Tell that to my buddy who texted me just today--his daughter's Versa needs its second blower motor at 52k. We were joking it'd be ok if it were an AMG, but not a Nissan....too bad the Maxima never came to fruition. imho it had potential going into the 5th gen and blew it...much like BMW with the F 3 series....

Assuming this is a first car I really would not be against a Crown Vic or even Explorer...

 

How about a Lexus ES? Could be less maintenance over a LS....people like them (forget about the FWD it's not the end of the world, well, no it isn't lol). I actually liked the YouTube where Hoovie picked one up with a stick. Dang imagine if sticks were still available it'd be fun shopping for used cars...

 

+1 Nissans are the fords of the imports just unholy piles of crap you might as well buy a DSM it will at least be fun.
Stay away from Infiniti also its just a nissen with more stuff that brakes.

If anyone argues this I will say I have never heard of any other car having its own converter contents fly back into the cylinder head and blow the motor up at 12,000 miles


To the OP were on the east coast you located also you can find a higher mileage LS for $2000-$6000 that has been well maintained, I would look around see what you can find and just hunt hunt hunt tilll you find the LS you want, do not be deterred from what you are reading here. Word of advice put a speed restrictor on the car if you do get it or you will get a bunch of speeding tickets.

 

Didn't know that and to think I considered a nissan 350Z as a project car for later on down the line lol

That's a good suggestion come to think of it, I remember my mom's friend having one and she loved it. The ES isn't a bad looking car either the only thing is if I get a '98-'00 model I'd want to replace the radio with one that can take CDs and aux cable.
I think if I can't find a good deal on a LS then i'll consider ES as my 2nd option even though I may look at the GS too (GS300 and GS400 respectively)

Thank you the hunt is on for the LS that fits me lol. Definitely will be searching hard for a good well maintained one around 150k-200k miles.

Well I'm currently in Atlanta GA but by the summertime when i'm ready to buy a car I'll be back in the DC, Maryland, Virginia area (DMV) and will live there for good. So... with that In mind I should probably be looking for one in the DMV area instead of GA, though it wouldn't hurt to see what's on offer down here I suppose.

 

It has to be the 4.6 V8 explorer though, the newer FWD based ones grenade transmissions and the 4.0 V6 is horrible and will have cam guide failure. If you can find an aviator with the 32 valve 4.6 it's the best one and never has engine related issues.

The Lexus ES is honestly just a Camry and is simply not as refined as a GS or LS if any type due to architecture. They are nice, don't break much, the post 300/330 ones don't have engine sludge risks at all or trans failures at 200k but they are just not in the same level. When I was shopping for a new daily I tried out the first year 350, RX350, last year 300, last year 330 and mid year RX330 as well as the GS 430 and LS 430. There was no question what car was best.

 

If it was me (and it was, many moons ago), I would (and did) buy a smaller more basic car like a civic. Cheap enough to start managing and learning a lot of diy stuff, cheap enough to not stress if I royally messed anything up, and cheap enough to not stress when someone dinged it in the parking lot.
I was paying for my own gas, insurance, etc. so a car like that was just cheaper to own, and 3 years later i sold it for what i bought it for since i bought it completely devalued down to utility value.
I'm not saying buy a *****box like I did, but if you're remotely a car guy, nows your chance to expand your abilities and skill set a little vs buying a more complicated vehicle that comes with a higher cost of ownership in terms of everything.
just my $0.02

 

Guys, he’s 21, not 15. OP will have a real job in a matter of about a year and there’s no use dailying an econobox if he can afford it.

These cars can be found for like $5k.. what’s he gonna get, an inferior car and save like 2 grand? What’s the point? We’re not talking about him going out and financing some used BMW that’ll cost what he bought it for in maintenance each year. We’re talking about quite possibly one of the most reliable gasoline powered modern vehicles ever built.

