Worth Owning A Lexus?

[steve_w]

Hello All,

I'm looking at buying a 2nd hand Lexus and not wanting to pay a lot for it ( say 30K max ).

Given the price of Lexus cars from new a few questions:

(1) For 30K should I bother?

(2) If its worth doing, what models/milage should I avoid?

(3) What are common problems with Lexus cars that are serious and I should avoid?

(4) Can I put a baby seat in the back seat easily?

I'm a practical chap and know a fair bit about motors, gearboxes etc and am hands on.

Thoughts and opinions welcome. Lexus have the name for luxury, but all cars have quirks....

Steve.

[Lexusfreak]

Hello All,

I'm looking at buying a 2nd hand Lexus and not wanting to pay a lot for it ( say 30K max ).

Given the price of Lexus cars from new a few questions:

(1) For 30K should I bother?

(2) If its worth doing, what models/milage should I avoid?

(3) What are common problems with Lexus cars that are serious and I should avoid?

(4) Can I put a baby seat in the back seat easily?

I'm a practical chap and know a fair bit about motors, gearboxes etc and am hands on.

Thoughts and opinions welcome. Lexus have the name for luxury, but all cars have quirks....

Steve.

First off, welcome to the club! B) Lexus is also very well known for one other very important thing.......reliability! Which is something to keep in mind whether your purchasing new or used. I think the baby seats will fit in almost any Lexus model......except the SC (2 door). Common problems? Do a search in the specific model forums depending on which Lexus you are considering. Avoid buying a used Lexus without any service or maintenance history. It's hard to answer your $30k question......you haven't told us which year & model you are considering. B)

[dcfish]

Hello All,

I'm looking at buying a 2nd hand Lexus and not wanting to pay a lot for it ( say 30K max ).

Given the price of Lexus cars from new a few questions:

(1) For 30K should I bother?

(2) If its worth doing, what models/milage should I avoid?

(3) What are common problems with Lexus cars that are serious and I should avoid?

(4) Can I put a baby seat in the back seat easily?

I'm a practical chap and know a fair bit about motors, gearboxes etc and am hands on.

Thoughts and opinions welcome. Lexus have the name for luxury, but all cars have quirks....

Steve.

First off, welcome to the club! B) Lexus is also very well known for one other very important thing.......reliability! Which is something to keep in mind whether your purchasing new or used. I think the baby seats will fit in almost any Lexus model......except the SC (2 door). Common problems? Do a search in the specific model forums depending on which Lexus you are considering. Avoid buying a used Lexus without any service or maintenance history. It's hard to answer your #30k question......you haven't told us which year & model you are considering. B)

A simple answer to your topic - Yes ;)

After all you are asking lexus owners B)

[melhadri]

If you enjoy power (v8-300hp), luxury and sport go with a used 02'-03' GS 430...beautiful car! Like any other car, make sure you run a carfax on all vehicle considerations. Also, like stated above, ensure that the owners have service records of the car.

Keep in mind that Lexus's success foundation is build on high quality so I highly doubt that you will be disappointed. Good luck!

[Gareth Coe]

Lexus is also very well known for one other very important thing.......reliability!

I've been reading this forum for the past few days, as I'm about to buy myself another car and quite fancied a Lexus. One of the things that struck me is the number of complaints in here regarding things that go wrong/don't work as they should. Considering your statement about reliability, is this a fair reflection of the brand in general, or is it just that there are a lot of whingers on this forum?

(OK, I am now hiding under the table )

[LEXIRX330]

Lexus is also very well known for one other very important thing.......reliability!

I've been reading this forum for the past few days, as I'm about to buy myself another car and quite fancied a Lexus. One of the things that struck me is the number of complaints in here regarding things that go wrong/don't work as they should. Considering your statement about reliability, is this a fair reflection of the brand in general, or is it just that there are a lot of whingers on this forum?

(OK, I am now hiding under the table )

I Love my Lexus...I have had no major problems with my RX, or the other Toyota cars that I have owned...I think that a lot of the complaints that I see here are people that will not be happy with anything....not all of the time is it a problem with the vehicle. Sometimes it is a problem with not knowing how something works...people think Lexus-will never need repairs...get real it is a car. I am sure there are some legitimate cases when someone was not treated right by Lexus...but overall I think that the cars are great and so far the service is great...Change the oil and get it serviced and it should last... :D

You also have to remember that these cars have many more options/features than most do that can go up too!

