Thanks all.

inflames · April 20, 2016

As some of you may i know i have been looking at coming back to a Lexus for a while and was about to take the plunge. Anyway moving on little sense then, my current circumstances have changed with the wife and her job so i am going to have to wait a bit longer before i change my car. My wife is also now obsessed with becoming debt free, what i love the sound of but were is the fun? Anyway just wanted to say thanks to you all who have answered my question, over the last few months or so.

AmbroseJohn · April 20, 2016

Debt free is awesome.

Go for it, you'll be better off in the long run. Don't be a slave to the bank.

2008 GS and no worries is better than 2016 and sleepless nights.

inflames · April 21, 2016

15 hours ago, AmbroseJohn said:

Debt free is awesome.

Go for it, you'll be better off in the long run. Don't be a slave to the bank.

2008 GS and no worries is better than 2016 and sleepless nights.

Debt free would be awesome, now my wife have just received her final pay slip i have to able to afford to run 2 cars, keep the kids clothed, feed and all the usual house hold exspenses. I have now come up with a financial plan to be out of debt in 3 years, with just my income coming in alone and hopefully in time she will be able to find another job that works around mine and the kids.

I will be back in a Lexus at some point in the future but for now that will have to wait. I am glad i waited another day before deciding to put purchase the car or not, as we got the news that day about her job. I will have to stick with VW Diesel Passat for a but longer.

inflames · August 3, 2016

Well its been its about 3 and a bit months sense i started this thread. Anyway a little up date, we have been working hard at clearing our debt’s by using the debt snowball method. I had even considered selling my Passat to pay off the finance and buy a cheaper car with what was left over. I even started a thread in the LS section of the forum as i was doing a bit of research on the old LS400. In the end i decided to keep the Passat, keep paying the debt off as it was and all the work is starting to pay off. We have a made a big dent in our debt.

Well that was until last week, whilst my car was parked out side, i should state that we live on a hill. One of my neighbours cars "hand braked failed” i still think she reversed into. Its all in the hands of the insurance company’s and today i was informed that that the car in beyond economical repair and will be technically a write as the repair cost are high than the insurance percentage to value ratio. I was told i will contacted to tomorrow to discuss the next stage.

I guess there is one good thing, out of this i will clear my finance off meaning we shall be debt free quicker. But does mean i will have to use some of our small amount of savings to add to what is left of the insurance payoff to buy a replacement car. At the moment i looking at spending between 1.5K and 2K depended on the the payoff. I have a short list of cars that i am now looking at, i did consider a IS200 as i have had one before but i would prefer a larger car. So i am currently looking getting a 2nd Gen GS300, but don’t know to much about them so i am back on here doing a bit research. The other two cars are a BMW E39 528i sport or even a Mercedes W210 E320 CDI or petrol but the CDI seem to be plentiful in that price range.

bobmc · August 3, 2016

Looks like this is still for sale, bit over budget, seller is asking top price considering year, but it's been listed for a month or two so might be negotiable. Also quite a trek from Norfolk ...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1999-LEXUS-GS300-SPORT-AUTO-SILVER-Enthusiast-Owned-/222190356265?hash=item33bb93c729:g:SaQAAOSwepZXTKbe

inflames · August 3, 2016

12 minutes ago, bobmc said:

Looks like this is still for sale, bit over budget, seller is asking top price considering year, but it's been listed for a month or two so might be negotiable. Also quite a trek from Norfolk ...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1999-LEXUS-GS300-SPORT-AUTO-SILVER-Enthusiast-Owned-/222190356265?hash=item33bb93c729:g:SaQAAOSwepZXTKbe

I did look at that, is a massive trek up there for me a fly would be £200

Chasdad · August 3, 2016

Overpriced i think. I nearly bought two gs300s in the last few weeks . Both were very goofand less than 1500. Ive had 2 e39 528 sport and one 523 se. At the time i loved them . But now i think they look a bit chavvy. Unless its a minter. Ive also had a gs300 with 200k on it and it was nicer to drive than the bmws.

inflames · August 4, 2016

13 hours ago, Chasdad said:

Overpriced i think. I nearly bought two gs300s in the last few weeks . Both were very goofand less than 1500. Ive had 2 e39 528 sport and one 523 se. At the time i loved them . But now i think they look a bit chavvy. Unless its a minter. Ive also had a gs300 with 200k on it and it was nicer to drive than the bmws.

I agree that the GS300 sport in that link is very overpriced.

What do you think are the pro’s and con’s to both the 2nd Gen GS300 and the E39 5 series are? As you have owned both.

One issue i am finding at the moment is that most of the GS300’s i have seen on for sale online is that they are all 100+ miles away, the distance is not a big issue its that if i want to view more than one, it will make one hell of a day. I also agree that the 5 Series can seem a little chavvy, these days. One of them I am considering looks in very good condition apart from one small amount of corrosion starting on one of the arches. But at £1400, that can be expected.

PCM · August 4, 2016

16 hours ago, inflames said:

I wonder why the seller is selling - if it's the best car ever ... etc ... ?

Chasdad · August 4, 2016

4 hours ago, inflames said:

I agree that the GS300 sport in that link is very overpriced.

What do you think are the pro’s and con’s to both the 2nd Gen GS300 and the E39 5 series are? As you have owned both.

One issue i am finding at the moment is that most of the GS300’s i have seen on for sale online is that they are all 100+ miles away, the distance is not a big issue its that if i want to view more than one, it will make one hell of a day. I also agree that the 5 Series can seem a little chavvy, these days. One of them I am considering looks in very good condition apart from one small amount of corrosion starting on one of the arches. But at £1400, that can be expected.

In a sport model i think the e39 looks good .also has aluminium in parts of dash which looks nicer than plastic wood. They also rust around boot lock and the cooling system not great. Also after 100k the auto gearboxes can play up. And stereo is awful. I had a gs300 with 200k on it and had been abused. It drove lovely. No rust and stereo was great. The trouble with lexus in some peoples eyes theyre a bit bland. Put it this way . Since my silver gs ive had an ls300 sportscross a ls400 and now a ls430. All under £2000 .to get a bmw id want id have to pay three times that

The-Acre · August 4, 2016

4 hours ago, PCM said:

I wonder why the seller is selling - if it's the best car ever ... etc ... ?

His pride and joy no less!

Chasdad · August 4, 2016

Makes me laugh when i see that. Worth a grand extra then!

The-Acre · August 4, 2016

There's a very nice dark green MK4 LS400 on eBay, unfortunately in Yorkshire!

Verbout · August 4, 2016

1 hour ago, The-Acre said:

There's a very nice dark green MK4 LS400 on eBay, unfortunately in Yorkshire!

In what way?

The-Acre · August 4, 2016

1 hour ago, Verbout said:

In what way?

I mean a long way from Norfolk! Fear not, we have a family of 5 coming to stay with us from Yorkshire this month so we're not northist!

Verbout · August 4, 2016

I didn't think you were, just joshing as I'm sure you're aware.

The-Acre · August 5, 2016

13 hours ago, Verbout said:

I didn't think you were, just joshing as I'm sure you're aware.

Of course, and possibly "northist" is a new word? I'll have to Google it.

Nope, someone got there first!

Edited August 5, 2016 by The-Acre

inflames · August 8, 2016

Well, i still haven't heard from my insurance company about the next stage, I guess they are deciding what to offer me for my car. Any how, i have now seen a few cars i would like to go and view. One of them being 1 owner 2nd gen GS300, looks in great condition I won't be able to go until the weekend anyway, so with my luck recently i doubt that it will still be available.