Buying 2GS430 Advice

AndrewSavage · February 23, 2019

Hi, I had a GS300 for about 8 years from about 2007 and loved it, stupidly moving to Mercedes when it came to replacing it.

I've fallen in love with a local (Belfast) 2001 GS430 sport 89000 miles, full dealer history, 18" Sport alloys etc, car looks totally immaculate inside and out. The timing belt was last done in 2004 but the seller assures me this is good for 10 years... I'd have thought 6 years.. I also need clarification on the service history as I only see stamps up to 2017. The original owner had the car serviced from new until 2017 at the supplying dealer. The car was up for £3400 when we went to see it, the seller told us he wasn't fussed if it sold or not so we didn't make an offer. I've noticed he's now dropped the price to £3200.

Looking around I see another GS430 for sale, 2002, 63000 miles, not a Sport but has the same wheels and boot spoiler for sale in England. This car has the Levinson stereo with sat nav which the local sport doesn't.

Other than lower trim below the bumpers is there much difference? I'm tempted to buy the English non sport car which would also then involve the cost of travelling over and back, But the car would be a year younger with 20,000 less miles.

What's your thoughts? Not sure if I'm allowed to provide links to the adds.

Thanks

Andrew

Nico72 · February 23, 2019

Hi Andrew, personally I would be tempted with the 63k mileage and the fact that it has got the top range sound system with sat nav is another strong point to chose this car over to the first one. In terms of driving, I do not think there will be a major difference, the sport version has got the sport suspension, which makes the car a bit stiffer and more planted but you would feel more the bumps if the road is uneven - so, most of us would keep the standard suspension on as they are a bit softer on the road. But I believe the standard car does have the sport button for engine tune, which is nice and enough for most drivers.

My gut feeling would be to go for the lower mileage car... Best of luck!

AndrewSavage · February 23, 2019

Both cars are beautiful, I know from the standard stereo in my 98 GS300 was great, so the Levinson must be really good. I must admit I prefer the idea of the sport and i've been to see it in the flesh but it probably makes more sense to buy the younger car with fewer miles and I'd regret not having the better stereo. The sport is really dark green, looks black.

Nico72 · February 23, 2019

It is a hard choice to be fair. Both cars look really good. From colour point of view, the dark one looks nicer. But I would still go with the grey with all options and lower mileage...

The-Acre · February 23, 2019

I'd find it a hard choice, both look brilliant. I've always thought they look bigger than the later ones. Both lovely cars. And surely it's 10 years or 100k for the timing belt.

AndrewSavage · February 23, 2019

47 minutes ago, The-Acre said:

I'd find it a hard choice, both look brilliant. I've always thought they look bigger than the later ones. Both lovely cars. And surely it's 10 years or 100k for the timing belt.

I didn't realise it was 10 years, that's pretty good news and a plus for the Sport 🙂 The only other thing is I love the reg on the English car.

The-Acre · February 23, 2019

All I can say is these engines do mega miles so mileage wouldn't be an issue. I agree the reg number is good, but best not to be sidetracked with that! I like both colours, although there is something special about dark cars with light interiors. I'd also add the ML system in the LS430 can be troublesome, so if it's the same it's worth taking into account.

kayble · February 26, 2019

I would go for the one that has the least underbody corrosion. Do all the standard checks underneath and see which comes out best - pay particular attention to the pinch welds around the back jacking points, the inner arch lip, and the rear end of the sill section as it meets the inner wheel arch, and the rear park brake backing plates.

Thereafter, I'd favour the car that has the easier option for retrofit installation of a modern double DIN stereo (saving the original parts of course) - so that's likely the darker non-nav car.

Tomgoode · February 28, 2019

I would also check for signs of water ingress - usually caused by blocked drain tubes in the Sunroof . At some point mine had water in the driver's footwell area - also check the spare wheel area for any past / present "water logging" issues

AndrewSavage · February 28, 2019

Thanks for that.

