Just Bought 06 Ls430

smithc64 · May 14, 2009

Until about a month ago I was driving a 1995 GS300. When I bought it in late 2001 it had 105,000 miles. My wife thought I was crazy. I had it for 7 years and it virtually gave me no problems. It looked great and ran great. It totally sold me on the Lexus brand. However, being a 14 year old car, there were various cosmetic issues (dings, crack windshield, torn seats, various dents, ect). Out of impulse more than anything else, I checked online and saw my local dealer had a 01 GS300 for about $10,000 so I went down to check it out. Great car but too much like what I already had.

As I was walking out, I see this super bad black 06 LS430 sitting on the lot. The salesman saw the twinkle in my eye and asked me if I wanted to take a test drive. Visually it was perfect. Perfect paint, perfect interior, perfect everything. This car looked new even though it had 53,000 miles on it. I drove it and fell in love but at $34,000 this was way way more than I was looking to spend. It has the navigation, ML sound system, chrome everywhere and all the bells and whistles. The previous owner had also put DVD players in the head rests (wireless headphones and some type of game console were included). Having kids, this was a big plus. It was by far the best car I had ever driven much less owned.

Torn between lust and money, I walked away. But that night as I lay in bed I could not get that car out of my head. So, I decided that if the dealer got down to a certain price and gave me $2,500 on my trade, I would buy the car. They did and I bought it. Ending up getting it for around $29,500 and wrote a check for $28,500 after trade, taxes and misc stuff. Everything I have read leads me to believe that I got a pretty good deal. Frankly, I don't care because I love that car. My kids have named it Alexus (they are not allowed to touch her at this point :). Now, everyday I wish that I had a 100 mile commute.

Alexus is perfect. Much like Spock on Star Trek, I only get these urges about once every 7 years. I don't really shop around which is probably the wrong way to go about these things but if it feels good, what the hey. I could go on and on but this post is already too long. I joined this site (something which I have never done before) to express my enthusiasm for Alexus. I look forward to reading and posting in the future.

curiousB · May 14, 2009

Welcome and congrats. Sounds like you got a good deal and an 11 year upgrade. I have the '04 of your car and am quite happy. NAV system is terrific. I've been pretty fortunate with few repairs so far. Normal wear and tear for the most part tires, brakes. A couple things broken but not bad.

Dealer service bugs me a bit as they seem to do unnecessary things at 30k and 60k miles (pump up the revenue balloon) and it looks like they kill you at 90k (timing belt plus). Through this forum I've learned enough to start doing some maintenance myself. Anyway you must be familiar with the service regime due to your past car.

Here's to 250k trouble free miles!

dcfish · May 14, 2009

Until about a month ago I was driving a 1995 GS300. When I bought it in late 2001 it had 105,000 miles. My wife thought I was crazy. I had it for 7 years and it virtually gave me no problems. It looked great and ran great. It totally sold me on the Lexus brand. However, being a 14 year old car, there were various cosmetic issues (dings, crack windshield, torn seats, various dents, ect). Out of impulse more than anything else, I checked online and saw my local dealer had a 01 GS300 for about $10,000 so I went down to check it out. Great car but too much like what I already had.
As I was walking out, I see this super bad black 06 LS430 sitting on the lot. The salesman saw the twinkle in my eye and asked me if I wanted to take a test drive. Visually it was perfect. Perfect paint, perfect interior, perfect everything. This car looked new even though it had 53,000 miles on it. I drove it and fell in love but at $34,000 this was way way more than I was looking to spend. It has the navigation, ML sound system, chrome everywhere and all the bells and whistles. The previous owner had also put DVD players in the head rests (wireless headphones and some type of game console were included). Having kids, this was a big plus. It was by far the best car I had ever driven much less owned.

Torn between lust and money, I walked away. But that night as I lay in bed I could not get that car out of my head. So, I decided that if the dealer got down to a certain price and gave me $2,500 on my trade, I would buy the car. They did and I bought it. Ending up getting it for around $29,500 and wrote a check for $28,500 after trade, taxes and misc stuff. Everything I have read leads me to believe that I got a pretty good deal. Frankly, I don't care because I love that car. My kids have named it Alexus (they are not allowed to touch her at this point :). Now, everyday I wish that I had a 100 mile commute.

Alexus is perfect. Much like Spock on Star Trek, I only get these urges about once every 7 years. I don't really shop around which is probably the wrong way to go about these things but if it feels good, what the hey. I could go on and on but this post is already too long. I joined this site (something which I have never done before) to express my enthusiasm for Alexus. I look forward to reading and posting in the future.

Welcome to the club :cheers: Congrats on the purchase of a beautiful LS, I am sure you will love it for many years to come. B)

03whiteLS430 · May 14, 2009

Good story and good deal. I wanted to buy an '01 with 120K miles on it and lusted after a '03 with 30k miles on it and bought it, paying about $10k more than I wanted to spend.

Oh, and my daughter just had my first grandchild on March 13, her name is Alexis. I told my daughter it will be easy to remember her name as that is just what I bought.

SW03ES · May 14, 2009

I have been looking around at these cars and you got a good deal considering its from a Lexus dealer.

Enjoy!

Marklouis · May 14, 2009

congrats! :cheers: very worthy of the price indeed....i still havent figured out why the blue book and other guys havent caught on to the sheer awesomeness of these cars yet, giving them a higher resale value! hope to get my wifes 04 LS real soon. shes gonna love that car!