I recently had the valve spring/piston rings job done on GS300. The car is not running better than it was before I let them do this work. I paid $565 of the repair bill and Lexus covered the majority of the cost as goodwill. I don't want to hassle anymore with taking my car back and forth to the dealer as they claim the car is fine, but I know its not.

So, I am thinking maybe I will trade in my 06 GS300, with 93k miles on it and try for a 2008 GS460 with 51k miles. The GS460 is CPO and lexus dealer is asking $29,888. Who knows I might be able to get them to come down a bit more on their asking price. I ran the VIN history on the GS460 on Lexus.com site, and I see the PO also had the valve springs/piston ring work done as part of the campaign and it was done back in 2011. So, I know its a gamble. Only difference is the 08 is CPO so at least it has warranty.

Opinions?

 

Have you considered what you would get for a trade in? Not sure if that matters to you but, personally i wouldn't want to pay that much of a difference for the same car, even though i know they drive totally different (300vs460).

have you tried taking this car to a different dealership to check this issue?

 

I would trade it in for the 460.

 

Yeah, the trade in value on the GS300 is low, only about $16k if I am lucky. Carmax offered me $16k, but not sure what a Lexus dealer would offer, I imagine less.

And, you raise a good point, I'd basically be driving the same style car.

I did take it a dealer closer to my home but they to were unable to duplicate the issues I described.

 

That's a good price for an 08 GS 460 with 51K miles. Go for it.

 

Well, I visited the dealer where I found the reasonably priced GS460. To my amazement and shock the Lexus dealer offered me $10k on my GS300. Needless to say I walked away, and believe me they tried to stop me and keep me talking, but I ignored them and left. I plan to keep my car for now, keeping my fingers crossed that it will be okay.

 

$10K? What a joke!

 

Thats a pretty good trade in value if you consider the miles. Very close to what you would get on a private party transaction.

 

If you really want the 460, why don't you just sell the 06 to Carmax and put the 16k towards the new car?

I think 10k is really low also.

 

I would have laughed and then left like you did. That was a low ball as they always start low and then work up. the price is alright probably try to sell oon your own then purchase the GS 460.

 

$10k is such an insult! $16k doesn't sound that bad for an '06 GS300 w/ 94k miles. I'd do through Carmax and then lowball the dealer that has the $29k GS460

 

So being that I was still was interested in the GS460, perfect color combo silver on black, clean, and priced right, I decided to email the used sales manager to share my feedback with how my first visit turned out back on May 1. He invited me back to talk to him directly. So I figured it won't hurt, plus I was bothered becaues I have bought from this dealer before. I didn't bother to mention that during my recent visit, it just didn't come to mind and I was pissed about the $10k trade in offer.

I went back to the dealer on May 10, and the GS460's price had been lowered by $500, so now
$29388. When I saw the sales manager I immediately recognized that he was the sales guy who sold me two cars about 6 years ago from the same dealer. I didn't remember/recognize his name when I emailed him, but I recognized the face and he also remembered me from before. So we talked and BS'd eachother for a while, and I told him what went down on May 1st. He laughed when I told him the sales guy offered me $10k on my GS300. Turns out the sales guy is new and he shouldn't have been left alone to deal with me or any other customer w/out a expierenced person helping him. Who knows, probably some BS he's feeding me. Apparently they didn't show anything to the sales manager regarding my credit, the application, my info, nothing. He had no idea I was there back on May 1.

I told him I wanted $16k for my trade and I gave him the appraisal offer from CarMax which was already 10 days old. As you know the carmax offers are only good for 7 days. His initial response was sorry, can't do it and offered me $15400 for my trade, and said the GS460 price would remain at $29388 because it was priced as low as they would let it go.

I was there about two and a half hours and drove out in the GS460. Final price not including tax was $28588, I got the $16k for my trade, put it towards the GS460; 4 free oil changes, I tried for year but they wouldn't budge anymore. New floor mats. I noticed on the CPO certificate the rear brakes/rotors were replaced, and the front had 7mm left, but the front were squealing during the test drive so they included new front brakes and rotors. I also noticed they had put on 4 new Pirelli tires to replace the runflat Dulop's, so new tires to boot!

I know some may say I still paid too much, but I think it was a good deal, I got a good interest for the balance since Lexus was offereing special rates on CPO purchases.

Time to change my profile name, LOL!

 

Good buy, I wish I can find some deals like that!

 

Congrats. Looks like your persistance & patience paid off. One to post up some pictures.

 

Thanks guys. I know its the same body style but there is definitely a difference in the drive with the v8 and 8 speed tranny, which takes some getting used too. its a much better drive and the sounds of the v8 is awesome. Absolutely no dash rattles which is the first thing I looked for, but I also noticed on the history that the PO had the dash rattles issue fixed. I'll post some pics soon.