Should I buy this? (2009)
02-12-19, 07:29 AM
#1
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
Should I buy this? (2009)
Hello all,
I REALLY want to buy this car and I've been doing alot of research about and I've even test driven it. I thought I would come and ask the forums for anything I need to be aware of and general advice on what to do. So here's my situation, I am a young guy who got a full-time job after being a intern for a year. I drive 90 minutes for work 4 days a week and I need a car that's fun, spacious (I'm 6'4), and has good gas economy. So far this car has filled all those spaces but I'm weary, I found a 2009 ES 350 with 135,000 miles and I have loved driving it on the test drives. I will be financing aprox $8,000 if I decide to get this car (which I already have in my head). I am fortunate to live rent free and I want to take full advantage to pay this car off BUT I need to know how reliable it really is. I can do the work myself and with friends to fix certain issues or do things like brakes but I'm just worried about what kind issues I may need to look for before I go into the dealership and decide to buy. I guess my question is, how is it in the long run? The carfax report looks like this car was done for all of it's services and oil changes every 3 months. It looks like it was well maintained but are there any problems that I should look for especially being in the 135,000 mile range? I would love to hear about how well it has treated other people and any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you
I REALLY want to buy this car and I've been doing alot of research about and I've even test driven it. I thought I would come and ask the forums for anything I need to be aware of and general advice on what to do. So here's my situation, I am a young guy who got a full-time job after being a intern for a year. I drive 90 minutes for work 4 days a week and I need a car that's fun, spacious (I'm 6'4), and has good gas economy. So far this car has filled all those spaces but I'm weary, I found a 2009 ES 350 with 135,000 miles and I have loved driving it on the test drives. I will be financing aprox $8,000 if I decide to get this car (which I already have in my head). I am fortunate to live rent free and I want to take full advantage to pay this car off BUT I need to know how reliable it really is. I can do the work myself and with friends to fix certain issues or do things like brakes but I'm just worried about what kind issues I may need to look for before I go into the dealership and decide to buy. I guess my question is, how is it in the long run? The carfax report looks like this car was done for all of it's services and oil changes every 3 months. It looks like it was well maintained but are there any problems that I should look for especially being in the 135,000 mile range? I would love to hear about how well it has treated other people and any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you
02-13-19, 01:42 AM
#2
Lexus are reliable cars but at that mileage you have to prepare for unexpected issues. Lexus are not the cheapest cars to get work done on and this motor isn’t the easiest diy motor to work on. If you can afford the payment and have some money left over for if anything goes on it then it’s worth it, if your going to be strapped every month maybe go for a 4 banger Camry. The ES is more reliable than most but at that point expect to need to do some suspension stuff here and there, big ticket maintenance if it hadn’t been done like water pump, spark plugs, transmission fluid. Look it up on YouTube these are not easily done on this car. Dealer provided maintenance is very expensive because you pay for the Lexus experience but the good thing is you can go to a Toyota dealer and get a better price. Even better if you have a local mechanic that you trust.
Last edited by ellocovg; 02-13-19 at 01:48 AM.
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welliott (02-14-19)
02-13-19, 04:20 PM
#3
You sound a lot like me. I’m 6’3” and commute over 4 hours every day. Really comfortable car and that makes all the difference. Don’t expect great mpg as I get around 26.5 with traffic. Had an accord of the same year and traded it in because it made the drive miserable. This es is also very safe as I’ve been rear ended twice at high speeds (once by a tractor trailer) and wasn’t banged up too bad considering that my car was pretty much obliterated.
Pretty reliable. 208k miles and haven’t seen the check engine light yet. Axles commonly go bad on these and oem replacements are expensive. People often have to replace struts as well. Id make sure that the plugs have been done as it is around a $500 job. I flush the tranny every 50k miles but opinions differ on the necessity. You can get work done at Toyota as the guts are pretty much the same as the Camry for this generation. My Toyota dealer is actually nicer than the nearest Lexus dealer. Stone chips with a long commute pretty much ruin your bumper so consider a clear bra if you care about the cosmetics.
Pretty reliable. 208k miles and haven’t seen the check engine light yet. Axles commonly go bad on these and oem replacements are expensive. People often have to replace struts as well. Id make sure that the plugs have been done as it is around a $500 job. I flush the tranny every 50k miles but opinions differ on the necessity. You can get work done at Toyota as the guts are pretty much the same as the Camry for this generation. My Toyota dealer is actually nicer than the nearest Lexus dealer. Stone chips with a long commute pretty much ruin your bumper so consider a clear bra if you care about the cosmetics.
The following users liked this post:
welliott (02-14-19)
02-14-19, 03:32 AM
#4
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
I believe I can afford the payments, sadly insurance is what will kill me more than a car payment. I know that there will be a risk regardless of whatever car I get and I wish I could just get a camry but based off of the local listings I've found I can't find any Toyota sedan that I would fit in and is around the same price as this Lexus. I know that tranny has been serviced with fluids and spark plugs have been replaced recently. I don't know about the water pump and I'll try to do some research, I'm lucky enough to live with a mechanic who has basically helped me with every problem that wasn't a consumable on my current car. Personally I prefer to work on my own car too but I try to make sure that I know when someone else needs to do it.
