Buying a 10+ year old car what could go wrong?

[El Chupacabra]

Want me to make you feel better?

Timeshare dues due?

[guroo270]

Just bought one of the best used cars you can buy ('01-'06 LS 430). 16 years old, 125k miles, pristine, everything works, $7k. I will cop to dropping $1800 on new Pirellis and the major 90k timing belt + service. Super comfy, V8 power, bulletproof engine and tranny, 90 mph cruising like a champ while getting 24 mpg, amazing fit, finish and quality, and very quiet.

[BmillsSkier]

My Mom has owned a string of LSes. And aside from her current LS460L, that one you bought was always my favorite. It's meant to just eat up highway miles in complete comfort and silence. Nice pickup.

[guroo270]

My Mom has owned a string of LSes. And aside from her current LS460L, that one you bought was always my favorite. It's meant to just eat up highway miles in complete comfort and silence. Nice pickup.

^^^that's one of the other best things about them - the clientele. Pretty tough to find an abused lane sanctuary (I assume that's what LS stands for). Lots of buyers are people that will only have them serviced at the dealers. It's also worth noting that the 'big service' that I just had done at Lexus of Mobile, was only $1180. Very reasonable. I already changed the oil and coolant, so it's probably more like $1350. And thanks!

I had an '05, absolutely flawless LS on the line a month ago with 150k with all the services done for $6500, but his gf found out and put the kabosh on that. The deals are out there.

If anyone is looking for something like it, the key is actually to find the ones with the features you DON'T want. The simpler ones are better high milers. The ultra luxury versions with buku features carry very high repair bills. Air suspension, mark levinson stereo integrated with the gps, etc., you don't want that.

[east or bust]

Doesn't look like much but to the trained eye, uuuuge difference.

FullSizeRender by AD, on Flickr

IMG_0705 by AD, on Flickr

IMG_0708 by AD, on Flickr

[stfu&gbtw]

And it would need a sub sub forum dedicated to winter tires.

Costco has Blizzaks for $70 off. Just bought the wife new snows for $400. Apparently the promotion runs until 12/24.

[reckless toboggan]

Doesn't look like much but to the trained eye, uuuuge difference.

FullSizeRender by AD, on Flickr

IMG_0705 by AD, on Flickr

IMG_0708 by AD, on Flickr

Hope that's full steel. I've seen so many of those made of Aluminum crack, break off, wheel comes off rolling down the highway, or 50 miles out some forestry road in the slack country.

[east or bust]

Hope that's full steel. I've seen so many of those made of Aluminum crack, break off, wheel comes off rolling down the highway, or 50 miles out some forestry road in the slack country.

They're aluminum.

My bud has had aluminum spacers on his LJ for 6 years with no problems. Not saying what you mentioned can't happen, but I think mishaps occur from cheap spacers or people not coating the face between the spacer and hub with anti seize or something similar to protect against galvanic corrosion. You're also supposed to check the torque on them after a couple hundred miles after the initial install which I bet few people do.
When I was getting my tires mounted a few weeks ago I watched a tech at the shop beat a wheel off a Merecedes with a sledge hammer. I thought that was odd because my wheels are aluminum, never looked to see if they are coated with anything on the backside.

[basinbeater]

https://youtu.be/IhI3DJdjSYQ

[Bobby Stainless]

I was partial to the 400, but the 430 is a great LS too. Can't beat 7k.

I was actually looking at a 12 LS460 the other day, as a daily.

The GS300 and SC300 are some of my favorite cars.

[guroo270]

I was partial to the 400, but the 430 is a great LS too. Can't beat 7k.

I was actually looking at a 12 LS460 the other day, as a daily.

The GS300 and SC300 are some of my favorite cars.

I dig the GS's a lot, too. It's a lot harder to find a pristine one with that rock solid 2JZ engine, and I was surprised to see that the V8 LS's get better gas mileage overall. Definitely a better looking and younger vehicle, but I've got plenty of Tommy Bahama to rock in my LS. It's really quite impressive how much car and luxury materials you can have for so little money. Just driving by used car lots I see tons of newer cars for $18k and such and think, "I'd rather have my LS over that one, that one, that one...etc." It's a lot of car for $7k.

[BmillsSkier]

^^^that's one of the other best things about them - the clientele. Pretty tough to find an abused lane sanctuary (I assume that's what LS stands for). Lots of buyers are people that will only have them serviced at the dealers.

Nailed it. I've always thought to myself some lucky bastard is getting one cherry kept car when my Mom trades in her LSes. Always dealer serviced, only driven in the non-snow months... It's amazing like you said at the quality and level of luxury you get for so little. Those Levinson systems sound fucking great when enjoying the air-cooled seats.

