purchasing a new to me gs450h

[joecash]

I am looking to purchase a GS450H, hopefully the SE-L version.

I have a budget of £12k

grateful of suggestions for the one to get or the ones to avoid

[XT5]

Hello Joe, and welcome to the forum.

I would start off by saying that my advice would be to avoid any that show any signs whatsoever of neglect, and aim for one with a full and verifiable Lexus service history.

And don't be too put off by mileage, these cars wear their miles very well indeed.

I'd have thought you'd not have to spend £12000 to get a really nice one.

Hope this helps, and good luck with your search.

Brian.

 

[mrdoofa]

You preferably want to see a nice fully stamped up Lexus service history and possibly a recent hybrid health check certificate. These cars like most Lexus cars can take mileage very well, a few weak spots on these cars to check are the shock absorbers can leak and are quite costly to replace, rear brake calipers can seize I think because of under use as these cars use regenerative braking so the actual disc brakes are used less than a normal car and the exhaust can leak at the Y joint and check for rusty back boxes, some early cars can have paint bubbling corrosion along the front edge of the bonnet.

There is no real way to check the hybrid system other than check for any warning lights and/or messages and check it operates as it should. Basically when cold it should always start up on the petrol engine to warm the car up, once up to temperature with the hybrid Battery charged you should be able to very gently accelerate from stand still to around 20mph in silence on electric power alone, it’ll only go for about a mile or so on electric power alone in my experience, remember it’s not an electric car it’s still a predominately petrol car with electric assist. When the hybrid Battery runs low the engine should kick in to start charging it, the engine should shut off when standing still most of the time unless it’s being used to charge the hybrid Battery or other demands are placed on it such as by the climate control etc when it might not switch off.

The petrol engine will turn on and off whilst you drive depending on acceleration, coasting, braking and going downhill and this should be almost seamless, the hybrid Battery level will also rise and fall as you drive, don’t if you don’t get the Battery level to the very top as this only really happens when you are driving down a long descent using lots of regen braking and it won’t stay full for long even then!!! When you put your foot down these cars are really fast and not much can keep up with them and the acceleration is very addictive!!! Even though they use a CVT transmission you still may feel what feels like a gear change under certain conditions, this is because the electric motor has a high and low range transmission and you sometimes feel it changing. The gauge to the left of the speedo is not a rev counter, instead it tells you how much the electric motor is being used, at the bottom of the gauge you will see a blue section, when the car uses regenerative braking the needle should enter this section to show the kinetic energy produced is charging the Battery.

That’s everything I can think of off the top of my head, sometimes the dash can have a bit of a creak or rattle but this is more of an irritation than anything and if your car does have the problem it depends on how annoying it might be to you, mine does it slightly but not enough to bother me. I’ve had an SE-L and currently have an SE, the only differences I can see is that the SE-L has radar cruise and a sunroof although my SE has a sunroof so it’s only the radar cruise I don’t have. Obviously all other usual used car checks apply and check all electrics and gadgets work as they should (there’s lots of toys on these!!!), good luck and keep us posted!!!

[KayCee]

well described martin

[joecash]

thanks for the comments and a special thanks to Martin for taking so much time to reply

[The-Acre]

On 5/21/2018 at 7:40 AM, KayCee said:

well described martin

Ditto.

[mrdoofa]

I like to try and be helpful!!! 😃😃