jhelms

As you guys know, I'm looking for a 93-95 GS300.

I'm near Atlanta and Birmingham, anything specific to keep in mind when visiting these dealers?

Are they all good, do some give better deals on the used vehicles?

Any top notch salesmen to contact?

Thanks!

RealMarty

Most Lexus dealers will not have cars that old on their lots. They tend to keep only ~ 60-65k mile models 4 years old or less. The others they wholesale off.

jhelms

Wow - I had no idea!

But that's the same thing a salesman from Hennessey told me in an email I just opened.

Hmm...

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

You might find a dealer who happens to get a 93-95 GS300 as a trade so I'd let dealers know you're interested in one anyway.

I recommend a guy named Renardo Pitts at Butler Lexus in Macon.

If you're near Atlanta, why not come to the Lexus meet on Sunday - it will be fun, and I for one will welcome a Legend GS 6 speed because that's what I sold to buy my GS400! I had the sedan, you have that or a coupe?

I made out GREAT selling my Legend privately.

jhelms

bitkahuna

I emailed the dealers to let them know, they said they usually wholesale out their older ones.

Also, yep I have / had a 94 GS 6 speed 4 door!!! Very rare, so it brought me top dollar on the sell. I sold it privately on the internet to a guy on the west coast, we are shipping it like next week.

1SICKLEX

I know what you mean, I've seen tons in the advertisements that have WELL OVER 100k miles.

Anything in particular to look for??? Specific problem areas?

Will Lexus let you run the VIN at the dealership? I've run carfax reports before but they don't show minor damage things, even major accidents sometimes don't show up.

RealMarty

jhelms,

Where have you had your Lexus's serviced? Do you have a mechanic other than the dealer?

Just curious because everyone else in Atlanta seems to go to their dealer.

There must be some Lexus shops around, but I don't know of them.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Glad you sold it privately. I had a 1994 4 door GS 6 speed also. Great car, no problems. I was wondering why you're thinking about a 6-9 year old Lexus GS now?? I drove the original GS a long time ago and was surprised that it felt underpowered and didn't handle that well. Have you driven one? The GS400 on the other hand is a whole different story. Plenty of power, and even the stock handling is better in some ways than the Legend GS (particularly because of RWD vs FWD) but the Legend had less 'float' than the stock GS400 setup. With the L-Tuned spring/shocks upgrade though, the GS400 will run circles around the Legend.

Of course a GS400 might not be in your budget, but 98s can be had for less than $30K I hear.

jhelms

RealMarty

I don't have a Lexus yet. I was asking if the dealers will let you run a check on the services performed on the car in the past using the VIN. Some luxury car dealers offer this as a service to customers buying used cars of that marque.

1SICKLEX

Thanks for the advice. I knew about the 97 changes but 93-94 w/ high mileage is probably going to be the only thing in my budget. I've seen some for less than $10k w/ 150k or so miles on them (in the GA AutoTrader and on traderonline.com) but we can probably spend $1k-$2k more.

bitkahuna

Yeah, I've seen some GS's going for $12k-$15k depending on mileage, I think they were autos though.

Right now we need another highway car with 4 doors. So we want a few things in our next car:

1) Relatively cheap - it will be an 'extra' car so we don't want to go all out with cost.

2) Lots of miles will probably be put on it so we want good space, comfort, decent power, etc.

3) 4 doors

We narrowed our choice down to another Legend (auto without all the mods mine has), a mid 90's 3 series, a mid 90's C class, or the GS300 1st gen.

She likes the Lexus, so do I, so we hope to go ahead and pick one up whenever we find one



thanks for all the comments guys!