noizz

hey guys, i'm just searching through the forums as muh as i can to find info about the gs400

i might be picking one up so i need opinions and advice on this matter

planning to buy in canada, GS400 1999 beige/tan, 158,000 miles, haven't seen the car in person (plan to tonight), pictures look spotless, talked to the person, owns an autoshop and says its in very good condition.

it was brought up from the states, first lease in MI, then move to CA then to FL, and now to canada

he says the previous owner did alot of hwy travel (real estate)

its over 250,000 kms, i know its a good car and all, but is it really worth it for $13,000?

in the case i do purchase the vehicle, and need a engine rebuild in the future, cost of that?

hurricane

iTrader: (5)

no..........

Ay-nako

iTrader: (25)

to be honnest these cars really do last as long as you take car of em.. i just bought another GS as a daily driver and its got 127k on it

Ay-nako

iTrader: (25)

no what would you like to help him out a bit...



id like to think that 13k is just a bit pricey but ask 9k for the car hopefully you could get the car for somewhere around 10k but lower than 13k

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

I would offer around $10k for that year/mileage.

cptnron

A buddy of mine just picked a 99GS4 with 90K miles for $12K in Phoenix and it is spotless if that gives you an idea of what else is out there. Oh yeah, it is a second owner with all receipts.

I agree these cars are built great and will last, but $13K for 158,000 miles doesn't sound like a bargain. Now if has wheels, tint, springs, mufflers, and some records showing all of the repairs it might be worth it, but if it is bone stock and you can't verify what work has been done to it then you should keep looking.

There are some fine cars out there but it takes some patience to find the one that grabs you.

noizz

thanks for all your input, i'll try to bargain him for 10k, mind you this is in CAD$

i did more searching on the forum and there seems to be joint problems? big fix? and suspension? i do plan to keep the car for at least 5 years, thats my general rule of thumb for a used car, so IF it was down to say 10-11k, worth it? or lower?

just for reference how much does a used engine cost for the gs400?

again thanks for all your help!

mikevanle

iTrader: (1)

There really isn't much rebuilding needed on these engines. But you can probably find a whole long block for like $2500 via car-parts.com or something.

If I buy another car that I wanna drive often, I tend to stay away from those high mileage ones. It is true that ANY car can last as long as one does regular maintaince on it, but I personally wouldn't buy a high mileage car unless I knew the owner or get it much cheaper.

cptnron

Do you know why he's selling?

noizz

he was going to use the GS400 as a project car but now hes thinking of buying the new GT-R

one of his friends bought a gs300 or 400 i dun remember but it had 170k miles on it!

yeah i don't like the idea of high mileage, but in the case that i plan to keep it for a while, even if the engine broke down and i do pay 3000-3500 to get it all fixed up, then i could run the car even longer vs buying a lower mileage car now.

its really really hard to find a good condition one up here in vancouver, locally at any point in time theres 2-3 decent ones posted up, all the others are ethier modded already, and have major accidents

and i don't really want to bother doing all the paperwork and stuff to import from the states, im not lazy but i don't have the time to.

LEXUS_KID

iTrader: (4)

WELCOME noizz

cptnron

I've only had mine a little over a year, but from everything I've read on here the motor is stout, but you just have to do maintenace just like on any used car. The cool thing about this one though is that you have this forum and all of the great people running it that have seen it all and are a great resource.

It sounds like it will be stock with minimal maintenance other than the usual. You should plan on changing all fluids, timing belt and water pump, plus brakes and ball joints. I'm sure it will run fine, but those are the things reccomended when you hit about 100,000 miles.

Am I right guys?

Kosoku4lfe

I have a gs400 and absolutely love it cant go wrong. I got mine with 60k on it for 15k clean as a whistle... GL on your hunt.

97-SC300

iTrader: (17)

$13k is too much money with that kind of miles in my opinion. $9-10k is more like it... unless all teh maintanance was done on it and it really is as prestine as you say.

noizz

i really appreciate everyone's help! you have all been really helpful so fast, much more than other forums

going to see if i can get it inspected, and hopefully i'll be joining everyone here!