I called the local Lexus dealer asking about waitlist, and either the sales person can't answer straight (likely) or they don't have one. All she would tell me was that they sold all 25 May allocations and were expecting more and they were urging a deposit. They said they have a demo overtrail coming in in April that they'd be happy to let me drive so I'll talk to them further then.
I'm on the wait list for LC250 premium but if a reasonable overtrail came in in Nori I think I'd fold.
I ended up placing a deposit on both the GX and LC250 as soon as they were respectively announced. Per both dealers, I was first in line at each dealership, and at the time of placing my deposits (each dealer wanted $1K), they promised me MSRP.
The Lexus dealership sent me an email first, earlier this month, saying that I had their first allocation and sent me over the spec sheet (GX OT+). Included in the standard Lexus build sheet, they literally pasted an extra "protection package" for around $6K. So I just cleverly responded and told them I'd take the allocation, but was not interested in the protection package, as typically, I go through my own guys for PPF and the like. Anyways, they responded back a few days later and told me it wasn't optional, even though I had emails stating that they'd sell the car at MSRP. Manager ended up calling me directly and told me "The car is at MSRP, but the addons are required" .... basically just told him off, it's six of one, half a dozen of the other. Markups, required addons, all the same crap. On top of that, there was about 4K of port installed options. It's as if they just went down and selected every port option, but I know that's mostly on the distributor and not the dealership itself. So in the end, the manager basically stated that he'd let me effectively keep my place in line, but said I'd have to wait a few months to get one at sticker. Whatever that means :|
Two weeks later I get a call from the Toyota dealership, and they're at sticker, but the car's got around $1K of port installed stuff. No funny business on markups or required protection packages. Some of the stuff like the dashcam and extra 2-years of the remote start are things I'd probably buy anyways, so it wasn't a huge deal.
Ultimately, I just decided to go with the Toyota. To be honest, I do like the looks of the LC250 more than the Lexus, it's a bit less pretentious IMO than a Lexus, but there are some downsides as well such as the quality of service [department] that you'd get on a Lexus vs Toyota. Build quality will be close to identical - they're literally made on the same line at the same plant. It's also a bit ironic that the LC gets memory seats standard, whereas on the GX OT you can't get real leather, and memory seats are an extra 8K in the OT+ package. I don't need to ever haul more than 5000lbs, so the V6TT is not really worth it to me, plus you don't get the 20A 120V inverter on the Lexus.
Just wish Toyota would allow for the round headlights on the LC250 mid-trim. I think that car, with the premium package, no moonroof, and the round headlights.... would be the perfect spec, and a lot cheaper than the FE. But I guess if they'd have done that, there would be very few buyers willing to shell out the extra cash for the FE. The FE stands as strictly a money grab for Toyota, but at least it's not the dealers themselves hosing you
I think if Toyota included some cool 17s wrapped in 35s for the FE, it would have at least differentiated it enough rather than the subtle differences (aside from the headlights) and extra accessories.