Hi gents, i found a black/black 2011 with 71K for $15.5K. This is an AWD version. Clean carfax with 2 owners.
Wondering if this is a decent price. Are there any major items i should be worried soon at this age and mileage?

Thanks

 

Seems like a pretty good price to me. I just bought a clean 2 owner, well maintained 2009 Blk GS350 AWD w/90K mi. here in WI back in January for $13.8K. Mine has quite a few options including factory 18in GSpider wheels but it doesn't have the ML sound system.

Here's a list of check items that someone else posted a while back that I saved for future reference.For the mechanic, the list is huge but here are few things that might worth checking for:
1. coolant leaks at the water pump + coolant pressure test (important)
2. Check all speakers and crank the volume up, make sure they all sound good
3. Visual check for exhaust leaks
4. Visual check for struts leaks
5. Visual check for oil leaks
6. Check for any scanner error codes (important)
7. Visual check for accidents, rust, chassis condition (important) 8. Check for oil level and oil sticker and see if the level is low comparing to how many miles it was driven since the last change (important)
8. Check for oil level and oil sticker and see if the level is low comparing to how many miles it was driven since the last change (important)
9. Drive the car and check for suspension noises when driving and turning
10. Check tire condition and see if the inner part is wearing equally to the outer part
11. Check for smooth transmission shifting (important)
12. Check if the car RPM is steady when idling (should be at 600-800 RPM)
13. Ask the owner when did he change spark plugs as it should be done every 60K?
14. Get carfax report (it’s well worth it) and if the car has lots of owners then you know that whoever buys it, tries to get rid of it because of serious issues (important).

 

I paid 12.8K for 91K. There were some scratches and paint issues. 2 Owners, 1 minor accident (door replaced because of a train of shopping carts rolling into it, saw a pic). Had all records 5k OCIs. You can check the stickers on the doors and body panels to see if all is original.I don't worry about scratches, I parked next to a new Mercedes with a new car inspection sticker (can't be more than a year old) and it had a long obvious scratch over two doors. A new car becomes old once you drive it off the lot.

Very very minor rust but for upstate NY that is the best I've seen on any car that age. The rust is at the liftpoints. I"m going to fluid film the car before next winter. Had brand new but not famous tires (great in dry, but I'll need snows).

Mechanically I believe it is perfect. I changed the plugs when I got it. I was looking for quite a while and I found mostly 07-08s for around that price. I just put GS in CL and there are almost no Gen 3s! found a guy selling an 2006 GS 300 for 9K. It is not an easy car to find.
https://nwct.craigslist.org/cto/d/20...540390319.html

Here is an 09 with No Nav, No BT, wants 10.9k 136K miles (just about double yours)
https://westernmass.craigslist.org/c...567808280.html

At 71K I seriously doubt there are issues, it is just broken in. Also, for free, you can check mycarfax (gives service history).

Check out MyLexus website, it will have all the info for the VIN. Add the Vehicle like it was yours.

 

You're right, for any given area, there are not very many Gen3's available, and finding one that has been well cared for is even harder.

 

In July 2017 I paid $22K for a 2011 GS350 AWD with only 15,000 actual miles on it. This cars sat on a car dealership for more than two years--just because the CarFax showed there had been an accident. Apparently the previous owner had reported some problem with it accelerating on its own and they hit a curb or something too hard. Of course, the air bags didn't deploy. I cannot find any damage whatsoever, and I have been over the car inch by inch several times. So don't put complete confidence in the CarFax. I ended up getting a great car because everybody else thought it was damaged. Yes, I had to pay a bit higher than others, but I wanted a super low-mileage car. This is a spectacular car and I am grateful every day to have it.

 

thanks for the inputs guys. From visual pictures, it looks very clean inside out and it's being sold by actual Lexus dealership. The car is 200 miles away so hopefully it's still available when i have time to take a trip there to inspect it in person this weekend.

 

I'm very picky with cars and I don't think you can do better than this car. Sure - there are more boring cars around that are probably reliable but nothing with this level of safety, toys and reliability. And find a bad review? You won't. All modern cars have turbo and direct injection that gums up valves. Lots of issues down the line. All these cars were also recalled and new VVTs installed.
These cars are actually branded as "Toyota Crown Athlete" in other places around the world. They just change the grille. They are used for Taxi and Police (like a Crown Victoria), so they are built very tough. The suspension looks very durable and almost new on my car. The springs don't have rust, which is amazing. Only beef is the exhaust system, they cheap out on the steel pipes.

I also think the AWD is pretty remarkable - it is not far from a Truck based SUV. I believe it has center differential - that isn't the crappy viscous clutch based design that wears out like Ford puts in their new cars.

So, for this price, you are essentially getting something that you would spend at least 40K new. Any big sedan with options is going to cost that.

 

the awd is the best system out there better than most trucks in snow; hit the snow button and it turns into a tank, hit the the power button it turns into a bullet......extremely high torque

 

 

I kind of like RWD based systems, what we have is very similar to a truck. Our transmission (A760F) in installed in Tundras meant to tow heavy loads. They only add a cooling system on the truck. If that could be added to our cars the trans would probably last forever.

In other words very heavy duty :lol:. http://shop.ukrtrans.biz/wp-content/...logs/A760E.pdf

Many "Quattro" setups are Haldex, same as what you get on a Ford or Volvo : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haldex_Traction. Haldex is crap, I know on Fords the PTO transfer case burns up if you drive hard.
Maybe their expensive sedans use the real quattro system, but Audi is notoriously unreliable.

The SH-AWD is a good system. but Honda is always FWD based. Some of the later models bias more towards the rear.

 

ive had audi no were as good as lexus in the snow ,once you hit that button on a gs game over..........even with crappy tires