xclusivetn

Came to the forums awhile back and got advice before purchasing my wifes RX300 which has been absolutely wonderful with no problems at all. I got excellent advice then so now I'm back as its served its time, purchased with 49k & now has right under 200k, and now its time for the wife to move on to another vehicle. I will start off by saying that my wife wants it all, a low milage car and a low price so needless to say I feel like I'm looking for a needle in a haystack. We were patient on the RX330 so I guess it can be done, you just don't have the luxury of picking colors, options, etc. and pretty much have to take what you can get with the low milage requested.

We have been looking at the IS250. Our max budget that we are going to spend is $14k(before taxes). Found a 2007 Black IS250 with 69k. It is black with tan interior and has chorme 18in wheels, xenon lights, navi and backup up camera. From my research it started off as a lease car and now has a 2nd owner. Looks like all of the recalls have been doneand regular scheudled maintenance has beendone as well. Car was originally priced at $16k but I neg to $14k as owner states he is selling because he doesnt want to ship it across the country.

I guess my main question is are these reliable as my previous RX300? I do see they take premium gas which she isn't to happy about as the RX300 did fine with regular gas. I am basically just looking for something that we can put gas in, change the oil and drive without mininal problems for another 100k+ miles. Are the models easy to work on if needed and I assume the parts aren't to expensive(I have a 530i so we won't even talk about maintenance cost. If I didnt diy, the car would be to expensive to maintain).

(I have tried to hold out and find a is350 but haven't been able to find any in our price range with low miles(<70k).

I was going to have a pre-inspection done this week at Lexus dealer. Owner has also had it serviced there a few times since he purchased it as well. If it checks out we were leaning towards buying it unless there are other things I should be aware of? If its as reliable as the RX330 then its a win in my book. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreicated.

Thanks!

tex2670

Kind of similar to my car--I have an '07 AWD with 69k miles, nav/backup cam, HIDs, lux pkg. I've never had any unscheduled maintenance that wasn't covered by warranty or a recall or TSB. You should check if the carbon buildup CSP was performed; you are still in the window of coverage, but if you get beyond 9 years, and it's not done, that's a costly repair. Mine was needed at 48,000mi.

Sffd103

iTrader: (16)

Most of the cars do very well. People have had issues with the 250 having the carbon build up issue and water pumps failing. There's a thread on the carbon build up. Most of the maintenance otherwise is the air filter, cabin filter, brake fluid, spark plugs (60K per manual), oil, brakes, tires, coolant at 100K. That's pretty much it. There's a Lexus dealer named Sewell Lexus that gives CL members a discount on parts. That's where most of us get the parts from and do most of the work ourselves. Hope this helps.

NYKnick101

I was surprised how simple the maintenance on the IS250's are. Carbon buildup HAS been a big issue on the older models but I think Lexus has it covered. I haven't seen carbon issues happen twice on cars on these cars so I am hoping the fix is somewhat of a good fix. Also the waterpump is a much easier job on the 250 than most other engines that requires major disassembly. Other than that, its been regular wear and tear items, oil changes, brake pads, etc.

I think other than that, you wont have any issues with the IS250