I just picked up my Black/Sterling IS 350 today. Car is awesome, very sturdy and smooth. I have some questions, because there are some issues with my purchase:

1) I was told that the car was brand new, but found out at the end that it had 140 miles on it. They told me that it was used as a test drive vehicle few times. Is this way too many miles for a new car?

2) I can see quite a few swirl marks and couple tiny scratches. Is this normal for a black car, or did I buy a car that was potentially not taken the best care of?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

I've got black as well and have the swirl marks/tiny scratches...I've heard this from others with black as well

 

that is a lot for a test drive car.. my car was a test drive car but it had 15 miles on it. as for swirl makrs.. its probably from the brushes they use when they wash your car prior to delivery. OMG those brushes are like sand paper. Even at mercedes.. i saw mad swirl marks on the SLR.

 

Personally I wouldn't buy a car with that many test drive miles on it. People test driving cars often floor the gas, brake hard, and generally "see what the car will do". I'm very **** when it comes to breaking in a car properly, so those hard miles early in the cars life would really bother me.

The first time I saw my car it had just come off the truck with 5 miles on it. By the time they did the PDI, filled the tank with gas, etc., it had 16 miles.

The swirl marks were caused by washing the car improperly. A good detail shop can polish them out.

 

Looks like they sold you a demo...

 

Have the detail the car for the added miles. If you signed the line it's yours now.

 

Don't worry about it being 140 miles. The car will run 140,000 miles no problems. Congrats on your new IS.

 

Do we have to go down that path again

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=183978

 

WTF ?!
How is it you could have forked over 40K and accepted the car then AFTERWARDS found out
1) 140 miles
2) Was test-driven ( test car = used car, to me)
3) Has less then perfect surface ?

And on top of it all from LEXUS ???!!!!

I don't get it....i just don't .

 

Demos have a few thousand miles on them.

It's also possible that the car was located at a different dealership and they did a swap, but didn't want you to know that they got your car from a competitor dealership. It's not a lot for a test drive car if you think about it...test drive of 4-5 miles = 30 or so people...wouldn't think that to be too much considering there were probably 5-10 per day walking in to "see" the IS. As for the black car and having swirls - get used to it...unless you never let the dealer wash it - it is unavoidable. Most of the time they don't have a very good detail guy, and they don't hand wax they use a buffer with little or no training.

 

Swirl marks in a black car are pretty much the norm for any manufacturer...take it back to the dealership and they all should be able to be buffed out of the clearcoat.

 

I had swirl marks on mine too when I picked it up, Blue Onyx Pearl which is a pretty dark color. It's the damn detail guys that don't know what their doing. The good thing is they should be easily fixed as they should be minor at this point. As for the 140 miles I have a feeling those could be a hard 140 miles. I know I pounded the hell out of the demo car I drove, not to get your hopes up. Lexus makes a good car and I wouldn't be to worried about it.

 

When my 06 GX470 came off the truck, it had 2.5 miles on it. When I picked it up the next day, it had 3.0 miles on it. I figure they had to go up the road to fill the tank. I think any new vehicle should have less than 20 miles on it, otherwise to me it's a used car.

 

My last car was a Lexus Demo, bought it with 3,000 miles on it, and saved some money.

The car now has 118,000 miles and runs like a champ.

 

The key to keeping swirls and scratches at bay (aside from proper washing in the future) is to not let the dealer touch it. Take it to a detailer, a real one, one with references - and let him do a proper job. Not that all dealer "detailers" are bad, but for the most part they're young kids with no detailing expererience that are handed a rotary and told to go to town.

Since your car is so new it should have very minor marring - a proper exterior detail shouldn't run more than $100-$150, and the detailer should give you tips on how to keep it scratch free during future washes. More than worth it on a 40k car, imo.