vs LWB model to see how they compare, and found some interesting observations. It appears that if you start with a SWB and add the comfort plus package plus the luxury value edition (NL), you get a car which has all of the features that the LWB model has standard. The only feature you have to add on the LWB model is the Mark Levinson upgrade. Aside from that, the LWB model has a few minor features that are not offered on the SWB, like Intelligent high beam headlamps and laminated rear side glass. Aside from these very minor features, the two cars appear to be virtually identical in features when configured this way.

The SWB model comes out to a dealer invoice of $64,142, while the LWB comes out to $65,762. So there it is...a difference in price between the two models, when configured with the most popular options, of $1,620. Granted, you can configure the SWB without the comfort plus package and get the price down another $4,100, but assuming you want these features, how can you justify only saving $1,620 to buy the SWB over the LWB?

Traditionally these cars, not only with Lexus but also MBZ and BMW have been anywhere from $5K-$10K more for the LWB version of their high end car. I realize that Lexus lowered their MSRP on the LWB this year by $3K while raising the MSRP slightly on the SWB, but I still can't figure out why these prices would be so close together.

I was looking forward to trading "down" to the SWB this time, since the LWB tends to drive a bit more like a limousine that I would prefer, but I find it hard to justify giving up that much back seat space to only save $1,620. In reality, since I'm leasing, I'm really only paying about $800 more over three years, or less than $30/month, to upgrade to LWB.

Am I missing something, or is the price difference really supposed to be this small?

IStoSC

^wow thats kind of odd because I've been following the used market for some time and it seems that the LWB have been at least 5-7K more with equal options...clearly one would rather get the LWB for only 1.6K more IMO granted it fits in the garage...

Sweet username btw we got rid of BMW yesterday for the LS460...

ikey78

What you are missing is that the comfort plus package on the SWB includes adjustable rear seats and rear seat massage which is not standard in the LWB.

My calculation is that the invoice for the SWB RWD with the Comfort Package and Nav Levinson is $61,790. LWB RWD with Levinson is $64,978 giving a difference of $3,188.

Also remember that the base price of the LWB went down about $3,000 this year compared to previous years.

exBMWowner

Good catch on the power rear seats, I missed that. I did play with their massage feature briefly at the dealership. It's not bad, slightly better than the vibration only massage in the LS430 UL I used to have.

I compared a slightly different configuration than you did. I was comparing SWB with Comfort Plus and NL Luxury Value edition to LWB with ML Audio and LL Luxury Package, since without LL you don't get the semi-aniline trim that the comfort plus package includes. This also gives you power rear-door sunshades on the LWB that the SWB does not include...so I guess you can't get an exact apples to applies comparison, but these are relatively minor differences.

In any case, the difference could be as little as $1600 if you were to go with the comfort plus package, or as much as $3200 if you went with the comfort package. It still seems to make for a compelling argument to go with the LWB model. The difference in lease payment on even $3,200 is likely less than $75. And three years from now, I would have to think the resale value of the LWB would be different enough to make the investment seem like a good buy.

tommyd3

Have you considered the SWB with the Sport option. I am sure it would be much closer to the E550 you are considering. Have you driven the E550 vs the LS? Your thoughts?

exBMWowner

I have asked the dealers about the sport option but so far none have taken delivery or know of one that is coming. It sounds interesting and I would like to try one out if I can.

Regarding the E550, I test drove it for about 10 minutes, so it would be difficult to compare to my LS460, which I've now driven for three years. However, from the brief test drive, I would say that it certainly feels more like a typical German car - tight suspension, better road feel. Other than that, the main difference is that it is much smaller than my LWB LS, so it feels more nimble.

The LWB cars tend to feel a bit like driving a limousine. They are just big cars. They certainly are very pleasant to drive, and I would not want to sound like I am complaining, as I have thoroughly enjoyed driving my LS. My only real complaint is that the car is so long that it tends to have a larger than average blind spot on the sides of the car, so I find I have to really tweak my neck to look way back toward the rear to make sure nobody is there before I switch lanes.