jRingo

Hi, I've been looking for a car for over a month. I was all set on this 02 ES300 but it had a shimmy...and an 05 ES330 (62k) that had a damp trunk.

There's an 08 ES350 (link) I'm probably going to look at tomorrow. It has 98.5k on it. The guys has had the price at $14.9 for over a month. I've got him down to $13.7 before even looking at the car. It's pretty dry in my area for cars right now, but I need to get something ASAP as my loan is going to...expire?

He has an AutoCheck on it that's clear, no CarFax though. I'm a bit sneaky and I've been entering VIN's on the Lexus Owner site and the car hasn't been to the Lexus dealer since this second owner bought it in October 2012 @ 71k. Before that, it was in every 5k for oil change/checks. Seems very unproblematic vs. all the ES300/330/RX330's records I've looked scrutinized.

One thing that has me cringing is the "No need change transmission oil(lifetime)" he has in the ad. It's never been changed in the service records I've looked through.

What do you gents think? What do I need to look for?

ESh

The link is broken.


You need to look for shift flare issue, VVTi rubber hose and interior rattles.
Everything else is top notch.

Blueshark

I'm from Canada, Quebec and when i has looking a for used car, i came across my ES 2008 UL black on black with all the options avalable, minus the radar cruise control. The price was a little bit high, but due to rarety of that car, i jumped on it since it belong to the manager of toyota. NEVER had a major failure of any kind.

The point is if your car is very rare in your area, got for it, i did and never regretting it. Even now, my car with that kind of options is still rare in my area. I enjoy every bits with all the options available.

My car have 140k miles and i plan to go around 250k miles before thinking of changing for another car, most probably a 2010-2012 ES loaded.

I changed my transmission oil once and plan to do it a second time. I have an excellent relationship with my mechanic and i do not believe in the hype of lifetime either. For the miles into my car and planning to keep it for a long time, it is a minor cost for peace of mind.

My car has a shifting flare at 50 km/h, but it is not a big bother, the panoramic glass does make some minor rattles, but everything else, the car is solid.

jRingo

Thanks for the replies. It sounds like the ES350 is much more solid than the 300/330.

I must say the interior looks cheaper than the 330, very stark from the pics. Does it have separate tweeters in the dash or pillars?

The link is working for me? The zip code is 97005 if the link still isn't working. It's the only 2008 under $15k.

ESh

Zero information on Carfax for that car.

jRingo

Does that seem strange since there's service records from 0-72k (2008-2012) on the Lexus owners site?

ESh

Yes. I have no idea why but that's what it is.

jRingo

Here's the screen shots from the Lexus site.

jRingo

Now, when you say zero information- on the service records or in general?

ESh

In general.

jRingo

I'm confused...I've never seen a CarFax that has zero info.


It doesn't even list the two owners?


Could you take a screen shot or two if possible?



Thanks again


*edit*


Could you possibly run this VIN if you have a chance?


JTHBF30G720062342

jagtoes

I don't find the no service records as a problem. If one were to look at my 2010 ES they would find only 1 service record that dated back to 2010 where I had my 5K oil change. 30K miles later the car has never seen a dealer since and I change the oil every 5000 miles. So I would be more about looking at the condition and how it drives. Also put it on a lift and look under it. Good luck.

ESh

When I checked for the first one it gave me NA NA NA. Blank page.

Now my subscription has expired

NickTee

That price seems a little high. There is a nice UL ES350 here in Austin for $13,999.