Tonyboatin

Hello everyone!
My name is Tony, and I just joined a few minutes ago. I have owned an LS460 SWB since only Jan 2014, but really love the car. It is by far the best vehicle that I've ever owned. I've owned many Toyotas over the years. '82 Celica GT, '85 Celica GTS, '88 Supra Targa, '09 ES350, and now the LS.
My concern is about whether or not I should buy an '08 LS600hL with 95 k on the clock. My only reservations are the hybrid battery longevity, and the small trunk like a lot of other folks.
I know nothing can be done about either. I'm just wondering if there is anything that I should really be looking out for.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I hope people will reply to a new member. Thank you, Tony

Gbp

Hi Tony,

I had an '84 Celica GT-S Liftback, bought new and kept it for 15 years. Great car!

Personally, I'd be reluctant to buy an LS600h with 95K miles without including possible hybrid battery replacement in its acquisition cost. As on any vehicle with this (or any) mileage, I'd want to know about interior wear and condition and repair history. I'd also get a pre-purchase inspection from an objective Lexus mechanic (meaning not one from the same Lexus dealer you might be buying this from). If all this checks out OK, then I'd do my own visual inspection and test drive.

DiggerJim

I have an 08 600hL (although half the miles) and thought about the same things before I bought it.

Bottom line though, the hybrid batteries are everywhere now - Toyota & Lexus have hundreds of thousands of hybrid units with the same batteries in them and we aren't seeing reports of a lot of failures and many of those have well north of a 100K or even 200K miles on them. Toyota folks I've talked to say the batteries (and the hybrid unit in general) either goes fairly quickly due to a manufacturing problem or they never see them again. They just aren't breaking.

As for the trunk, my Benz trunk is about twice as big as the 600 and I was worried about losing all that space. I haven't missed it. I can still put enough luggage for 4 of us to spend a week on vacation in there - we are light packers but judicious packing & soft side luggage work for us. I can easily fit 4 airline approved carryon sized bags across the trunk and another couple of bags on top of those.

It does mean I don't keep a lot of junk back there just taking up room. I decided I need luggage space maybe 5% of the time and the other 95% I wouldn't know if there were a body stuffed in there. So I decided I'd rather have a supremely comfortable luxurious ride all the time and pack lightly on the occasions when I travel with luggage. Hasn't been a problem yet.

swfla

iTrader: (1)

I have the LS 460. The '08 year and surrounding years have a front suspension control arm issue. Prematurely worn bushings, a costly repair. What I don't know, is if your car shares this issue. Worth looking into though. Good luck!

NickTee

Just price out the cost of replacement for the battery, the motor, the controllers, etc. You may be turned off by the cost of replacement. And all of that stuff can fail, no matter what others try to tell you. Those people won't pay for your replacement parts, so you need to figure this out for yourself. Based on that, you need to asses the cost-risk to benefit and determine if it's really worth it.
I know I would NEVER buy a hybrid out of warranty, because it's just not in my favor. And I'd certainly never buy a LS600hl over a LS460L and expect to own it out of warranty.

What is it that makes you want a LS600 over the LS460? Is it really worth the risk of having to replace extremely expensive parts? I'd find a lower mileage one that has a warranty.

dlbuckls10

Tonyboatin, I have a '10 LS 460L that I love to drive and I was curious about the 600h. So I test drove a '11 600h and what a outstanding automobile. The 600h is quieter, faster, smoother, more leather and features. The trunk may be smaller but you still have usable trunk space. I would definitely own a 600h. If you buy the one with 95K I suggest you get the extended warranty. You may never use it but its a peace of mind (hybrid battery and other electronics) and could save you $1000's.

DiggerJim

Check with Carchex for a quote on the car (get the Titanium warranty that includes everything, not sure if the other levels cover the hybrid components - just check the sample docs). If you're a credit union member you may be able to get a cheaper contract through them.

riknchar

I own a 2008 LS600hL, and like some of the others, highly recommend the 600 for its amazing quiet power, CVT, in-town fuel economy, and general "flagship" interior materials.

By buying a higher-mileage version of this amazing car, though, you will definitely have to assume a certain degree of risk (battery failure, control arms, etc.). Not sure how good of a warranty you'll find on a car with 95K miles, either.

I'd learn everything I could about the car -- service history (via the MyLexus web site using the VIN), accident history, status of recalls, etc. I bought my 2008 a year ago as a CPO (with 58K miles). I also bought the extended CPO, so I'm covered for 6 years/up to 125K miles. My car had just gone through the 60K mile servicing, and had all new tires, completely new brakes, all upper control arms had been replaced, two of the air ride shocks had been replaced, and all recalls had been done. I did have a bit of a wind noise problem, but was able to alleviate most of that using the do it yourself fix posted in many places on this forum.

I'm now seeing quite a few 2008 LS600s being advertised with fairly low miles and much better prices. I think now that the 2008s can no longer be sold as CPO by Lexus dealers, the price has dropped quite a bit. Lots of bargains to be had right now, so I'd look around for a while before leaping. You'll definitely find a lower-mileage LS600 for a great price if you take your time.

Good luck!

swfla

iTrader: (1)

I agree completely. Many third party warranties aren't clear cut and dependable. Lexus cars are generally very dependable but I'd look into the cost of a new or refurbished battery and compare it to the cost of a warranty. The control arm issue is something an independent mechanic can easily spot. Costly through Lexus, but "only" about $1200 by buying parts from eBay and using an independent mechanic.

In my market, central FL, there aren't many 600s to be found. If you're open to expanding your search radius, you're bound to find lower mileage options. I suggest this because of the unknown life of the battery.

riknchar

The last time I had my LS600hL in for an oil change at my local Lexus dealer, I mentioned to the Lexus mechanic that I was somewhat worried about the chance the batteries could go bad after the 8 year warranty was up (next year). He told to not worry, because Lexus (and Toyota) has been developing a new method of testing individual cells to isolate and replace only the defective ones at a much lower cost than replacing the whole bundle. I've heard of this method, but this is the first time it came from a semi-official source. Sounds good to me!

NickTee

Translation: I don't want you to continue to pester me about the battery failing, so let me reassure you with something that's not guaranteed.

swfla

iTrader: (1)

Sounds promising. Once it's reality (one to ten years from now) it will stave off the need for replacement. But until then, in my opinion, it's safest to assume full replacement.

DiggerJim

Or perhaps it's the truth. It's not like there's a big monolithic battery back there. It's (if I recall correctly) something like 20 separate 14.4v battery modules connected in series. It's not a technological leap to figure out which of those is bad and replace the bad one(s). After all, the battery charge management system is monitoring and charging the individual packs already so I'd expect them to be able to identify which is the one that needs replacement. The trick would be whether the full system was designed to easily swap out individual modules. The batteries themselves are ancient technology (relatively speaking) with NiMH low voltage packages. They pretty similar to the ones powering (older) hand tools.

RodT

i own a 08 600 and i have 140k on the dash and so far so good no issues

NickTee

That's no help to you when the battery goes bad and it's still not around. Essentially he was simply blowing you off with some hopeful future that doesn't currently exist and with no evidence of it actually occurring. You should ask the dealer for his source or find a different dealership.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's impossible. People have done DIY individual cell swaps, however it's not something that currently exists for Toyota nor is it something that Toyota has actually even hinted at. Even a google search reveals nothing of the sort and something like this would already be on the internet if it were true. So if your battery fails, you're looking at a full battery replacement cost when your warranty is up.

It's not difficult to test individual cells, you can read more here:
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/...ot-4000-to-fix