I live in South Korea but I will be quoting prices in USD for simplicity. Cars are generally more expensive here than N. America even Hyundai.

I've been driving a 2010 Mercedes GLK for almost 10 years now. It's a diesel and is in good shape but my son has been complaining about the smell and I want to get rid of it before it depreciates further.

They only sell the XLE Hybrid trim for the Avalon here and it's roughly 47k. The base ES (Supreme) trim is about 57k. However, that trim has 17 inch wheels (as opposed to 18 on the Avalon), no memory seats, and no power tilt/telescoping steering (on a luxury car!!!). To get those options I have to opt for the Luxury trim which is 60k. That's veering into E-class territory but I prefer not to drive another Mercedes.

Another thing is resale value. I drive cars for about 8-10 years and I think the Toyota will depreciates much faster than the Lexus. This is what I assume by reviewing the biggest used car site here.

There's also a perception here that Japanese cars are inferior to German cars here (surprise it's Korea) so that affects value a little but Lexus is getting more popular here. Avalons are not popular cars but Camry is especially the new one. Because Avalon is not popular they said I will have to wait until possibly August for it to arrive which I'm not happy about. I paid the 1k deposit today but can get it back if I go another route.

So it's a big price difference. I rather drive the Lexus but it's hard to justify when there are less options. Oh yeah both models including the base ES have synthetic leather which I'm fine with as I find that it doesn't crack like real leather (I have MB Tex and it still looks brand new. If I do end up with the Lexus it would be the higher luxury trim so it's about a 13k difference.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Thanks.