sojah

iTrader: (1)

alexus my man, you are forgetting the air suspension...

and if the car is in good shape thats a pretty good deal but check to see if 60k service was done too.

AlexusAnja

ah ha ha... you got me.

Yes, if you like the air suspension, it's a big but once it's time to replace them... it's a big

For me, the air suspension didn't kill the deal for me for the UL, it was the air suspension along with three kids, so the rear functions for me were... USELESS !!!

In ten more years, I'll definitely replace the LS430 with the "newest" LS top-of-the-line at that time....

sojah

iTrader: (1)

i hope your last statement is true for me too, but if the wife gets her way and we have 3 kids as well it'll prolly be honda odyssey's in my future... so you got me beat for sure in that department.

airtime

I think $24k is a pretty good price consider I got mine 2 years ago for $42k, although with lower mileage.

AlexusAnja

You do, or do not have 3 children? Mine range from six months to almost six years. How are we avoiding the "minivan" slide? RENT !!!!

How often are you REALLY needing the 3rd row and extra baggage area? We've only "needed" it on two occasions, and both were trips with either my parent or my in-laws. and we just rented a minivan for the week. $500 for the week, fill with cheap gas, and you're done. Once you're done, back to LS...

KILLERGS4

ditto, i got mine about 2 yrs ago also, and paid $39k.... $24k is cheap!

sojah

iTrader: (1)

24k is very cheap, almost too cheap if you ask me. i'd start to look at it with a skeptical eye if it were me, cuz thats a great deal and 9 out of 10 times you get what you pay for. just make sure it in as good condition as you would expect, and sometimes it helps to bring along a 3rd party friend, family member, or coworker who is not in love with this vehicle who will be able to see the defects more clearly. this has helped me in the past dearly, cuz i always just want to buy the car as is...

alexus, i do not have 3 kids but my wife really wants them. she always jokes with me that when she gets pregnant i'll have to give up the ls for a 'mini van'. this is partly the reason i sold the gs400 and got the ls in the first place i tell her, duh'''. but she's not buyin it at all.

AlexusAnja

OH NO... don't do it man !!!! Look, I went about 1 year with two kids in a Civic. We really had not issue with size and stuff, it was more we wanted a slightly larger trunk and a bigger sedan for safety.

sojah

iTrader: (1)

safety, yeah thats what i'll tell her from now on. i could never do a civic, maybe an accord, but thats the smallest. hopefully the ls will stick around for a while though, i kinda like it.

msingh

I would agree. Well its too late! I just picked it up last night. I did have someone else look at it, and it is a bonafide CPO.

To your point I made the dealer wash it and bring into the service bay area, where I looked at it again. The only thing I can find wrong is a small scratch on the trunk, and the control for the driver heated/ac seats doesn't 'push' in like the passenger side does.

Obviously the push piece is covered under CPO.




The oddball part is that they put new tires and wheels from a GS430 on it...I am still trying to make up my mind on those, other than that and the color is not that popular, black cherry, I don't still get why it was priced as it was. I got it for $22.5K before tax.

I will post pictures as soon as I can take them, since we are getting terrible weather here in Chicago.

sojah

iTrader: (1)

well 64-65k miles is approaching the range where most lexus dealerships probably don't want to mess with it, and an 04 is not 5 years old believe it or not, even though the car still seems new perhaps. they have a newer model out now for a couple years and maybe the car has just been sitting on the lot and they just want to move it (possibly for around what they got it for) just so they can put something else in there that could bring in more revenue in the long run.

congrats on such a great deal,

msingh

True enough, its just odd that the standards like kbb, edmunds, etc were so way off, and the pricing I found at autotrader etc was also higher.

Sales are obviously down, I was literally the only one in the dealership (customer I mean) at 6:30pm. The finance guy told me they are off another 30% from last month which was off 50% year over year.

Can you imagine what its like at a Chevy dealership these days?


Thanks everyone for your input.

M.

AlexusAnja

Yes, it's a very sad state of affairs for the dealerships, no matter the make. It's hard to move something over $30K (or even $20K) out the door when families are starving to put food on the table or keep a roof over their heads.

In bad economies, in reality, the rich (financially stable) get richer and the poor get poorer unfortunately. The financially stable will find bargains in the stock market, real estate, and cars. If you have the money invested correctly, saved up right, and are fiscally sound, then the used car market for a very low mile, good condition, LS430 (or even LS460) is running way below what KBB and Edmunds is showing they are worth.

Sites like KBB and Edmunds are always behind in real world market value and trends... a LS430 is not going to sell for over $30K no matter what trim (even UL), so whatever is listed is not the true buy price.

sojah

iTrader: (1)

i just refinanced my car loan yesterday and got it down from a 6 yr 8% loan (i made 3 payments so had 69 left) to a 5 yr 3.9% loan with 60 payments remaining for only $25 more a month than I was paying originally.

now i will have have about 2k additional equity a year with this new loan.

LRoy430ul

iTrader: (1)

Yea you can def tell the market is doing really bad right now. When I was doing my car shopping a couple weeks ago I went to some dealerships that only had 1 or 2 sales reps working and the buildings were empty. One of the sales reps told me they have been taking their cars and selling them at auctions because they were about to go under from the drop in sales on thier lot. The other dealership I stopped at didnt have the car I wanted and kept offering me other cars....I ended up test driving 3 other cars I knew I wasnt gonna buy of top...lol. But yea right know is a great time to buy if you have the $$.

For my UL they were asking $27,900 at first, after negotiating they went down to 24k and they wouldnt budge below that...so I ended up walking out. I called the next day and they dropped to $21,500 before tags/taxes.