I was partial to the 400, but the 430 is a great LS too. Can't beat 7k.

I was actually looking at a 12 LS460 the other day, as a daily.

The GS300 and SC300 are some of my favorite cars.

My second favorite of my Mom's was the LS400. '92 in the classic Lexus pearlized white over grey two tone. Who cares if they were ripping off Mercedes' design department for years, they made it look good!

Her LS460L is still one of the nicest luxo-barges I've ever been in. I'm 6' and can damn near stretch my legs out completely in the back seat.

Great, underappreciated cars.


ETA: They're unveiling the new LS at Detroit after the new year and from the teaser pic it looks like the last car they saved from the God-awful grille will now fall victim to it. Shame. Out of the LS, 7 Series, S Class and A8 none of them are anywhere as appealing as they used to be. All techno-garbage design these days.

[liv2ski]

Never drove a Lexus, as Clarkson said they are about as exciting as watching paste dry. I get they are reliable land yachts, but I still like a car that provides joie de vivre. For the big cars I have always been partial to the A8 L

[BmillsSkier]

Precisely why my Mom is a lifelong Lexus customer. Zero 'joix de vivre" in her driving style at all.

We relocated her last LX470 to the south where it can get eaten by salt air instead of road salt. Hope to drive that thing past 300k miles.

[basinbeater]

So what is the threshold point for getting a good used car? Iove the late 80s early 90s (my land cruiser is a stretch at 97) stuff. Small e30 bimmers, mid 90s 5 series, e46 bimmers (kind of new) and I have found that the sweet spot money wise is 5-8k. I have spent inside that range on the last several cars I bought for myself to drive. As I reread this post, I find that I don't really agree with it, but it is what I think of when I think good cheap fun cars.

[Mazderati]

Of course there are exceptions but the '90s up until the mid '00s was a good run.

[BmillsSkier]

Agreed. My '06 e90 330i (the first and last high output, non-turbo I-6 3 Series with the body style) comes ringing to mind - the sweetest idle exhaust note of any car I've ever owned. Mechanical steering, transmission (not the Gaaaaawwwwd-awful electronic trans that replaced it). Mind you, I replaced it briefly with an e90 M3 (4door) with the shit trans and still have a 335i with the shit trans.

That was the honey hole of cars in my opinion. Somewhere between turbo-everything and electronic-everything and analog-everything.

I still miss my '94 SE-V6 Pathfinder too if anyone cares. And if you have one, and it's in good nick, let's talk.

[guroo270]

My old 2001 fully loaded 330i was damn near a perfect vehicle in every way, and was just blissful to drive. Use to cruise I-8 from Tucson to Palm Springs when I was in school at 100 and that thing just squatted. Perfectly balanced and big enough engine to shred up the twisties. Big fan of the 540/M5 from that era, too, but never had the pleasure of owning one. Still want a 330i zhp. Just that little extra power would've been tits.

And yes, there is nothing exciting at all about an LS, but damn is it peaceful in there.

[Bobby Stainless]

Never drove a Lexus, as Clarkson said they are about as exciting as watching paste dry.

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...1498/overview/

I want one so bad...

[BmillsSkier]

Ooh I forgot about the LF-A.

[The Tortoise]

The newer GS and IS (Particularly in F-Sport guise) are supposed to give up very little, if anything, of handling prowess that the Germans are known for. The bonus is that they don't come with a check engine light.

[Bromontana]

The IS line still looks good, may need to drive on and compare against the holy grail for me: 540 sport, manual.

A mechanic I talked to recently said a v8 5 series could be rebuilt and set up well for under 10k. Assuming that you're buying one with engine issues and a nice interior with a rebuild lined up.

[basinbeater]

I have an e34 v8 540i 6spd manual.
It was $4.5k. With wheels and suspension bits and a tune up, I'm approaching $6k. It has right about 100k miles. Mine has a 4.0l m60 v8 with 282hp. The newer 290hp 540i m62 4.0l v8 variants suffer from timing chain guide issues that are a costly required fix at about 100k miles. I looked at several e39 540i cars, and EVERY SINGLE ONE, needed the timing chain guides and or chains done on them. A $2-3k service if you pay, or a massive diy. And if the chain tensioner fails before you do the work, boom.

[Bromontana]

Nikasil plated cylinders on the m60, me likey! Thanks for the info

[BmillsSkier]

Question for Beer Drinker and the Maggots in general:

What car websites do you find the best luck with? Is there an aggregator out there that can search cars.com/autotrader/ebay/CL all at once with specific criteria? Wholesale secret auction listings?

Maybe it's the time of year but I'm getting an itch to burn money that should rightfully go into the kid's college fund on a piece of automotive nostalgia that I already don't have garage space for.

Whatcha got?