Buying Is 300?

[direxiv]

Hi all,

I would like to purchase an IS 300, and have read through what I can here on the forum on maintenance issues ect... However, if anyone would like to reiterate on any major issues or costly general maintenance issues you have seen or had done, that would be great.

There are very few in the massachusetts area... I have one that is an '01 with 78k that I got a dealer down to $15k.... but that's it... still seems a little expensive for what I'm seeing. But otherwise Ihave to make a 200 mile trip to get anything else in NY, NJ, or PA. Which is no fun and extra expense. What should I be looking to pay? Does this sound inline... I've seen 100k '01'S FOR $10K at the lowest... and a 2003 with 72k for $16k.... '01 with 90k on ebay for buy now at $12,900......

Any advice would be appreciated!

EDIT: I will be driving what I buy for at least 4 years and probably 60+k....

[kot]

of course the year of the car, condition, mileage, number of owners, maintenance, etc greatly affects the price. on average a '01 with 80-100k miles is around $12.5k asking price but can be obtained for around $11k. i saw a used car dealership sell a '02 for $13.9k with about 80k miles on it. i don't know if the buyer negotiated the price but thats what the dealer's asking price was.

the 90k mile maintenance is probably the most expensive since you're replacing the timing belt and other things but you might want them to do the water pump also instead of doing it later on and having to pay for the additional labor. the price for this varies depending on your location and where you get it done. you can expect to pay more than $1000 though for parts and labor.

[smooth1]

the first thing I would do is get a car fax report on the car. Find out where the car has been getting serviced. If it was at a dealer you can call that dealer and get the real maintenance history on the car also.

I just bought a 2003 IS 300 a month ago. I looked for 5 months to find the one I wanted. I had to drive the longest 290 miles I have ever driven to get it. But it was so worth it. I called the dealer the minute I saw the new listing. I had them give me the vin number and I car faxed it. Then off that report I saw the car was a 1 owner and where the registration events took place. I called the issueing dealer and got a full maintenance report on the car. I even got to talk to the tech that delt with the original owner. ( Her name was Martha and she was about 60 years old, bought the car new and leased it for 4 years. The car had 19,000 miles on it when I got it. It now has 21,800, approximately. And yeah, I plan to own this car for a long time also.

The price they are asking for the 2001, is what I would say " middle of the road." It's not a steal, but I don't think they are out of line either. Maybe you could talk them into including the next maintenance in the price of the car. That would help you out alot.

I have to tell you though,, the IS 300 is a great car. There are no break down issues with it. Toyota used the now fabled inline 6 that will run forever. You have to remember though, a 6 or 7 year old car isn't as old as it used to be. Now I would say the average life span of a car is around 11 years and 180,000+ miles. I sold a Audi A4 Quattro with a 120,000 miles on it for 8,500.00 and it looked and drove like new! And it was an 1989!

[bartkat]

You'll be better off to pay a little more and get a 2002 or later model if you can.

[direxiv]

Thanks everyone... I appreciate the feedback... I am not going with the original one I posted. I"m actually haveing someone look for me and call me when and what they see at auctions ect... So, I can pick and choose which one I want, and hopefully get a good deal on year and price. Ya, I'd rather have a 2003 with 75k than a 2001 with 60k. We'll see what happens. One just popped up around me... 2003, 83k for $15,900, but by the pictures, it looked like it was maybe a little "ghetto'd" out......

You'll be better off to pay a little more and get a 2002 or later model if you can.

[smooth1]

I'm sorry about a typo I just read in my post. The Audi is a 1998, not a 1989. Sorry about that.

And I agree, get a 2002 or newer if you can. There are differences from the 2000-2001 than the 2002-2005.