CarGuy89

Yessir that is the one. I received closeups of the car and didn't notice the hood or trunk issue (but I will take another look). I did notice that the left bumper was a bit off in alignment compared to the right one. If you want/are willing to you can pm me your email and I can forward the pics to you. Thanks again for your input!

Playdrv4me

No prob, PM Sent.

vollandt

Has anyone thought of getting a paint thickness meter to use when searching for a used? They are a bit pricey (300 and up). I supposed you can sell it on ebay once you are done with it and hopefully recouped at least half of that back. As someone else mentioned on this thread, paint work isn’t necessarily a showstopper, but knowing for sure where any paint work has been done can certainly help you know where to examine more closely. On one car I was considering purchasing, by feeling the edges, I was able to detect that the passenger door and front fender had been painted. Upon closer examination I could see that the a-pillar had also been replaced. Had the body shop blended the edges better, I would probably missed this and ended up with a car that had real damage.

CarGuy89

Wow good catch. I am certainly going to feel the paint with my hands. As long as there is no structual damage to the car and the paint looks and feels good, I will be fine with it.

Playdrv4me

Yep, I have thought about this too. I always think about buying one and then end up forgetting about it. I can usually do a pretty good determination with my hands, but what about when its wet outside, or in the case of my current 430, when the job is so good that a quick pass with my fingers missed until I looked much closer. Its a great tool to have, even if you might look like a bit of an *** running a paint meter around a dealership's car LOL.

Allen, I looked at your pics in more detail and from a cursory perspective everything looks ok. That doesn't mean its perfect, so make sure to do the finger test and/or your body shop check. The right rear door still looked a little bit off to me but silver is a very difficult color to get all the colors to match 100 percent no matter who built the car, so pay attention to that one.

Now go get it already!

CarGuy89

I am SO EXCITED FOR THURSDAY!!!! That day cannot come soon enough. Thanks for your advice, hopefully it doesn't rain.

I am so excited, in fact, that I have already ordered a good cassette adapter (the Sony one) and scheduled a detailing appt the next morning!!

Playdrv4me

LOL, man you and I are so much alike. The fact that you knew that the "good" cassette adapter was the Sony one is absolutely amazing. I will tell you what though, the Philips one at Wal-Mart is also astonishingly good for the 10 bucks it costs. And between me and my room-mate Philips has made a fortune because we always either forget or lose them and end up buying yet another one. It sounds as good as the old Made in Japan Sony I had in the '90s.

Cassette adapters get a really bad rap because there are so many terrible ones out there, but the few good ones are REALLY good, and now approach CD quality.

CarGuy89

Haha I only know b/c I researched it one day when I got bored. Found a thread on here actually. I was going to go for the Monster one (since some ppl said it was made for the iphone..??) but read a lot of bad reviews too. Sony got all the praises. I found a new one on buy.com for $15, no tax, no shipping.

If my Sony one ever dies, I will give the Philips one a try!

aypues

Amazon $12.96, no tax and free shipping (with Prime membership)

http://www.amazon.com/Walkman-Connec...2615560&sr=8-1

CarGuy89

I saw that, but I don't have prime . I would've had to spend $13 more to get free shipping and I didn't know what. We shall see how my funds are after the detailing . I had my eye on the iphone4 but never made a move due to all the signal complaints. Ah well, the 3GS will do just fine in the meantime (though I do like the high-res screen a LOT, good for my bad eyes).

caddyowner

Here is an 05 Silver / Ecru custom luxury (it appears) in PA:

