bluelexus

I had a 1983 chevy s10 that crapped out on me, i had just lost my job over a dumbass reason and lost my apartment for a dumbass reason too. so i was moved back in with my parents and found someone to buy my truck bc i didnt have the money to get it fixed and started looking around for another car to drive around. A buddy of mine said he had a car that he was selling for 1000 bucks bc he didnt need it anymore bc bought a bigger car bc he was having his 4th kid.( ya i know. thats a lot of bc's, lol) anyways, i went to go look at it and it was a 1993 lexus es300 and i fell in love with it. so i bought it and im in the process of building a sound system in the trunk. i have a lot of ideas for this car. the motor is fine and im gonna leave it alone for now. but alot of audio and video and paint will be done to this car. ill have pics up soon.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

I just needed a car to get to work and had a certain budget and priorities in mind. Looked around on craigslist, but couldn't find what I wanted. Looked at three cars before I found the ES. The ad didn't have any pictures but the description was good enough for me to jump on it. Well I'm glad I did because as soon as I saw it, I knew it was the one. The previous owner lowered the asking price, without me really negotiating, to such an extent, that I couldn't pass up on it. Now it's sitting in my garage, waiting for some parts to come in.

The thing that won me over was the service records, a good home, flawless interior, and fairly good mechanical condition.

nine3es

iTrader: (3)

you wouldnt believe me if i told you...

marcoes300

my story : I live in montreal ,canada , i had a 2000 honda civic with only 40k kilometer ( in 2008) when i was 16 . 1 year later i traded my civic plus $ for a twin turbo honda prelude jdm . the setup was really not good and i think i bought the car a little bit to fast ... 1 mounth later i had chek engine ( egr ) and some other minor problem coming out so i decided to sell the car before something big happen . i sold the prelude 4 days after =) . one month later ( after many car try like corolla , and some sedan reliable cars , ) my mom did buy a new lexus sc 2010 and asked if they have a nice toyota car at a good price for me ( i was looking around 5-6k max tax in for a car ) so he said yes , yesterday i received a lexus es 300 1998 from the original owner , he gave it to us cause i bought a new es . so she told me that, next moday i was at the lexus dealer ,in my new es , that i bought for 5300 can tx in or 4700 w/o tax. the car had only 135 000 kilo when i bought it like 1 year ago , all maintnance at the dealer .

marc

*sorry for my bad english lol*

rcpeters

I was having a vacation beach house built in Peru and needed transportation. As I had two Lexus vehicles in California and was having good experience with Toyota products, I looked on the internet for a used Toyota Camry. Most were double my US$5,000. budget and one day I saw this 92 ES300 for sale at US$4000 with 173K miles (not Km) Thinking that I could easily find replacement parts for the Camry and they would fit (wrong!!!!) Also, the car looked sharp and checked out fine by two mechanics except for an overheating problem. Since I got into this car, I have had to resolve overheating problems, rebuild the transmission, rebuilt the heads and grind the valves, replaced O2 sensors, wires, new shocks and brakes, tune-up work, rebuild the starter, new battery and alternator and now I am replacing the instrument needles, door locks, theft module and still have not had the front seats re-upholstered. It runs great, big trunk, comfortable seats, nice sun roof, automatic transmission, power everything, drives nice, plenty of power but doesn't get any better than 20 mpg; in the city it is closer to 12-15 mpg even as little as 10 sometimes.

What is my car worth now in Peru? Problably US$5,000 but hard to sell because of the parts availability and cost problem. I plan to keep it for a long time and buy a later model SUV for longer trips.

