leica

New to the forums, and hopefully I'll be around in the future to be a contributor, but first I need to find the right car.

I have narrowed down my car search for my wife to a Lexus GS or LS, with the GS starting to pull ahead in terms of what I need. The 2nd gen GS falls perfectly into my parameters being a RWD sedan, reliable with higher miles, and in my price range (around 6 to 7k). Parts cost and availability also matter, and from what I have seen the GS parts run about the same costs as my Camry which is good, and also it seems there are plenty of them. Please correct me if I am wrong here, I have just done some rockauto browsing and things look good so far but I may have missed some things.....Like some important parts that are NLA.

So what I need to do now is figure out the details which is why I came here. I'm getting ready to start looking at cars and I need to know what to look for to make sure I'm getting the best car for my money. I know all the basics, but if there are years that are better than others I'd like to know which ones and why. Also if there are any common issues I need to be aware of and budget for right away so I can use that in negotiations.

So far I have two cars I'm interested in, a blue '04 with 150k for 5 grand and a white '01 with 140k miles for 6 grand, and I will probably be going to look at them this coming weekend. So until then, I would like to arm myself with as much information as possible so I can get get the best possible car for my money. I'm not really in a hurry and I'm willing to wait for the right car to come along....I may be even willing to travel!

Any advice on these cars will be greatly appreciated, hope to be a GS owner soon!

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

Get the 2005. Watch for door lock actuators and I don't think anything past 2003 had lower ball joint problems. I guess also look for valve cover gasket leaks (an easy fix) and make sure to drive at high speeds to see if there are any vibrations or noises over bumps. Some people have nightmares with the suspension (sometimes ends up being something super simple, tire rotation/balance or sway bar bushings) other times it'll be all new control arms. Being a 2005, you probably won't have to deal with these things. Also look to see if the timing belt has been done. I wasn't a DIY person till I got this car, but I'll be honest it is extremely easy to work on especially the 300.

My car is a 2002 with 135k miles and I can't see myself selling it when everything is sorted. I've had periods where I hated this car (mainly frustration from the suspension that ended up being the cheapest fix, and a rattling at idle that ended up being a vacuum line hitting the firewall, but it was never anything that made me question driving the car any distance. I drove 1000 miles in 2 days back and forth from Buffalo to Richmond last week and the car was great, even got 27 mpg and at the end of the trip, could have gone another 1000 miles. Sum it all up, buy the 2005, make sure all the door locks work, the timing belt has been changed, it doesn't shake at speed, and you have at least one master key (with buttons). It's expensive to get one if you done have one already. Good luck

leica

Thanks. The newer one is an '04 but it close enough I guess. The only issue I have without even seeing the car yet is it's being sold by a dealer under the guise of "by owner" on CL. I asked him for the VIN but haven't gotten it yet. He also doesn't speak english well so it's kind of hard to understand him.....He did admit he was a dealer when i asked him though.

The '01 owner says he bought it for his daughter but she lost her license, and wasn't very clear on how long he owned the car. Asked for and haven't received a VIN from him either, so I guess I'll see how this plays out in the next few days. Not even going to waste my time without a VIN.

Interesting about the suspension issues, but I can handle that, I can replace control arms all day long. As long as there aren't any drivetrain issues I should be ok as long as the suspension parts are available and not too expensive.

[edit] The lock actuators should be a relatively easy fix as well, correct? Are the parts available?

lextout

make sure its a V8, you wont regret it.

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

My bad, it was late ha. As for the door lock actuators there are a few diys on here, but I've been lucky enough not to have never done them.

leica

The V8's I've seen so far have been pretty ragged out, the 300's I've seen are much nicer.....How much of a difference is there between the two? I imagine the fuel economy isn't much different because the GS300 is right on par with the LS which is very strange to me.

I know this is the GS forum, but how do they compare to the LS overall?

leica

So is it safe to say I should budget for a front end rebuild on these cars approaching 150k?

