meffaman

There's a 2014 F Sport at a local auction with approx 119k miles that I'm considering making a bid on. I checked the dealer maint records and it's been to the dealer pretty regularly as you'd expect, but I'm not seeing much more than oil changes. I'm figuring this has to be mostly highway miles.

If the price were right, would you consider a 2014 with 119k miles? We're looking at older models with the same mileage, so I'm wondering what's the difference? I do 8-10k per year and still trying to wrap my head around someone doing 29-30k per year..........

Thoughts?

ShrinkDoc

40 years ago I bought a 1971 VW Fastback with 140K and got to 278K miles out of it. Then purchased a Volvo with 150K and got a little over 300K, another 1992 Volvo 240D with around 115K miles and got just under 280K. Then bought another Volvo 240D with around 130K miles. I was a poor med student in the late 70's and early 80's, so money was tight. My Last car was an 04 G35, which finally rusted out from the road salt after 15 years.

Essentially, while that mileage is high, if the car has been well maintained, 119K miles is workable. Cars, especially the Lexus/Toyota, Nissan/Infiniti, Honda/Acura, Ford Trucks, are famous for exceeding 250K miles and some reach 300-400K. The only issue is price--what are they asking?

meffaman

The current bid is 11,300, and who knows how high it'll go. Bidding ends this Friday. I didn't see the timing belt having been done, so I'm figuring it'll need that at a minimum. Add in other things like tranny flush, power steering flush, brake flush, and potentially brakes & tires, I could see day 1 costs anywhere from 3-5k.

One thing you hit on was your G35 rusting out, which is a problem where I am in Massachusetts. I recently picked up an 06 RX330 for my daughter that was fully dealer maintained and had everything done, but the power steering lines and pump ended up being fully rusted out, which set me back $1400. My independent garage said there's no way around it in the north east and they see it all the time. So with a 2014 I'm hoping I'd have a few years at least before rust really starts becoming an issue.

I like using Edmunds for car values when I buy, and KBB when I sell, and usually end up somewhere in-between on both. Edmunds has it at $12k for trade-in, $14.5k for private party, and $17k for dealer retail.

Sight unseen I think I'd feel good about getting into it for $15k, but have a feeling it's going to go a bit higher than that.

Banbuk77

I would say go for it.
I would much rather buy 3 year old car with 120K miles than 7 yo with 40K miles for the same price. Especially if those 40K miles were driven in a city which would make more damage to a car than 120K highway miles.
Make sure the car was serviced not in or near a big city. Which would mean those miles are indeed highway.

P.S. Let us know what was the final price.

Airbalance

tn7con

The Lexus RX350 3.5L v6 engine, starting from 2008, has timing chain which should last the life of the engine, no replacement is needed...

meffaman

Ah good to know..... So the 2007 with the 3.5L v6 does have a timing belt? That would seem odd.

takeshi74

FYI you can find documentation including maintenance schedules on the Lexus Drivers site. That will tell you what should have been done and what upcoming maintenance you can expect. Of course, it won't cover wear items and damage which are going to be specific to the vehicle in question.

Have you actually test driven the standard RX versus the F-Sport and are you sure you're ok with the differences?

Whether I would or not doesn't really matter as my own criteria don't align with your own. We were only considering L-Certified models with low mileage. However there are certainly potential deals to be had at auctions and many do purchase their vehicles that way.

Additionally, I wouldn't buy any used vehicle, certified or not, without an independent inspection. You really don't know anything from just looking at the year and mileage. It's the care and condition of the specific vehicle that matters. 2 examples of the same make/model/mileage can vary quite a bit in condition. Of course, it's not really practical in most cases to have a vehicle inspected at auction unless you can do it yourself. Generally speaking, though, high mileage in and of itself alone isn't an issue with RX's and other Lexus models. I'm guessing that's your real question and, no, I wouldn't have concern about high mileage on a Lexus if everything else was good.

Not much to it. Different people have different situations. We only put about 10K on each of our vehicles. However, my brother=in-law, for example, manages properties around the city and easily does the sort of mileage you're talking about.

Clutchless

The RX350 has electric power steering. No fluid to flush.

smknkeyz

I've got 114k on my f sport (30ishk a year driver), and all is great! Tires/oil/filters/fluids changes regularly and it still feels the same as when I drove out of the dealership. Just did my serpentine belt for the first time this past oil change. $23 for a new belt and 45 mins of my time. Hope you get it!

tn7con

My bad, all 3.5L v6 (from 2007+) engines have timing chain ....

meffaman

Bid is currently at $18,900 Out of my range. I'm actually looking for something decent in the $10-15k range. Just missed an 09 w/Nav 75k miles for $14.5k. Gotta be persistent in checking.

With this 350 F Sport I had thought the auction was ending today but it's showing 4+ days left. What's interesting is I googled the vin# yesterday and a used car lot in the area had just posted the vehicle for sale at $21,900. I'm wondering if they list to check buyer interest, then say it's offsite being serviced or whatever and make a run at it if they have a potential buyer?