Bye Bye Lexus

Muddywheels · May 17, 2018

Waved goodbye to my RC yesterday as it left for a South Coast Lexus dealer to make a large profit at my expense so it's goodbye from me folks - expect it will be up for £35-36k next week😭

Thanks everyone who took the time to read my posts and offer advice👍

Enjoyed the 8 months/2400 miles ownership but unlikely to buy another if I'm being honest🙄

Sorry to end on a negative note but some things that spoiled my enjoyment were -

1. Depreciation/difficulty selling - offers of £19k-29k on a mint 8 month old RC with 2k miles that cost £40k new (now £42k) is a joke! - when I sold my Discovery Sport with 7k miles (£40k new) after 9 months I got £35k

2. Battery drain when parked up - dealer couldn't find/fix problem - happened last time after 2 days parked!

3. Mirror Link system - never got it working and dealer/Lexus were useless

4. Lack of lumbar support for passenger - SWMBO got back ache every time we went out so ended up only using it on my own

5. Poor MPG - Did 100 miles yesterday in my Outlander PHEV starting with a full £1 Electric charge and achieved 45mpg (last tank was 133 mpg). I expected better than 30 which is all I got off last 2 tanks in RC

I did consider swapping RC and PHEV for an NX or RX but I've decided to stick with Mitsubishi - almost 2 years/17k miles faultless ownership and 83 mpg would be hard to give up. Paid £25k new after tax rebate and online car buyers are offering me £20-22k!

If Lexus build a PHEV I might be back but then again Toyota already do and it has a 5 year warranty like Mitsubishi - as Lexus will only give 3 years and will be twice the price maybe not🤔

May 17, 2018

24 minutes ago, Muddywheels said:

If Lexus build a PHEV I might be back but then again Toyota already do and it has a 5 year warranty like Mitsubishi - as Lexus will only give 3 years and will be twice the price maybe not🤔

@Linas.P over to you .....

May 17, 2018

Sorry to see you go Paul but it seems the RC just wasn't the right car for you,i think the RX could have been but you seem very happy with your PHEV.

rayaans · May 17, 2018

Yes, unfortunately, with the rise of PCP and HP, selling cars for cash is quite difficult, especially privately if its worth anything more than £20-30k. Additionally, the RC is fairly rare and being a coupe, not many people really want them whereas SUVs are of the rage nowadays.

These cars seem to lose value almost constantly regardless of mileage up to 10k per year, so you'll find that an 8 month old vehicle with 8k miles on will probably be worth similiar money. Its just how things go, hence why its almost always more cost effective to actually use the vehicle than sitting it around. Not to mention, selling it in the first year is always going to be the biggest hit. You essentially lose all of the VAT that you paid on it the moment you drive it off the forecourt.

May 18, 2018

Yes, unfortunately, with the rise of PCP and HP, selling cars for cash is quite difficult, especially privately if its worth anything more than £20-30k.

I was having that exact same conversation other day. Very few people actually have that money, what they have is the score to be allowed to borrow the cash or rent the car.

Availability of credit also pushes prices up. Hence a dealer can sell a car for more than you can.

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rayaans · May 18, 2018

2 hours ago, Comedian said:

I was having that exact same conversation other day. Very few people actually have that money, what they have is the score to be allowed to borrow the cash or rent the car.

Availability of credit also pushes prices up. Hence a dealer can sell a car for more than you can.

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Yep thats true. Gone are the old days of "saving up" for a car as such. Nowadays, you need maybe £5k max for a deposit on a £40-50k car. Most will try to keep the deposit down to £2-3k and pay higher monthly rates.

Of course, there's always the ability to get finance separately and then buy the car privately, but its much more hassle than just going to the dealer.

Linas.P · May 18, 2018

On 5/17/2018 at 11:44 AM, Comedian said:

@Linas.P over to you .....

Why is that? I said all along that 300h variant should have been PHEV and closer to BMW 330e performance to be of any interest. As for Lexus making PHEVs... that would be common sense decision, now they literally missed the trick in UK market e.g. I cannot even buy Lexus on company, because they don't have any complaint vehicles. Only choices are Volvos, BMW, MB, AUdi, WV PHEV's and some EV's. As for the price I don't think Lexus is actually more expensive then Toyota "like for like", if you try to specify Toyota to match the Lexus equipment (which you can't anyway) then Toyota would be about the same price. Lexus is like fully specced Toyota x2, as such it makes sense it is more expensive. The only thing which is exception and I still cannot forgive for RC is the poverty line 6-speaker system, which is disgusting and should have never been fitted in Lexus or any car for that matter - Ford Fiesta have better standard audio.

Stuno1 · May 19, 2018

Sorry you had such a bad experience. Sounds like you were unlucky with some of those niggles. Depreciation however you could have researched. All Lexus models depreciate heavily. Good luck with the next car and enjoy.

