Thoughts On Ls460Se On Bay

gidrazas · March 30, 2015

Hi,

currently have GS300 but starting to look around for somethin' more spacious - so to say.

Spotted this one on a bay:http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251872621449

From NI so a bit of a gamble i guess?

Was looking at GS450H from NI when buying my current GS300. Was a good value for money too.

Anyone has any experience, any advice on the subject what to look at?

Thanks in advance.

G

dave1 · March 31, 2015

One thing that stands out is the odometer is in kph so would have to be converted to mph.

mr2lad · March 31, 2015

Isn't the dash clock similar to my LS600 (pic of mine ) so mph/kph already there but possible other way round ...you can change rest of function on Emv touch screen to show mph or kph so this shouldn't cause to much of a problem.....

steve2006 · March 31, 2015

The add says it has already been converted to MPH so no issues there, "Service Histort available from Lexus Ireland" so where has it gone? Only one master key ( knock £250 off the price).

One of our members has recently bought an LS from Ireland so read the post re tax refunds etc.

Overall looks OK, these cars attract very high VED in Ireland so there are bargains out there.

dave1 · March 31, 2015

If you look at the dial it ONLY shows kph and where yours shows both and says km/h MPH in bottom centre of dial the one on eBay only says km/h.

dave1 · March 31, 2015

If it has been converted then why do pics not show that? Are the pics actually of the car that is for sale? It also states at end that since odo is in kilometres it may suit export to NZ, Malaysia, Kenya........ so which is correct.

WarwickT · March 31, 2015

Its not essential to convert from kmph to mph for mot. Tarun

dave1 · April 1, 2015

Its not essential to convert from kmph to mph for mot. Tarun

Needs speedo that reads both mph & kph to pass SVA and mph MUST be more prominent. It is legal to use a vehicle which just has k/h as long as the car is not uk registered but once you import and try to register it then it needs to meet uk regs regarding speedo.

Toy40 · April 1, 2015

Like the Jap imports that use to come in it was just a matter of putting a MPH sticker on the dash beside the kph.Dont know why hes is waiting six months,whats that about!

scythe · April 3, 2015

Well, no one seems to have noticed that this is already a UK registered car. Northern Ireland is part of the UK - it's not like it's some sort of foreign place. The Republic of Ireland is a separate UK country, and there are issues with moving cars to and from there, but not from Northern Ireland.

So the questions for me would be, when did the car move from south to north, and was this properly done. To answer my own question, the HPI check that he shows says it was registered in the UK on 30.1.2014.

Also, is the car what it says it is? I'd be very keen to check the Vin numbers at the front and back of the car, and see what they matched up with. There is a VIN number on his hpi check, but I'd still want to do one of my own.

The problem is that you don't know the car's history in Ireland. Where is its service record? Has it been crashed?

Be aware that the spec an Irish LS is likely to be different - it's certainly not got the full SE-L equipment but has the SE-L's five spoke wheels.

And why are the engine covers so dirty and marked?

Take care!

Glyn Radcliffe-Brine · April 11, 2015

Just a note regarding GS430's. Back in 2011 I wanted to replace my 200,000 mile GS300 with a GS430. I gave up in the end because, unlike used GS300's, every GS430 had been thrashed to death. I bought an LS430 instead.

dave1 · April 11, 2015

Just a note regarding GS430's. Back in 2011 I wanted to replace my 200,000 mile GS300 with a GS430. I gave up in the end because, unlike used GS300's, every GS430 had been thrashed to death. I bought an LS430 instead.

Not all GS430's have been thrashed. Mine has genuine 71,500 miles and I have owned it for last 7 years. It has certainly not been thrashed and I would imagine that the very few that you looked at were poor examples.

Glyn Radcliffe-Brine · April 11, 2015

Hi Dave,

I note that you are in Lincolnshire. I'm in Surrey, and I think the market may be different - I found that GS300's that I looked at were owned by mature people who purchased them for their own use - They were generally very well looked after, and were often on their first owner. I think I looked at 6 GS430's. Not one of them had been cared for, and all but one had multiple issues. On the one that didn't have multiple issues someone had tried to hide massive rust in the sunroof mounting. I found that all of them had companies as first owners - So they were being used by people who didn't have any incentive to look after them. Typically after two years they were sold to people who couldn't really afford to run them, and from that point on they went downhill rapidly. Maybe there were fewer sold as company cars further away from London. If that's so, the new price of a GS430 would ensure that any private first owner had enough money to maintain the car in good condition, and keep it longer.

At the time I couldn't find a good GS430 as far afield as Oxfordshire, which is why in the end I gave up. Clearly there are some around that have been cherished, but I couldn't find one.

I've just hit the same problem with LS430's. Last Saturday the 2001 LS430 I bought in 2011 was hit side on by a vehicle travelling at high speed. Result - Write off. I looked around for another LS430 (because, other than possibly an LS460, I can't think of any other car I would want). Again in Surrey and the home counties I visited a "lovelley" car in excellent condition that had two broken wing mirror mounts, a steering column with failed motors (£2004.30 to be rectified by a Lexus main dealer) and dead rear amplifiers. Someone had tried to get the sound working, messed up, and done a bad job of putting it all back together again (As I write I think it's still being advertised). Another car looked great on Autotrader, but in reality it was fit for scrap and nothing else.

I was just about to give up when I found one of those cars from fables. 2001 with 92,000 miles, always serviced at Lexus main dealers and since 2012 it had only covered 1000 miles. The elderly owner had kept it in immaculate condition, but had switched to a Mini in 2012. I checked it very very carefully including talking to Lexus Bracknell about its history, and I now have a car that should last me 5 - 10 years (unless I meet another idiot).

One final thought - It's probably a good thing that I didn't get a GS430 because, like the BMW 3 Series, they were so good to drive that they brought out the hooligan in me. Driving an old man's car instead has probably saved my licence...

dave1 · April 12, 2015

At the time I bought my GS430 I lived in Coventry and purchased it from Lexus Coventry trading in my '96 GS300 Sport. Strangely enough, the GS 300s' and IS300 were not a patch on the GS430.It had full Lexus history until the last service in August last year. Unfortunately, since I only currently do about 3000 miles p.a. and 4000 in other car, I might decide to sell it soon as we no longer require 2 cars. Glad you found a decent replacement after your collision.

Peter67 · April 12, 2015

Dave

This will be a southern Irish car that was recently exported to the NI (UK). There is quite an industry here just now which one of the other posts alluded to whereby people are buying up these sorts of cars second hand at low prices and exporting them to the UK and obtaining some refund of taxes paid on the original purchase of the vehicle. I believe this is quite lucrative. I live in Ireland currently having moved here from the UK in 2007 and looked closely at the availability and spec of the cars from both jurisdiction when I bought my 460 last year and they are comparable in terms of spec.The key thing to watch out for with an Irish motor is the service history and how solid the history is. Service schedules generally are not closely followed in Ireland compared to the UK. Perhaps its because more cars are privately owned but its fairly normal for services to be avoided or stretched particularly since 2007 when the economy collapsed the regular servicing of cars went out the window - as people had no money for it as an unnecessary extra. I note that here in the last couple of years most new cars are being sold with 3 or 4 year service packages to try and address this in the future.Also note there are only 4 x Lexus dealers in the country so they are thin on the ground and knowledge of these cars is limited. Be careful.