lexkwizit

Looking at a 98 GS300 , 94K miles, guy wants around 8 for it. He mentioned that it was dealer serviced, he has some records. New Brembo brakes, Lexus Coilovers, no leaks, A/C works well, normal wear on interior.

Is this a good buy?
any issues I should be on the lookout for?
Mileage issues? How reliable at this mileage and what can I expect maintenance wise, what will need changing.

I'm pretty mechanically inclined and do a lot of DIYs on my BMW, so I'm thinking some of the maintenance I can perform myself.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!!!

AYEmike

sounds like a good deal, but i dunno about the service he just got for the gs, Brembo brakes, Lexus Coilovers









lol .......

JiBBeL

iTrader: (2)

Yeah.... brembo brakes? Maybe rotors... And Lexus coilovers FTW! LOL

lexkwizit

Thanks for the responses...guess he meant brembo rotors, not quite sure. Not sure about the Lexus coilovers either. Haven't delve deep into the research as of yet. Just trying to get a feel to see if it's worth it.

I know it doesn't have the Nav system and I'll certainly run a carfax to make sure everything checks out.

I'm just hoping for a decent ride that i can rely on for at least another 40-50K miles.

it's actually for my wife and she doesn't drive around much. it'll more than likely be a weekend car, with no more than 5 miles if used as a daily driver.

natedahms

iTrader: (1)

there was a 98 GS300 on craigslist in Miami last week end for $4995. the only thing that was wrong with it was a dent in the front passengers door. the car was dark cherry red with gold badges. they posted on craigslist friday at 11am. i called and talked to the guy @ 5pm friday nite and got directions. I got to the dealership at 3pm Saturday and they had already sold the car earlyer that morning. the way the ecomeny is rite now there only going to get cheaper. 8 stacks is book on that car. maybe a little less. if you look around and have paitents you'll find a better deal than that. if he told you it has lexus coilovers i wouldnt trust anything he says. if you can find a pair of those somewhere let me know.

lexkwizit

True, but we got 2 kids also, so the extra room will be needed. She had a Lincoln Navigator, but with it costing 130 bucks to fill it up and getting around 14mpg it just didn't make sense economically.

JiBBeL

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, a GS300 sounds like a good option then. Super smoothe, quiet, roomy. Greaty daily driver with very very low maintenance costs. If the carfax comes up clean, grill the guy about the "lexus coilovers" as those are only available in make-believe-land and see wtf he's talking about with brembo brakes as well. If he sounds like a shmuck I'd run. But if it all sounds reasonable, I'd try to negotiate the price down to 7k

lexkwizit

I think he might have been blowing smoke thinking I won't do any kind of research.

It's quite possible that he's done some of the work he mentioned, but used different terminologies.

As for the price, I've searched quite a bit, pretty much all over the country on Craigslist, ebay, autotrader, cars.com, and can't seem to find anything with mileage less than 100K for around this price. We actually agreed on 7600if everything checks out.

KayGee

I think the timing belt and water pump are due at 90K. O2 sensors also probably need replacing as well as the ball joints. Also check the door lock actuators, they probably don't work anymore with the key fob.
I had 140K on my 99 when I traded it last year for about $8,000

jenadamson

Mine went to about 172K w/out major problems. Have over 200k on it now - drives great, but burns oil and needs a new ABS board.

lexkwizit

Hey, Thanks for all the replies. I actually picked up the car a day ago. Everything checked out fine. Clean Carfax, service records, not all but quite a few.

The car was actually a 99, I thought it was a 98. It had HIDs in both the headlights and fog lights.

As for the brakes and "coilovers' the dude mentioned it was actually lowering springs, not much lower, but lower than normal. The brakes were not "brembo"..lol..they were actually powerslot rotors and new pads.

Water pump, t-stat, and Timing belt were changed. Tune up also completed.

Drives very well, smooth, shifts very nice.

Only downside is that there are a few scratches on the rear bumper and one on the right front fender, nothing Major. and it needed a good cleaning on the leather and carpets.

Overall my wife is happy with the purchase and loves the styling and all the features.

Thank you for all the information provided as I'm sure I'll have some more questions.

The first being, what size sub is that in the rear deck?

sakataj

iTrader: (182)

its a 10 inch............can fit the pioneer flat 12 inside there though! be warned factory amp will have to be changed when u start messing with the radio/speakers!