What's My '01 Rx300 Worth?

[Richard Carver]

It's been a long time since I posted here, I'm sure there's some old timers around. :) I have a 2001 RX300 with 73500 miles, locally serviced all it's life and records available, it's had it's 60K service and I'm about to get it detailed and an oil change next week. It's white with tan and has no issues. It has been on Mobile One since 52K.

It's good cosmetically, I had the leather seats resprayed to freshen them, no cracks or holes, non smoker. There are a couple of minor blemishes and a scrape on the left rear corner of the bumper. With very little pushing I would get that repainted. I have the books and two masters and a mechanics key.

From what I've seen pricing is all over the place. I see them from 8k to 15k but that doesn't tell me what they will actually bring. Hopefully you can give me an idea what I should ask for a car in this condition.

[cduluk]

It all depends on your location and how you put it up.

Around here an 01 with that mileage is going for around $10k. If you keep it up long enough you may get more, but if you want a quick sale you may need to go lower. No one's buying used cars lately...

[Kyle Petree]

According to the Blue Book the Private party value ranges from $10,500 (fair condition) to $11,700 (good) to $12,400 (excellent). Are you selling the car yourself or trading it in?

[Richard Carver]

According to the Blue Book the Private party value ranges from $10,500 (fair condition) to $11,700 (good) to $12,400 (excellent). Are you selling the car yourself or trading it in?

I've owned this car longer than any car in my life and it is the best car I've ever owned. The problem is, I'm bored to tears with it. New car-itis is a daily itch. I've been looking at some ML350s and want to try one of those for a while. I would buy the ML350 and then sell my RX300 to an individual. I don't even want to bother trying to trade it and fortunately, I don't have to.

LOL, I should probably try to find an ML350 owner with a similar itch and simply trade cars for 6 months. :)

[lenore]

The ML is a great driving car. Before I bought our RX300 in Novmember of 1998 I actually bought an ML and turned it back in. I ran a vehicle history report and in its short life of 6 months it had been in the shop 27 times...Went to Lexus and havent looked back. The ML definetly has a better turning radius, and I am sure the German engineering was great, but the product reliablilty has not been good....Probably because of the use of American venders for most of their parts, and made in Alabama...Hopefully the new ones are vastly improved....I would check JD Powers and see if their reliablilty has improved....Good luck

[joe913]

I purchased my 2001 RX 300 last year. During my search I was looking at the BMW X5, the Mercedes ML350 and the RX300. The ML350 was eliminated from my search early on because of the poor quality of the cars I viewed. They looked good but were just prematurely worn out. Maybe they are building them better now.

By the way, I paid $9,000 for my 2001 RX300. It had 115K miles but was extremely clean and in great condition.

[pauljcl]

The ML is a great driving car. Before I bought our RX300 in Novmember of 1998 I actually bought an ML and turned it back in. I ran a vehicle history report and in its short life of 6 months it had been in the shop 27 times...Went to Lexus and havent looked back. The ML definetly has a better turning radius, and I am sure the German engineering was great, but the product reliablilty has not been good....Probably because of the use of American venders for most of their parts, and made in Alabama...Hopefully the new ones are vastly improved....I would check JD Powers and see if their reliablilty has improved....Good luck

I have driven the ML (including the latest model)and I found that the car felt very 'tough' (strongly built) but generally uncomfortable. On entering the driver's seat, I would often bump my head. The seats were hard. Many of the controls were not 'intuitive' (but one gets used to them). IMHO, a new (model) ML is an improvement over the RX300 but not over the RX350.

[Richard Carver]

By the way, I paid $9,000 for my 2001 RX300. It had 115K miles but was extremely clean and in great condition.

That's very good information, from what I'm hearing in this thread 11K is probably reasonable for my car.