UZ214

We have had 3 rx , right now the 350 f sport, that car while my wife's loves it..seems like a toy..feels light ..you will regret after few days. From a ls it's hard to like anything other maybe S class or similar.

daryll40

That is sadly VERY true!

JffGRY706

raise the price $1,000 and throw in some tickets to a pirates game and ......road trip!

Rhambler

That's one bad thing about buying a certain class of car: you feel obliged to get something similar at the minimum or even better if possible. Once you've reached the top of your financial limits, the only way to go is sideways or down. It kind of ruins and spoils you.

I worked my way up, so to speak, going from junk class to small, to sporty, to midsize ad nauseum and now to this and I kind of wonder if I'll ever be happy driving anything less than the proverbial flagship.

dlbuckls10

I was happy driving my Audi, BMW and a MB that I once owned but reliability issues and high maintenance took the enjoyment and fun away. My 460 is unique, well built, reliable and gave me confidence knowing I didn't make frequent trips to the dealership due to issues/problems/warning lights. My 460 is almost maintenance free compared to the other imports I've owned over the years. I have no desire to drive anything but a Lexus.

roadfrog

I sat in one at the car show. Truly a beautiful car.....CRAMMED with an unbelievable amount of technology. Sure, not to quite the same level of quality as the LS, but with a ridiculous warranty and a cheaper price tag, I'd bite.

SW17LS

The problem is that compared to the LS, yes the cost of entry is cheaper but overall ownership cost is not because the resale is so poor.

UZ214

That's a really good point, I love Lexus resale value. ...other brands that come close are Acura maybe

Doublebase

I'd say the same thing, but I don't necessarily believe it pertains to the LS460 - two years ago I paid $22,000 for my 07 - the book value was $29,000...car had 72,000 miles on it. I thought...weren't these 80k dollar cars? And I'm buying one that's in really good shape for the price of a Nissan Maxima? And it's been a great car...outstanding value at that price point...yet two years later I'd be lucky to get $16,000 for it. And that's ok because it's not like I bought it for 80k and five years later it's worth $22,000 (now that would really bother me).

SW17LS

It certainly pertains to the LS460. All these cars depreciate steeply, and the more expensive the car the more steeply it depreciates. Yes you bought one for the price of a Nissan Maxima, but it was 7 years old.

Your car probably had an MSRP somewhere around $75k and sold for about $70k new. If we compare the book value to the MSRP of your car, thats 39% after 7 years. If we compare your purchase price to the likely purchase price thats 32%. Believe it or not thats very good.

If you sold it two years later for $16k, then thats $6,000 in loss, so you've driven the car for $3,000 in depreciation a year...which is quite good. If you look at what other large luxury cars are depreciating the LS does very well.

Compared to an Equus...you can get a 4 year old Equus for ~17k. So you bought an LS460 for 32-39% of its new value at 7 years old. That Equus is only 26% of its original value at 4 years old.

Thats my point.

Doublebase

I think you're kind of proving my point, and the point I was trying to make is that the high end vehicles - the LS460 being one - depreciate faster than let's say an average Lexus. The guy who I was responding to was talking about the Lexus brand; I was noting that the high end vehicle (flagship car) doesn't hold its value as well. Am I wrong about that? Maybe I am, because I'm not sure at what rate a newer ES350 depreciates, or a GS350, or an IS250...but every time I look they seem to be holding their value, but I haven't broken it down into percentages of their purchase value based on years. I imagine supply and demand play a roll and the particular area the vehicle is being sold.

I didn't realize the Equus depreciated that much, or that fast, but I guess I'm not all that surprised...it's a Hyundai, they don't hold up well long term...the LS does. So I'm not surprised the LS460 depreciates slower than a Hyundai. But what I wonder - and imagine - is that, in the Lexus brand the LS deprecates the fastest, am I wrong about that?

SW17LS

No, his point is still valid. The LS holds its value better than other large luxury cars. You have to compare a model within the segment that it exists in.

The other part of it is that the higher the dollar figure, the bigger the amount of the depreciation even if its not a higher percentage, makes it look worse. The ES and the LS hold their value about the same %, the issue is that the LS costs twice as much, so that difference in value is twice as much. Looks like the LS doesn't hold its value as well but it does.

I had a 2010 ES, MSRP was $41,500, I paid $36,500. I got 24k for it on trade 3 years later. Thats 58% compared to MSRP, or 66% compared to what I paid.

If I do the math on an LS460 thats 3 years old the blue book trade in I get is $43,000. My LS460 was $79k, I paid $69k. Thats 54% of the MSRP, 62% compared to what I paid. So as you can see, not terribly different from the ES.

The GS doesn't hold its value as well as the ES or LS. My 2013 GS was $59.9k, I paid about $54k. I got $30k for it 3 years later (2.5 actually). Thats 50% of MSRP, 56% of what I paid.

Bear in mind these are trade in values, not retail or private party.

So this is my point. It cost me $24,000 in depreciation to drive that GS for 3 years. It cost me $12,500 to drive that ES, and it would in theory cost me $26,000 to drive the LS. Certainly way more money than the ES, but %wise not that different, and not much more than the GS. Thats why I said its not cheaper to buy a K900 than an LS.

roadfrog

I've never bought a car and considered it's depreciation or resale value at all. My only considerations are whether I like the ca, whether it will be reasonably reliable and entertain me with it's amenities. Wise? No....but it's the same with my boat and my motorhome, etc. I know I'm going to be shafted, so I just get what I like and try to enjoy it.I just try to save as much money at the purchasing end of the whole ownership experience, which is why almost always buy used.

As for long term reliability of Hyundai....I can only go by the numerous friends and family that own them or previously owned them over the last 7 or 8 years. NONE of them have had any issues. Four Elantras, three Accents and several Santa Fe's and Tuscons, two Souls and two Sportage's. No Equus or Genesis, but I would imagine reliability would be similar. With a 100k mile warranty or ten years on the powertrain, it's good value (for me), as long as I enjoy it and it provides me with a level of satisfaction driving it. When I purchased my LS, I came very close to pulling the trigger on a Genesis 5.0 R Spec. It was FAST, sounded amazing and had even more features than my LS. It was also two years newer and 8k dollars cheaper. I went with the LS only because of the name and the "stigma" of owning a Hyundai, lol. That, and the LS was larger. If the Genesis had been an Equus instead, I probably would be driving that.

SW17LS

I too know numerous people with older Hyundais and all have been fine.

My point though of how they age is not reliability, but how the cars physically age themselves. I've never had a car that takes miles and ages as well as a Lexus LS. They feel like they have 50k miles on them when they have 150k miles on them. The interior materials hold up and are designed to wear in a certain way so they stay uniform looking, they stay solid, don't get loose or rattle-ey. I've ridden in some of those friends' Hyundais and they don't age like that...nor do Toyotas IMHO...

daryll40

It's over folks. I've been an LS driver since 2003 but I traded mine today for a new RX. I might regret it, but so far, so good. This bulletin board has been excellent and you all have been a great help in maintaining my LS cars over the years (4 of them since 2003...plus a 1990 and 1991 way before that). I'll still drop in occasionally as I'll be on the RX board like I was here. And I'll want to sniff around when the new 2017 LS comes out too. I doubt I'll ever spend the LS dollars again, but ya never know. Best wishes to all of you and happy motoring!