Should I Buy A Lexus?

[Rodt]

I was looking to buy a Mercedes CLK430 for just under £4k. I do actually, for once, have that amount to spare but it has been some years since I paid more than £1000 for a car and I sort of shied away.

I am viewing an LS400 on Saturday which has had 2 owners; is MoTd until June 2013; comes with 3 months warranty and dealer service history but has done 130,000 miles.

From what little I know of Lexus (I have owned over the years 4 Jaguars of varying types and 2 Nissan Maxima QX 3.0 - the most underrated car of all time but rare as hen's teeth) 130k is well within its' capabilities. My reservation is about running costs but I really only do about 10,000 a year split between an MGF in the summer and a 1975 Triumph Toledo 9 months of the year so realistically I would only expect the Lexus to do say 4k a year.

Are there likely to be any serious issues with a 1996 car with that sort of mileage and pedigree?

I would be grateful for any advice.

[mikeyv]

Depends how much they want for it, taking in to account what the warranty covers, whether it needs tyres, cambelt change etc, etc.

Generally speaking, going from my own limited experience of the car, and more importantly, reading hundreds of threads on here, reliability shouldn't be an issue at that mileage with full dealer history.

The worst thing about the car is mpg round town, but 30 is obtainable on a run, and depreciation should be negligible as long as you pay the proper price, which, for me, makes up for the urban fuel consumption quite easily.

Finally, I love mine to bits, they are fabulous cars.

[steve2006]

Hello and welcome to the LOC.

Definitely worth a look, give it a good test drive of at least 30 mins and listen for any suspension knocks, check the service history.

With just 2 owners and a FLSH there shouldn't be any problems the engines are bulletproof and the mileage is nothing.

If you have a link to the car post it up if you wish that would give us more to go on.

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

Hi and welcome.

I also used to have a maxima QX. 3.0 V6. It was a great car and where I got my taste for a bit of luxury! Auto box went on mine tho. £1800 bill so I scrapped it as it was prob worth £500!

The Lexus your looking at sounds like a good buy. Don't be put off by high mileage, these cars are bulletproof if maintained correctly :)

[ManicMark]

Hi go for the best mark iv you can find you will not regret it, I've had mine 5 years now its got 190,000 on her & has been the best & cheapest to run car I have owned. maximum £2500 will buy you a mint low mileage one.

[Rodt]

Well, this one is up for £950 so it's hard to see how I could go wrong. Ok, it's a lairy colour (gold) with impractical (I have a dog) light beige leather seats.

I am very encouraged by the responses to my OP so I'm off to see it on Saturday.