Thinking of buying one

[hsyasin]

Hey all,

I'm looking at buying an 09 gs300 with 148k miles on it.. but am wondering what is this car like in reliability?

How difficult is it to diy on and do we have any guides here?

Not really affriad to get my hands dirty, as currently have an Accord and have done just about everything on he car service or non-service wise myself and it really is fairly easy to take apart and fix, like for instance have done both front suspension control arms on it and other than beinga bit fiddly and some times hard to open as the car is an 03, they are doable..

And the reason I wasn't overly bothered about the mileage on the GS is because, the Accord has done 170k miles and she still runs sweet. no knocks or bangs and stuff, even when it's been driven spiritedly for the last 5years.

[stevet]

No much to go wrong with GS300 to be honest. As it’s a 09 the dampers will be electronic so expensive to change if leaking. Check AC working ok as compressor known to seize.


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[JeffL]

Mine's an 07, bought it when it was just under 2 years old, now done about 66K miles so a lot less than the one you are looking at but I've had no problems other than usual wear and tear i.e. new Battery, tyres, brake pads, discs, callipers. Plenty of people on here with high mileage ones. I personally don't know the first thing about the mechanics of a car, but you obviously do, so you should be okay.

[JeffL]

Have a look at the thread in the GS section titled 'MOT + Big service - DONE!'

[Normski]

Yep! Deffo have a look and let me know if you're interested in mine that comes with the Lexus Warranty 

[Guest]

A word of warning from someone whose ownership experience has not been as enjoyable as it could have been. I bought an 05 plate early 3rd gen GS300 last year, 105k on the clock, full service history (Lexus dealer up to 80k), for £4k. Car looked like a gem, had never failed an MOT, drove beautifully and had obviously been well looked after. However since then it has cost me another £1500:

£700 on 2 gearbox solenoids and a fluid flush to sort out a gearbox fault that rendered the car almost undriveable.
£600 on a cat-back stainless exhaust system (Lexus wanted £1200 for the mild steel OEM bits!)
Another £200 on a stainless mid section. Basically once one bit of the exhaust starts rotting, it seems to trigger the next section to fail.

I'm also having cat issues at the moment with a P0420 code popping up every trip. Looking very likely I will have to replace the manifold cats, which will cost the best part of another £1200

The above prices are me shopping around, being as canny as I can and avoiding Lexus OEM if at all possible. And that's a big 'if' - I've owned numerous makes of car and I've never known a brand who have locked down the parts market as well as Lexus have. Apart from basic service parts, it's nigh on impossible to get anything from anywhere other than Lexus themselves - and their prices are seriously high. That £1500 I mentioned earlier would have been more like £2500 if I'd accepted that Lexus themselves were the only solution.

I bought the car because of Lexus' reputation for reliability, but I regret it and I wouldn't buy another. I'm going to spend whatever necessary to fix the current cat issue, get it MOTed next month, and sell it. It's a beautiful car, lovely to drive, but if I keep it I will be in constant fear of the next expensive issue.

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[hsyasin]

4 hours ago, Normski said:

Yep! Deffo have a look and let me know if you're interested in mine that comes with the Lexus Warranty 

cool, how many miles have you done on yours and what year is it, yoru signatire says an 06 and your name tag says its an 08?

also, how much are you asking for it?

[hsyasin]

2 hours ago, AdamPCrowe said:

A word of warning from someone whose ownership experience has not been as enjoyable as it could have been. I bought an 05 plate early 3rd gen GS300 last year, 105k on the clock, full service history (Lexus dealer up to 80k), for £4k. Car looked like a gem, had never failed an MOT, drove beautifully and had obviously been well looked after. However since then it has cost me another £1500:

£700 on 2 gearbox solenoids and a fluid flush to sort out a gearbox fault that rendered the car almost undriveable.
£600 on a cat-back stainless exhaust system (Lexus wanted £1200 for the mild steel OEM bits!)
Another £200 on a stainless mid section. Basically once one bit of the exhaust starts rotting, it seems to trigger the next section to fail.

I'm also having cat issues at the moment with a P0420 code popping up every trip. Looking very likely I will have to replace the manifold cats, which will cost the best part of another £1200

The above prices are me shopping around, being as canny as I can and avoiding Lexus OEM if at all possible. And that's a big 'if' - I've owned numerous makes of car and I've never known a brand who have locked down the parts market as well as Lexus have. Apart from basic service parts, it's nigh on impossible to get anything from anywhere other than Lexus themselves - and their prices are seriously high. That £1500 I mentioned earlier would have been more like £2500 if I'd accepted that Lexus themselves were the only solution.

