2004 rx300 which to buy?

[Nickyt211]

Hello everyone I'm new to the forum. I'm looking to buy a used Rx300 and my budget is around £4000.

im looking at 2004s with round 80k on for this money and my question is should I push my budget for slightly lower mileage one at £4500 with 69k on the clock but sketchy service history as the elderly owners lost the book. Or buy a 88k one for around £3600 with service history. 

I only cover around 4000 miles a year, so will it be worth me spending the extra to get lower miles or not? 

I thought I would ask you the true experts as you own these cars. Any advice appreciated thanks 

[PCM]

I never believe the 'lost the book' story. 

Trust your instinct, go for an SE and check the MOT history ( and HPI ) online...

Take your time. If something doesn't feel right... it probably isn't.

Happy hunting.

[Nickyt211]

Thanks piers, I agree I'm after a well specced se, Ive found out the lower mileage one with  no history has air suspension so I think that's a no go due to the issues. Is 88k a lot of miles for these to do? Are there any worries around this mileage  and will it have decent value in future? Thanks again

[rayaans]

At that age, Id buy based on condition but check the MOT online - if thats OK, then I would assume its a fairly good buy. People who look after their cars on MOT will almost certainly take them for a service. I'd be annoyed at seeing things like "bulb not working, wipers dont clear screen effectively etc" on the MOT though

Service book doesn't mean a thing - someone can get them stamped up by a mate and then its miraculously got FSH. 

 

[sorcerer]

7 hours ago, Nickyt211 said:

Hello everyone I'm new to the forum. I'm looking to buy a used Rx300 and my budget is around £4000.

im looking at 2004s with round 80k on for this money and my question is should I push my budget for slightly lower mileage one at £4500 with 69k on the clock but sketchy service history as the elderly owners lost the book. Or buy a 88k one for around £3600 with service history. 

I only cover around 4000 miles a year, so will it be worth me spending the extra to get lower miles or not?

 

5 hours ago, Nickyt211 said:

Is 88k a lot of miles for these to do? Are there any worries around this mileage  and will it have decent value in future?

First of all, as you already seem to be aware, stay away from the SE-L version as they have air suspension which can be very costly to fix if anything goes wrong.

Secondly, the cambelt needs to be changed at 100,000 miles OR 10 years, whichever happens first, so make sure to get one that's already been done or if not, remember to allow for it in your budget. You should always have the cambelt idler/tensioner and the water pump changed at the same time because the vast majority of the cost will be labour charges and 90% of the work done to change the belt will just have to be done again to get to the other parts if you don't have them done at the same time, because they all live in the same place.

As an indication, I had cambelt/idler/tensioner/water pump and coolant changed at an independent garage and I think (if I recall correctly) that it was about £450-£460ish including VAT.

88,000 miles is not a lot for almost any modern car, let alone one of these. With regular maintenance and proper looking after, there's no reason why they shouldn't reach 200k and beyond. We intend to keep ours until it dies and I'm hoping it will be well beyond 200k by then.

As to value, you're looking at a car that's 13 years old. You're not paying a lot for it but that also translates to not getting a lot for it if, or when, you sell. Given that these were over £40k when new, most of the value has already gone.

Also, when a car gets to this age, don't be wasting your money on main dealer servicing and/or parts. There may be times when a part is needed that can only come from the main dealers, in which case you just have to grin and bear it, but under normal circumstances there are plenty of good independent garages out there who will happily service and maintain your car at realistic and reasonable prices. If you ever need a new exhaust for instance, you can get a custom-made, stainless steel one that's guaranteed for the life of the car for around £400, much less than Lexus would want for a 'normal' one.

Equally so, if it ever needs something like brake discs/pads or a Battery or whatever, just take it to your independent garage and let them order from their suppliers - you don't need "genuine Lexus" parts. Any garage with a good reputation (and who wants to keep that reputation intact) will not supply dodgy back-street parts from China, but will supply good parts from reputable suppliers.

Good luck for the hunt and when you do get one, just enjoy the car and don't worry about it

[Spacewagon52]

Do not take too much notice of adverts that say SE, as I have seen some SE-l's advertised as SE's and have the air suspension. Just forward of the gear lever, next to the heated seats buttons, will be a switch to change the suspension height if it has air suspension. Others may correct me if I am wrong.

[Gliderdave]

I agree whole heartedly with the previous post's.I bought exactly the similar vehicle to the one you are looking for only 6 weeks ago.I did pay 5k but it was from a reputable dealer/garage.It had a full history but it had not had the cambelt changed which they duly completed 

so far so good! But I do not want to jinx it!.

if you buy well you will not be disappointed 

[Nickyt211]

I have been reading some of the posts on the forum about air suspension.  so I am only looking at se models tbh I have been surprised by how many se models have the air suspension too when I saw the button on the dash. Thank you for your in depth advice sorcerer. I think I might stop being so picky on mileage then as I've been trying to wait to look for one around 70k instead of 80k but think I'll just look for good service history and make sure to factor in the cambelt in my pricing. I think from watching them on eBay even high milers seem to not sell too cheap either. 