02-14-19, 04:05 AM
#6
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
You sound a lot like me. I’m 6’3” and commute over 4 hours every day. Really comfortable car and that makes all the difference. Don’t expect great mpg as I get around 26.5 with traffic. Had an accord of the same year and traded it in because it made the drive miserable. This es is also very safe as I’ve been rear ended twice at high speeds (once by a tractor trailer) and wasn’t banged up too bad considering that my car was pretty much obliterated.
Pretty reliable. 208k miles and haven’t seen the check engine light yet. Axles commonly go bad on these and oem replacements are expensive. People often have to replace struts as well. Id make sure that the plugs have been done as it is around a $500 job. I flush the tranny every 50k miles but opinions differ on the necessity. You can get work done at Toyota as the guts are pretty much the same as the Camry for this generation. My Toyota dealer is actually nicer than the nearest Lexus dealer. Stone chips with a long commute pretty much ruin your bumper so consider a clear bra if you care about the cosmetics.
Pretty reliable. 208k miles and haven’t seen the check engine light yet. Axles commonly go bad on these and oem replacements are expensive. People often have to replace struts as well. Id make sure that the plugs have been done as it is around a $500 job. I flush the tranny every 50k miles but opinions differ on the necessity. You can get work done at Toyota as the guts are pretty much the same as the Camry for this generation. My Toyota dealer is actually nicer than the nearest Lexus dealer. Stone chips with a long commute pretty much ruin your bumper so consider a clear bra if you care about the cosmetics.
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02-15-19, 10:32 AM
#8
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
I bought the car and do not regret it however I do noticed that mpg seems to be less than ideal (perhaps it's because i'm getting used to the pedal.)
02-16-19, 09:03 AM
#9
I think most full synthetic (check the labels) would suffice. A lot of us use Mobil 1 and penzoil platinum. I just don’t do the 10k mile intervals because I hit a lot of traffic in my commute.
For gas, people often debate it but LOTS of us have been using regular gas for ages without issue. No problems myself and not even a CEL in 208k miles.
For gas, people often debate it but LOTS of us have been using regular gas for ages without issue. No problems myself and not even a CEL in 208k miles.
02-17-19, 01:21 PM
#10
Since you already bought the car, it's too late to talk you into a 4cyl Camry. It's basically the same car with similar interior dimensions - my daughter has an 06 I4 and wife had an 07 ES350. The Camry can go 450 miles between gas fill ups on the highway.
At that mileage the car should have new plugs and new coolant - recommended replacement is 100-120K for both. Other preventive maintenance things I highly recommend is a transmission fluid flush, PS flush and brake fluid flush, if not already done. An overlooked item is replacing the alternator decoupler pulley - ours froze at 130K and fried the alternator in the process. Gates recommends replacing it at 100K, wheres Toyota/Lexus don't even mention it in the maintenance schedule. The passenger side CV axle are also know to need replacing in the 120-160K range - you'll begin feeling a little vibration when accelerating. Some members here have reported bad water pumps as early as 100K, I replaced ours at 210K as preventive maintenance and it looked fine, but for a slight wobble in the bearing. Just check yours periodically for leaks and pulley movement. We have also replaced 3 bad plug coils, luckily, all in the front bank. But first one went out at about 140K and you'll get a CEL.
We used Mobil 1 Extended synthetic with 10K oil changes. Never had an issue with 87 octane gas, mostly Top Tier gas from Costco. The engine computer compensates for lower octane gas, and as long as the engine don't knock, you'll be ok.
At that mileage the car should have new plugs and new coolant - recommended replacement is 100-120K for both. Other preventive maintenance things I highly recommend is a transmission fluid flush, PS flush and brake fluid flush, if not already done. An overlooked item is replacing the alternator decoupler pulley - ours froze at 130K and fried the alternator in the process. Gates recommends replacing it at 100K, wheres Toyota/Lexus don't even mention it in the maintenance schedule. The passenger side CV axle are also know to need replacing in the 120-160K range - you'll begin feeling a little vibration when accelerating. Some members here have reported bad water pumps as early as 100K, I replaced ours at 210K as preventive maintenance and it looked fine, but for a slight wobble in the bearing. Just check yours periodically for leaks and pulley movement. We have also replaced 3 bad plug coils, luckily, all in the front bank. But first one went out at about 140K and you'll get a CEL.
We used Mobil 1 Extended synthetic with 10K oil changes. Never had an issue with 87 octane gas, mostly Top Tier gas from Costco. The engine computer compensates for lower octane gas, and as long as the engine don't knock, you'll be ok.
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