[93LSOwner]

Most of these car forums are composed of questions regarding people’s problem with their particular car. If you take out all of the threads about problems/solutions what are you left with? A board with messages about how wonderful and a piece of heaven the cars are……

Heck, even I came upon this forum searching for an answer to my problem regarding some noise.

Your questions are very vague. What particular Lexus model are you interested in? If you are interested in owning a Lexus you need to actually go out and test drive the models you like and perhaps come back and ask what year model is better than others, LS400 1998 vs. 2000, etc.

[branshew]

[i've been reading this forum for the past few days, as I'm about to buy myself another car and quite fancied a Lexus. One of the things that struck me is the number of complaints in here regarding things that go wrong/don't work as they should. Considering your statement about reliability, is this a fair reflection of the brand in general, or is it just that there are a lot of whingers on this forum?

(OK, I am now hiding under the table )

You think this forum's got complaints - go and check out a VW or Mercedes forum and then you'll see some complaints.

All cars have mechanical problems at some point. Forums usually act as a resource for people to diagnose and solve these problems which is why you'll see a lot of repair related posts. If you keep reading then you'll see that most people have the same issue with a particular part or system. This is the case w/ most cars in that they use a bad batch of parts from a supplier, or an engineering weakness somewhere. For example, the power steering pump on older LS400's is known to develop a leak over time. This is a common issue and you'll see many posts related to it on the forum. What you wont see is a long list of many different problems with Lexus as you would see in other manufacturer forums

I have owned 1 Ford, 2 Chevy, 1 Chrysler, 2 Nissans, 2 Subaru, 1 Toyota, 1 Mercedes, 1 VW, 1 Audi, and 2 Lexus. Lexus by far has been the most reliable and trouble free car of any of the makes. I have a '93 LS400 that's 13+ years old and it never gives me any trouble.

[denslexusgx470]

Hello All,

I'm looking at buying a 2nd hand Lexus and not wanting to pay a lot for it ( say 30K max ).

Given the price of Lexus cars from new a few questions:

(1) For 30K should I bother?

(2) If its worth doing, what models/milage should I avoid?

(3) What are common problems with Lexus cars that are serious and I should avoid?

(4) Can I put a baby seat in the back seat easily?

I'm a practical chap and know a fair bit about motors, gearboxes etc and am hands on.

Thoughts and opinions welcome. Lexus have the name for luxury, but all cars have quirks....

Steve.

A lot of us have posted here what Lexus vehicle we have (either in the signature, or on the left hand side) so if you see a model that you're interested in knowing about, you can send us a PM (private message) or something to know more about the specifics of a certain model.

[JonCAGS300]

Lexus vehicles are the most reliable in the world. Period. They are the flagship of Toyota, which makes the most reliable cars. I own a 1994 GS 300 with 140k mles that I bought for very little. It is in great shape. The smog test performace is amazing, i.e. the engine is still very tight. So for $30k, you should be able to get one heck of a good car. I think aging Lexus vehicles are a real deal, a secret goldmine so to speak. Because as they age, they don't fall apart like most other brands.

[SW03ES]

I've been reading this forum for the past few days, as I'm about to buy myself another car and quite fancied a Lexus. One of the things that struck me is the number of complaints in here regarding things that go wrong/don't work as they should. Considering your statement about reliability, is this a fair reflection of the brand in general, or is it just that there are a lot of whingers on this forum?

(OK, I am now hiding under the table )

What you have to understand is people come to these forums mostly to get feedback about issues they're having with their vehicles, they then stay for the fun of it. There is a much larger proportion of people with issues here than you'll see in the general group of Lexus owners.

I also have to agree with the others here, when you compare the TYPE of issues people here are having with what people are having on other make's boards, there's no comparison.

[nc211]

I just stick around here to bug SWO, by telling him the Inifini G35 is way nicer than the ES. :D

[SW03ES]

LOL

[djspawn00]

Take into account that consumer reports consistantly ranks lexus #1 in quality and reliability. You'll see a lot of complaints about lexus on here because no one post a question when everything is running alright. I've owned Mazda's (pretty damn good to me at 157k) Cadillac's (i still want to shoot at the catera in my driveway everyday) and Nissan's (also pretty good). That doesn't include my acura (tranny went at 37K but warranty covered it). Lexus may not make the sportiest cars, but by far they are the most worry free.