Buying 2018 Lexus LS500h Premier - anything to look out for?

[rsdave]

I'm in the process of buying a 2018 Lexus LS500h Premier in Manganese Lustre with just under 5000 miles on the clock and 1 previous owner. It's a Lexus Approved used car,
being sold at roughly 50% of it's new price of £105,595 !

I'll be moving from a current model RX450h, anything to look out for other than the lack of apple Car Play / Android Auto and the runflat tyres (no spare) - are they noisy ?

Also have a 2017 GS450h Premier which I'm keeping.

Would be great to hear from real world owners of this model. I know it's kind of on the rare side in the UK.

 

Many thanks,

Dave. 

[Shahpor]

I can think of one problem:  I would rather be in the back than in the front! 🙂

I do have to ask though why you would want a GS and LS?

[NemesisUK]

Chauffeuring? 

[Malc]

Dave hi  ...  I have no notion to the answer to your question other than to simply observe that there are quite a few of the 2018 era for sale with tiny mileages similar to yours .........  and I ask the simple Q, why on earth is this the case, why have so many for sale, such low miles on them .........  is there a fundamental flaw only seen when you're the owner and driving the car  ....  or have they all just come off their lease contracts etc

And only 50% depreciation at  3 now approaching 4 years of age seems a little low to me tbh with this level of model and marque generally

Just my simple observations

Good luck with your well considered purchase to be

Malc

[Rabbers]

1 hour ago, Malc said:

… there are quite a few of the 2018 era for sale with tiny mileages … why on earth is this the case ... is there a fundamental flaw …  or have they all just come off their lease contracts etc

I’ve been wondering the same thing, and also suspect expired leases are a likely reason.

[ambermarine]

I remember when I bought my Mark 1 it was £19k at 6 years old that was 50% of new price at that time so things have not changed much in depreciation terms from 1996.

[rsdave]

On 10/5/2021 at 8:41 PM, NemesisUK said:

Chauffeuring? 

Haha no, definitely not Chauffeuring!

My partner and I both love Lexus and big, wafty saloons, having owned Jag XJ's and the like in the past.

Lexus did in fact very kindly lend us an LC500h coupe for a week long extended test drive. We found the car to be incredible, with amazing looks
but perhaps not 100% practical for us.

The LS, running a stretched version of the same platform seems like an excellent alternative, same multistage hybrid system but with the benefit of two extra doors, more space and comfort (air suspension, massage seats, etc.)

We should be picking up the LS next weekend, and once we've given it a through once-over, I'll write up a quick report. It will be interesting to see  how it compares to the 2020 RX we're trading in, and my GS, which I love to bits and isn't going anywhere 🙂

 

[graham8370]

Believe me, you wont regret buying the LS. Had mine for just over 2.5 years and am still finding things out about the car (LS owner for 20 years and this is my 7th LS). Re the run-flats; not noisy unless you have a puncture. This is my first car with rf's and when I had a puncture I called the AA as I thought one of the wheel bearings had gone. There was a recall on the tyres earlier this year, Bridgestone recall, all 4 replaced FOC. Run flats not repairable £280 each. Voice commands are a little disappointing, my last LS600h had many more functions (one thing I miss is the temp control function) The cars do have a serious ''road presence'' you'll be amazed how many people remark on it's looks. You wont realise how special these cars are 'til you've had it for a year and then one day you have to drive an 'Ordinary car'

Check the switch opening the fuel filler, few problems reported, rectified under warranty.

Good Luck, you'll be grinning from ear to ear next week.    Graham.

 

[rsdave]

On 10/9/2021 at 11:37 PM, graham8370 said:

Believe me, you wont regret buying the LS. Had mine for just over 2.5 years and am still finding things out about the car (LS owner for 20 years and this is my 7th LS). Re the run-flats; not noisy unless you have a puncture. This is my first car with rf's and when I had a puncture I called the AA as I thought one of the wheel bearings had gone. There was a recall on the tyres earlier this year, Bridgestone recall, all 4 replaced FOC. Run flats not repairable £280 each. Voice commands are a little disappointing, my last LS600h had many more functions (one thing I miss is the temp control function) The cars do have a serious ''road presence'' you'll be amazed how many people remark on it's looks. You wont realise how special these cars are 'til you've had it for a year and then one day you have to drive an 'Ordinary car'

Check the switch opening the fuel filler, few problems reported, rectified under warranty.

