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Recently i found myself in the market for a new car. Coming from a S2000 and owning an Acura TL as my daily driver I knew i wanted something with a v8, sporty, but still a sedan that would be comfortable enough to drive daily if desired. But also stand apart from the crowd upon a closer look. I always was a fan of the CTS-V and the ISF has been one of my favorite cars since 2007 when it came out as the 08 model. However when I started really looking into them the CTS-V’s interior left something to be desired for me. And the ISF seemed to be just as small as my TL so I wanted something a little more roomy.
After lurking on club Lexus for a month and scouring AutoTrader.com for what feels like an eternity, I found a 2017 Caviar GSF with black interior in Gwinnett GA. It had all of the things that I learned that I wanted from browsing the forum. It had the orange painted calipers, the hand polished BBS wheels, Mark Levinson audio, color HUD, rear bumper appliqué and only had 23,000 miles. I called the dealership and started working with a salesman and got a price and was happy with it so I pulled the trigger on sending them a deposit.
When they sent me all of the paperwork to look over I noticed that there was no warranties on the car that came included with the purchase. So that kind of made me skeptical but i knew the car was still under factory warranty but I was a little uneasy that this dealership didn’t try to offer me any extension of the warranty like I’m used to from other experiences I’ve had making a purchase. I left the deposit on the car but I started scouring autotrader.com for a car that a Lexus dealership was offering. A few days go by and I see a bunch of them but none of them are speaking to me like the one I found at the BMW dealership. I think it was on the fourth day that I checked at like 2am because I couldn’t sleep. I found the car that I ended up purchasing, it was a 2016 with 10K more miles. But it also had all the options that I wanted. But the even bigger thing was this car had circuit red interior and I always wanted a car with red seats. It also came with Velgen Forged wheels, and it was already lowered on RSR springs. The problem was this car was 12 hours away and the other car was only 8 hours away. I debated on that for a while because I honestly did not want to travel further than 8 hours away. But this car was so stunning to me that I had to see what the dealership would do. I placed an inquiry and later that morning during business hours I had a phone call from a salesman come through. He immediately sent me a walk around and interior video of the car on the third floor of their parking garage.
My interest was peaked, I sent him the offer I placed on the other car and asked how much they could beat the other dealership by since this one was older and had more miles. They immediately offered me 2K more for my trade in than the other dealership. As well as undercut the original offer by taking an additional 3K off of their asking price. I sent them a deposit and removed my deposit from the other car in GA. With work being crazy due to the Coronvirus I had to ask them to hold the car for 2 weeks. They weren’t thrilled as it was approaching the end of the month but I told them I wasn’t purchasing the car until I had a chance to drive it and look it over in person to make sure it was up to standard.
Thursday April 30th I worked all day from 7am-7pm, then packed a bag and jumped in the SUV to make the 12 hour drive overnight to Miami Florida from New Orleans. I arrived at Lexus of North Miami at 10am the next morning and the car was our front waiting for my arrival.
The car was immaculately kept. I had done my own research on the car and found out who the original owner was and what the history of the car was before I took it over. Car had full maintenance records performed at 2 of the Lexus dealerships in Miami and no issues whatsoever. So after the test drive I felt very confident in the car and made the purchase. Saturday morning I drove the car back to New Orleans and couldn’t stop smiling and staring at it when I would stop for gas, food, etc.
Everywhere I pulled up the car turned heads, which is what I wanted the car that I selected to do. I am so happy that I chose this car over the other options out there. Even though I never wanted to own a black car because of how ridiculous it is to keep them clean. When I look at it I know i made the right decision to select this one.
That's awesome man! Congrats. Funny, I was just talking to a buddy about the GSF, thought that it would be a good under the radar pickup. To me, for a full size sedan, I don't need bleeding edge performance, don't really care about circuit times. Is it fun to drive for what it is? Does it perform all the practical functions? And, here's the big one, is it reliable? I think the GSF does those things well.
That's awesome man! Congrats. Funny, I was just talking to a buddy about the GSF, thought that it would be a good under the radar pickup. To me, for a full size sedan, I don't need bleeding edge performance, don't really care about circuit times. Is it fun to drive for what it is? Does it perform all the practical functions? And, here's the big one, is it reliable? I think the GSF does those things well.
Congrats again!
Exactly what i was going for when i made the purchase, I didn’t need the fastest factory 4 door. For what is is, its checking all the boxes, its fast for what it is. It’s comfortable as all hell even for as low as it is. It’s understated but if you know what it is, you can’t miss it. And its a Toyota so of course its reliable. It’s the same V8 that came with the ISF back in 07. So its definitely nothing new and has proven itself year in and out at the track and on the daily commute.
Why does it seem that everyone always says this about their own car... whether it's Kia Sorento or a Dodge Charger.
Maybe I'm jaded or that I live in the Southwest where mid-level and high-end cars are like crackheads in detriot -- you'll see one at every corner.
Nice purchase, I have a friend who is a huge Lexus/Toyota fanboy and swears by them. Yours has the added bonus of someone putting a nice set of wheels on it and a good drop! Like it a lot
Why does it seem that everyone always says this about their own car... whether it's Kia Sorento or a Dodge Charger.
Maybe I'm jaded or that I live in the Southwest where mid-level and high-end cars are like crackheads in detriot
Maybe because its true. I’m not imagining people turning around when I pull up and seeing them point of react to the car. Until I purchased mine I had never seen one in person. And the car has an aggressive appearance, not many people have seen one where I’m from let alone know what it is. I had my car parked while we were eating curbside at a local bar and some Spanish kids where speaking in Spanish trying to figure out who was driving my car. My girlfriend is Honduran so of course she was like “why are they trying to figure out who’s driving your car? It’s nothing special...” and I just laughed at her because she doesn’t know anything about cars and just things its a Lexus.
Why does it seem that everyone always says this about their own car... whether it's Kia Sorento or a Dodge Charger.
Maybe I'm jaded or that I live in the Southwest where mid-level and high-end cars are like crackheads in detriot -- you'll see one at every corner.
Nice purchase, I have a friend who is a huge Lexus/Toyota fanboy and swears by them. Yours has the added bonus of someone putting a nice set of wheels on it and a good drop! Like it a lot
I got waves yesterday in my car... I don't think anyone is excited to see a sorento.
Why does it seem that everyone always says this about their own car... whether it's Kia Sorento or a Dodge Charger.
Maybe I'm jaded or that I live in the Southwest where mid-level and high-end cars are like crackheads in detriot -- you'll see one at every corner.
Nice purchase, I have a friend who is a huge Lexus/Toyota fanboy and swears by them. Yours has the added bonus of someone putting a nice set of wheels on it and a good drop! Like it a lot
Well, it's a grain of salt situation, everyone buys the best of what they could afford, and most lie to themselves. I mean if you got onto the Accord forums, people will post up their new Accord and others will chime saying OH MAN SWEET, GREAT RIDE, as if they never saw a Honda Accord before. I'm not crapping on them, just saying people are expressing their excited about their purchase, as they should be, because buying a car is a rare experience.
05-06-2020, 09:48 AM
2016 GSF purchase
