CJITTY

Ohhhhh how times have changed...Lexus timed that 8 year warranty just perfectly. Needless to say I dumped my 600 and moved on from hybrid for a 460L after my battery issue. A friend of mine also having hybrid issues got rid of his too...

riknchar

Jitty: I'm still not convinced that there's a systemic hybrid battery problem with the LS600hL, despite a couple of isolated anecdotal examples of problems. I know your example sucked especially bad falling just days after your warranty expired.

But keep in mind that there are thousands of 2008 LS600hL's still on the road, and no one is reporting widespread battery failures as all of these cars are hitting their 8-year mark.

I'm comfortable with the very real possibility I may have to replace the batteries at some point over the next 5 years or so--I knew going in that it was quite possible, and I simply consider it the "price of admission" for driving Lexus' flagship luxury sedan. It could be worse -- I could be spending $5K each year to maintain a BMW 7-series...

roadfrog

Oh how true those words are......(as the former owner of a 7 series and X5)

Batteries can already be had for a relatively reasonable price, and I anticipate the prices to drop as more get into the game. The added bonus is that the labor (other than the sheer weight of the battery), is also relatively easy. I'd rather deal with that than some of the more delicate, complicated and very costly issues found in other brands and models of luxury automobiles.

roadfrog

When I purchased our CT200H for my wife, I looked into the possibility of a battery replacement. There are brand new battery packs that can be had for 1500 dollars. Not bad. If I lived in CA, I can get one for 799 dollars with free install!I realize the LS600 is a different animal.

dbtoure

The 2008 Lexus LS 600 HL is a great car to purchase, I've had mine since April and love it. I got it with 41k miles and have only had 1 issue with the Mark Levin amplifier went out and it cost 1000k to fix at the Lexus dealer.
Make sure you purchase some type of warranty because rarely does something go wrong, but when it does it's expensive.

FatherTo1

LXurious, are you saying you're able to drive your 600hL with a failed hybrid battery? Can you, or someone else, please confirm this? It would relieve a lot of anxiety about owning a 600 if we could still start, and drive, the car when the hybrid battery goes out. My understanding was you needed a working hybrid battery to operate the car (or to even start the engine). Please tell me I'm wrong.

riknchar

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that the car is "bricked" if the Hybrid Battery fails... It would be nice if that weren't the case, but I don't think the car is drivable without the hybrid battery...

hfahmy

I researched this a little bit and it seems that there is great similarity to the Prius, You can drive with a weak battery as long as it still has juice to spin the gas motor. It will eventually get to a point where it is weak enough not to start the motor and then change is a must.

riknchar

Interesting... I know the LS600hL comes with a separate Starter Battery used for starting the gas engine, so I'm surprised that your research found that the batteries will "eventually get to a point where it is weak enough not to start the motor..." It's always been my understanding that once a critical system fault is detected in the hybrid battery pack by the onboard LS600 computers, the car was no longer drivable. I could be (hope I am) mistaken! I'll have to go back and re-read CJITTY's description of what happened when his hybrid batteries failed...

hfahmy

I specifically recall asking CJITTY if the car worked fine after he got the check hybrid system message and the answer was yes. I recall he drove it to the dealer twice after getting the light. The starting battery does not start the engine, it only energizes the relays required to start the engine. I believe the power starting the engine at cold start or getting out of hybrid mode come from the hybrid battery. As long as it has sufficient power to spin this gas engine, car works.

sorka

The battery could degrade 90% and still have enough juice to turn the MG1. The code will be thrown with 60 to 70% of the the capacity left and since the degradation is an exponential decay, if it took 8 years for the ECU to say the battery is bad, it would take many decades after that before it could no longer turn the MG1.

Fun1

Looking at buying 2013 ls600hl.
67k on miles. Absolutely beautiful.
Any advice or experience on the 600?

TriC

The best thing to do, Fun1, is spend some time reading the various 600 threads on this site as they contain a wealth of information. In short, it is a fabulous car, but one that has some pricey components that can fail. It is best to have a comprehensive exclusionary warranty or deep pockets, so that a buyer is going into one with eyes wide open.

Fun1

Ok.. I am a big fan of Lexus products. I have an RX350 with 160k on it and it drives like new. 0 issues with this car.

So this weekend I bit the bullet and bought the LS600hL
executive package. 65k on it
I flew to DC and drove it 2700 miles back to seattle.
Holy smokes, this car is amazing. Almost drove itself..
Distance and lane keeping ability was great.
Tunes are awesome..
Not a sports car but plenty of go when you want to push it..
It was part of the US department fleet.
Kept up nicely.
Going to personalize it with tint and wheels but that's about it.
​Perfect Dad ride.
I'm 56 so want to dress the part and this I feel was a steal at 37k.
My son and I have been dressing up his SC400 and I got jealous. LOL.

TriC

Congrats, Fun1, you are a brave soul to drive cross-country in a newly purchased used car! I looked at its records after you first posted. Its fully optioned with a good service history. You did well - enjoy!