2000 Es300 Question

[kend500]

I'm considering a change as the lease on my 2001 740il ends next month and I've found a clean 2000 ES300 with 59k miles. It has a clean carfax and I know the previous owner. Asking price is $19k and it is black/black. I plan to have my independent mechanic check it out today unless someone tells me this year/model combination has some known problems. The only thing I see that would be a problem initially is how to remove a gallon of ArmorAll from everything! Also, I've had several rounds of spinal surgery and I'm curious as to the highway comfort of this model?? Thanks for any help, Ken

[SW03ES]

The armor all will come off with a good all purpose cleaner lol. Used car dealers do that all the time, its terrible.

As for comfort you should drive it and then drive one 2002 and up, the 2002 is designed to be less sporty, its significantly larger, and it should be closer to that big car feel you're used to in the 740iL. IMHO it would be a hard adjustment to go from a 740iL to a 2000 ES, less hard with an 02+. I know of a couple people that have traded their LS400 Lexuses in for 02+ ES's and have been happy. I have back problems too (not as serious as yours) and I find my ES very comfortable on the highway.

One thing you need to make SURE of is that you have oil change records. The engines on 97-01 ES300s gel up fast if oil changes are spread out. Look for oil changes every 5k.

[Lexusfreak]

I agree with SW. The only thing I will add is the black colour for the interior & exterior is going to be tough to keep clean (especially if you are subject to the northern winter months with the salted roads). There is nothing nicer than a spotless black car.....but keeping it that way is another story....just wanted to give you my 2 cents. Good luck! B)

[kend500]

Thanks for the replies.

My 740il is also black/black so I'm already familiar with the ongoing cleaning issues. I also agree that they look great when they are really clean.

Funny that after asking the dealer to take $18k on Friday they ran the car in the local paper for $17k on Saturday so I'm glad I wanted to wait until after the weekend to actually buy it. At least the salesman had the courtesy to call me Saturday morning before the paper hit the stands and offer it at under $17k if I was still interested.

What actually is this “gel problem” and what should I look for if I still want to buy a used Lexus? Can I quickly determine if a car has this problem without taking anything serious apart?

The more I think about trading for this car with 60k miles, I'm starting to think more seriously about just buying out the lease on my current car if the lease company will make a decent deal for it.

Thanks again for the help, Ken

[Lexusfreak]

It's important to have all the service history for the 2000 ES & make sure all oil changes have been performed to date & on time. B)

[SW03ES]

That generation 7 series BMW is quite reliable, how many miles does it have now?

Basically you want to find a car with an oil change history of every 5ki to avoid the gelling. That engine in those years is susceptible to gelling of oil that is left too long between changes. There's an extended warranty from lexus until 8 yrs or 100,000 miles. Run a search in this forum for more info.