My 01 430 has 125K on the clock. I have replaced the ML amp and have a rear door lock actuator that isn’t working. Other than that, nothing else has gone wrong. I did have a tracking problem, took it back to the tire shop where I bought the last set of tires. They checked it over, rebalanced the rubber and told me that the tires really needed 40 PSI. They didn’t care what the door sticker said, told me to run 40 PSI. I thought I would humor them before shopping for another set. To my surprise, 40 PSI was the magic number. It made an entirely different car out of it. The tracking problem is fixed.

I work in a law firm as the IT guy. The Attorneys I work with drive a mix of ‘Benz, Bimmers and Audis. All of der German cars have one thing in common, they all spend a LOT of time at the dealerships service department, and the bills are breath taking to say the least. When I bought my GS, a number of them said I was nuts for buying a car that the closest dealership is 140 miles away. Only thing is, with the exception of the 90K service, I have never really needed a Lexus dealer.

I was at the senior partners home (mansion) working on his personal computer system. In his garage was a beautiful S550 ‘Benz. He asked me about my GS and told me that his ‘Benz had spent so much time at the dealerships service department that it was within one day of qualifying for the Washington State lemon law! It had left his wife stranded so many times she refused to drive it. I offered him 5K, since he paid around 90K for it, he was not amused.
Sorry you are having problems with your GS but I think your car is an exception rather than the rule.

 

I want the OP to go buy a German car and report back after a year...

 

Dang . . . . I know Lexus and Toyota is not always perfect my friends avalon had a handful of problems more than what people have posted on here about GS's. I dont know what to say but you need to find a mechanic that will tell you the truth and wouldnt get you for your money. . . .Shops see Lexus they see someone with money. . . . .My uncle owns a shop he works on every car company and he has always told me never get a german car. He said it will start to have problems 100K and up. He worked for Acura/Honda and Toyota. He told me never go to a dealer cause they never have just one person work on your car, so if one mechanic leaves for lunch someone else takes over and they wont know where they left off. He is told to take your time on fixing cars so they can charge for more labor time and not everyone is highly qualified o fix cars there. They save money by not hiring highly qualified mecs. they pick them up from freshly graduated colleges. My friend is a honda head and he does not know crap about cars. He went to UTI and still dont know crap about cars. He knows what he was told, now he works at a Nissan Dealership. MAITA NISSAN Sacramento. He fixes cars there and he always tells me that he thinks he messed up on someones car today. . .he forgets if he did the right job for every car he gets it confused sometimes in what to do to the car he gets next . . . I feel bad for people who get their cars fix there. WARRANTY FORSURE if i get a nissan.

 

What do you know,wife came home today and now i noticed my driver side headlight is out.lol. This is becoming comical

 

How about doing some maintenance on the car rather then *****ing and whining about it on the forums? It's almost a 10 year old car.

Most people that buy similar cars go through 5 German cars in a decade because they get so many problems.

 

S500? Why just not go all the way for an SL500, say 2003 model year. LOL A friend of mine grabbed an 03 SL500 3 years back. Oh boy, did he ever enjoy his car. With 70K on it, he had to replace transmission. Rubber seals leaked causing his trunk to fill up with water after each ride in the rain. Air springs would raise and drop the car while driving on their own. Door key wouldn't open/close the door. Had to buy new key and then a computer component for the car. Rusted through both rear wheel wells (6 year old car at that time) . Now that the 3 joyful years have passed the transmission needs to be replaced again. He says he will never drive anything else besides MB. What do I know. But I did own a convertible BMW with 135K on it had a slew of problems. Transmission, leaking coolant, roof not working and getting stack 1/2 way. Sensors would go bad so often and trigger check engine light that only cost effective solution was to finally take the bulb out. I bet 1/2 of the bimmers out there are driving with bad o2 sensors with the bulbs taken out of the dashboard. Anyway, I'm on my 3rd Lexus now and no major problems, and you should see some of the ***** I do to those cars. I did however changed all 3 o2 sensors on my GS few years back. 2 bad about your car though.

 

How about you read my post and see that i keep up with regular maintenance and stop being a fanboy of a brand and acting like the CEO of Lexus is your blood or something.

 

On a more serious note though,

Stories like this are extremely common. There is a good reason German cars get such a bad reputation; because stories like this are shared by the majority of German car owners. Some love their cars enough to deal with it, some get different cars. But the point is, poor German reliability is nothing new.

What I don't understand is how one guy (OP) can come on here and because he got a few rattles and other small issues with his car he will go all out and bash Toyota and Lexus reliability. We have no idea how that car was treated and/or whether it was properly maintained. Judging by his reaction to a burnt light bulb, my money says he doesn't know anything about cars in general. Go buy a new bulb. It doesn't mean your car is bad. It doesn't mean all Toyotas and all Lexus is bad or garbage.

By posting this type of crap you are being silly and immature.

 

Did you honestly think that a car that is ten years old will be trouble free? Not even Toyota or Lexus can make a trouble-free car. NOBODY makes a trouble free car. Compared to competitor brands your car is extremely reliable. You wouldn't know anything about that since you only see one side of the story.

 

To the OP just sell the GS and buy a crotchrocket

I hear they come with airbags now

 

107,000 miles to start having problems doesn't sound too bad. BMW's and Benz's start having problems after 3 years. Go buy one of those and tell me how you feel lol

 

sorry to hear about that...

I could be wrong but it sounds like you were just throwing parts at the car following the dealer/shops' advise in hopes that it will be a new car again.
I'm not sure if you have tried other dealerships/shops (or willing to give it another shot) but you might want to make a thread in your local section.

whatever you decide to do, good luck

 

Milellie why don't you just sell the POS and move onto a old Benz, leave us FANBOY's alone..


6 Lex's with high mileage that have been nothing but good to me, sorry if that makes me a fanboy, i've been very happy with my Lex's, sorry you haven't..


What do you want from this thread, sympathy? It really sucks all these issues popped up on you all at once like that, for the love of god just move onto to another car then..

 

Enough with the personal rude commentary please. This is a Lexus enthusiasts forum and you can't exclude those who prefer the brand and don't share your experience (or concern for the level of issues you have described in a 9 y.o. vehicle) from posting as long as they are polite and mature as well.

Let's keep it that way everyone,or do not reply.

 

I think any car manufacturer will have some lemons in the bunch and sounds like you were unfortunate to get one. Ive only had my GS for a year so haven't had any issues but my 4runner w 150K hasn't given me any problems. GL with whatever you choose..