Purchase Of 04/05 Ls430

[jk12]

Hello. I've been a lifetime Lexus owner but have always purchased new cars. I've noticed the 04/05 LS430 prices for cars with 40-50000 miles to be extremely tempting right now (obviously because they are the old body style). In any event, given that I put very few miles on my cars (under 10,000 per year) I am thinking of purchasing one of these older LS models and driving it for several years. My only concern is what my average repair costs would be once the CPO (or Platinum) warranty expires. For all of you 2004/2005 LS430 owners out there, what should I expect to pay per year for those little things that come up. Figure by the time the warranty expires I'll have around 75-80,000 miles. Thanks everyone.

[1990LS400]

What did you own as a "lifetime Lexus owner"? I doubt if an 04/05 LS is going to cost much more or less than it cost to maintain a V8 GX or any other V8 Lexus vehicle.

IMO the best way to buy a used LS is to get one that is coming off a 3 year lease with a 36,000 mile mileage cap. That's what I did in 2003 when I bought my 2000 LS400. If you do it that way, you will still have about 14,000 miles and one year left on its basic warranty to take care of any issues that pop up.

I didn't have any issues on either my 90 LS400 or 00 LS400 that would have made an extended warranty cost effective. All the significant issues surfaced and were taken care of during the basic warranty period. I drove my first LS400 (the 90) from new until 183,500 miles and my current 2000 LS400 from 38,000 miles to 106,000 miles and never regretted not purchasing an extended warranty.

For sure, if you are looking at an 04 LS430, you would want to pay special attention to the transmission condition. Quite a few 04 LS transmissions were replaced under warranty.

Personally, I'd look for an 2006 LS430 that was leased for three years/36,000 miles beginning in October-December 2005. They should be coming through the off-lease pipeline right about now.