Good Deal?

Presch · February 21, 2006

Hi All, new to the Lexus world, figured this would be a good place to start. I was looking for a good, reliable, albeit older ES300 - as I hear these things are "bulletproof". I ran across a '92 ES300 w/ 150K miles for $3950. I haven't talked to the dealer about it yet, but I assume a good place to start is finding out about TB and water pump?? Do you guys (gals?) think this is a good deal? Any other issues I need to be aware of with this? My next step would be to have my local Lexus dealership look at it too, no?

Thanks in advance!

Bryan

chadmg7 · February 21, 2006

It seems like a good price. A quick check on the Twin Cities Carsoup site indicates that the lowest-priced ES300 ('92-'01) is a '92 with 200k miles priced at $4,900. Seems like the MN market is a bit more expensive than some others, so if you found one for less than $5k, I'd say it's a pretty good deal for the area.

When I was looking for a '97 ES (in '03), they were all going for around $14k or more in MN. In FL, however, they were a couple thousand cheaper, on average.

And, yeah, they are pretty much bulletproof. :)

Check out maintenance records. I've had the timing belt replaced on mine (at 90k) and I was told that my power steering pump and water pump were "seeping." I think '92 is early enough that they didn't have the sludge problem. For more on that, search the forum for "sludge"... you'll find a bunch of threads about '97-'99 (I think) ES300s with oil gelling tendencies (under improper maintenance).

Good luck.

Lexusfreak · February 21, 2006

The price seems a tad high imo......I agree, check maintenance history & let us know if the TB has already been replaced or not......if not, I'd pass on the car personally & look for something newer. B)

:cheers: