Huffster

HI all! This is my first post over here and I was hoping that someone could help me out...

I was originally thinking about getting a Camry, but I realized that there are IS300's out there with salvage titles for about the same price. I've always loved the IS300, but never thought I'd actually get one due to price. I called my insurance and they tell me that insurance is the same salvaged or not, so now I'm very seriously considering buying an IS.

My big question is what are the common problems that these vehicles have? It seems like almost every vehicle out there has some problems that a lot of the owners experience. I've looked through some of the Lexus boards and have not seen anything jumping out at me. Has anyone heard or experienced anything that I should be concerned with? Anything I should look for beyond the obvious? I'm looking at '02 or '03 with under 40K.

Right now Autotrader has an '03 with 15K miles and it's $16,900 and then there is another '03 with 24K miles for $15,900. Both salvaged due to minor accidents with no frame damage reported.

mmarshall

Welcome to CL. The IS300 has no major mechanical problems. Consumer Reports calls it one of most reliable vehicles in their database.
It DOES have some of irritants, though. The brake calipers tend to slide back and forth and hit their stops with a small " clack " noise every time you put the car in forward or reverse and first hit the brake pedal.......common with many Toyota / Lexus products.
The little cubby-tray on top of the dash on the non-NAV models could also be better-designed. Things tend to slide back and down onto the console upon acceleration. The climate-control has one irritant, but is otherwise flawless...it tends to default to recirculate when you make adjustments...you have to keep pushing the button to get fresh air, which of course you should always use in the defrost mode anyway....along with a litle heat added to keep the windows from getting too cold and moisture condensing. And, believe me....Lexus heating / air conditioning is THE BEST. You will be amazed at the comfort it keeps you in....quickly.
The E-shift models have some irritants, too. The automatic transmission is harsh-shifting, especially from 1-2, when the fluid is cold.....but then is smooth as butter, except sometimes for a button-induced E-shift from 4-5. The 2001 E-Shifts had some occasional small slippage in the 2-3 shift that was irregular and would come and go. An ECU reprogramming helped but did not cure it. Some of it lingered into the 2002's...not sure about the 2003 you want.
The throttle drive-by wire system is sometimes unresponsive when accelerating from very low speeds (around 5 MPH), causing hesitation a times....the engine winds up but the car doesn't move much until it shifts into second, then responds. From a dead stop, when cold the response is a little jumpy....warm, smooth as butter. These are not major problems but just a few quirks that take a little getting used to.
There are also some quirks in the transmission lever and buttons. The buttons will not go from 2-1 and the lever will not go from 5-4. It goes from 5 to "M" (manual mode) and then 3-2-1. To manually downshift from 5-4 (which I do a lot) you must flick the lever left to M mode and then hit a steering wheel button. This is a poor design...I don't know why they did it this way. Fortunately, in M mode, you don't have to do every shift manually like with the H-gate cars...the transmission automatically goes up and down until it reaches the top gear you have set...then stays there unless you use the buttons. That's a good design...and keeps you from the problem that a lot of people have with other sport-shift automatics....forgetting it is in manual mode and then redlining the engine in first gear taking off from a stop.
Last, this is NOT a winter car.....though with your CA address that may or may not be a problem. Even with all-season tires, traction control, stability system (2002's and up) and low-torque SNOW mode for the tranny, winter traction at best is marginal.
I have not had experience with a snow-tire-equipped IS300 so I cannot comment on that...but the snow performance with all-seasons is not impressive at all, and the standard 17" summer tires are even worse. A new IS250 AWD is forthcoming that should cure some of the old car's snow problems, but it is unclear what the tires will be on that model.

Huffster

Excellent feedback. Thanks for all of that! It sounds like a lot of the minor irritants go away once it's warmed up, which should not be much of a problem. I'm out in the Palm Springs area. This vehicle should not ever see snow, so that is not a concern. It gets cold for a couple months and it's beautiful the rest of the year (if you can survive the 105+ temps during summer).

