GoldMember

I've been lurking around here for a while. I'm curently looking for a used GS400/430 Silver/Black with black interior. What are the chances of finding one with Nav and low miles for 25-30K. What are some differences of the 400 and 430. I know the bigger engine, but is it really faster? I have also noticed the interior on the 430 is a little nicer(chrome lexus symbol on steering wheel, bigger Nav Screen). What others? What is maintenace like on these cars? Any other input would be appreciated. I can't wait for a v8 and rear wheel drive.

THX in advance
Kevin

GoldMember

Also I like the CL forums, but we need more pics and homepages. I come from maxima.org where pics, homepages and sigs are everywhere. Maybe we can get more sections on the GS section of the forum. Once again using maxima.org as an example(united states forums with sections of the u.s split up for member of thier area they live in, Generation of cars are split, group deals, for sale forums, etc...)Not flaming just trying to get more people involved in it. Maybe I just haven't been around long enough.

Kevin

00GS400L

Go to the Gallery........ lots of pics
Dean

GoldMember

I checked out the gallery already, just not organized enough. Yes there are many pics there.

doug_999

GS430 and GS400 have about the same performance specs. They also added drive by wire to the 430 and unfortunately the throttle response is not as crisp as a GS400. Go here to get the changes made to each year http://www.lexus.com/cpo/model_library.html

Reliability is better with the GS400 IMHO.

gs400998

I found my 99 GS4 with navigation package, less than 26K miles and still under 4-year basic warranty earlier this year. I found my GS at autotrader.com but did travel to another state to purchase it.

Another website to find what's new for a specific year is in the Editor's Review section at Edmunds.com.
Here is the link for 2000 GS4:
http://www.edmunds.com/used/2000/lex...inks..2.Lexus*

I have a 03 Maxima (my third Maxima) and the maintenance cost at Nissan dealership is lower than Lexus dealership. If you can find a good Lexus service shop in your area without going to a Lexus dealership, then you can save some money. Lexus is so reliable, a lot of these services are just routine maintenance and inspections and you can get it done at a reputable non-Lexus shop.

Guitarman

IMO, you'll have to accept that patience will be a necessity, especially if you're picky. Traveling to get it as gs400998 mentioned will also be likely.
It took me almost a year to find a like-new pearl white GS400 with Nav and service history+clean carfax. You may be luckier, and not as picky as me (I'm awful, even a scratch turns me off!).

No regrets though, the car could not be better and has performed flawlessly the last 15 months, nothing has gone wrong and i've driven it hard at times. (knocks wood). Just be ready to do the maintenance it requires at the scheduled intervals. I was able to do almost all of the 60k service work myself, except for the tranny, which I had my local shop do. (I did buy the Toyota tranny fluid myself and gave it to them).

They are built for the long haul, solid engineering, just scour traderonline (where I found mine) and every online classified site you can find. It's a good time for buyers on used high end luxury cars. Best of luck.

D2-AUTOSPORT

Gold- nice screename pic, "WHO IS YOUR FAH-SHAAAA??" LOL

As far as the car stuff goes, looking for specific colors will always SERIOUS hamper your finding mission!! There may be a pristine Pearl White car around the corner from you with all the options you want, while the Blk/blk example may be 500 miles away!!

When I was searching for my GS, I had my color preferences ranked, but there was only ONE color that I would not accept (that brownish-goldish color), that way, any car I found I could go see!!

Good luck man, and as far as reliability goes, no worries or issues with the GS baby!!

SeattleGS400

iTrader: (1)

As others have mentioned, you'll probably have to do a national search for your vehicle (unless of course, luck has you and you find one locally in your price range). Autotrader.com is a very good place to start. With your price range, you have a very high probability of finding one w/ a warranty as well (bumper-bumper: 48m/50K; powertrain: 72m/70k). It took me about 2.5 months on autotrader.com before I found my '99 black/black GS400.

As for maintnenance, it will be more expensive than your Nissan (about 50% more if you use the dealership), but most of it you can do yourself (at least save money by buying OEM parts online), and occasionally use the dealer for those services that you probably can't do (i.e. timing belt/water pump) or are too messy. Most of the maintenance service procedures are detailed here on CL, and a search will find the info. The reliability on my GS4 has been flawless (and most others on CL), from a mechanical standpoint. I have a few rattles that I still need to get rid of on rough roads (sunroof, console), after recently getting rid of my glovebox rattle--those are known issues w/ the GS.

My only real complaint on the GS is the rather numb steering at freeway speed that Lexus tends to dial-in on their cars. I've heard that the L-tuned steering ECU helps corrects this on the earlier 2nd gen GS (98-01?), and that's something I'm looking to do sometime in the future on my car.

I used to be a Maxima owner (2 of them actually; and was quite frequent on the maxima.org), and an Acura TL owner (frequented www.acura-tl.com), and moving to the GS40 was quite a step up. Best of luck to you on your search for a GS4.

GoldMember

Thx for all the help so far. I've been checking autotrader a few times a week. May I will have to change my exterior color. I am most picky about the interior color, black just looks so clean. I've had beige in 2 cars and I can never seem to get a clean look out of it. What do you guys think of the frost color for the GS? I've never seen it in person.


Kevin

D2-AUTOSPORT

Hate to say it man, but other than with silver, black interior is not an easy find!! i have tan, and i use a turtle wax cleaner/conditioner every 1-2 weeks, which keeps it really nice.

You never know man, you may get lucky and score your car around the corner!!

chicagoblknazn

When I bought my a few weeks back, the most common interior color was black. There were plenty of Silver exterior/Black Interior vehicles to chose from. I really wanted a Silver vehicle but I could not find one with the Dove Gray interior. I really dislike black interiors and I had to settle for my second choice of Gold Ext and Ivory interior. I am pretty happy but I know keeping the interior clean will be a lot of work. My ES had the same color scheme and I found out that you should not drive around with the windows open in the summer because the dirt will collect in the rear seats.

Do a search in Chicago and you'll see plenty of the Silver on blacks.

F23A4

Whats up Kevin??? I also have a 2k2 Max SE but, there's a GOOD likelihood that I may pull the trigger on an extremely tempting deal to get a 2K1 GS430 (no-Navi, blue w/beige int) this weekend. All of the HID theft issues here in the northeast with our Maximas has me extremely nervous about keeping the Max. (In case you werent aware, someone here in NJ WITH Datadots AND brackets had their HIDs stolen in a busy mall parking deck.) At this point, I dont need the aggravation.

Even though the GS is several years old already, the styling IMO is ageless. I'll keep you, Clublexus and Maxima.org posted.

F23A4

That says alot for the GS4 Seattle (TL vs GS4). I was also considering a TL Type S but, they also seem to have HID theft issues.