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Greetings!
I have always wanted an LS430! The itch started when my 95 Acura Legend sedan started showing signs of aging, and the rust at the wheel wells, door drains was getting out of hand. I thought, maybe I'll go with an LS400. Then one day I saw an old couple driving an LS430, and I was hooked!
When my Legend broke down 200 miles away from home, I bought a Nissan 300zx (which I still have). Then an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible (still have it too). I replaced the differential on the legend and drove it for 2 more years, but it wasn't the same anymore. The rear passenger window switch stopped working, and someone threw a cigarette in it while it was parked in a garage downtown Columbus over the Christmas holidays. So I paid and got it out of impound, towed it 60 miles home, removed my stereo equipment and junked it. Very sad!
That's when I started looking for the LS430. I didn't know about all the different trims, but I had 3 main requirements 1)NOT black exterior, 2) light interior, and 3) NO navigation. I had thought Blue paint a couple of years ago, but when I started shopping and looking at pictures, I liked the gray seats! I figured out I couldn't get that in a blue onyx car. So I modified my exterior color to charcoal, or silver. So now my requirements were:
1) Gray or silver, with 2) gray interior, and 3) NO navigation. 4) around 100k miles.
My searches returned a lot of cars with navigation, and black seats. So I had to expand my search to "national". When I called a dealer about a 2005 gray LS430 in the Chicago area, I asked about rust, and the guy said, "a little bit. In the usual areas for the Lexus." So I ruled out all candidates from snow areas.
Looking in Florida, to Georgia and Tennessee, figuring I could go out there (I'm in Ohio) and test drive before I buy. Carfax and autocheck reports were returning accidents for some, and so the pickings were getting few and far between.
I finally found silver one in Houston with 90k miles, and gray one with 98k miles, both asking $12,000. I started getting my finances together, and negotiating with both dealers. I called my friends in NY city, and asked if they new anyone in Houston. I was connected with a guy from Botswana (which is where I'm from), and he was willing to verify that the internet pictures were representative of the actual cars. He went to test drive the silver one, and he loved it. The gray one was outside of Houston, and he couldn't make time to drive out. He was gonna go one weekend, then things came up.....
So I decided to buy the silver one. Plus it had less miles. Bad news! When I called on Monday, someone had put a deposit down on Friday! Sh!@+!
So I pleaded with my buddy to please drive out to Pearland.... He went and test drove it. I sent some money for a pre-purchase inspection at the nearest Lexus dealer, but that next appointment was memorial day, and the selling dealer was gonna be closed. I was afraid of losing out on this one too, so he took it to an independent shop for the inspection. Everything checked out. Passenger mirror glass was loose and not adjustable, and driver side lower control arm was noisy.
He negotiated the price, and I paid a deposit over the phone, and sent the balance check by courier right after memorial day!
Now to get it to Ohio! I thought about flying out and driving the 1100 miles back. Hmm! I got online and searched transporters. Finally called a broker I had used to ship my Oldsmobile convertible to Botswana. She connected me with another broker in Florida, and I got the car picked up and delivered in 5 days!
I'm in love!
2006 Flint mica with gray interior. No navigation. 5-spoke polished wheels. Premium Lexus radio. Heated and cooled seats. Sunshade for back glass. Parking sensors.
I've been reading the forum, and bookmarked a lot of good info. Had oil changed at Germain Lexus in Columbus. Drove to NY city for the weekend. Already put 2000 miles in 1 month.
Congratulations on the new ride and welcome to the club, king. You'll really enjoy this car. I too was a Z32 owner for many years and after selling the Z over 10 years ago, I still miss that car.
I've been reading the forum, and bookmarked a lot of good info. Had oil changed at Germain Lexus in Columbus. Drove to NY city for the weekend. Already put 2000 miles in 1 month.