How about cost irritants? Are your typical maintenance fixes (tune-ups, brakes, water pump/timing belt/etc) average prices or do they go way up because of the Lexus badging? That's kinda my last concern before I take the big jump here. I'm thinking that it will probably be another month or so, but I'm very quickly dropping the Camry idea and making the jump to the IS300.

mmarshall

If you don't do service yourself, you can get fluid changes and some minor repairs done at Toyota shops, using the same filters, for a lot less than a typical Lexus shop. However, Toyota shops cannot ( yet ) do Lexus warranty work, but that may also eventually change, from what my local Toyota service manager tells me.

Huffster

Unless the oil filter is difficult to get to, I can do my own fluid/oil changes. In fact, I prefer to whenever I have the time, so I know what was done. Is that stuff pretty straightforward with the IS300?

I've heard of other vehicles where you can only use that manufaturers brand of steering fluid or other stupid things like that and they rape you on the prices because they know you have to go through them. My previous Passat was that way and it was very irritating. VW also hassles you on warranties if anything happens and you had anything done anywhere other than a dealership previously. They basically corner you into only having work done with them or you are in for a battle. You'll win eventually, but they will put you through the ringer to win. I have not heard of that from Toyota, so I assume Lexus would be the same, but you know what they say about assuming...

mmarshall

The IS300 is not a particularly easy car for DIY oil changes.......for several reasons. First, the low air dam in front makes conventional ramps harder-than-usual to use...you have to drive it up in steps. Second, there is a plastic panel under the engine that has to be unbolted with several bolts before you can get to almost anything else. Third, the filter is mounted on the side of the engine block at a rather odd angle, with underhood components both above and below it. Fourth, with that odd angle, you have to be careful not to spill oil on the components underneath.
It is not the worst DIY oil-change car I have seen, though, by any means.

Huffster

Thanks for all the feedback. I'm pretty much convinced that this is the vehicle for me. I'll probably start the serious hunt for a deal in about a month. One of the three that I was mentioning above is already off autotrader, so I think that I am going to have to jump on the salvage deals quickly to get one in my price range.

koolaidman

at my shop the only real problems ive seen are
auto trans
and a couple of headlight motors 1700 EACH
and a few high sensors go bad

btw dont buy salvaged cars

Huffster

I keep hearing people say "Don't buy slavaged cars", but I am not getting feedback on why. I've done a little investigating myself (through people at body shops that I know and also from a guy who sells high end luxury/exotic cars). They say that most salvages are not a concern. The basic feedback being that a fairly minor accident that has no frame damage can easily push the cost of repairs into salvage dollar territory. For theft recoveries, replace the interior and a few other pieces (wheels, airbags, navigation) and you're in salvage dollar territory. This is especially common in luxury cars like Lexus, Mercedes, etc that have high cost replcement parts..

I've never considered a salvage because I've gone with the assumption that they had to have some pretty heavy damage to become a salvage title. I also had heard that insuring these was either not possible with many good insurances and when it was possible, it cost a lot more. My insurnace guy (from State Farm) said that they do not differenciate between salvage and clean titles. Same price because it's basically the same vehicle costs to cover if they have to fix it down the road. He actually said his wife's car is a salvage title and they've never had a problem with it.

Does anyone have any factual evidence that this is a bad move to consider on my part? I don't want opinion based on what you have heard other people say. I already know that many people are against salvage titles, but the reasons do not always make sense. I'm kinda going into this idea with an open mind and am not hearing anything from anyone that makes this sound as bad as I thought it would be. Totally the opposite of what i thought it would be.

BTW, I am not considering the "salvage titles will not sell for as much" as a negative. We plan to run this car well into the 100K mileage and am looking at ones with under 35K miles. At that point (100K+ miles), I'm not concerned what I get when it sells. I will have saved my money up front and will break even in the end when it sells for less. I'm also focused on getting a theft recovery. No flood and probably no wrecks. It will be inspected by a reputable shop, so anything obvious should be caught and anything that they seriously have concerns with will not be purchased.