My 98 GS300 had a wet floor in the rear passenger footwell. It really spoiled the car. I read somewhere that it was caused by the heater matrix or aircon. I did look at the sunroof but probably not closely enough 🙂

I've lost my login details from my original account

The-Acre · March 1, 2019

Any news?

messi · March 1, 2019

That green gs430 was for sale for over 2 years on and off, the previous owner found it very hard to sell. He sold it recently to this trader for I think £2500, around that mark anyway and obviously the trader has to make a drink on top

kayble · March 2, 2019

On 2/28/2019 at 10:49 PM, AndrewSavage said:

Thanks for that.

My 98 GS300 had a wet floor in the rear passenger footwell. It really spoiled the car. I read somewhere that it was caused by the heater matrix or aircon. I did look at the sunroof but probably not closely enough 🙂

I've lost my login details from my original account

You had the same issue I did regarding rusted out rear parking brake backing plates:

On 1/6/2019 at 11:03 AM, kayble said:

Here's where things got interesting.

I knew when driving the car that the parking brake wasn't working. Minimal response from only one side of the car - meant (in my mind) that the shoes were likely ruined/poorly adjusted. I stripped it all down and pulled it off the hub, having already purchased new shoes and mounting hardware.

With the disc/caliper off:

Doesn't look too bad, maybe it just needs new shoes/adjustment. Stripping the shoes/hardware off, things took a turn for the worse:

the parking brake backing plates have rotted through to the knuckle behind - on both sides! There should be a little bracket in the lower portion of the backing plate, that helps to align the star adjuster and one of the tension springs - it wasn't there - nor was any of the metal that it should be spot welded to!

It was at this point that I also discovered that both parking cables were broken, and one was completley seized up. They had both separated at the point the cable connects with with the backing plate:

Find out how this was solved...in the next post!

I ended up solving it by importing rear hubs from an '05 car in texas - not a spot of rust on them!

Tomgoode · March 2, 2019

On 2/26/2019 at 9:51 PM, kayble said:

I would go for the one that has the least underbody corrosion. Do all the standard checks underneath and see which comes out best - pay particular attention to the pinch welds around the back jacking points, the inner arch lip, and the rear end of the sill section as it meets the inner wheel arch, and the rear park brake backing plates.

Thereafter, I'd favour the car that has the easier option for retrofit installation of a modern double DIN stereo (saving the original parts of course) - so that's likely the darker non-nav car.

Personally if I were looking for one of these right now I'd go with kayble's advice - be patient and go for one with the least underbody corrosion and with decent service history. I am thinking of getting my car professionally "rust proofed" as the underbody seems to be relatively clean at the moment.

kayble · March 2, 2019

I'm lucky enough to be able to most work, bar welding/spray work, as a DIY project in the garage home.

I'd love a GS430 - there's no sustitute for the character of a V8, and my GS300 has been such a fun car to work on, that I'd jump at a GS430 project; so long as it's not too badly rusted, and engine/gearbox are basically good - I could cope with most other things!

The-Acre · March 2, 2019

3 minutes ago, kayble said:

I'm lucky enough to be able to most work, bar welding/spray work, as a DIY project in the garage home.

I'd love a GS430 - there's no sustitute for the character of a V8, and my GS300 has been such a fun car to work on, that I'd jump at a GS430 project; so long as it's not too badly rusted, and engine/gearbox are basically good - I could cope with most other things!

You're very lucky to have a garage you can use. I'd do so much more of my own work if I didn't have a garage built in the days when cars were 4' wide and men wore cloth caps!

AndrewSavage · March 2, 2019

My old GS had surface rust under the sill just in front of the back wheel and suffered the same problems above with the rear brakes. I never got them properly repaired, each year for MOT the cables would have seized & would take a bit of work to get them moving again & the metal piece in the rear backing plate had broken off. I tightened up the cables and they worked enough to get the car through MOT. Other faults were leaky radiator, throttle position sensor (replaced the whole throttle body for £30) worn suspension bushes, broken spring. Not bad for 8 years of driving. Took the reliability for granted in the end and moved to Mercedes which hasn't been so good 🙂

As for viewing any car, I live 10 miles away from the dark green car in Belfast and have been to see it, the light green car is a few hundred miles and a ferry away, I would be buying it blind. The guy in Belfast with the higher mileage wants £3200 and the English car can be had for £3000.