I bought the car because of Lexus' reputation for reliability, but I regret it and I wouldn't buy another. I'm going to spend whatever necessary to fix the current cat issue, get it MOTed next month, and sell it. It's a beautiful car, lovely to drive, but if I keep it I will be in constant fear of the next expensive issue.

Sent from my FRD-L09 using Tapatalk
 

that is really terible, i mean parts should be easily available.. i mean like for instance I've never had any problems with the accord, have changed all sorts like all for discs and pads and a bearing and suspension arms and stuff

I guess I'll have to rethink on it then maybe

[messi]

I've had 2 mk3 gs300's one with 111000 miles and one with 150000 and had no major issues at all, only wear and tear issues like pads and discs and 1 rear calipers. They were very reliable cars, but then went through a mid life crisis and bought an sc430 but if I was in the market for a 4 door I would buy another gs300. But having said that I still think the mk2 gs300 is better built, the mk2 seems more heavy duty

[Normski]

11 hours ago, hsyasin said:

cool, how many miles have you done on yours and what year is it, yoru signatire says an 06 and your name tag says its an 08?

also, how much are you asking for it?

Message sent :)

[Normski]

11 hours ago, hsyasin said:

that is really terible, i mean parts should be easily available.. i mean like for instance I've never had any problems with the accord, have changed all sorts like all for discs and pads and a bearing and suspension arms and stuff

I guess I'll have to rethink on it then maybe

The exhaust issues while not great can be sorted by many aftermarket places. I got a cat-back system from Tony Banks in Leeds (like a few other folk on the forum) for about £600.

I see the total owenrship costs. Like all cars Lexus can throw big bills but need to ask how often and when in the life of the car do they occur. I always keep a 'bork' fund. Still find it 'cheaper' to keep cars this way then to spend ££££'s on lease/PCP/etc. deals for new/newish cars. BUT it's each to their own as no one rule fits everyone - e.g. like my Mrs and her RX450!

Amazingly one of my cheapest cars to run was a Porsche Cayenne. Something that everyone told me was going to be a mahooooosive money pit. While the most expensive has been a BMW E61.

[JeffL]

37 minutes ago, Normski said:

The exhaust issues while not great can be sorted by many aftermarket places. I got a cat-back system from Tony Banks in Leeds (like a few other folk on the forum) for about £600.

I see the total owenrship costs. Like all cars Lexus can throw big bills but need to ask how often and when in the life of the car do they occur. I always keep a 'bork' fund. Still find it 'cheaper' to keep cars this way then to spend ££££'s on lease/PCP/etc. deals for new/newish cars. BUT it's each to their own as no one rule fits everyone - e.g. like my Mrs and her RX450!

Amazingly one of my cheapest cars to run was a Porsche Cayenne. Something that everyone told me was going to be a mahooooosive money pit. While the most expensive has been a BMW E61.

At what mileage did you replace the exhaust system?

[ColinBarber]

2 hours ago, messi said:

I've had 2 mk3 gs300's one with 111000 miles and one with 150000 and had no major issues at all, only wear and tear issues like pads and discs and 1 rear calipers. They were very reliable cars, but then went through a mid life crisis and bought an sc430 but if I was in the market for a 4 door I would buy another gs300. But having said that I still think the mk2 gs300 is better built, the mk2 seems more heavy duty

I had two series II GSs without major issue, although I had a couple of central locking actuator issues and a poorly bonded windscreen which caused wind noise that were fixed under warranty.

Whilst still a good car, the series III isn't Toyota's finest hour. It was in the middle of their cost saving drive. The number of faults reported on LOC compared compared to other models, especially considering the small number of GS vehicles actually sold in the UK, is quite high. Hybrids have transmission and Battery issues that really aren't seen on other hybrid models, and the petrol ones can have exhaust/brake/suspension issues. Normally the transmissions are fine, but are expensive to put right if there is an issue.

[Normski]

30 minutes ago, JeffL said:

At what mileage did you replace the exhaust system?

It was about 80k. So not great. this new one should last a great deal longer than the OE one...

[51st8]

On 03/03/2018 at 9:43 PM, AdamPCrowe said:

I'm also having cat issues at the moment with a P0420 code popping up every trip. Looking very likely I will have to replace the manifold cats, which will cost the best part of another £1200
 

Hi,

I think this reading might give you the idea:

http://www.easterncatalytic.com/education/tech-tips/the-misleading-nature-of-the-po42o-code/