draco

Hi All,

I have come to a position where it may be possible to swap my current car for a Lexus ES300 (1996 model). The ES300 isn't my first choice of car, but I am intent on eventually getting a GS300 when I have the finances.

To start with I drive a Volvo S80 T6 (1998). The car is a nice car, but I have had too many problems with fixing it every couple of months because something else has gone wrong. The ES300 that I have seen is a 1996 model and has done almost 204000 km's. My Volvo has done 185000.

Do you think it worth the swap, if it did come to fruition? I have owned 4 Soarer's (Lexus SC to you guys - namely 3 1JZ-GTE's & 1 UZ-FE) before and they were very good to me. These cars are the primary reason why I am aiming at getting a GS300 when the time presents itself.

How are the ES300's with this kind of mileage? Will they lose that much more value at this point? What are the common faults (I have searched a little on these threads but I tend to have a habit of floating in the GS300 forums for obvious reasons )? What should I look for at this kind of mileage?

I am figuring that when it comes to sell the ES300 (as I see it as an interim car for now, and a chance to get back into a Lexus automobile) I will have a lot more success selling it than trying to sell my Volvo (particularly as the miles go up on the odo). I have now been attempting to sell my car for 11 months with no success thus far.

I am also working on the basis that maintenance and parts (in particular) for the ES300 would be a lot better than for my Volvo, which is starting to burn a whole in my pocket.

I would love to be able to just go and buy my GS300, but if I can't sell this car (and no trade-in is not even worth it) then I will never get it. Please let me know your thoughts / opinions.

draco

Some pictures of the possibility (I may not even get this car, but there is a remote possibility)

BDSL

I have a 97 ES300 and currently it has 310,000 km. The engine is strong and doesn't burn oil as fast as other cars I owned and worked on.......perhaps 1/2 L oil every 8000 km.

Beside the typical fluids change / brakes / suspension wear and tear parts, there is no problems at all. The only thing that I had to change was the EGR position sensor which took only less than 10 minutes to change.

Are you sure you want to sell a car that reliable?

draco

Trust me the Volvo is not reliable. One of the worst cars that Volvo ever released, and way too many problems with just trying to keep it running. Literally I have spent almost every 2-3 months doing something and paying through the nose because it's "European". When the regular mechanic comments "oh this one again. It has been a bit of a problem child", it doesn't fill you with confidence, that's for sure.

My car unfortunately happens to be a lemon, and changing anything (I mean anything) results in a lot of cash compared with locally available parts like Lexus / Toyota etc.

Is the above a 96 or 97? Looking at pictures around the web, it looks like a 97 but advertised as a 96??

PlatES300

iTrader: (1)

the above is a 97 model. mine is sitting at 210,000 miles and still going strong. Only major things I've had to replace are the rear valve cover seal (leaking oil), and the 100k maintenance. so far so good.

MJHSC400

We have a 99 with 200k miles (200kmi x 1.67k = ~330,000 km ) that runs absolutely perfect. No complaints with it at all. Just be ready to change the strut mounts if they havent been, they squeak and cause no other problem but aggravation and can be had for $170 on ebay shipped for all four... Rent some spring compressor's at autozone and you're pretty much done working on it...

Also the car in the picture at least in the US would be the 97-01 body, but europe may have gotten it one year early as Japan does also...

draco

Well to my surprise I got the managed to purchase the car today, effectively doing a swap over with my previous car. See thread:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es3...s300-my97.html