YJC88

We bought a used lexus es300 in Singapore, during those turmoil time in Indonesia (May 1988). I actually left for college in the US a couple years later ended up in a camry because its a downgraded ES. Anyway i actually had a major rear end accident with that car, replaced the car with Audi A4 but didnt liked it, another M3 Evo E36 and got into a lot of speeding ticket. Lastly I got an ES330. With the ES i am satisfied, its reliable, steady and enough power to get me around and no tickets. I sold the ES to a nice household in Redwood city and returned back home. My parents bought a GS300 and LS430 5 years ago. Well the first ES300 that we bought were at the end of its licencing period in Singapore (COE) so we brought them back to Indonesia and I drove them today. COmplicated eih. But i am happy with it

dmight

I was getting ready to trade a Taurus in on a used F150 but had to wait a couple of days for the dealer to open so I could drive the truck and make the deal. In the mean time, my son said he was thinking of getting rid of his 96 ES300. He seemed to like the Taurus so we traded, with me giving some boot money. That Monday, I kept my appointment at the car dealer to look at the truck figuring I'd get a better deal, trading the Lexus in. We couldn't get close enough on the money so I just smarted off and said "I'll just detail the Lexus out and drive it! that's not quite a good enough deal." The dealer is also a good friend of mine so no harm was done. I took the car home and went to work on it, detailing it, making a few cosmetic changes and repairs. My wife and I were planning to get a nice upgraded truck or a De Ville or DTS, but when I got almost finished with the Lexus, We decided, "Why?" this is so nice, nothing really wrong with it and it's paid for! So I decided to keep it and get a truck later.
Not much of a story but it's sort of like I fell into the Lexus!

worldforgo

I was shopping for a car for a while. I was having little luck considering my budget and the fact im in VT, where there is more road salt then roads. My bosses buddy turns cars over from auction. He had an isuzu hunk-a-junk he tried to sell me for $1500. He also happened to have a 1994 ES300. It was fairly high mileage (175k) and he thought it had an electrical issue. I bought it for $1500. The electrical problem he spoke of turned out to be non-existent and I have been driving it for almost a year and have had to do only maintenance work and an injector.

yellohj

I traded my dad a 2006 Civic with 60k miles for my 2006 ES330 with 60k miles, because my niece didn't want to drive a Lexus to freshman year at college. He wanted to give her a car, and the Civic was a perfect car for her. Now I own a Lexus.

Timothyj

I always wanted a Toyota Camry after driving one. Had a 91 Lumina, drove a 93 Camry and said wow. Quality and quiet. Then started looking at Lexus, dreamed of buying one for years and finally leased a 04 ES, Paid the car off when I got divorced. Still have it, 92000 miles and still drives great.

alexus23

Back in September of 2011 I fell in love with a Camry SE. A very pretty car with the Sky Blue Metallic skin and the chromed dual exhaust. It had a pretty face alright, but underneath lurked an unfriendly female pit bull. It was noisy, it had a vibration when idling at a stop light in gear, the interior was all plasticky and squeaked when going over bumps. The A/C was not climate control and I was aways having to fiddle with it as I went from one microclimate to the next (every five or ten minutes or so on my way to work), and the upholstery was black cloth that showed the slightest dust and apparently absorbed that popular and pungent hair gel odor of the previous owner—the smell would not go away, it was like the stinky BMW Seinfeld episode. And, there was a lot of road and wind noise, even after I replaced the cheap low-profile tires and DUB custom wheels with stock alloys and Michelins. Plus, the ride was hard and a bit rough as the SE, or Sport Edition, has tighter suspension. The front rotors were warped, at less than 48K miles and the windshield had a lot of little pits from an apparent sand storm, something I neglected to notice when I took it for a test-drive, along with all its other nasty little faults. Ah, how blinded we are by the foxy beauty of a shiny new car.

I’ll say this though, with 268 hp the Camry was wickedly fast and stuck to the road like a roller coaster. How I avoided those forty-two speeding tickets is beyond me.

Well, after eight months of beating myself up and suffering constant buyer’s remorse, on a daily basis, I finally decided I’d see what was out there on craigslist. Didn’t see much, so I thought I’d check the local Toyota dealer’s used car inventory. A Camry XLE might work.

Enter the 2004 Lexus ES 330. I saw the photos and the mileage (only 24,000 miles after eight years!) and I said, “I gotta have it.” The quintessential "little old ladies' car!" The dealer was asking what I thought was a pretty high price, $18,900 and I figured they wouldn’t give me enough for my Camry to make it worthwhile. I was wrong. I took a little hit on the Camry and my payment went up about $75 a month, but it’s money well-spent. They were hot for the Camry SE because it’s popular with a certain segment of the population and they, fools that they are, knew a great deal when they thought they saw one. I say good for them. Ha, ha! I’m happy, they’re happy.

