ARB

What would you rather buy if they were the same price? A GS400 with 74k-85k miles or a gs300 with 45k-65k miles.

Thanks ARB

itsallgood

well for me it really depends on the condition of the car, inside and out.

ARB

Let's assume that both of the cars' interior and exterior condition are similar, but factor in the slight extra wear on the higher mileage GS400. Both cars are the same year, either 98' or 99's. Thanks guys in advance for the responses in my poll

Shinchan

I say GS3. Put the extra money on Supercharger. GS3 is a great engine for SC.

theanimala

Well, I bought my GS400 over a year and a half ago with 53K on it. Now I'm at 77K and I've had no problems. Make me feel like I'll be able to at least double it before I need to worry about anything. And the performance is sick. I could never go to a GS300 now...

ARB

Your right a super/turbocharger on the GS3 would definately bring hp levels above the GS400, but I will be getting either one of these cars for the same price so there will be no price difference. Plus I do not wan't to spend more than maybe $2k in aftermarket equipment. And wouldn't adding forced induction void any warranties on the GS300?

ocnbrzz

Based on my wife's conversation with a friend who is a corporate Lexus V.P. of sales, to whom she asked almost the exact same question....

His reply was "If you can at all swing it..go for the GS400. it's a 300k engine if taken care of..."

Makes sense. Think about it, both the 3.0 liter I-6 and 4.0 Liter V-8 are pushing around essentially the same weight car.

Which one is going to have to work harder say, going up a long hill? or accelerating onto a freeway from the on-ramp?

Just my .02, but based on actual conversation.

lex400sc

My engine, the 1UZ-FE, is good to 400,000 easily. I'd imagine the GS400 V8 is no different so for the same price and same model year, I wouldn't fret an insignificant 20,000 miles. The GS400 has more pinache to it's name, and is very powerful stock for a sedan, which ultimately means more FUN.

JAC JZS

ocnbrzz, I have thought that very same thing

MAD_Wicked

Buy the GS3

Put some dubs on it, and by the new body 2003 GS parnter...

ocnbrzz

Thx JAC JZS,

I have to say that when the Lex V.P. said this to my wife he was really trying to put the point accross by his tone of voice... But he was obviously refering to any high milage G4 that had been taken care of.......

But All things being equal, I would want to know the service history of any gs that was out of warranty.

Case in point: Recently the wife & I went looking at a '98 G4 that was advertised as only having been driven 52k, for $24000.00 Well we get to the dealer(non-Lexus) only to have the salesman say that there had been a mistake, and that the mileage was really 80k, it seems as though whomever was responsible for reading the mileage took the reading off the "trip odometer" !!!

This was suspicious... the owner didn't reset his trip-meter in 52k of driving??? Hmmm... so I started to sniff around, opened the hood and checked the oil....Black as coal. Engine bay dirty, airfilter, dirty. Front spoiler dinged, scratched & chipped. Stock chrome rims had been "curbed" and now the chrome was pealing in various places.

Interior: "o.k." at best. Tan leather needed cleaning & conditioning, ashtray still had cig ashes in it....

Trunk: never had been vacumed.... from what I could tell.

I COULD NOT BELIEVE WHAT I WAS SEEING!!!

I felt like screaming out "THIS IS A LEXUS GS400 PEOPLE!!!!!!! HAVE YOU NO RESPECT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

The list goes on......... I was upset for two whole days after seeing this poor G4.... I was ranting so much my wife was getting pissed off.

Moral of this story is that no way would I buy that car. It also tells me that some people no matter how much $$$ they have, should not be allowed to own a Lexus, it's a matter of respect.

People who drive their Lex's into the ground make me...

alexus

iTrader: (1)

even if it was gs400 w/ 85k and gs300 with 45k, i would definatly chooice gs400, there was a threat about this before.. some dude from the lexus dealership he said the gs400 is more reliable then gs300.. besides.. all lexus is going do just fine with 80k.. my other lexus has 160k and its doin just fine..

JAC JZS

I agree totally. And I think considering the fact that these cars will last 150,000+ miles easily, the difference in mileage(45k-85k) is really inconsequential. Why on these very boards I have read numerous members who have bought cars with 75k-80k+ miles and seem to not have any problems. I think I remember one members' car had 130,000 miles+ and all he needed to do was fix the suspension( worn). I think he decided on L-Tuned to take care of that problem which I guess most people should buy anyway( or Tein, etc...) no matter how many miles their car has.

GunnerMac

I agree with JAC. I also wrestled with with GS3 vs. GS4 decision before purchasing my car, as I sure a lot of others did. I decided on the GS4 because I wanted the performace w/o having to rely on engine mods. It costs about 8k more but to me it worth every penny...faced with your decision, I would definately go wtih the GS4. It is very satifying knowing that you can blow the doors of almost any non-modifed sedan on the street.

theanimala

First off, that's impossible. The trip odo (at least in mine) only goes up to 9,999 miles, then it goes back to 1.