Congrats! I think that your car being from TX will pay in dividends over the coming years.
haha I guess they are a chain, my car has their sticker on the windshield, only it was from Naples, FLA. Along with the manuals is an insert from FLA DMV and the lemon law....When I changed the cupholder and had the center console opened, I found a menu from an Italian restaurant in Orlando, and a martini stirring stick, which instinctively I was going to have tested for DNA, but decided why bother....
I've had my car now about 13k, 9 1/2 mos., so I feel pretty confident the car is very reliable...did you do the timing belt or was it already done? And how about some tranny drain/fills (3X is good).....
p.s. using your method would have uncovered a discrepancy with the internet pics--the new car dealer, took the spare out of the trunk, which is pretty much brand new with grease markings on the rim from the factory, and the red and yellow dots on the tire, and mounted it and took a pic!! Then put it back!! Never put anything beyond car dealerships...even I thought that is pretty much genius.
edit just thought of one more distinguishing feature on my car, it suffered from "tool kit a missing-itis," but I scored a new one on eBay never used, for $53 I think shipped. I thought that slot was where you put the cds when I first saw it...
Thank you everyone. I couldn't find any maintenance records on the car. The ad was on cargurus.com, and the used car dealer had an autocheck report attached. I signed up to Lexus owners' website; no history. I assume the timing belt was not done, and that may be why the owner got rid of it. So I will be doing that myself.
I will also be putting it up in storage for the winter. After what rust did to my Acura Legend, I dare not expose this Texas gem to Ohio's snow and salt.
Congrats and the find. Some of us, as you've learned, have to make our own luck as the good cars don't just fall in your lap, except for the chosen few.
Welcome to the club and glad you're enjoying the ride.
Thank you everyone. I couldn't find any maintenance records on the car. The ad was on cargurus.com, and the used car dealer had an autocheck report attached. I signed up to Lexus owners' website; no history. I assume the timing belt was not done, and that may be why the owner got rid of it. So I will be doing that myself.
I will also be putting it up in storage for the winter. After what rust did to my Acura Legend, I dare not expose this Texas gem to Ohio's snow and salt.
It's strange that there is "no history" on the Lexus website. If that is true, it seems that the car was never returned to a Lexus dealer after it was bought, which would be dumber than dumb. Did you make sure that you got your proper VIN registered? There might be an error there.
It's strange that there is "no history" on the Lexus website. If that is true, it seems that the car was never returned to a Lexus dealer after it was bought, which would be dumber than dumb. Did you make sure that you got your proper VIN registered? There might be an error there.
No history was found. I will check again. I got an oil change and an inspection at a Lexus dealer 2 weeks ago. At least that ought to show up. Will check again.
I went back to owners' website and checked the history. I double checked the VIN, and it was correct. It still had no history, even the oil change that I got recently was not coming up. After scratching my head, I decided to complete my information details. I didn't have my address and phone number listed. I also changed my preferred dealer from the default Texas location to Easton, Ohio. Once I updated that, voila! Ran service history, and bam!
The icing on the cake is.... The last entry before my oil change was "coolant pump replaced due to seal leak". And yes, timing belt was replaced!
Good deal. The website is wonky. I would say 20-40% of the time, my login says no service records found, of course that is to include all my manual entries since last Oct. Refresh a few times, usually it will populate. Seems like the over/under aka conventional wisdom says changing the timing belt/water pump is not "foolish" at recommended intervals, even though it would seem people have documented and pushed to 130k. At indie pricing, the gain is ($850/90k)*40=$378, 3 dinners out with the family, 4 if you go to Golden Corral on Tuesday before 17:00...
when I bought my car, it also only had a valet key. not sure but maybe the owners are keeping the smart key to sell on ebay. my point is it can be hard to get a smart key but it is possible. I had to buy a smart key from my local dealer for $195 and then pay $110 to have them program it. it is supposed to take 1 hour, but it took them 3 hours to figure out how to get it done. they started to say it was not possible, but it is and eventually they did get it working. expensive but worth it. once you have a smart key you will really enjoy all the features.
07-09-17, 05:26 PM
Recently bought my dream car: 2006 LS430