Thanks

Andrew

kayble · March 2, 2019

You're very lucky to have a garage you can use. I'd do so much more of my own work if I didn't have a garage built in the days when cars were 4' wide and men wore cloth caps!

This is the space I'm in at the moment. It looks small, but it opens up real wide at the door end, and at the other end is a nice standing area with bench tops and a TV.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

The-Acre · March 2, 2019

You're very lucky to have that....and a TV!

AndrewSavage · March 13, 2019

I'm still looking for a car 🙂

I offered £2700 on the dark car, and got rejected, I know it's beautiful but it's pretty expensive for the age. I'll be gutted if someone else buys it, he's just put 4 new tyres on and it's booked in for a service at Lexus. I noticed the pics he used in the ad are from the dealer he bought the car from last year,

I've gone off the lighter one as I found out the car was sold on Ebay last year for £1800! There is no evidence that it has had so much as a service since then so I've completely ruled it out. He was asking £3500 for it at one point.

I noticed this GS430 in Liverpool, 66,000 miles and LPG for £1500. Short MOT and looks a bit rough. I'm only a few miles from the ferry and bringing the car home would only cost about £170 for the day out and I could bring the wife with me 🙂

Considering the lack of GS430s around I've started to look at LS430s thought I'm a bit worried about the extra gadgets and possible air suspension problems,

Gas converting is something I would really like to do, & I need a towbar.

There is an LS430 with LPG and detachable towbar on ebay for £3500 which seems better value than the local GS430 Sport

There is also a 06 LS430 with LPG in NI on Gumtree for £3950 which looks fantastic , but being 06 it'll probably cost about £550 to tax.

Looking forward to updating this post with pics of a new car, I wouldn't rule out ending up with another GS300 🙂

messi · March 13, 2019

Hi well the lpg ls430 £3500 in Dudley birmingham, I would stay well clear from. It's that well known dodgy dealer lexuschap now known as lexuslegend

kayble · March 13, 2019

On that white GS430 - I'm in Liverpool, but wouldn't bother with it personally. If you check the mot history for it, the mileage is inconsistent - I think the dash cluster must have got changed at some stage and she's showing an incorrect mileage as a result.

I'd *love* to gas convert a GS300 - I did a DIY conversion on my BMW 740i but cheated slightly by transplanting an intake manifold that already had injectors mounted- still had to do everything else to make it work though.

You wouldn't consider a GS300 - it has to be a v8? Not that I have anythign against that, I'd love a 430...

AndrewSavage · March 13, 2019

Thanks for that info!.

I've had my heart set on a 430, but the GS300 I had was quick enough, so I would consider another. There's one for sale locally, 2001 140,000 for £1200 but it's no mention of service history etc, think I could do better for the money.

This GS300 in Kilmarnock looks far better, & would be easy enough to bring home and the ferry is cheap to Cairnryan Full MOT 95,000 miles looks in really good condition. If it's in as good condition as it looks then I'd be very tempted. I'll give him a ring 🙂

kayble · March 13, 2019

There's a GS430 on a cat D in London: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lexus-GS-430-4-3-auto-SE/323670160684?hash=item4b5c3eb52c:g:ZnIAAOSwveFcTzM~

to be honest, at this end of the price range, the Cat D wouldn't worry me - if the car was well repaired and the incident wasn't serious. The MOT has run out on this one and I'd want to see it in person - but I bet this could be had for a grand. You'd need to put money aside for a new exhaust and some suspension bits - but that's likely the case for any GS now - at this price range

I'd sell you my GS300 but I'm having too much fun with it at the moment!

AndrewSavage · March 13, 2019

Your car is FAB, especially after the work you have done to it.

Not sure about that GS430 and how that might cause insurance problems. My last GS was hit while parked & written off Cat D I think, I bought it back from the insurance company and kept it another year. Might get a quote out of interest.