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Looking at an 08 350, edit: bought it, pics inside
Hello everyone, I originally joined this site planning to pick up an IS350, but now that I have the money, the ones I can find are not worth the money. This car is going to be my DD, travelling 150 miles a day to/from work. That in mind I've looked at plenty of IS350's, but either couldn't make the money work, or they weren't worth what the owners were asking (branded titles usually). As I did this I found quite a few GS's, but they were bigger and I wasn't sure I wanted one, then I drove one the other day. Now I'm sold that if I can't find a good IS for the money I'm spending, a GS is nicer and nearly as quick, and still fun to drive.
That said, I went to look at an 08 350 AWD in a dark charcoal gray. Black leather interior, equipped with nav, 3 position memory, park sensors, and I'm sure more. The small dealer that has it just barely got it on trade, and the Carfax is clean, although it shows a minor rear end accident 3 years ago. When I test drove I went over the rear end with a fine tooth comb, but it is straight and body gaps are right. Overall paint is in very good condition, with only a few minor scratches in places, most of which appear to be shallow enough I can buff them out. Wheels show minor curb rash, tires are around 3k miles on them, based on the Carfax report on when they were installed. Drives nice, no noticeable noises, no warning lights, leather appears to be in very nice condition, and seat heaters were functional, I didn't test the coolers. Touch screen seemed to respond normally. It doesn't have the ML audio, and as I said I didn't have time to check all the options that it is equipped with, but it appears to have the HID's, and headlights were fairly clear.
At the end of all this long rambling, are there any problem areas, things of concern that I need to check? They are asking well below high book, and right in my price range of no more than 8k. I've owned Toyota's in the past, and I've had great luck with them, so I'm hoping that this will be good until 300k at least. Just want to check any problem areas before jumping in, things like I know on IS's to check the area around the amp for water intrusion, any issues like that I need to be aware of? Any concerns with the AWD system longevity, or wear parts to check?
You didnt say how many miles are on the GS? I used to own an IS and upgraded to a GS awhile back, both are really great cars. The IS does have issues with the interior melting that the GS does not have. Over all the GS is basically the same vehicle but just add an inch or two wider inside and out. I own a 08 gs350 awd and im at 175k miles and so far its been really great. Its a great highway cruiser!
Things to look for is to have the water pump replaced at 90k miles, they are cheap less then $100 for an aisan brand (aisan is owned by toyota) on ebay or rockauto. It takes 2-3 hours to install! Other than that its rock solid car, go for it.
If you plan on adding sport springs or lowering the car I would avoid awd's as they do not like to be lowered.
Keeping it stock, and I can't believe I forgot the mileage, it's at about 167k right now. Carfax showed water pump replacement about 100k, and around 65 maintenance records which I haven't gone completely through yet. It also showed at least one trans fluid service at ~64k.
MMR (real time auction prices) for that car with that mileage average is $5,600.00 add auction fees and other fees I would say $6,500-7,000.00 is what its worth retail. So 8k is a bit much for that amount of mileage.
Also those are not the original wheels to the car, those are 2006-07 3GS wheels. More likely original owner used them for winter tires, but seems like a nice clean car
No, I said sub-8k, in this case they are asking 7k, so right at retail, but I don't have access to MMR so I have always gone by NADA values. Most likely I'll push it down to like 7.5k all in out the door, if I move forward with this one. I could also just wait a bit longer, I just hate putting all the miles on my wife's car, plus I hate driving the thing.
Right now is the best time of the year to buy, after a month or two prices will shoot up for tax season. tghw does have a point of the high miles on the car! Engine and transmission are both pretty much solid on these cars but you dont know if the alternator or starter has been replaced. These wear items could bite you in the butt and leave you stranded 150 miles away. If you need mmr prices just shoot me a message ill look it up for you
Miles are a bit of a concern, but for what I can afford, I'm going to be in the 130-160k range anyway. Starter and alternator don't worry me, my drive round trip is 150, and I have family with flatbeds nearby if needed. I've only needed it once, and that was after I hit an antelope a couple of years ago. I'm still looking, it's sad that just a couple of months ago, before I had enough cash, there were dozens in the range I'm looking with lower miles than this one, now almost none. Thanks everyone for the replies.
Miles are a bit of a concern, but for what I can afford, I'm going to be in the 130-160k range anyway. Starter and alternator don't worry me, my drive round trip is 150, and I have family with flatbeds nearby if needed. I've only needed it once, and that was after I hit an antelope a couple of years ago. I'm still looking, it's sad that just a couple of months ago, before I had enough cash, there were dozens in the range I'm looking with lower miles than this one, now almost none. Thanks everyone for the replies.
Be patient and always look for deals on craigslist you can use searchtemptest.com to give you better results. Also look for lower miles that are priced out of your budget, maybe those cars sat on the market for awhile by offering them something in your price range, because you never know.
There are a couple that I know have been there for a while, I'll probably go check them out this weekend. Hard to do when you work all afternoon, but I'll just keep looking.
I got my 08’ 350 with about 123k on the clock.
Took me about 5 months to find the one I wanted
I’d watch out for maintenance records. ALL fluids!
check condition of struts and try to get it up in the air and look unddrneath.
So, after lots more test driving and checking out other manufacturers, as well as a few more IS and GS, I decided to make an offer on this that makes a bit more sense. They accepted the offer contingent on them completing a safety inspection for me today. I'll swing over on my lunch and verify it, but I offered 7k out the door, which puts my purchase price around 6k after taxes and such. The miles are a bit high, but with the miles I put on this car I am not too concerned, it should honestly last at least 2-3 years, or about 100k miles. If this was for the family I'd likely find something with much lower miles and more money, but this is a daily driver that I'm hopeful will hold together for a while. The maintenance records on Carfax are so thorough that it gives me a bit of peace of mind. It will be tomorrow morning before I actually pick it up, but I'm a bit excited about this one.
Went over to the dealer at lunch and they were just getting ready to lower it off the lift. This gave me a chance to get underneath, as well as discuss issues with the mechanic that was doing the inspection. The only "issues" would be the front pads are about 1/2 life, so they will need to be done in the next few months, easy enough in my garage with my tools. Outside of that I asked the mechanic if he would feel comfortable with his family in this car, and he replied "absolutely". Passed emissions and inspection and we are set for pickup tomorrow morning. At the very least, I'll be comfortable until it blows up. Honestly it seems like a decent car, especially for my purposes.
Exhaust can rot out by the heat sheilds, but can be repaired for under $100 if you find a professional muffler shop.
Yup I forgot about the heat shield! Its only with the AWD's, Its best to jack up the car and remove them off of the mid pipe. If you dont remove them, the mid pipe will rot and you will have holes in the exhaust tube. Very easy to cut off the tin shield, 10mm nut usually they are rusted, just cut them with angle grinder or even twist them off with plyers like what i did, next remove the fiberglass wrap thats on it as that traps moisture. Especially in winter time those shields collect water.
01-09-19, 05:33 PM
Looking at an 08 350, edit: bought it, pics inside
