Lintie

Hi Everyone,

A good friend of mine owns a 2005 GX470 that he purchased new and has taken extremely good care of the vehicle since new. It currently has 130,000 KM (Roughly 85k Miles) and he just replaced the timing chain and water pump (Also 4 new tires) a couple months ago.

He called me yeaterday to say that he is looking at buying a new one and wanted to know if I was interested in his being I showed interest in his vehicle awhile ago (mainly because he takes such good care of his vehicles). A lot of the miles are from him driving from Vancouver Island to Socal every winter.

He said he wants $20k Cdn for the vehicle and im curious if thats a fair price. I have seen a few for sale so far but the prices do vary a bit. He has never had any work done on the vehicle except for what was recently done, regular service and recalls. What are some major things to look for?? I have researched a few things here and it seems like leaking rads and a clunking sound from under the vehicle are a couple of the most common things......Anything else??

Thanks in advance for any input and on a side note any input on what they are worth in USD is helpfull being the dollar is on par and I could always work that angle with him.

RCsGX

In my area that would probably sell for $20-$23K, probably on the higher side to be honest. They sell pretty quick around here.

Check the suspension, check the dash to make sure there are no cracks and crank the radio to see if the speakers surrounds have come apart.

Im sure others will chime in shorty. Good luck!

cdew002

I bought my 2004 2 years ago with 85,000 miles on it for $21,500 - it was very similar to the one you are considering (highway miles, excellent condition). The 2005 has a few slight upgrades over the 2004.

I have been very pleased with my purchase, but I don't know the exchange rate for Cdn to the US dollar, so I can't help you there.

cdew002

Also, mine did not have the 90k mile service completed prior to purchase.

clubsport

if he's a really good friend tell him you need a friend's purchase price and see how much he can come down on it... but otherwise a well taken care of car is worth the higher price

ROSCOGX470

$20k is a good price. My 04 with 90k miles loaded with nav is worth $20k

clubsport

ur right man... but a friend's sale price should be a little more favorable because of the ease of transaction... i would seriously take a hit on $1k if the sale could be made with absolutely zero hassle...

clubsport

and also, the 04 and 05 models have less than a $1k value difference, when you go to 06, the difference is over $4k from 05 to 06, and $3k from 06 to 07, so it seems the 03 04 05 are much less valued than the 2006 up, that's why i got mine 2004 for so cheap...

Nostics_RX

The biggest mystery when buying a used car is how well the car was taken care of. Since you know the car was maintained very well, you're already in good shape. Just get a fair price, 20K sounds like a good price. Last month, I bought an 05 GX470 73K miles, Sports Pack, NAV, ML, Rear Entertainment, KDSS, Tow package for 23K. I'm loving this LUV right now.
Do you know what options/package come with this GX? Good luck.

Lintie

I have been noticing this also in my research. I am probably wrong but I thought there wasnt any change from the 05-06 but a more significant change from the 04-05's. If so you would thing the bigger price difference would be between the 04 and 05's.

I remember when he bought it brand new and I agree that the history of the vehicle is important.

I was just talking to him yesterday and it is fully loaded, Sport pkg, Nav, rear entertainment, towing pkg, etc. He did the 90K mile (130000 KM) maintenance early as he was heading south last fall for the winter. So he confirmed yesterday that it has the timing belt, waterpump, brakes and even new tires installed. He did mention that they where going to replace the rad but they had to order it in and he couldnt wait.

Im going to have to research this rad issue but I think the dealer may of been trying to sell him services he didnt need. They said the rad was "sweating" but im not sure if they meant leaking or what......so they did the worse thing possible IMO and put some kind of rad treatment into the vehicle to prevent leaking (being he couldnt wait for the rad on order). I do have a mechanic background (restore old cars etc) and if it was "Bars-Leaks" they put in, it worries me as I have had that stuff plug up heater cores etc and its usually a cheap fix that only creates future problems,,,,What do you guys think??

Thanks again everyone for your input and I think 20K is a fair price but I might be able to get it for 19K but we'll see.

clubsport

05 85k, for $20k, not familiar with canadian i guess that's about us $ as well...

anyway, that's about fair i guess... nice to have the 90k service in there...

here in colorado i have seen much much better deals so i wouldn't sweat it if he couldn't do $18k?... gl

RCsGX

$20K for a fully loaded with KDSS and all the maintenance hes just done is a deal. Good lucking finding one just like that for $18K. If you do you got one hell of a deal!!

clubsport

oh yeah, ur right... kdss... forgot that little detail...