olsker

Hey all,

Been lurking here for a little bit and respect the community so I'm curious about your thoughts. Here's the bullet points on the GS I'm looking at purchasing (potentially later this week).

• 2006 GS300, RWD, no navi, no backup camera, no premium sound
• just under 40k miles, one owner
• clean body, clean interior
• 20k purchase price

I've always loved the style of the 3rd gen GSs but I'm a little worried about the whole misfire fiasco. I've read a couple of threads on here about the pain (in the ***) it's caused several community members and I don't wanna spend 20k to buy a headache.

Anyway, your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

-olsk

LoveThatV8

iTrader: (1)

The title of this thread seems a bit off, thought you meant by shooting at a 2006 GS300 with a firearm, and then I saw a profile picture of a firearm... then I read it thoroughly and now I get what your saying. Haha, I do have a tactical remington 870 marine magnum and thinking about building a AR .308 but with modding a 2006 GS430 that has nav and back up camera, I rather chose modding the GS and saving for a house. There's threads like yours similar to yours that has been made like less than a week ago. Keep researching my friend cause too many cases like yours, lol all I can say is that I love it. I wanted a V8 so I kept searching, till I found mines two months ago. I can not say nothing bad and like many threads i've commented like yours, its great!!!

Just aim for nav and back up cam, you should be able to find them under 20k, i'm in California as well so keep searching my friend, worth having one, I sacrificed using my wife's scion Tc for a good 6 months since I got into an accident and waited to search for a lexus gs, merced cla45, and audi s4. I was sold when I test drove my gs430. Lol, and there's slim to none if you're mentioning about "pain". I've been a fan of lexus/toyota eversince and i'm glad i've chose this car to play with.

TRD_Power

Seems a bit high on the asking price if you ask me... You could probably get a fully loaded one with a little higher mileage for quite a bit less. Keep up the search, you'll eventually find the right one.

olsker

thanks for the input guys. i'm gonna keep looking.

cheers.

mindcrime

iTrader: (2)

seems high for a GS 300. i'd just get an 08 GS 350 or 430/460. kinda hard to find in SoCAl, but if you see one with NAV and backup Camera, jump on it. anything between 70k to 90k miles should be fine. my 07 has 88K miles

TRD_Power

Got my '08 460 with only 16k, fully loaded, for $29,300 just 6 months ago. Might help put it into perspective.

darinmg

Paid $24K for my 2007 gs430 loaded with everything a year ago. Had 55K miles, and well cared for. Not a steal, but I'm happy with it. These v8s that are nice don't come up for sale often.

olsker

Thanks for the replies ppl!

Just went and test drove the '06 for the hell of it. Did the 4kRPM (30secs) to 6kRPM to idle and definitely had shaky idle (probably misfires but I don't know for sure). The whole care kind of shuttered and the needle dipped below 400RPM and almost stalled! Checked the VIN w/ mylexus.com and saw a bunch of SSC work but nothing that specifically ID'd the piston ring/valve spring issue. Gonna confirm w/ Lexus tomorrow whether the work was done or not but I strongly suspect it wasn't.

In any event, with all of your helpful posts, my own limited research and the misfire experiment, it appears I'm best off skipping this one. Really was hoping to bang out a square deal and drive home in that sweet looking ride tonight.

In an interesting (not really) turn of events, my g/f and I ended up test driving an '07 ES350 w/ 28k miles on it and REALLY liked it. It had all the bells and whistles (panorama moon roof, luxury pckg stuff, super soft leather, mark levinson etc. AND an AUX output which is SUPER important) and the girlie fell in love. 23k purchase price firm. Meh. Now I have to decide between an angry/sad g'f and if I want to feel like I'm driving a dressed up version of my mom's Camry.

HELP!!!!

P.S. To put this into perspective for y'all, I currently drive a '96 Ford Taurus to and from work every day (~70mi) and on weekends we only use my lady's '08 Scion tC. Sound familiar LoveThatV8?? LOL!! Anything I buy is going to be a step in the right direction...

LoveThatV8

iTrader: (1)

Uhmmm yeah sounds familiar, lol... From time to time, im just tryin to convince her to put mild drop springs on her Tc but it's not working. At some point in time down the road, I want her to trade it in for an IS350, but she claims that a WRX is safer and wants that one (wtf??? Lol the subby commercials got to her) but I don't mind.

Back to your OP and last, the ES imo is a rebadged Toyota Avalon, but fwd configuration isn't my thing so if you and your lady is happy with it... then cheers! Judging from your comment on you feeling it's like your moms (lol your mom) dressed-up version of a Camry, you're right! Keep searching my friend, lots of GS out there to look at other than the rough idle that you test drove. Goodluck!

darinmg

That is not a good price on the ES....IMO. Keep looking. Patience pays off

TRD_Power

I'm actually a big fan of that generation ES. Drove one a while back and I agree, it's definitely a comfortable car with plenty of bells and whistles. I'd have no shame in snagging one of those up one day You can DEFINITELY do better on the price though.

warandcar

i like the ES also… not a fan of all the interior plastic though..

sr20mofo

iTrader: (10)

you're willing to drop 20k on an 06??? theres plenty of 08 fully loaded for that range, expand your search to 300miles since you're in cali. trust me when i say its worth it to drive a lil further to get that specific car rather than settle for one thats near your area