Need A Little Advice From The Resident Experts

[ACEindaHole]

I Have been contemplating the possible purchase of a new car for the past few months and have finally

decided on a 2002 is 300. I have narrowed it down to 1) 50,000miles/ 17,500, or 2)72,000miles 14,999

Both cars seem to be very good condition, altough the 2nd choice has brand new tires, rotors, and oxygen sensors?

Somewhat torn here gents, all opinions areatly appreciated

Thanks, AC

Btw, love the site and hope to be an official Lexus member here shortly

[smooth1]

What you have here, is a quagmire. Higher mileage with a lower price and some "prep parts", and on the other hand, lower mileage, with a slightly higher price, but comes stock.

Without my being able to look at the car myself, inspect the undercarriage, drive it, look at the body, then refer to Kelley blue book and NADA, my gut says go for the lower mileage. 22,000 miles is almost 2 years of additional mileage. That's alot. Although both are below average mileage for the year of the vehicle. So I would look at the owner then also. If your buying from a private party I would talk to the driver of the car. try and get a feel for how they treated the car, etc.etc. If you buying them from a dealer, I would carfax both cars. In fact i would carfax them anyway,( 20 bucks and you get a good grip on the history of the car.) How many owners, where the car was purchased and when, ( Which can play a big role in mileage. If a 2001 was bought in late 2002 as the new model year came out, then you have the reason the car has alot less mileage on it. And not that they just drove it less.) And if any insurance claim damage was ever done to the car.) I just bought a 2005 IS 300. When I was looking I purchased the 30 day unlimited carfax bundle. I looked at a Charcoal 2005 IS 300 from a private seller. He said the car was in perfect shape, and only had 19,000 miles on it. I ran the carfax and it showed an insurance claim reported in Feb. of 2006. That was 5 months after buying the car. I called him back and asked about the claim and he said that some lady backed into the car in a parking lot, and that he had the Lexus dealer fix the car and that it was in perfect condition. So I called the Lexus dealership and gave them the vin # and asked for a copy of the repair order. It read like a grocery list and totalled $7300.00 !!!!!! - new bumper, new absorbers, new trunk lid, new tail lights, new muffler, driver side fender rebuild, etc.etc.

I called him back and told him what I was looking at and that I would not be buying his car.

So, I would buy the cleaner carfax report, with the better owners, and the lowest price. that's the one I would get. :)

[bartkat]

If you can get the price down on the lower mileage car it might be a good deal. My 02 wholesaled for $17,500 with 30,000 miles on it and that was almost two years ago. I'd try to get at least $1000 off that price. Also I'd take it to a Lexus dealer and pay the $100 for their complete checkup, that's well worth the peace of mind, or a turndown if they find a serious problem.