Possibly Considering A 2005 LS430
02-10-17, 08:08 AM
#31
Lexus Fanatic
I am 2k miles away from posting my entire service history from the Lexus Drivers site onto this forum- thought it would be a cool way to celebrate 250k miles and show my very positive experience to a quarter-million miles.
Edit: And I spent $22k out-the-door on my '04 when I bought it in May 2008 with 70k miles. They were asking $29k and it had been on the lot for 59 days (they had to auction it at 60 days). Unfortunately this has jaded me on what I am "willing" to pay for cars now as I kick tires on '11 and '12 460's. I see some at $30k and think they're overpriced (in reality, they're not!). But I totally agree- those that can get these for $10-$15k are getting the deal of a lifetime assuming you're ok driving an older car.
Edit: And I spent $22k out-the-door on my '04 when I bought it in May 2008 with 70k miles. They were asking $29k and it had been on the lot for 59 days (they had to auction it at 60 days). Unfortunately this has jaded me on what I am "willing" to pay for cars now as I kick tires on '11 and '12 460's. I see some at $30k and think they're overpriced (in reality, they're not!). But I totally agree- those that can get these for $10-$15k are getting the deal of a lifetime assuming you're ok driving an older car.
02-10-17, 08:13 AM
#32
Moderator
Change that to an '07 in the fall of 2006. Steep discounts indeed. I'm sure there were a few 06's still on the lot in early 2007.
02-10-17, 08:18 AM
#33
Lexus Fanatic
Again I draw on my experience from the Lexus event at Belmont Raceway in summer 2005. Nobody, I mean nobody, wanted to drive the LS430. They were just sitting there. You could have been 8 y.o. and they probably woulda let you hop right in and drive them. MASSIVE line for the 2006 BMW 330i sedan that they brought for comparison to the IS. Even the ES had people waiting to drive. Unpopular is an understatement. But I tell you, the car looks much better imho in person, than it does online....it truly looks like nothing special online, but somehow looks like it's something in person...even my mom was curious, and she has no interest whatsoever in cars. I tell her that her '06 TSX is actually a good car, and she says it's just a car, hates the fact that it takes premium!! (and only 140 ft. lbs.)
02-10-17, 02:53 PM
#34
nah...depends on how long you kept those new cars. Buying a car new and keeping it at least 8 yrs is actually pretty economical, average monthly depreciation is not far off that of an older car like ours bought in its later years, plus you'll save on maintenance and transaction costs.
02-14-17, 08:23 PM
#35
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awesome...I wonder what someone would have paid for an '06 in the fall of '05....my hunch is it would have taken steep discounts to move a LS430...say $65,300 list, maybe sell for $55 or less? I dunno, the most I paid for a brand new car was $44,700, and I felt embarrassed to say I spent that much money on a car. The 1998 Maxima had every option with the exception of automatic and sunroof deflector, new, it was $23k (Nissan's Flagship--says so right on the window sticker, still have it, and the other two). My wife's was over $40k....kinda embarrassing to say I've spent $109,700 on 3 brand new cars in my life. With the LS430, it was time for that to end, $14,700 lol
02-15-17, 04:31 PM
#36
Moderator
Your assessment is very close. I just picked up a 2006 LS430 with the ML option from a former Lexus Tech, which he paid $59k for. The car only has 38k miles on it and drives like new. I am very happy with the purchase at slightly less than a quarter of what was paid for it new.
02-15-17, 04:40 PM
#37
Lexus Fanatic
nah...depends on how long you kept those new cars. Buying a car new and keeping it at least 8 yrs is actually pretty economical, average monthly depreciation is not far off that of an older car like ours bought in its later years, plus you'll save on maintenance and transaction costs.
edit the 1998 has no value, don't want to spend the money to fix the emissions. If our state didn't have emissions and safety annually, the car could go another 2-3 yrs I bet....kinda unfair but not really.....btw the 2007 G35S manual was my dream car, I carried an article on it with me on a business trip in Sept '06. But, I saw a 2007 BMW 335i convertible in Ft. Lauderdale, and the rest was history....ordered 2 weeks later and it arrived Dec 2006...
Last edited by Johnhav430; 02-15-17 at 04:49 PM.
