Hefty

Funny. I just turned down a 350h luxury that was to be built the second week of December that had virtually every option including the Mark Levinson sound system except the panorama camera. That is the only option that is a must for me. For me, it would be almost like having a vehicle without air conditioning. We have gotten used to these cameras in our vehicles and use them every day for parking, etc. I told my dealer to try to find one with the camera. May or may not end up with a vehicle since there are notmany being built with the camera. Shall see.

richardyc

my local dealer is getting yet another front-wheel drive fully loaded luxury trim 23 RX, I think it has every major options in it including ML and panoramic view monitor with the MSRP of $63805, the AWD option is $1600, so an AWD version of this is over $65k. you guys are willing to pay that kind of money for an RX?

Hefty

Appears to be where the market is. Would love to pay less.

Badhobz

Freds430

Saw this clip. Really makes you think how involved building a vehicle is from start to finish.

lexusnyca

What are some lower priced alternatives to cross shop? The similarly equipped German offerings are $75K. A Range Rover Sport I looked at - $90K. The MDX is the same price at the high end, that is the obvious competitor. So is the Caddy XT6. Mazda is a step down I feel.

Inflation is destroying the new car market, yet people continue to buy and go further into debt to make the purchases. So the manufacturers won't stop, and the dealers won't stop selling above MSRP, until a large chunk of buyers just walk away and keep the cars they have.

WolfyLS460

I never buy new or lease, but even used cars now are selling for above-KBB Value prices. I just paid $2k over KBB for my 'new' 2015 RX (80k mi, fully loaded).

FMY421

The car community places the RX as a lower priced competitor to X5, GLE, XC90, and similar priced competitor to MDX. I believe these 5 vehicles are the highest selling by volume in this segment. There aren't any lower priced alternatives in the luxury midsize segment. You either have to downsize to luxury compact or downgrade to non-luxury midsize.

You can cross-shop Genesis, Lincoln, and Cadillac, but they don't sell in high volume. You can check out high spec 3 row crossovers from lesser brands - Highlander, Palisade, Telluride, CX-9, etc fall in low to mid 50s price range and have similar features.

Drakedog

The upcoming Mazda CX 90 may fill the gap, given Mazda is trying to upmarket to luxury.

Hefty

My dealer had one vehicle at a sister store allocated that had the pano camera and I pulled the trigger yesterday on a 350h luxury. Unfortunately, it had virtually every other option including the ML sound plus a couple of “port added” options so it MSRPed at like 66.4. Most of the other options I could care less about but I felt like I would be several months out if I passed on this one. Had to go to theowners manual and read about traffic jam assist. Looks a bit like a self driving vehicle. I’m sure I will immediately disable it along with some of the other safety options.

Pretty sure 6 months from now these vehicles will be somewhat lower priced, but I’m not getting any younger. Also my Toyota dealer told me it was a 15 month wait on a Highlander hybrid and probably more than that for a platinum, so who knows for sure. Doesn’t appear they are building very many of the 350hs.

lexusnyca

The Velar is nice but seems smaller, and is really no cheaper. And Land Rover doesn't have a great quality/maintenance track record. The XC90 infotainment system needs a makeover, it's dated.

lexusnyca

That traffic jam assist, I had it on my last BMWs - it's great if you live in a congested locale where you can barely use regular cruise control.

Yes, 350h is just 17% of production. I am going for a gas only 350, I don't drive that many miles a year now.

mikemu30

I agree it's just about too much for that model and then there's the dealers that will try to add on market adjustments. Bye Bye.

Freds430

I am on a waiting list for a 2023 350h premium+ with hud, panoramic view monitor, digital key and mirror. List at $57,755 which is $5,000 more than my wifes 2023 NX 350 h with similar equipment coming at the end of this month. I was surprised the RX was just $5,000 more than the NX.

lexusnyca

The issue is - are they going to make one in that trim level with those options? It appears right now they are going to produce standard "bundles" of equipment for each trim level, as opposed to custom combinations.