Good Luck, you'll be grinning from ear to ear next week.    Graham.

 

Thank you so much Graham, some very useful information there 🙂 I found you post from August 2019 and your car is certainly a stunner!

So looking forward to collection day now.

Cheers,

 

Dave.

 

 

 

[SSUR]

The LS is a great car. I have the facelift LS600hL referred to by Graham, really unique and rare car, only seen one other on the road! Really stands out in the sea of S, 7 & A8s and amazing build quality. 
 

I bought LS after having 4 GSs, did not fancy new ES as plasticky interior quality not a patch on GS so went for approved used LS instead, still smiling!

Graham - would be really interested to have your comments on 600 v 500 in terms of drive, feel, ride, comfort, refinement etc.

[rsdave]

Well, unexpectedly a last minute change of plans - with a happy ending though!

Having asked if there was any damage/marks on the body or alloys (beyond the odd stone chip) we were told no, it's as you'd expect for a Lexus approved used car with just under 5,000 miles. Having then got an invoice and paid the deposit we then suddenly got a call that unfortunately it turns out that two of the alloy wheels have small patches of flaking chrome on the outer rims. Only minor but nevertheless they thought we should be aware. It turns out that virtually no alloy wheel refurbishment company can refinish in this 'Vapor Chrome' finish (they had four companies come on-site to assess), definitely something worthy of note (applies to similar finish LC500 wheels as well). Our options were to accept a refurbishment of all four wheels in a normal powder coat 'flat silver' finish - or live with the blemishes. I didn't fancy either of those so I took a third option to unwind the deal under Distance selling regulations which to be fair they did immediately with zero fuss.

We quickly found another approved used LS which I think is even better (and has perfect wheels) - this one is currently in the showroom! It's Sonic Silver, so slightly different colour but fine with me.

Collection day is tomorrow morning 😁 so quite exciting really! - some better photos to follow but here's a few to be going on with.
Second time lucky I hope!

Dave.

 

[graham8370]

Looks very smart, and if you got it for the asking price (or maybe lower) you've really had a great deal. Bought mine from Motorline, nice people. Good luck for tomorrow.

[rsdave]

Well Saturday went very smoothly, after numerous cups of coffee/tea + biscuits the deal was done and we were on our way.
As you guessed Graham it was indeed Motorline.

Pics below after a good clean, polish and hoover (they never do it to my exacting standards).

The new "sustainable materials" wooden box that the keys are handed over to you in is a nice new touch. Didn't get that on the last two purchases.

 

Dave

[graham8370]

Looks fantastic. Wheels are amazing, scuffed mine, had them powder coated, not the same. Might have to invest in new ones. Drive carefully and stop grinning.

[Malc]

oh my, brilliant back seats environment, wonder if, as the driver, you'll ever get to sit there and love it ......  I can count on one hand the number of times I've sat in the back of any of my Ls400s over the years and miles

looks a lovely car, well done

Malc

[scythe]

Hi folks, the screens in the back of the LS500h ... do they fold away or detach if you don't want to have them sticking up all the time?  From what I can gather, they don't.

[graham8370]

They do neither.

[scythe]

Thanks.

[Hangie]

Those constantly out screens are one of not many things which annoys me about the LS. I much better prefer how it is done in my XJ:

When not needed or want to put something occasionally in the back I can just close them.

Still LS500 is a strong contender for XJ replacement in 2 years or quicker if XJ start to play up too much 🙂 Hopefully LS will drop to 40k by then. I will also miss the tables as those are perfect to put laptop on or a quick take away in the car - was a brilliant thing to have while restaurant were take away only 🙂

 

[steve2006]

Very nice.

Just looked up the price of new wheels but no pricing yet, if a dealer won’t replace them they must be very expensive!

 

[scythe]

Though we've been isolating all of this time, I've been watching these 18 reg cars for the last year or so.   It seems to me that they've put a lot of thought into the design of the interior of the car, and that these permanent screens have been added as a marketing thing,  and to me they are just unwanted clutter.    Maybe I need to wait for their EV LS to appear, and hope they realise what they've been doing wrong.

Graham and Dave ... I'm not dissing your cars, I know they'll be lovely!

: o )