My Lexus 330 is like a new car! Less than half the miles of the Camry SE and it's everything the Camry SE isn't: Quiet, comfortable, clean and scent-free with no visible signs of wear and tear. The ride is soft and easy and it still handles well enough on the twisty curves of Highway One. It gets great gas mileage for a big V6. The leather upholstery is supple yet thick and will wear well over the years. The seats are very comfortable and very adjustable (even the passenger's) and the driver's seat has memory for two different configurations. It has all the bells and whistles one could want. The Lexus Premium sound system with seven speakers and a powerful amplifier is as good or better than most home systems. The only thing lacking in this older model is the ability to play MP3 discs and an aux jack for connecting an iPod, although you can still plug in an iPod with a cassette adapter—that’s right it has a cassette deck. Remember those things? They're little plastic things with magnetic tape in them. Really, it’s more than enough sound for even the longest trips.

To top it all off, it not only comes with a full-sized spare tire, but the spare is mounted on a matching alloy wheel! I’m sold. I’ll never buy anything other Lexus, ever.

Take a look at my Lexus ES 330: http://alanhagberg.com/lexus/index.html
And here's my Camry SE: http://psglobal.net/camry.html

alexus23

es5240

I was looking for a daily driver since i gave my sister my 98 camry. So i decided to go to an auction and what did a see a 96 es300 with flawless leather as 60k miles on it. So after much praying i got it for 1900 bucks. runs good had front end damage but 100 buck fix that and 75 fixed the ac. just need the rear bumper done and she will be fine.

03 ES

Back in December of 2008 I was driving a lowered and slightly modded 2003 Toyota Camry SE. I was still working at the Toyota dealer back then, (started in 2006) and i regularly scoped out the used cars we had on our lot for fun. For about 7 months we had a beat up 2003 Lexus ES300 in dirty white sitting in our storage lot. It had 2 flat tires, a dead battery and had not seen a wash in months. I inquired with our used car manager about the car and he said the inventory department had lost the keys and they had not bothered to do anything with the car and he would notify me if he located the keys or had a new set made. Fast forward a month to January 2009, and the manager finally got back to me as they had located a key for the car. He threw me the key, and said i could take it out for the day if i put air in the tires and jumped the car and ran it a while. I took an air tank and jump box down the hill to the car on our storage lot, pumped up the tires and jump started it. A puff of condensation blew out of the exhaust and it turned over with a roar. I took the car out for a drive and to my surprise it drove excellently. Smooth, quiet and responsive. It had its issues, with the worn tires, busted A/C,dead battery, and it needed some minor bodywork. The good news was a glove box full of service receipts from Lexus of Annapolis as It had seen every single 5000 mile service and had new brakes all around recently. The car was rough but well maintained. I came back to the dealership and asked what they wanted for it. Blue book value on the car at the time was over 17k, but the dealership offered it to me for 11k since I worked there. I stewed on it for a few days, and eventually a pissed off finance manager came down to my service bay and said "10K out the door, you take that damn Lexus off our hands" . I was shocked, and i said eagerly "OK Ill take it". I still owed 5k on the camry, and they gave me 8k for it and let me take some of my modifications (TRD sway bars, strut bar, exhaust, etc) off the camry for my ES. I was able to put 4K down on the ES and lower my payment and length of contract from the camry, so i made out better and got a better car.
As soon as I got the ES i immediately put a new battery and tires on it, replaced the a/c magnetic clutch relay and serviced all the fluids and such. Over the years i have rehabilitated the body and interior of the car, as it was in pretty rough shape when I got her. It has been a lot of fun to rebuild and play with my ES. She is my diamond in the rough.
I LOVE this car! It has been with me 4 years now and it'll be around much longer!
My mods list is in my sig, and my next plans are a front lip, TANABE NF210 springs and plasti-dip black mirrors.

PICS.
The camry.




The ES. First pics day I got it. 2/4/09



The ES as she stands today.

alexus23

Your story rocks! Nice ES 300. Nice Camry!

My girlfriend hates white, but I think it's a really classy look on almost any car, but especially on a Lexus. Being a technician at a dealer certainly has its perks.