Lexus NX450 and goodbye Mercedes E400
I just bought a new car. Traded in the 2018 Mercedes 400 E coupe for a 2025 Lexus NX450 Plug-In Hybrid. Typically my car process revolves around showing up at a dealership and walking out with a car a few hours later - or many times a company truck. Not this time. I belabored it, especially by my historical metrics, mostly since this could be a car I own for a long time.
The Benz was a nice car. 2 doors, a ton of power, great handling, good looking. With only 52k miles on it. Black and purred like a kitten and roared like a lion. But I wasn’t using it enough, and it was pretty much not that functional for me to think I was going to use it that much going forward, but at 7 years old, the depreciation was adding up - I think it went for $75k new (I bought it a year or two old) and now 7 years later worth $25k. You can see why middle class Americans stay broke or firmly financially stressed when you are falling in love with depreciating assets your whole life to impress people who aren’t really thinking about you a whole lot.
This search, however, was a lot more inadvertently extended - from the Rav4 plug-in, the VW Taos, the Honda HR-V, and the Hyundai Kona and Tucson. The problem with most of these good looking affordable reliable sub-compact SUV’s is they lack power. Press the pedal and wait, and that’s a lot different from the Benz or even my Jeep Grand Cherokee.
The Rav4 holds a special place in my heart since it was my first car out of NYC in 2001. Actually the first one was a disastrous foray into a 1977 Jeep Cherokee, a super cool, super loud vehicle that no one with little mechanical ability should ever own. So the 1998 Rav was a big pivot into dependability and has resulted in a long-term understanding of the importance of a reliable vehicle, not just for me, but for my men in their personal lives and for people in general.
Dave Ramsey has it right when he says new cars keep Americans broke, but he has it wrong when he says go buy a beater to save money. There is literally nothing more disruptive to financial planning than car troubles. Expensive, stressful, with loads of opportunity costs related to any repair. I guess it complicates his ez peazy 123 plan to get out of debt, but he should be a little more nuanced about this advice- cars aren’t like they were back when he was wheeling around in a beater - easy and straight-forward to fix. Even a 15 year old car at this point has a pretty significant computer and electronic situation - easy to fail, expensive to fix, and unlikely you can do it at home, regardless of your mechanical skill set.
So the before Lucas and I were set to hit Steamboat Springs CO for a weekend of skiing in the Rockies, I cruised down to Middletown, test drove the NX450, and a few hours later had traded in the Benz and left the lot with the Lexus. I like the Lexus brand - the Benz, especially the sports car version, was a bit much for my personal brand, a bit much of a flex. This Benz was one of the good ones, not one of the mass produced wannabes and I enjoyed it. Rode smooth, rode fast, and my only regret is I never got it onto a track. The Lexus as a brand is a bit more toned down, but for years I never really liked the shape of them - something, for me, was just not right. I guess it also had the sigma of being a grandpa car. But I think their designs have evolved, and they work for me. Bit of a flex, but not so in your face as the E400 Benz.
Got my car chargers from Amazon delivered and installed on Friday and by Saturday I was driving all electric. This car can go about 40 miles on a charge, before it kicks over to the hybrid/gas motor. That might not seem like a lot, but most of my traveling is within that range - not enough to go all electric even with a 300 mile range, but enough to go back and forth from work.
Steamboat Springs was awesome for a few reasons -1, great mountain, 2, great conditions, 3, great weather with one of the western Sunny ski days you read about, and 4, no hiccups with the flights or travel.
In Mid-April, spending 10 days in the Alps skiing with my 2 nephews, so that should be epic.
Without even trying too much, put 2 properties into contract this week - our Mini Ranch, and my lightly used shop/warehouse in Cochecton.
Punchlist day at the Forestburgh Cottage.
Cruised up to our New Ranch on 22 acres in Fremont Ny to show a family of 5 the digs.
Big views from this home - don't have a price on it yet.