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...standard=false

vollandt

Slightly off topic here, but I couldn’t help but highlight the cost of ownership of this 2005 vs a 2001 LS430. Assumptions: 1) the 2005 will be worth 12k in 4 years 2) 2001 costs 12k now and will be worth 6k in 4 years. 3) Maintenance cost 500/year for the 2005 and 1000/year for the 2001 4) 100% financing at 4%/year. My back of the envelope 3rd grade math has the 2005 will costing an average of 6.5k/year while the 2001 coming in at 3k/year. So a 2001 is basically half the ownership cost of a 2005. The 2005 at 6.5k/year is roughly half the yearly cost of a leased 2010. This analysis did not take into account other factors that would move these numbers around such as mileage and insurance costs. None the less, based this data, the cost of ownership halves about every 4-5 years for the first 10 years or so of the cars life. I think this ends though at around the 10 year level though - because even though the deprecation slows, the maintenance costs will increase. It's obvious why a newer car is more describable than an older car and as such costs more. I found it interesting to express the cost difference in terms of a realistic cost of ownership.

CarGuy89

@Caddyowner: I will definitely consider it if the 06 ML i look at on Thursday doesn't turn out to be quite as good as it does on paper. I would like CPO as well just for peace of mind. Custom luxury is definitely a cool find though. However, being my age I really don't need the double pane glass lol. I only wanted nav for the bluetooth. The car will already make me feel older (in a good way). On the plus side, I hope to become an even more responsible driver.

@vollandt: Definitely a good point. Depreciation is always pretty depressing to look at, even for second hand cars. I initially took a look at older ones, but my parents (who will be doing insurance since it's much cheaper) and my grandfather (who is very generously helping me out) said nothing much older than my 07 328i. Of course, I have no choice but to agree with them. I was given the choice of a new car, but nothing really comes close to the level of comfort and build quality that the 430 offers. This is probably the same reasoning that those who bought the car pre-owned used. To me, it's like: if I spend the same money, I could either have a cheap but new car or an older but top of the line car. Guess which I chose?

Playdrv4me

Hmm... Again, almost my thoughts exactly. After using numerous Toyota navs in the past, including the one in my '02 LS, I can also say that the only thing I miss about not having gotten the Nav is the Bluetooth connectivity. The ML audio system doesn't do much for me so I don't care about that, and the car is already tomb silent as it is, so double paned glass isn't necessary either. When I was your age (lol, that made me sound old) I was bedazzled by all the technology in the Ultra Luxury LS430 when it came out, now I don't care nearly as much. The Radar cruise however, IS one TRICK feature.

The only thing I need to add to mine is the 5 spoke wheels. I already found out that there are Parrot Bluetooth kits with ISO connectors that will wire right into the factory audio system and be *almost* as good as the factory Bluetooth, with a wider variety of compatibility. That's a great thing because I do love the arrangement of the audio system only center stack, and the cool white glow of the LCD panels.

CarGuy89

^man playdrv4me I feel like we would get along so well in person lol! I like the simple and clean layout of just a radio, but the nav one really doesn't look bad either.

Yes I was initially fascinated by the UL but realized it's definitely more of a conversation piece for me.
Radar cruise: very neat technology, but when you're on the road you should be focused 100% not the car. Therefore if you pay attention and drive safely you don't need the car to slow down for you.
Recline back seat/comfort back seats: when the heck am I ever going to use that?? Like I said I am a younger guy (just turned 21) so I still love to drive. I will never sit back there, ever unless I'm filling up at a station and it's really cold.
Double pane glass: Car is so quiet, I thought my 3 series was very quiet, this is even better. Also I want to hear that V8 when I do some spirited driving once in a blue moon.
Air suspension: Primary reason why I crossed UL off my list. Air suspensions do wear out and are $$$ to replace. Standard springs/shocks already glide over everything. Again, maybe it's because I'm younger but I think the ride is smooth as can be with std setup.
Mini fridge cooler in back: Well this could potentially be useful, but the only time I will want cold water is on a longish highway trip. Only way I could get said water is to pull over lol.

Well these are just my reasons. For those with UL, I am in no way putting down UL. I am just explaining why I didn't choose it. I think UL is very cool but just unnecessary for me.

Again thanks for the warm welcome and help I received on these boards. I feel like I have become friends with a lot of you guys and I hope you feel the same.
Thursday cannot come soon enough