02-15-17, 04:52 PM
#38
Lexus Fanatic
Your assessment is very close. I just picked up a 2006 LS430 with the ML option from a former Lexus Tech, which he paid $59k for. The car only has 38k miles on it and drives like new. I am very happy with the purchase at slightly less than a quarter of what was paid for it new.
02-15-17, 06:28 PM
#39
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I am still in the process of familiarize myself with all the functionalities of the car and am already learning a bunch from reading the insightful postings in this forum for the last few days.
I will post up some pics once I have it washed. I am a bit embarrassed to admit that it has been years since the last time I took my LX470 to a car wash, but I am planning to pamper this car a bit more.
02-16-17, 04:31 AM
#40
Moderator
Im sure you'll enjoy the LS. The LX470 is a vehicle I would love to own. I continue to watch the web for them. Seems like it's a Lexus that's even more reliable than the LS!
02-23-17, 01:21 PM
#41
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I actually picked up my first lexus a year and a half ago. It was a 97 LS400 that I found on here that had 186k on the clock. It ran amazingly! It needed a little bit of TLC but nothing major. The interior is worn but again the miles and now it's a 20yo car. I hit 200k with it this year, and it runs like a champ! I loved that car so much, that I bought my wife an 08 LX570 with 132k. That truck is amazing and I love it. The only reason I will sell that in the near future is to upgrade to a newer one. Newer one means updated tech. And now, I have just bought an 05 LS430 with 123k with the UL package. It really is an amazing car. It drives like brand new. It came with a stack of Lexus receipts. I bought this to replace the 97. I needed a newer car to put a carseat in for my kid. I'm sold on Lexus!
02-23-17, 01:40 PM
#42
we're on our second LX470. They are incredible vehicles indeed, at 135k miles and still not a single rattle anywhere, kind of like driving a big heavy block of granite down the road. Only bad thing about them is the gas mileage, around town maybe 13mpg, on the highway never better than 18, premium only. We didn't care when we lived in Dubai, and only kinda care now, but heaven help us if gas goes back up. Even with that though, they are economical vehicles to own over the long term with reasonable parts costs and extreme reliability.
02-23-17, 03:41 PM
#43
Moderator
The LX would be a great vehicle to own, and prices for the 2000-2003 models are coming down a bit. But with just my wife and me at home, it's hard to justify a block of granite to drive...
02-23-17, 04:28 PM
#44
Yeah a little hard to justify. I still remember blasting through the Omani desert highway on one trip.....no radar traps out there, 3 kids, wife and plenty of luggage on board, A/C on full blast, hour after hour at 90 to 95mph. That LX470 never missed a beat...but gas mileage fell to 11 per gallon. ha.
02-24-17, 09:00 AM
#45
As all cars do the LS has some weak points but none of those things are going to leave you stranded somewhere.
Common problems on this gen:
tilt/telescope motors will either jam or fail completely; Toyota removed the bottom to turn off the auto movement of the steering column so the car has to be programmed to not do that each time the ignition is turned on/off; most owners who had the car new never had it deactivated so the motors have a lot of wear on them...parts cost is about $250-300 per motor (both usually do not fail concurrently).
rear door weather seals split and it looks bad; no leaks though
air suspension on Ultra Luxury cars will fail one day..cost is $850-1000+ per air shock in just parts alone
Mark Levinson audio amps are known to have issues; they can be rebuilt or replaced but it is not cheap
That's really about it for common problems. I have personally never heard of any LS that was a lemon where thing after thing keeps breaking on it like in a German car. With a good service history and a car you can tell by looking at it that the owner cared and took pride in it there is no need to be scared off by the age of the car or even higher miles.
Common problems on this gen:
tilt/telescope motors will either jam or fail completely; Toyota removed the bottom to turn off the auto movement of the steering column so the car has to be programmed to not do that each time the ignition is turned on/off; most owners who had the car new never had it deactivated so the motors have a lot of wear on them...parts cost is about $250-300 per motor (both usually do not fail concurrently).
rear door weather seals split and it looks bad; no leaks though
air suspension on Ultra Luxury cars will fail one day..cost is $850-1000+ per air shock in just parts alone
Mark Levinson audio amps are known to have issues; they can be rebuilt or replaced but it is not cheap
That's really about it for common problems. I have personally never heard of any LS that was a lemon where thing after thing keeps breaking on it like in a German car. With a good service history and a car you can tell by looking at it that the owner cared and took pride in it there is no need to be scared off by the age of the car or even higher miles.