Sometimes I read this forum and scratch my head honestly. Have most of you ever worked on this car yourselves? It’s painfully easy, especially all the common issues (and again what are we really talking about, OP dealing with a broken telescoping steering motor? LOL)

Name a more reliable, classy, better riding car with more technology for the money, and then think again why you’d discourage someone spending $5k who really wants one from doing it.

Makes no sense to me, anyway. Just my .02. Do it OP! You will not regret it one second.

 

Yeah fair point... I was reading it more as him just starting school vs just finishing, theres a big difference!

 

yeah im not just starting school lol I been in school since Fall of 2016 if anything im going into my last 1-2 years of school! trying to get this Comp Sci Degree

 

Hey Marco this link may be of help when considering what price to offer for a vehicle: https://www.edmunds.com/tmv.html

 

You can turn a wrench but OP's posts reads like OP has no interest in doing so. Your maintenance expense may be 10% of what OP's may be as you have the expertise and talent to tackle any maintenance task or repair which may ever occur with your LS 430 and resolve any issue quickly and competently. These cars can bury one in expenses if one relies on paying for another's service to maintain and/or repair. If OP may be willing to learn what and how to do as well as get his hands dirty makes more sense....

 

Even if you do go to a shop it's still literally about the same prices as an accord by the book hour times. I'll go so far as to pull usual times from both cars and prove it, you will not save anything on work with a cheaper car only parts will be cheaper.

Plus us I have worked on near everything out there. The 430 is 2/10 easy mode, the accord is 3.5/10 for most stuff but since it's FWD certain stuff like a rack, engine accessories, axles, power steering, etc are 6/10 instead. Plus they break more than any 430, that's just a fact.

Coming from a 4.0L Jeep WJ that I already thought was stupid easy I was very impressed just how thoughtfully the 430 is put together for a person working on it.

 

Being honest with you, I don't mind getting my hands dirty and learning how to fix things on my car especially if it helps me save money. I checked the LS430 FAQ and all them tutorials on fixing things definitely got my interest in doing most of the work on my own car if possible.
If it helps, I've built my own desktop computer so working on a car would be my next challenge to be proficient at if at least a little.

 

Its kinda similar, parts only fit one way just like a PC and certain steps have to be fall for certain components to avoid damage similar to how somethings on PC have to have thermal paste applied in particular fashion or torqued in particular sequence cars are actually somewhat similar but everything is just bigger heavier and tighter.

A lot of the difficulty is in nuance and technique because you could have someone who doesn't know what they're doing working on a car and struggling ridiculously with a fastener or a spark plug or a bolt opposed to someone who knows what they're doing who can seemingly barely exert any effort to achieve the same thing. The LS 430 thankfully is a car that a lot of the components you would need to work on or access you can put a tool on directly and you can usually fit a larger tool on opposed to other cars at the more the same job would require you to use a specialized flex tool or a very small quarter inch drive that is difficult to get things to start moving. Also since a lot of the fasteners and metals in the 430 are very nicely pleaded and coded it is extremely rare to encounter any bolt/fastener/plug or anything that's threaded that fights in anyway shape or form almost to the point of stupidity. I was in disbelief at how easy it was to open the rear differential plugs considering they had never been serviced because any domestic vehicle that I had would've attempted to open the plugs on at that mileage would require a torch to convince them to move.

The things that are hard to fix or get to simply do not break on these cars. Even the "dreaded" column adjusting motor failure, or horrible door lock actuator failure (I mean seriously, THIS is the kind of stuff that owners of these things B**** about. Think about that.....) are stupid easy to do and in the case of the door actuators you can fix them for $16 combined if you have a modicum of technical ability. People here say it's complex and hard to work on but really they are super easy. A damn accord V6 is harder or 4 cyl civic newer than 06 and both break more often and in worse ways.

 

I do all my own work to my cars and the LS430 is a cake walk compared to my RX to repair. Like you said there is how to facts another member named RKW posted pdf files for all the TQ specs for the cars and there is also a plethora of videos on YouTube. If you want a nice refined car that you can get from A-B in, be comfortable and not have to worry about it braking down get a LS430.