intelligen

I'm looking at used GX 470s, and I've found a few 2004s in my area with mileage ranging from 105k-150k...of course, I'm leaning toward ones on the lower end in mileage. After a test drive, I could easily see myself bringing one home. I might have bought the one I test drove on the spot if it had closer to 100k miles and the paint on front didn't have a bunch of little chips all over.

Consumer Reports and many car sites all rate it very reliable even with a few recalls, although CR only has actual data for a couple model years, and as I recall, not much for the 1st gen GX 470s. The few criticisms I have seen seem pretty minor. The only real legitimate knock CR seems to have against the GX across all model years they have rated is its emergency handling.

Aside from the not-so-great gas mileage of this size SUV, are there any common issues I should be aware of, or that I can check on a test drive? Anything that usually goes out at a certain number of miles?

Is there anything to inspect in the engine compartment when looking at a used GX? I tried looking under the hood but everything had a big plastic cover. Is there a way to find out if the service bulletins and recalls were done on one, perhaps contact Lexus with the VIN?

How does it handle in practice on icy or wet roads? Has anyone been unfortunate to be in a situation where it did not handle very well?

Thanks, and looking forward to joining the Lexus family soon!

Matt007

I recently purchased mine so my ownership experience isn't as vast as most on here. With that said, here are some things I looked for during my search which ended up with me getting an extremely clean one:
-Service records...the more the better (register for the lexus owners site and punch in the vin to view vehicle history)
-Timing belt and water pump service complete
-Routine fluid changes
-Verify that the air suspension in the rear is working. If it's sitting low or abnormally high and won't adjust you probably have some failing components which aren't cheap. You can always swap the air suspension for regular coil overs for much less money.
-Dashboard cracks (common with these but can be fixed thru lexus at no charge until March 2017 I believe)
-Where has the vehicle lived is very important in my opinion. With these trucks getting older it may be worth finding one that spent most of its life in a friendly no rust environment, or at least a very well maintained one if buying in the rust belt.

That's about all I have off the top of my head. Hopefully some others can further elaborate with their experiences.

Listers

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/a-b...-gx470.856541/

intelligen

Thanks, guys! Good to know about the air suspension and dashboard cracks.

Good tip on registering as a Lexus owner to look up service history. I was wondering if something like that was available but had no idea it would be that easy!

Looks like I have some reading to do on the issues cataloged on that other forum.

Thanks again

gsp480

Just drove my 08 in a pretty good ice storm here in ga last week. Handled as well as can be expected on ice. Of course my speed was limited to around 30mph tops, if that helps any. It seems to do well in wet conditions.