picus

Hi folks - I've been lurking for awhile, decided to finally register and make a post. I am in the market for a luxury sedan in the RL's price range - mostly looking to trade in my wifes car for something a little more comfortable now that we have a family. Anyway I am wondering with the discounts on RL's around what price they're going for now? I'll be honest with you, I've driven both and - @ 70k I would buy an M45 or M45 sport, however I am under the impression that I can't get the deep discounts on those like I can on an RL now, which makes it much more attractive.

Thanks for any input, and it's nice to be a member of what seems like a very respectful car forum, pretty rare these days!

hondamore

I'm just guessing, but I don't think that you will see the deep discounts like some areas of the U.S.. So few RL's were made to Canadian specs and there just aren't that many on the lots left. Add to that the fact that Canadians tend to place a larger premium on AWD and I think you will be doing exceptionally well to get $65,000 Cdn. The best deal I have heard of so far in Canada is $68300 + tax but that was a few months ago. Unfortunately, once you add a few accessories and the tax, you're going to be well over $70,000 anyway. Still much cheaper than the $75,000 + tax that the M45 Sport will run you. For all of our American friends here on the forum, YES WE ARE GETTING SCREWED UP HERE IN CANADA. At today's exchange rate, an RL up here retails for about $60,000 U.S. + tax. With my 18's, Pirellis and a few other accessories and including the tax, my car would retail for over $70,000 U.S. and I live in a province with no provincial sales tax. You guys should consider $42,000 the same as stealing one. Apparently, Honda Canada considers the heated/cooled seats about a $20,000 option.

picus

Well that's unfortunate. I realize that us Canucks get screwed on car prices with the current exchange rate what it is - only one car that I know of has been imported at a rate of less than 1.30*usd, and that's the M35. Blast. Well, I am going to head over to an Acura dealer tomorrow anyway and see what I can do. Thanks for the reply.

Rob L

yep, the new M is the only car that seems to be priced here relative to actual exchange rates.

I'd guess the new M is hard to pass up here since it undercuts the competition by so much. I havent driven the new M but I doubt somehow it wouldnt be worth the price. If I was in the market now looking for a car in this range I would easily go check out the M45 and M35x because damn...on paper it seems you get better value with them than with the RL or any other competitor simply because Infiniti didnt gouge on price.

I was hoping the new Lexus would follow Infiniti's lead and price the new IS like this but they didn't and kept it at the same 33-40 or so% increase.

Bugs me

picus

Hi Rob - I know it bugs you. This is "picus" from the IS boards. When I registered for this site stupid firefox auto-filled in all my wifes information, which is why I am now named after an ex-first lady and am "26" years old haha. Maybe in 1993!

Good to see you over here. I agreed with everything you said over on the IS boards.

And ya, I've driven the M about 20 times now (everytime I bring my G in for oil or whatever, I take one out). I love them, but I was hoping that maybe I could find a deal on an RL since they're selling for such great prices in the U.S. Still searching for a car to trade in our 330i on. I guess I shouldn't complain, car shopping is "fun" afterall.

hondamore

JackieO, let us know what kind of numbers you get quoted for the RL. When you test drive the RL tomorrow, drive it as hard as the salesman will let you so you can get a feel of the SH-AWD. BTW, the fact that you are on this site shows that you have as much class as the real Jackie 0.

picus

Thanks!

I'm definitely not as pretty as she was, though. You know, being an ape-ish sort of man, and all.

And yes, I'm actually probably a little annoying when I test drive. I like to drive the cars kind of hard, and I try to research them as much as I can before I go, so I sometimes intimidate some salesguys. I'll let you know how it goes.

Rob L

Hey picus!! Good to see you here This forum is about 10 times better than the IS forum since most people here can admit there are shortcomings with the RL...I guess it is an age thing since most here are over 30 while on the IS site most seem under 25. hehe

I hope that some dealerships here would be willing to discount the RL but I would guess if they do it wont be close to the big discounts that you can get in the U.S. and would only be for a couple grand

I think after 20 test drives they should just give you an M45.

If you happen to get a good disount on the RL and decide to get it, have them throw in some better tires or something for you, like the Pilot Sport All Seasons...the RL OEM tires are crap.

Hey you knwo that Maximus330I guy at the IS board? He PMed me there on like thursday and asked about the RL. He said he is looking into getting one (felt the new IS is too small inside) and asked me for my thoughts on it...I hope he joins up on this site as I linekd him to it.

picus

Cool - seemed like he was leaning that way. I kind of got the impressions from his posts that something like the RL/M35/GS430 might suit him better - a little more room and luxury, a little less "sport".

And I wish they'd give me an M35, the price they've offered me is actually ok, especially with the trade in (they offered a really good trade in on our 330i), but I still want to "play the field" so to speak, and as much as it might sound like I'm leaning towards the M, I do really like the RL, so I want to give it a fair shake. And since I've only driven one once so far I owe it more time.

On that note - I am off to the dealership. The guy I deal with told me I can take the RL for "as long as I want" so I'm pretty excited.

