Gixxer007

I am new to your site here as of today, I came about it while looking for a car or my son. The first question I have and hope maybe someone can help out with.

My son just got his driver lisc and we are looking for his first car. Well his first choice is a Lexus is250. So I have been looking around for a black on black car loaded with all options inc nav. Are these good cars over all as far as not going to be issue car for us to deal with. I wanted the nav so he can also have the factory blue tooth in it.

I am about to buy a 2007 is250 AWD auto car. It is black on black and has nav and all the other options I think a loaded ones comes with even light washers etc. the car has 61K on it one owner car fax coming back on it clean title.
Not that it matters but a BMW is his second choice it appears.

What should I look for when driving it and checking it all out beside the typical things? I get the feeling him and I will be spending a lot of time on this site when and if we get him one of these. He even has wheels picked out and kind if on hold in the event a deal happens. I think he may have even ordered an exhaust for it already also for some reason. We saw a weird charge hit our account over the weekend. I told him him he did already buy all this stuff he may have to send it back if these cars are not the best for us after hearing the plus and neg for here maybe. I am just nervous buying used cars as we always buy new for the house for the wide and myself. I didn't want to buy him a brand new one as I am sure we may have to deal with a few little bumps and dents on it. Would rather him do that to a used car than brand new to be honest. All I keep thinking is what will a trans or the AWD cost to replace in this thing or if the nav unit goes bad you can't drive it either I am thinking also right?


Any advice or tips would be great and we will be sure and keep you all posted as we make our decision and I am sure he will be posting and asking a ton of questions as he tries to change things on it also.

panda08

iTrader: (1)

Your son just got his license and you're gonna buy him a lexus? I wish you were my dad.. just kidding.

You'd wanna make sure that the 2007 IS250 youre getting has had all the recalls done. I think a lot of them have had problems with carbon build up, valve springs needing to be replaced and things. You mentioned that his second choice is a BMW, I would stay away from those because they'll have more problems in the long run and end up costing you more.

If possible, try go get a certified pre owned Lexus, it'll cost a bit more but you do get a 3 year/ 100k warranty with it. In the state of CA, you are legally allowed to take a used car and have an independent mechanic inspect it over, I don't know if that's the case it CT or not. Typically when you test drive the car, see if it accelerates without hesitation, steering wheel doesn't vibrate cruising at highway speeds or vibrate when applying the brakes. You WILL hear a ticking sound coming from the engine because there is a secondary fuel pump. That ticking sound is the fuel injectors opening and closing very quickly.

Gixxer007

Yea spoiled kids seem to always get what they want as long as their grades stay up that's part of the deal in our house. He was looking for an is350 but I put the stop to that and told him a 250 is what he can get.

Is their a way to tell if all the recalls we're done to this car? Also if they were not completed should I call lexus and ask if they can be done under the new owner by them.

I just read about that carbon build up issue that has me all worked up now if that was done to this car already I sure hope so.

knguyenk

A simple way to check if the recalls are done on the car is to register the car's VIN on the Lexus Owners website and can go through all the recorded service records of that particular car, if you want to check it yourself. Otherwise, the dealership can look that up for you if you commit to owning the IS.

I picked up a 2007 IS 250 AWD (69.9k, from Carmax) by cosigning with my parents a little over a year ago and most of the recalls were performed on it, minus the new wiper arm nut and internal trunk release handle (which I got taken care of a couple of months ago for free ). My parents are the same as you; they will try to get you what you want, as long as I do well in my studies. Picking up the IS 250 AWD was the last car I would of possibly gotten, but I have no regrets as it's a wonderful car.

The carbon build up is something that can be mitigated by changing the spark plugs at the appropriate intervals; my spark plugs were original to the car and partially caused my carbon buildup issue (Lexus wanted to do spark plugs for $600 and $500~ for a top end engine clean , which I declined and did the spark plugs with a local mechanic). Somewhere in the threads I read that flooring your 250 can help burn the excess gunk that causes the buildup (which I take with a grain of salt). I just fill the car up with the right octane gasoline and change the (synthetic) oil regularly around 5~7k and haven't exhibited the carbon buildup issues for a while (only had the rough idle issue, associated with the carbon buildup, come up less than 5 times since owning the car), it's around ~87K now and still working pretty bulletproof.

panda08

iTrader: (1)

I completely understand, my parents were the same way when I was in school. Although they didn't reward me with a car per se, I was rewarded with basically anything else. (just as good in my opinion)

RDIS250AWD

iTrader: (7)

I second everything Panda said. I also recommend purchasing a Certified Pre Owned if possible.

I'm on my 2nd CPO lexus and couldnt be happier. Heres an overview of everything thats offered to you when you buy Certified http://www.lexus.com/cpo/overview/certification.html

penone

Wow. My first car was a 1976 Datsun B210 which had a piece of wood as the floor on the passenger side. The only thing I got for my good grades was the privilege to go to college and get into debt.

Definitely try and get a CPO and like Panda said make sure that ALL of the recalls were done - especially the carbon buildup one.

Also, regarding car fax - when I bought my CPO I did a car fax as well and was under the assumption that if an accident was not on the car fax the car was accident free. Apparently that is not the case. After a couple of months I took the car to get detailed and the first thing the detailer told me was that the car was in accident as the paint was not 100% matching.

Good luck!

B16da9

iTrader: (7)

I'm with you on that boat my first car was a 89 mazda MX-6 with no reverse lol.

Also like every one has said try to get a CPO and hope that you find a 250 thats not suffering from the carbon build up issue.

LexoticJ

iTrader: (5)

Hope your search goes well and your best bet is getting one with CPO warranty... that way you can get 5yr 100,000 mile warranty....