I'm coming to check out this vehicle tomorrow. It's an RX300, 1999, 170k miles, seller said these goods and bads over the phone:

Good:
-AC, all interior goodies work.
-Car drive straight and sturdy at 80-90mph (uhm... this I'm not sure, have to test)
-asking for $5k.

Bad:
-Been in accident, front.
-Hood paint is peeling off, need repaint.
-Light oil leak and coolant leaks.
-High mileage, 170k, (is it near death?)

So deal or no deal?

 

Coolent leak bothers me, is is the water pump (which is driven by timing belt) or somewhere else. As for accident, where repairs done right...? Check the transmission fluid with your eyes and nose...if it is dark brown or smells burnt, than dont go for it.

 

^ very helpful. thx thomas1.

 

Thomas is correct, especially the transmission. Another thing you can do is go to Lexus.com and register the car and you will be able to see every service that Lexus has ever done on the car. At that mileage most expensive maintenance items will have been done once if not twice.

Try to find record where the timing belt, water pump, struts, front suspension, transmission have been serviced or replaced.

Part of Lexus service is to replace/check the timing belt and water pump every 90K.

If you can get a sense of when these items have been done, it will give you an idea when they will need to be done again.

 

I have faithfully maintained wifey's 99 RX that now has 182k on the clock and it purrs like a kitten. Wifey loves her RX and refuses to consider a trade for a newer one. I know a guy that traded his perfectly fine running RX in with around 220k miles! So from my experience a well cared for 99 RX is not near death at 170k.

 

I agree a well-cared RX will go a long way, my uncle's 99' RX AWD is past 350k (original trans), and it still runs like new... My RX has 155k and it runs like new also AWD,and original transmission. It is a Toyota after-all!

 

Totally agree. At 180k and still running strong. Not even body rattles/squeaks.

However if I were in the market for one I would find a single owner car (he would have maintained it like a 40k car not a 20k car) and high mileage (which scares away most folks) and get a good deal on it.

 

and today I still regret that I sold my RX now I miss it and want it back.

 

So here's the update of today meeting with the seller.
The bads:
-All 4 tires are worn out, about 2mm thickness left.
-Alignment is way off. I could release the steering for just 1 second and the car lean so much to the right.
-Front passenger door lock don't work, actuator (pretty common here)
-The gas pedal is really hard to push. (that's my feeling, not sure if the car was built this way)
-The steering turns very hard. I still remember my previous RX steering was a lot softer.
-As of cosmetic, I can't expect it to be in perfectly good condition, but overall, there are small chips and scratches all around. The hood is completely bad.
-There was subtle grinding noise when braking.

These are the good:
-Odo: 164xxx, not 170k. sorry confusion. and I just knew it when I test the car.
-AC works, CD and radio work.
-Car starts fine and idle was smooth.
-At local and freeway, the car drove pretty fine and smooth. It's just the pedal was really hard to press and the alignment was way off.
-The car could still push to 90mph, and surprisingly, it drove pretty sturdy at that fast.
-Accelerating wasn't impressive, but it could push to 65 with a bit of effort on the pedal. I think this is the car itself.

I asked the seller about the history record and maintenance of the car. She said up front that it had a minor front accident and she didn't know it when she bought it back in 2004 because she said there wasn't carfax by then. She said she maintains it (blurry,) and she just did a major tune up at 160k miles. At here, I asked her what it is exactly and she said she doesn't know. When I asked her if she knows the car alignment is off she said she didn't know; then I showed her how I release the steering and the car lean right so badly, then she said she told the tire shop to do alignment when she changed all 4 tires.

On Thursday I can have a mechanic do a more in-depth inspection.

As far as my confidence goes, I don't really feel wanting to go with this car. It is 10 years old and I expect it to have problem here and there; but the way the seller present it, it just made me feel that the seller know the car has a lot of problem in it and she just wants to dumb it off and some sucker is gonna come and get it.

What do you think?

 

Sounds like it's time for pads and rotors if the brakes are grinding. She probably got some massive quote from someone to do the work and decided it's a great time to shine that one on down the road. The parts can be had relatively inexpensively on line and it isn't rocket science to replace them.

If that's her problem it might be worth having a mech check it out and then try to get the price down even further.

 

Id pass on this if i were you I picked up my 01 RX300 with 178k for $4500, great condition inside and out. Needed nothing at the time besides a replacement key. Water pump ended up leaking a couple months later. Did the timing belt and water pump myself for $100. You should be able to find a MUCH nicer one even if you do pay 1-2k more it would be worth it.

 

^^ ya thx carver and bufferman. I just don't feel like to go with it. I'm gonna pass.

Tomorrow I'm gonna look at a 1999 with only 96k miles, black on beige. I spoke to seller and he said there's nothing wrong with the car even the paint is good. And seller only ask for $6k, I'm down to that deal. The only downside is the beige interior which I prefer black over, but it's gonna be cooler in the summer.

Other thing is the mileage is incredibly low for a 12 years vehicle. I know that rolling down the odometer is possible but how do I spot that? Can anyone help here?

 

I would stay away from this car. Sounds like a lot of money to spend eg: new water pump head gaskets or worse lower gaskets new rotors and pads. And the fact the car is 10 years old all the rubber has perished and need new suspension more than likely. You may need to spend another 5k just to solve the problems unless you know cars and can do a lot yourself and can see the problems leave this car alone.