saline69

Hi all!
I'm looking for a nice 4door commuter car. I was thinking about a GS300 (there just happens to be one for sale! ) But I'm kind of worried because the '93 was the first year production for the GS300. (I'm a BMW guy, and BMW 1st year models suck!)

Anyhow, are there any bugs I should look out for? This car has a 140k on it. What's the highest milage anyone has seen on the 3.0L engines?

What do you guys think this car is worth?

Any words of widsome would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Jmai22

this was also my first car. a 93 lexus gs300 best for the buck that i have driven and i have driven MANY cars. i used to do valet parking. very strong. mine has 130K miles and still strong as can be. can't wait till it dries up i just bough some 225 michilen tires. i wanna go drive but too slippery

link13

The 2JZ inline 6 engine that comes in the GS300 is widely known to be a bulletproof engine. I just bought a 1994 GS300 with 59,000 miles on it last week. The only word of caution that I've heard in the GS300 is that you should check the transmission fluid. If the fluid appears dirty like it hasn't been changed for a while, you should probably not buy the car. There may be tranny problems around the corner.

I saw a 1994 GS300 for sale with 297,000 miles on it and a 1993 with 256K on it, so they're pretty good to go.

saline69

Link13,
CUrious, do you know how much they were asking for those 250k+ milage GS300s?

Judging by what people are posting I can buy a low-milage '94 for around $15k-$18k, I should just look for that instead!

Thanks for your info thus far!

link13

The 1994 w/ 297K was priced at $7K or so and the one at 256K was $8200. I got a 1994 GS300 w/ 59K miles for $15,600. It's worth the extra dough to get a low mileage car with nice interior, etc. Where are you located? Riverside Lexus in CA has a 1995 w/ 65K and I bet they'd take $16K for it.

Jmai22

mine had around 126m on it when i bought it couple months ago and i got it for 8700 not bad.

saline69

I'm located in northern cal. What color is the one at Riverside lexus? Hmmm, there aren't many used GS up here for sale at all. Most of the cars you see for sale are ESs or older LSs.

Those LSs have NO resale value what so ever.

I'm going to go take a look at the 140k '93 GS300 tomorrow. We'll see how well it was taken care of. Plus I figure the guy will have to deal. As no one is going to pay him ABOVE high bluebook (and we all know how KBB prices are way high as it is already) for a car with a 140k on it.

link13

The one at Riverside Lexus is Gold (sometimes called Champagne). I have only seen pictures, but it looks very clean. Before I found my car, Riverside Lexus was asking $20900 for the car. I emailed them the following, "16K for the GS300. Let me know." I got an email back the same day from an internet sales person saying they could not sell the car below $17K...so there is wiggle room. I don't believe the $17K either and I bet you could roll at $15,500 on that car. They have since reduced the asking price to $17,888.

There are a fair number of first gen GS300s for sale in SoCal. It might be worth a look on autotrader.com. Good luck and don't just buy the first thing. The right car is out there. It took me about 3 1/2 months of looking, but I found the perfect car for me.