May 19, 2018

9 hours ago, Linas.P said:

Why is that?

People are starting to agree with you.

Muddywheels · May 19, 2018

1 hour ago, Stuno1 said:

Sorry you had such a bad experience. Sounds like you were unlucky with some of those niggles. Depreciation however you could have researched. All Lexus models depreciate heavily. Good luck with the next car and enjoy.

Cheers Stuart

I did plenty of research before I bought it (although I was planning to keep it 3-5 years) and depreciation didn't look too bad according to AutoTrader etc

However after a month of no interest even after reducing well below guide prices no amount of research would of helped I'm afraid - my best offer was £3k below guide price for private sale or trade

Stuno1 · May 19, 2018

That’s a shame. Personally I never buy new as I just can’t stonach the depreciation.

rayaans · May 19, 2018

17 minutes ago, Muddywheels said:

Cheers Stuart

I did plenty of research before I bought it (although I was planning to keep it 3-5 years) and depreciation didn't look too bad according to AutoTrader etc

However after a month of no interest even after reducing well below guide prices no amount of research would of helped I'm afraid - my best offer was £3k below guide price for private sale or trade

Main issues I can see is its too new, very rare, somewhat impractical for the general population and not at a dealer.

These vehicles are very hard to sell privately and Lexus dealers tend to be the main source of new cars. TBH unless it's under £20k or 5 years old I wouldn't bother even trying to sell a Lexus privately

Also it depends on where you got your guide price, because they vary massively. The only real ones are Glass and HPI (formerly CAP)

Muddywheels · May 19, 2018

I can't agree regarding new/rare/dealer having sold my last Land Rover Disco Sport for £35k after 9 months privately (£5k less than it cost new) - I do agree re impractical which translates into desirability though🙁

Agree - I now see Lexus are hard to sell privately - LRs are a lot easier despite their reliability woes which steered me to Lexus!

I've been buying and selling cars for 32 years and probably used every price "guide" going but they're just that a "guide" - there is only one valuation that matters and that is what you can actually get for the vehicle - the reality is I got £1000s less than all the guides including CAP😭

rayaans · May 19, 2018

3 hours ago, Muddywheels said:

I can't agree regarding new/rare/dealer having sold my last Land Rover Disco Sport for £35k after 9 months privately (£5k less than it cost new) - I do agree re impractical which translates into desirability though🙁

Agree - I now see Lexus are hard to sell privately - LRs are a lot easier despite their reliability woes which steered me to Lexus!

I've been buying and selling cars for 32 years and probably used every price "guide" going but they're just that a "guide" - there is only one valuation that matters and that is what you can actually get for the vehicle - the reality is I got £1000s less than all the guides including CAP😭

I think LR and RR generally hold their value quite well but it depends on the waiting list.

Did you manage to own one when they first came out? Typically, they don't tend to lose anything in the first year if you've got hold of it early and due to demand.

Happened with the Porsche Macan, where 1-2 year old ones were the same price, or higher than buying one new!

But yes, it doesn't work on the RC because its been out a while now.

Chafford1 · May 26, 2018

On 5/17/2018 at 11:18 AM, Muddywheels said:

Waved goodbye to my RC yesterday as it left for a South Coast Lexus dealer to make a large profit at my expense so it's goodbye from me folks - expect it will be up for £35-36k next week😭

Thanks everyone who took the time to read my posts and offer advice👍

Enjoyed the 8 months/2400 miles ownership but unlikely to buy another if I'm being honest🙄

Sorry to end on a negative note but some things that spoiled my enjoyment were -

1. Depreciation/difficulty selling - offers of £19k-29k on a mint 8 month old RC with 2k miles that cost £40k new (now £42k) is a joke! - when I sold my Discovery Sport with 7k miles (£40k new) after 9 months I got £35k

2. Battery drain when parked up - dealer couldn't find/fix problem - happened last time after 2 days parked!

3. Mirror Link system - never got it working and dealer/Lexus were useless

4. Lack of lumbar support for passenger - SWMBO got back ache every time we went out so ended up only using it on my own

5. Poor MPG - Did 100 miles yesterday in my Outlander PHEV starting with a full £1 Electric charge and achieved 45mpg (last tank was 133 mpg). I expected better than 30 which is all I got off last 2 tanks in RC

I did consider swapping RC and PHEV for an NX or RX but I've decided to stick with Mitsubishi - almost 2 years/17k miles faultless ownership and 83 mpg would be hard to give up. Paid £25k new after tax rebate and online car buyers are offering me £20-22k!

If Lexus build a PHEV I might be back but then again Toyota already do and it has a 5 year warranty like Mitsubishi - as Lexus will only give 3 years and will be twice the price maybe not🤔

Shame. Such a beautiful car.

Gerard2017 · June 16, 2018

Ooo which I'd been looking a few months ago as literally just ordered a new one and would happly have had yours.I think I got a pretty good deal though at £36500

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