2004 rx300 which to buy?

[Nickyt211]

The 69k one isn't an option now as it has air suspension sadly, another question Should the steering be completely smooth on these? No noises or Judders 

[rayaans]

59 minutes ago, Nickyt211 said:

The 69k one isn't an option now as it has air suspension sadly, another question Should the steering be completely smooth on these? No noises or Judders 

Should be yes.

Only situation they should make noise is on full lock going around a sharp turn in car parks for example but it'll be a minor squeal. 

[jabowsi]

Note that a lot of people complain that the reversing lights and camera combination is poor when it's dark (subject of the longest ever thread in this forum!!!). If you live in an area with no street lighting, you might want to locate and read this thread for ideas on how to make things better!

Depending on how you read that, it could lead you to believe that the reversing lights are better on cars that haven't got the camera, but they aren't, they're just as bad. It's mainly down to the already not-so-bright bulb being more than half enclosed in a sort of shroud (pic below), so two modifications you'll be wanting to do quite quickly after buying the car will be to get rid of said shroud and also replace the dim bulb with LEDs. It makes things a whole lot better and is easy to do.

 

 

How do you get in there to remove that shroud?

 

 

Sent from my Iphone using Tapatalk Pro

[sorcerer]

I think post No.7 (by someone called Williz) in the following topic has a link to a pdf file with instructions and lots of photos that you can download:

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/topic/44772-back-up-lights/?utm_source=LexusOwnersClubUK&utm_medium=ForumLinks

[Neil E]

Slightly rough or juddering steering (felt through the steering wheel) can occur when the fluid in the power steering reservoir is low. As explained earlier it may also squeal slightly on full lock depending on how low it is. It could be a fairly simple fix if it's a leaking pipe/hose/join etc but if it's run low on fluid for some time that won't help the PAS system.

They aren't easy to see but look at the power steering pipes, flow and return, especially around the front offside wheel arch/front suspension leg area where the hard metal pipe is joined to the high pressure hose. Make sure there are no leaks. If a 4 post lift isn't available, it may be necessary to remove the engine covers and the front offside wheel to do a proper inspection.

[Nickyt211]

Hi guys so there is another one I'm looking at at the minute that's a 54 plate with 89000 on the clock it has a full service history, mostly Lexus dealer. It has 4 previous owners. And in very good condition. He's asking £3490. With a new mot. 

But no cambelt change, the trader said in the manual it is not supposed to be done till 107000 miles, is this true? 

[sorcerer]

7 hours ago, Nickyt211 said:

Hi guys so there is another one I'm looking at at the minute that's a 54 plate with 89000 on the clock it has a full service history, mostly Lexus dealer. It has 4 previous owners. And in very good condition. He's asking £3490. With a new mot. 

But no cambelt change, the trader said in the manual it is not supposed to be done till 107000 miles, is this true? 

I'm not at home to look at the manual at the moment but I'd stake a month's salary on it being 100k or 10 years, whichever is sooner - so it should have been done in 2014 anyway.

EDIT:

I found this but it refers to the USA so the dealer probably won't accept it

 

[rayaans]

7 hours ago, Nickyt211 said:

Hi guys so there is another one I'm looking at at the minute that's a 54 plate with 89000 on the clock it has a full service history, mostly Lexus dealer. It has 4 previous owners. And in very good condition. He's asking £3490. With a new mot. 

But no cambelt change, the trader said in the manual it is not supposed to be done till 107000 miles, is this true? 

Should be done at 100k/10 years but not a major problem - just get it done if you like the car.

Is this the silver one in Lancashire?

Priced fairly well overall but has some issues which can be easily sorted looking at the pics - depends on how fussy you are

[Nickyt211]

Yes it was but I'm unsure on it at the minute. What issues have you spotted on it. I'm going to look at an 06 se with 80k on first thing tomorrow it's really clean and well looked after it just doesn't have the rev camera etc. So I'm Gna see what it's like. There is another 04 with 88k on the clock near London with full service history and great spec too but that's the one with the steering mot advisory. Decisions decisions . Thanks for the advice on the cambelt guys.

[sorcerer]

You'll regret going for the lesser spec if it hasn't got reversing camera because that also means no satnav (not that it's much use anyway because it's outdated and clunky), no Bluetooth handsfree for your phone and lots of other 'toys' missing that use that central display unit. Ok, you could live without them - but why should you when they are available? 

EDIT: Just thought I'd say that I've driven lots of vehicles in more than 40 years of driving (including a few BT vans), none of which have ever had a reversing camera - but now that I've got one I love it! Yes, it's a bit of a gimmic and a bit of a toy, but also surprisingly useful too.

[PCM]

7 hours ago, sorcerer said:

You'll regret going for the lesser spec if it hasn't got reversing camera because that also means no satnav (not that it's much use anyway because it's outdated and clunky), no Bluetooth handsfree for your phone and lots of other 'toys' missing that use that central display unit. Ok, you could live without them - but why should you when they are available? 

EDIT: Just thought I'd say that I've driven lots of vehicles in more than 40 years of driving (including a few BT vans), none of which have ever had a reversing camera - but now that I've got one I love it! Yes, it's a bit of a gimmic and a bit of a toy, but also surprisingly useful too.

I agree. You do want that reversing camera - it makes life MUCH easier. It's a big car to park.

( Check for the usual seized callipers too. )

[rayaans]

13 hours ago, Nickyt211 said:

Yes it was but I'm unsure on it at the minute. What issues have you spotted on it. I'm going to look at an 06 se with 80k on first thing tomorrow it's really clean and well looked after it just doesn't have the rev camera etc. So I'm Gna see what it's like. There is another 04 with 88k on the clock near London with full service history and great spec too but that's the one with the steering mot advisory. Decisions decisions . Thanks for the advice on the cambelt guys.