Think I'm going to start a thread in the LS forum as well for comparisons, but it looks like parts availability for the GS is much better and cheaper. Does anyone have experience with both cars for an accurate comparison?

liazon

iTrader: (1)

The following is my opinion.

Having just spent 4 months looking at a ton of GS's and LS's for the right car, I can say that you'll find an LS in great shape long before you find a GS. There are plenty of good LS's out there. They cater to a more conservative owner which in many instances may have equated to softer driven, garage kept cars that were fully dealer maintained, at least during the first half of their lifespan. That said, you will be hard pressed to find a good example of either for less than $8k.

(Not to be condescending but to be honestly helpful, if you don't have that to spend, buy a Toyota, they are simpler machines that do the job perfectly well on a budget.)

So, on to the TIPS:
1. Maintenance records are key. No records, no deal. Any owner who spends his hard earned money taking care of something he loves is going to keep records.

2. Check for any Lexus vehicle's dealer records using the VIN# at the following website (you need to sign up but its free):

https://secure.drivers.lexus.com/lex...serviceHistory

3. Check the door actuators (as mentioned herein, failure is common and not cheap to fix)
4. Check the the steering wheel column motor for any grinding (expensive to fix)
3. Check that all the glass says Lexus or Toyota and that there isn't any paint over spray in the door jambs, tire wells, or engine bay (signs of sub par repair work)
4. The front end parts are going to fail on any car somewhere between 90k and 150k. Drive the car in tight circles going both directions, drive it over bumps, if it doesn't squeak or grind, you are probably good to go.
5. You'll want verifiable paperwork on the critical timing belt service or plan on budgeting for your own service after you buy it. I found many, many people were selling just as an expensive service interval was coming up.

Happy Hunting,

leica

Wow thanks man, that's just the kind of info i need. I actually just found another GS300, '05 one owner, 80k miles and he's asking $9500. If the guy has records and the VIN checks out I think this may be the one, crossing fingers.

I kinda knew I'd have to write off the other ones because one was a dealer who had no clue of the history, and the other guy was kinda sketchy about his explanations of how long he had it and why he was selling it. My gut feeling was off and it's usually right, hopefully this '05 will pan out.

I think you're right about not getting a decent one under 8k from what I've seen so far, just gonna have to up my budget which is ok as long as i get a good car.

The only thing that has me kinda leery about the LS is the whole control arm issue at $500 a piece for OEM, what other parts are going to rape me over time? My wife will be using it for an hour commute each way so the miles are going to add up relatively quickly.

sbagdon

+1. Harder to find a good example, yet in for a penny, in for a pound. And when the gas gets expensive, I just drive the Camry I4 5sp. Had a Japanese V8 sedan itch, finally scratched it.

leica

Well the '05 was sold so much for that. Since I've increased my budget I may as well start looking at 3rd Gen cars as well....Are the 3rd gen GS300s a waste of time compared to the 350?

Still on the lookout, may take some time but I'm going to be patient.

Brahms

Can you explain more about this, and how to test?

Scraape

x2 for the Gs400! or try to get a Gs430!

MattyG

I agree with the other posters about things to watch out for but....

I would be seriously careful about just plopping down cash on a low miler, just because it's a low miler. IMHO you're over-paying here to ridiculous heights if you think that a GS300 is worth in the nine's.

Heck even the flagship LS from those years is going to depreciate heavily in a few months when the 2017 model comes out. Honestly, you need to figure out why you would want a GS vs an LS, or even a Lexus over something else. The ideal candidates at your budget has got to be a 400 and after that a 430.

sbagdon

The LS/GS/SC meet such different market segments, not sure how they would get confused. When I got serious about getting a 400, the LS fell off in a few minutes... just didn't like the look of the sedan. The SC was a good idea, yet need 4 doors. The GS still holds it's own styling-wise, much better then other stuff from the late '90s. Then it was a matter of finding the right unit based on value.