I was at my local Lexus dealership earlier this week looking at a new vehicle (which I ultimately bought! ) before the end of December to Remember. I told my salesperson that I'd recently acquired a cream puff '05 LS430 from a Lexus dealership in a neighboring state after a year-long search. I told him that I'd swing it by yesterday, which I did. When he saw it, he literally started drooling. Then a few other salespersons came outside and started asking questions ("Where did you find it?" "Wow, it must has cost you at least $15K."). My salesperson told me that the reason why cream puff LS430s (and LS400s) are so hard to find at the local Lexus dealerships is because dealership employees buy them up as soon as they come in on trade. He then pointed to a few examples ("Look over there . . . That's the sales manager's car."). So the Lexus folks buy the cream puffs, the mediocre ones are put on the used car lot (which usually sell within a week), and the crappy ones are sent to the auction.

I also learned that Briarwood Pearl is a pretty rare color. My salesperson has only seem one other BP over the past 9 years.

 

Nice. I would imagine that LX is quite comfortable inside...

I get the same responses when I take our 05 ML to the dealer for oil changes, etc. I just had winter tires installed on it, and the service writer could not believe how clean the car is. The tech that did the tire swap came to meet me to tell me he's never seen an LS that was that clean underneath.

I had to explain that it was a Texas car for most of it's 51,000 mile life, and I just brought it to Wisconsin last May.

He finished by saying "well, if you decide to sell it, please let me know".

They do speak very highly of the 3rd gen LS, from the sales managers, to the service writers, to the techs. They all seem to love em..

 

I had the same response from a valet (a gentleman in his 60's) when I pulled into a Lexus dealer for the brake flush and coolant drain. He joked I'm keeping your car. When I said I had just gotten it, he said, is this a CPO? Then goes, no, it can't be, it's too old to be a CPO. Anyway I feel like we're all onto something (me being a newbie), that these cars offer a certain bang for buck/value, even though they often cost well over 10k....I mean if spending $14k cash takes care of a transportation need for 8-10 more years, it was sure better than financing $52k or leasing....

 

This is exactly why my last 3 cream-puff, garage queen, ultra-low mileage LS430 purchases have been from non-Lexus dealers (2 at Mercedes Benz & 1 at Ford dealer).

 

mine came from a Buick dealer in Amarillo. could not even get a nibble at Blue Book so they lowered price $4000. I bought it site unseen. if I had a choice I would NOT have chosen Brown, it only had 1 valet key and no smart keys so that was a possible reason. I have logged almost 50,000 trouble free miles in 4 years. not for sale so don't even ask

 

I work at a Volvo dealership and this is exactly how I came across my 05 LS430. We took it in with 139k with every service record since new. My manager at the time placed it online for $15,000 and never dropped the price because he knew I wanted it. After 60 days, I bought it for cost and got a 2 year warranty which is currently covering my four new shocks. I had a couple people ask about it, but I told them it sucked in the snow and we moved on to other cars

 

LOL, does this explain why he is no longer your manager???

 

I bought my Lexus LS430 as it literally just got traded in within a few hours of my arrival.

 

Bought one of my '06 LS's before it was fully detailed by the dealer and before pictures and full listing were placed on the dealer website.

 

I bought my 04 LS a couple of hours after it listed on Autotrader. I made an appointment to see it. Just as I arrived at the Infiniti dealer, saw the car leaving the lot. Grabbed the nearest sales guy. Told him to call and get it back. It was funny to watch. The brake lights went on then the car slowly turned around. When he got out, the Sales Manager looked pissed. Said someone had already committed to buying the car. A one owner, low mileage LS is still popular out here. Apparently they got calls for days.

I looked at a Briarwood LS one morning at a Lexus dealer in the Bay Area. It sold in the afternoon. Would have bought but had a long list of things they'd fixed. Still had problems. Definitely a great color but it was a car that hadn't been maintained.

 

So, it seems there's a commonality here... The "Cream Puffs" seem to be coming from non-Lexus dealerships, according to the above comments. So does that mean the low mileage cars are owned by people who move away from Lexus models? Good for us, who find these cars, but it's an interesting look at what LS owners move to for their next vehicle..

 

My salesman (lexus dealership) where I traded back from the 460L to a 430 drove a 430. So did 3 of his co-workers. I see several 430s in the parking lot at my local dealership. I asked, and all are owned by salesmen and service techs. The word they used to describe the 430 to me was "bulletproof".

 

I've bought two cream puff LS430s at Lexus dealerships (specifically Nalley Lexus in Atlanta), but I got them almost immediately after they were taken in on trade.

 

My garage had my 04 up on the rack. The underside looks brand new. Bright and shiny. It's a one owner, full dealer service car. Maybe dealer cleaned the underside w/ each service?

 

Bought my 06 with 32,000 miles 2 days after it arrived at the dealership.