dustpur

Well, the deal is through near-family at a luxury dealer. She had her husband drop the price from a $7xxx price to $5000. The body is in perfect condition, as is the interior. The engine runs quietly, and a 30 minute test drive didn't reveal anything other than the bit of smoke coming out consistently. We actually have a small budget for a second car, and this is the first decent car in our price range if you can believe it. (My max is $5000.) It seems the smoke is the only issue, so that's why I am having a hard time deciding. Of course, I'm not rushing anything, and the dealer is more than happy to give us time and room to decide. I am also a bit unsure because I am getting different advice. A good friend that knows cars said that it wasn't a lot of smoke, and I may expect to get up to 150K before I need to do anything at all on the car. He threw out an estimate of 2-3 years of life left, but did say he hadn't owned a Lexus before. But I figure you guys would know better since you have experience! I will see what the mechanic has to say today and report back regardless of my decision. Any other thoughts?

We are hopeful Lexus ES300 owners and would like some advice. I have been searching high and low for the average lifetime of a Lexus ES300, and I can't find anything. I did look at the review of the 1995 Lexus ES300 in Consumer Reports (consumerreports.org) and the car got high ratings, although the '95 model had a higher likelihood of engine problems than later models. Anyway, we are looking at a '95 Lexus ES300 with 130K miles on it. The car rides very smooth, the engine is quiet, and the RPMs stay nice and steady during idle and while driving. No odd bumps there. However, there is a little bit of smoke coming out of the muffler, so I have to assume the engine is burning some oil. We are bringing the car to an objective mechanic that specializes in imports tomorrow. My question: am I taking a risk buying a '95 Lexus ES300 with 130K miles? Once I hit the boundary 150K miles am I going to start seeing my upkeep costs skyrocket? What is the general opinion hear on this car once the miles start getting high. If I take care of the car do you have an estimate of its real-world life expectancy? Thanks!