Rob L

hehe sweet. how did it go?

picus

Hi - I am back (just got back from a concert tonight). It went really well - I am currently negotiating with the dealer on an RL, I will post more details tomorrow. Tonight = sleep.

Rob L

sweeeeeeeeet. Hope you get a good deal and I am curious to see what you can get it for.

picus

Hi folks. So I spent almost 4 hours at an Acura dealership yesterday, 2 of those in the RL, and here is what I came away with.

First, the RL is, as I already knew, a great car. We all love the styling, so I will skip that. The interior is a little small (I know, that's getting old), but as I mentioned before I can live with that because the car isn't large, and I like cars to be on the small side of gigantic. The car I was looking at was an '05 NBP/Ebony RL w/ 18 inch alloys, clear bra and a rear spoiler. Otherwise it was your typical RL - I also mentioned to the dealer that I would require better tires on the car if I bought it. When i got home I "built" this car online for $74,xxx without new rubber.

Anyway the drive was pretty much what I expected, having driven an RL before. I was "allowed" to go out alone, so I did put the car through its paces and it confirmed what I originally thought - it's a smooth cruiser with excellent handling for a 4,000 lbs car. The SH-AWD system is really impressive, even to someone who is used to pure-rwd cars. I still feel (lookout!) that the M is slightly better in the curvesm even after going WOT a few times in the RL on onramp and on a really great twisty road out near Brock RD in pickering (for those of you familar with the area). The RL's steering is a little light so I was over-compensating some. I am sure we could get used to that.

Anyway I liked it enough that I wanted to talk to the dealer about pricing and in the end I was offered a price of $65,900+$800 for new rubber+lifetime oil changes (not sure what the value on that is), which I thought was a very good deal. The only sticking point is they were unable to offer me what I felt was a fair trade-in value on my 330i, so I left with no RL, but am continuing to negotiate via e-mail/phone calls. If they came come up ~$1,500 or so on the trade in I think I will accept the offer. As a comparision, the offer I was given on an '06 IP/wheat M35 was $63,545 with similar options, but a better value on the trade but no "upgrades" on the car, and no oil changes. So we will see.

picus

I wanted to add the following but couldn't edit. First, iirc there are no major differences between 05/06 RLs? And second, the other offer I have is for an M45 sport for 72,xxx. I like the Rl slightly better than the M35, but slightly less then the M45 (v8, yay), but don't currently feel the M45 is worth 6k more (plus the oil change thing). I guess in the end the cars are so similar that it's going to come down to who can give me a better price.

picus

Oh last thing - what does a-spec on an RL go for? I forgot to ask the dealer, but I'd rather ask here first since I will probably get an invoice priced answer rather than some whacky dealer markup price.

Rob L

cool man, sounds like you might be an RL owner by weeks end

So you too one with 18s? It should have I'd think pilot sport all seasons on it and if so, I dont think you need to change the tires unless you want to have summer only tires and plan to have a second set of snows/rims.

I forget...did you ever test drive the new IS? If not, I found the steering in the 250AWD version to be basically the same as the RLs but maybe a tad tighter...that was surprising because based on the IS300 I was expecting the same tight steering on the new one. I do agree the RL's steering is a little light and wish it was better.

picus

Heya - ya I drove an IS350 two days in a row. Before I knew the almost comical Canadian pricing it was on my short list of cars I was considering. Overall I was unimpressed - it was fast, much faster then the M35/RL, and even felt a little faster than our 330i/G35, power delivery was smooth, the ride was nice, very quiet in the cabin etc... The interior was just way too small, I wouldn't put two adults in the back for more than 15 minutes. Even up front I was hitting the salesmans shoulders with mine (I'm ~6 foot, 170, so not a big guy) and he was maybe 5'10" 160-170, not big either. Also the one I was in had a moonroof and I had to tilt my seat back so I didn't hit the roof. Handling was only ok, not as good as my G35 or 330i, but good enough for my wife, who kind of likes light steering and less road feedback. Oh, I also tried the IS250AWD, not to sound like a jerk but I was really disappointed in it. It felt very lethargic and that stinking T hump in the front wells really bothered me. I kept rubbing my leg on it, it would drive me nuts on drives more than a couple minutes long.

So ya, overall I thought the IS350 was ok, but way too much money for how I would want it equipped. The one I looked at had "premium sports plus + ML" and was almost $58k. Eek. Given the fact that you can get a G35 or TL for ~49k (less given the ability to move on price), the is350 just was not worth the additional ~9k to me.

Rob L

Yeah I felt the same way. I'm 6' or so and around 170 and I swear the interior is smaller than the IS300. Headroom is in fact actually less with the moonroof than the previous gen...I dunno wtf they did to have the moonroof take up as much space as it does.

the awd (as you know from the Is.net forum posts I ahve amde on it) is nowhere near the price they are asking for it. Yeah the awd bulges in the front are insane and I love how the bigger one was on the driver side...great move Lexus.