[Spacewagon52]

Provided it has a good service history, you can't really equate high mileage on Lexus cars with other makes.

100,000 miles and they are just run in!

[jabowsi]

My RX400h has done 252000 miles, yes that's the right number, with full service history still drives like new. Don't worry about miles, get full dealer service history.

 

 

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[Nickyt211]

Wow that's brilliant stuff. I was just wondering is it worth looking at the rx350 if I can get any within my price range? But I think the tax is higher on them if I'm right at £500 a year when the rx300 is only £300? 

[jabowsi]

Try the 400h at only £175 p/a, my RX400h cost me £3400 just 9 months ago and with 240000 miles on it. It may as well have had 80000 the way it drives! Well worth looking for the hybrid if you can.

 

 

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[sorcerer]

@Nickyt211 Sometimes the RX300 does feel just slightly underpowered. It's a huge, heavy thing for a 3-litre engine to drive around and sometimes I just wonder if the 350 would be better - but I didn't like the extra road tax so bought the 300 as I originally planned.

Jerry has a good point about the hybrids but it depends how you intend to use the car. I know you said that you only do about 4,000 miles a year so maybe fuel costs aren't important to you, but hybrids are better at stop-start, low-speed, town driving (say up to about 30-35mph) where the Battery does most of the work in 'milk float mode'. However, at higher speeds they become ordinary petrol-driven cars that use a bit more petrol than they perhaps otherwise would do, because they have to drag around the extra weight of the traction Battery.

[Neil E]

Well I'm going to disagree about the SEL with air suspension. I looked for some time to find the right top spec model. It's well worth having the benefit of air and only difficult to deal with if you don't know what you're doing or use a garage that doesn't and that's where forum knowledge should help out.

Most air suspension issues are to do with height controller faults that are easily fixed. I've only had one fail on the RX at about 130k miles, it took me 15 mins to replace the controller and order was restored. I've had air suspension since the 1991 Soarer and several hundred thousand miles confirms it's really not that difficult or expensive to deal with.  

[DanD]

YOu only have to trawl this forum to find plenty of entries that contradict the last statement: many report that the air suspension is unreliable and expensive to fix, with little benefit over the "normal" suspension. IN an older car, I think it could be a source of problems and a potential money pit.

I too would recommend the hybrid if you can find one. Utterly reliable (note that ALL hybrid models have conventional suspension), more power, and cheaper to run even if fuel consumption is far from the official figures.

You mentionned that the previous owners of the car you looked had lost the service book... did they say whether the car was serviced at a Lexus dealership? - If so, the dealer will be able to give you a full history.

[Malc]

just remembering back a couple of months or so reading on here about early RX300s and terminal RUST being a problem for some.

You might like to check those posts out for info 

Malc

[Nickyt211]

Thanks I'll have a look at the rust? I'm surprised I haven't seen any yet with any visible rust, I'm guessing you mean underbody components. I would love a 400h but they are just too high mileage for my budget. I don't mind the fuel consumption too much but I don't want to spend £500 per year on tax. So the rx300 is about right for what I can afford I think. I appreciate your views on the air suspension and because of the age of the cars I'm looking at I just don't want to take the risk of it failing. I know these cars are reliable so I'm hunting for a well kept se with good spec. Thanks for all your advice guys

[Nickyt211]

There is one I like that the last mot had an advisory for "steering system slightly rough" does anyone know what this might be? I'm going to look at it the weekend and hope it's all good. 

[Nickyt211]

I know some of them have a reversing camera but do they have parking sensors? Was this an extra or an aftermarket job? 

[Malc]

57 minutes ago, Nickyt211 said:

for "steering system slightly rough"

maybe that's the issue with the rust there. I remember the posts were relating to some serious underbody major component stuff actually failing an MOT on irreperable RUST

Malc

[sorcerer]

I think what Malc is referring to is a topic (that, typically, I can't find now) by @ChrisKaye where he needed to replace the whole (rear?) subframe because of rust. To be fair though, I think I remember him saying that the car had spent all its life within an arm's length of the sea, somewhere on the south coast. I don't think rust is an issue on any that have lived well inland.

EDIT: found it:

 

[DanD]

Any car with the factory fit SatNav will have a reversing camera. Parking sensors are/were a dealer fit option. They can be retrofitted.

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!

[sorcerer]

17 minutes ago, DanD said:

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.

 

[Nickyt211]

That's great stuff I'll be interested in sorting out the rear lighting as soon as I sort out a car, I'll test drive this car at the weekend and see about the "rough steering". 

[rayaans]

2 hours ago, Nickyt211 said:

That's great stuff I'll be interested in sorting out the rear lighting as soon as I sort out a car, I'll test drive this car at the weekend and see about the "rough steering". 

Rough steering sounds odd - perhaps they meant the bearing was rough? not sure.

Regardless, check it yourself as it may be a potential problem lurking. It may have something to do with the power steering system.

As for the 69k mile one, like I said before, on older cars a service history is not an issue. Once a car is over 10 years old, buy based on condition. However, you should be able to ask the owners where it was serviced. If done at Lexus, they would have a full history of their services. If at an independent, a quick chat to them over the phone would get you some answers.