new whip.

[Diode]

was supposed to take delivery on a lexus gs350 f-sport @ 1p yesterday @ 7500 off MSRP and a 1.32% money factor... but then hyundai came back to me and gave me $12k off and a .216% money factor and took my current lease back with no fees, $0 down, aaaaand no first month payment so...



genesis 5.0 ultimate.

$60k car for high $40s and a lease where they only make $200 over 3 years was too good to pass up. the lexus handling was tighter for sure, but it was missing so many features i've gotten used to (not as a matter of unavailability, they just didn't order any with the stuff i want @ the lexus dealer). the big thing though was trying to go from the 5.0L 8 down to the 3.5L NA 6 in the lexus... missing that low end torque was impossible to deal with.

also considered the new 340i (too small, but much improved turbo lag over the outgoing 335i), the cadillac cts (i still hate CUE and just can't deal with the terrible haptic buttons caddy uses, plus their packaging still sucks), and mercedes c450 AMG (formerly the c400 and they've already changed the name yet again to C43 AMG?!). i lovedddddddddd the c450 soooooooo much, but with the newness of it all and only one merc dealer in the area, nobody was willing to deal. might grab one after this lease is up and the market falls out on it, though it is also a very tight fit for a 4-door.

i really wanted to test the new jaguar xe but they don't even arrive off the ships until april/may. womp womp.

anyway, having a (useful) HUD is fucking amazeballs, especially with the nav built into it. highly recommend.