Lower Mileage Older IS300h

[TheModiesel]

Hello all,

Firstly apologies if this is posted in the incorrect place. 

I'm looking to purchase an IS300h, and can see tempting options from around 2015 with about 50k miles with full dealership history in my price bracket. 

However, as the hybrid Battery is only warrantied for 10 years, I wanted to ask whether you think I should factor in the cost of a replacement hybrid Battery (when looking online, this looks to be £6k from a dealership?) or whether if the car has full lexus service history and hybrid Battery check to date that it will be ok? 

 

I would be planning to keep it for around 5 years, but likely put on close to 100k miles. 

[Notamech]

50 minutes ago, TheModiesel said:

Hello all,

Firstly apologies if this is posted in the incorrect place. 

I'm looking to purchase an IS300h, and can see tempting options from around 2015 with about 50k miles with full dealership history in my price bracket. 

However, as the hybrid battery is only warrantied for 10 years, I wanted to ask whether you think I should factor in the cost of a replacement hybrid battery (when looking online, this looks to be £6k from a dealership?) or whether if the car has full lexus service history and hybrid battery check to date that it will be ok? 

 

I would be planning to keep it for around 5 years, but likely put on close to 100k miles. 

The Battery warranty is for up to 15 years and unlimited mileage as long as you get an annual hybrid health check at lexus. This costs around £50 or 60 and is free / included in the cost of an annual service at Lexus.

As long as you clean the hybrid Battery fan filter once every few years and dont let your Battery overheat it should be extremely reliable. Very few of these batteries fail prematurely. There are many members here on the forum that have 2013 2014 cars havent yet heard of any Battery failures yet.

Even if they do fail you can opt for an aftermarket reconditioning service which costs £2k or so. Anyway if you buy a 2015 and plan to keep it for 5 years sounds like the Battery will be under warranty for that period anyway so you should not have much to worry about. Also if you buy cars pre 2017 the tax is lower only £10/20 depending on the variant. After 2017 its an extortionate £180 or around that.

[TheModiesel]

This is really heartening to hear! Thank you for your response. 

[wharfhouse]

To back up what @Notamech said - mine is a 2014 IS 300h now with 149k miles - no hybrid Battery issues to date (even has the original 12V Battery - just left it for 10 days and the car started fine on my return). Actually lower mileage cars can prove less reliable than higher mileage cars so don't worry about mileage. One thing to check though is the health of the 12V Battery - when left unused the 12V Battery can discharge and then become troublesome (they don't really fully recover again) - all sorts of odd errors can come from a 12V Battery on the way out. As such, be prepared to change that (or get the dealer to change it within the 12 month used car warranty) if you experience any issues with it. A good investment "just in case" is one of the Li glovebox starter packs (hybrids require very little power to boot the system as the hybrid Battery does all the work). Also check all electrics and gadgets function as they should within the used car warranty period as replacing some Lexus parts can be very expensive. However, overall the IS 300h is one of the most reliable cars on the road and so long as you do the sensible checks and service it according to schedule it should give many more years/miles of reliable motoring.

[Maxz]

Also check the water pump that it has been replaced already or if showing pink crust on the underside of the impeller body or bolts, ask to have it replaced or knock off the cost for the dealership to replace it. Image below (not great quality as screensnip off Lexus service video but gives you an idea of what to check for).

[Notamech]

Yes the waterpump can be an issue on older cars. I had mine replaced too so check to see for pink crust around the waterpump. Its easy to spot its the only thing that is belt driven. If the car you are buying was serviced by lexus within the last 1 year it should have the relax warranty and should be covered. Just so you know lexus offer 1 year or 10k miles of warrany for up to 10 years or 100k as long as you service your car annually with lexus.