Nothing major on the silver one in Lancashire. From the pics at least just seems to be missing carpet mats and a 12v cover - extremely easy to sort out. Can't figure out whether it has a rear shelf roller from the pics though but these can be had easily too. Also appears to have some corrosion on the wheels but for the age of the car not unexpected and for the price, its extremely good. 

[Spacewagon52]

The Lancashire oned does look really good for the money ..........if I were interested ........STOP! STOP! The kids have bubbled me to the wife!

"Turn that computer off!"

[Nickyt211]

So I will update you on my days hunting. I drove to London to look at the 88k black one for £3990 with sat nav etc and service history. Only to find that it was in terrible condition scratches all over it, a rear fog light was hanging out with a rip in the leather inside and the wing mirrors had a strange red blobby colour to them. I just walked away disappointed as I'd drove so far from the midlands to see it. So I drove to Bedford to look at the 06 with 80k on without the camera. It was very nice drove lovely. I struck a deal and as I was about to sign the line the guy said the tax was £535 😲 To my horror. So I begrudgingly walked away again. I just thought all the rx300s were only £305.

my next step is to see the one in Manchester tomorrow in hopes of more luck

[Spacewagon52]

Not sure of the date but the 06 ones are top tax, as are the RX350's I believe.

[Spacewagon52]

1 hour ago, Nickyt211 said:

So I will update you on my days hunting. I drove to London to look at the 88k black one for £3990 with sat nav etc and service history. Only to find that it was in terrible condition scratches all over it, a rear fog light was hanging out with a rip in the leather inside and the wing mirrors had a strange red blobby colour to them. I just walked away disappointed as I'd drove so far from the midlands to see it. So I drove to Bedford to look at the 06 with 80k on without the camera. It was very nice drove lovely. I struck a deal and as I was about to sign the line the guy said the tax was £535 😲 To my horror. So I begrudgingly walked away again. I just thought all the rx300s were only £305.

my next step is to see the one in Manchester tomorrow in hopes of more luck

I know the feeling when I went to Scotland! Never again ... but never say never????

[rayaans]

4 hours ago, Nickyt211 said:

So I will update you on my days hunting. I drove to London to look at the 88k black one for £3990 with sat nav etc and service history. Only to find that it was in terrible condition scratches all over it, a rear fog light was hanging out with a rip in the leather inside and the wing mirrors had a strange red blobby colour to them. I just walked away disappointed as I'd drove so far from the midlands to see it. So I drove to Bedford to look at the 06 with 80k on without the camera. It was very nice drove lovely. I struck a deal and as I was about to sign the line the guy said the tax was £535 😲 To my horror. So I begrudgingly walked away again. I just thought all the rx300s were only £305.

my next step is to see the one in Manchester tomorrow in hopes of more luck

Ooh hard luck

Tbh you'll be lucky if you find a decent black one. My black RX300 had the softest paint ever and used to throw up stones from the road so quickly built scratches up. I believe the second owner completely trashed it as it was put on sale 3 years after I PXed it and a fellow member went to see it and told me of its sorry state

[Nickyt211]

All sorted now :) I'm collecting this beauty on Saturday Only £3400 with a fresh mot and service. It's in great condition for its age and drives like a dream. Really liked the black leather too. It's abs light was on but the dealer is sorting it with the mot, Hopefully worth waiting for. 

[PCM]

Silver is a GREAT colour! 

[sorcerer]

Excellent! You certainly won't regret it - and I'll bet that you want to drive it more than the 4,000 miles a year that you said you normally do

[Nickyt211]

Definitely sorcerer 😊 Really pleased with it, can't wait to fetch it next week. I will be doing the rear bulbs to LED, any particular make you reccomend would be appreciated. I need some new mats I'd prefer genuine but the only ones I've seen are £105!!! .

I'd like to source a rear bumper protector to cover the boot opening. I have seen the genuine ones on eBay but they are black and not sure it will look too good on my silver car. I'll start a new post about trying to find a silver/chrome one or something if it exists. Thanks for all the help guys, much appreciated👍

[PCM]

I have a silver car and black protector.

It looks fine.

They are quite understated.

 

[Nickyt211]

I'm coming round to it actually after looking at a few on auto trader. Does anyone know the cheapest place to get a genuine one? 

[sorcerer]

You've probably already found the cheapest and best bumper protector

These are the LEDs that I got for the reversing light modification.

Another good and easy mod is to replace the cigarette lighter with one of these USB sockets so that you can directly plug in your phone/TomTom/whatever instead of using a cig lighter-to-USB adapter.

I've also changed most of the internal bulbs to LEDs too and it's much better, far brighter than the filament bulbs, especially as the black leather and dark privacy glass tends to make the interior look dim anyway. I'll post details of those LEDs later as they are on my home computer and I'm not there at the moment.

EDIT: Something else you may or may not be interested in is a boot liner. I couldn't justify the cost of a genuine Lexus one so I got this one from Poland and it's great - does exactly what it says on the tin

[rayaans]

17 hours ago, Nickyt211 said:

Definitely sorcerer 😊 Really pleased with it, can't wait to fetch it next week. I will be doing the rear bulbs to led, any particular make you reccomend would be appreciated. I need some new mats I'd prefer genuine but the only ones I've seen are £105!!! .

I'd like to source a rear bumper protector to cover the boot opening. I have seen the genuine ones on eBay but they are black and not sure it will look too good on my silver car. I'll start a new post about trying to find a silver/chrome one or something if it exists. Thanks for all the help guys, much appreciated👍

You can get some deluxe tailored carpets which will be around £50 for the same quality. 

Just make sure they are indeed premium velour carpets, not the cheap thin ones

Carmats4u do some decent ones