Thanks again for all the feedback. This is really helping...

koolaidman

its asking for problems....today at work i had a lx470 come in with a 38 point inspection...i knoticed new welds near the bulk head on both sides. i found the condenser had a leak. and also had a week charging system. tires were feathered.

with welds near the bulk head it was in a major front end dammage. t
with the charging system i found a ground strap did not have good contact
tires feathered where because of the upper strut mount
with the condenser it was bent towards the middle where it wasnt very visible

the owner of the car just bought it heres a list of what he spent
250x4 for tires- 2.0 hours
25x4 camber adjusting bolts - .5
4 wheel alignalign 1.8
400 new condenser 1.5 hours
70 for desicant
90 r134a 1.0 hours

1000 for tires
200 for camber bolts 250
400 condensor
90 or r134a
70 for desicant
670 for 30 k service with a grand total of
2800

and the guy just spent 30 gs on the car

would u like to have something like this?

Huffster

No, I am sure that nobody would like those kinds of problems. BUT, if this guy had taken this car to you before he purchased it, would you have been able to see these problems and say "Hey buddy, don't get this car"?

I guess that if I were not planning to have a couple people look it over first, I would be thinking that this is a bad idea. The two people that I have that will give opinions on any vehicle I consider are (1) a guy that I've known for years that sells mostly exotics and sports cars. He does others, but that is his primary focus and the bulk of his business. For an IS300, he would probably be looking at dealer auctions (not the cheesy public ones) or if I find something, he would just look it over when I bring it to him. He goes over the cars he sells with a fine tooth comb. Has all the gadgets to check paint depth, knows all the things to look for that tell if a car has damage. He's been doing this for many, many years. He gets his business through referrals, so if he sells bad cars, people would never go back to him. I know dozens of people that have got their cas through him and have not heard of him selling a bad one, ever. (2) The second is the owner of a body shop that does a lot of the cars and trucks that are in the magazines. He's looked at some of the cars I thought about getting in the past and he pretty much catches anything of concern and will give an honest opinion of whether he thinks it is okay or not. If he sees anything questionable, he is one to be safe and just say "no". I've taken him cars with clean titles that he's said "not a chance to". I figure that between the two of them, I should get most concerns pointed out.

Again, if I do this, my focus is going to be on theft recovery salvages. It seems like those would have less chance for problems down the road. Replacing parts that were taken seems like a pretty plug and play sort of thing. If major electrical points were seriously messed with, then I would more than likely pass. If it was something like interior, wheels/tires, headlights, airbags, etc, I can't imagine that there would be serious problems if they were all put back in properly. These guys would basically be looking that over, but mainly be looking for damage that might have been done prior to the theft.

Again, I am still not totally sure about doing this. My first thoughts were to go with a Camry (not salvaged). I will be paying cash and do not have the time to save that extra money that would get me into a non-salvaged IS300. I don't really want to finance the difference, but it might be a possibility.

jmusic

I purchased an 03 with 100,000 miles on it for $6000.00. Salvage titlecame back a regular one. The check light is on but my mechanic says no worry, t drives great!

jmusic

true, I live 45 minutes from Lexus and 2 from Toyota, guess who wins. I love my 2003 is300

doitra

i agree with koolaidman. i'm a service writer myself....we're talking about an early 2000 model lexus that was totaled....it wasnt a 92 honda civic or a 96 ford taurus.....those values are low anyway. i figure an 03 is300 is worth around 14,000 (not too sure).....BUT with the mileage it has the value would be higher. if it was totaled, you'd have to think the damage was pretty damn big. was it a front end hit? rear? side? My first guess to why the car was totaled would be a major suspension damage because the mechanical labor rate is much higher than that of body rate. find out what the damage was and why it was totaled

Zstuddin

6 years later it has been resurrected!!!!

IT'S ALIVE! ALIVE!