Looking to buy 2000LS and need some pointers
11-29-04, 11:42 PM
#1
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Looking to buy 2000LS and need some pointers
Hey gang,
We have owned several Toyotas and Lexus models in the past. Looking to buy a 2000LS and there are a couple of choices....50k mile car and a 90k mile car. Both clean and good condition....just price difference. 26k for the low mileage unit....21k for the higher mile unit. Both cars same color and same options...HID and Nak but no Nav.
Anything I should be looking for? I have searched several items but cant really find and specific pointers. We have had a 94LS in the past along with the current cars...LX470 and SC400.
Only ding so far on the low mileage unit...the stupid dealer changed trans fluid and put Dextron in...now the whole thing needs flushed. Doh, it runs fine just alittle rough on the 1-2 upshift.
Thanks,
Dave
We have owned several Toyotas and Lexus models in the past. Looking to buy a 2000LS and there are a couple of choices....50k mile car and a 90k mile car. Both clean and good condition....just price difference. 26k for the low mileage unit....21k for the higher mile unit. Both cars same color and same options...HID and Nak but no Nav.
Anything I should be looking for? I have searched several items but cant really find and specific pointers. We have had a 94LS in the past along with the current cars...LX470 and SC400.
Only ding so far on the low mileage unit...the stupid dealer changed trans fluid and put Dextron in...now the whole thing needs flushed. Doh, it runs fine just alittle rough on the 1-2 upshift.
Thanks,
Dave
11-30-04, 06:27 AM
#2
Lead Lap
I don't know of any unusual problems with the 00 LS other than the trip computer "Miles since refuel" issue on 98-00 LS where it sometimes resets itself zero before filling the tank. You could check to see if the fix has been applied although it does not always fix the problem. The problem has occurred on our 00 LS only once in the year I have had it although others in this forum have it happen more often.
Unless you do not plan to keep it long, I recommend you go with the one with 50K miles. Has the one with 90K had its major service including timing belt? It might be interesting to know the manufacture month of both cars to see if the high mileage one is an early 00 and the low mileage one a late 00. Mine was about 210 from the end of the LS400 run and was manufactured in June 00.
Are either of these cars Platinum Series? The Platinum Series Nak is the SF variation, the std Platinum is the SE and the Nav version is the SG. The Platinums come with a few extras - maple instead of walnut, different leather and wheels. Since both cars have Nak, I assume they have seat heaters - nice to have in Colorado.
You might want to contact the former owners and see if they are the kind of people that "drove the wheels off". But heck, with the cars you already have I'm sure you have "been around the block".
The 00 LS handles wonderfully well (with Blizzaks) in the snow -- infinitely better than the 90 LS we had for 13 years or our FWD Camry V6 with Trac and ABS. It is like driving an SUV, only better.
One cool thing about the 98-00 LS is that all the connections (power, radio mute, antenna) you need to connect a phone kit, Bluetooth or hardwired, are under the rear of the center console. There is a phone antenna imprinted on the rear window that can be activated by connecting two cables in the right well in the trunk. PM me if you want info or search for the doc I put on this forum 8 - 10 months ago.
Regardless which one you pick, they are great cars.
Unless you do not plan to keep it long, I recommend you go with the one with 50K miles. Has the one with 90K had its major service including timing belt? It might be interesting to know the manufacture month of both cars to see if the high mileage one is an early 00 and the low mileage one a late 00. Mine was about 210 from the end of the LS400 run and was manufactured in June 00.
Are either of these cars Platinum Series? The Platinum Series Nak is the SF variation, the std Platinum is the SE and the Nav version is the SG. The Platinums come with a few extras - maple instead of walnut, different leather and wheels. Since both cars have Nak, I assume they have seat heaters - nice to have in Colorado.
You might want to contact the former owners and see if they are the kind of people that "drove the wheels off". But heck, with the cars you already have I'm sure you have "been around the block".
The 00 LS handles wonderfully well (with Blizzaks) in the snow -- infinitely better than the 90 LS we had for 13 years or our FWD Camry V6 with Trac and ABS. It is like driving an SUV, only better.
One cool thing about the 98-00 LS is that all the connections (power, radio mute, antenna) you need to connect a phone kit, Bluetooth or hardwired, are under the rear of the center console. There is a phone antenna imprinted on the rear window that can be activated by connecting two cables in the right well in the trunk. PM me if you want info or search for the doc I put on this forum 8 - 10 months ago.
Regardless which one you pick, they are great cars.
11-30-04, 07:18 AM
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Lead Lap
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If you can afford it go with the 50k miles one. You will not regret it!!
No none problems to look out for.
I would go to your closest Lexus dealer and ask the service manager to pull up the history for you. he may not give it to you but basicly tell you if one car has been maintain better than the other or if it was not proerly maintained at all. It you tell him your sercing to by a Lexus and have them service it for you he will probably do it for you. It just how you preset the question to him.
The singl most important thing after the service history is run a Carfax. If you serious about buying a car over the next 30 days buy the 30 day unlimited program for $20. Thats a great investment. It will tell you much more than just accident history.
Jerry
No none problems to look out for.
I would go to your closest Lexus dealer and ask the service manager to pull up the history for you. he may not give it to you but basicly tell you if one car has been maintain better than the other or if it was not proerly maintained at all. It you tell him your sercing to by a Lexus and have them service it for you he will probably do it for you. It just how you preset the question to him.
The singl most important thing after the service history is run a Carfax. If you serious about buying a car over the next 30 days buy the 30 day unlimited program for $20. Thats a great investment. It will tell you much more than just accident history.
Jerry
12-07-04, 08:10 PM
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Update,
Thanks for all the replies!
Kansas,
Wow, what a bunch of info you had there. I need to change my personal info as we have moved up to Oregon from Colorado.
We ended up spending a long weekend in Seattle and found a absolutely perfect 00 LS400 at the dealer. Certified, 35k, Platinum edition and Nav. We paid top dollar but I didnt care one bit...the car is awesome and hands down better than the 50k or 90k units we were looking at.
We just got home and I have already put the claybar to the paint and applied the Zaino. Sweet!
Thanks again for all the input.
Dave
Thanks for all the replies!
Kansas,
Wow, what a bunch of info you had there. I need to change my personal info as we have moved up to Oregon from Colorado.
We ended up spending a long weekend in Seattle and found a absolutely perfect 00 LS400 at the dealer. Certified, 35k, Platinum edition and Nav. We paid top dollar but I didnt care one bit...the car is awesome and hands down better than the 50k or 90k units we were looking at.
We just got home and I have already put the claybar to the paint and applied the Zaino. Sweet!
Thanks again for all the input.
Dave
12-08-04, 12:03 AM
#7
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Originally posted by Kansas
I don't know of any unusual problems with the 00 LS other than the trip computer "Miles since refuel" issue on 98-00 LS where it sometimes resets itself zero before filling the tank. You could check to see if the fix has been applied although it does not always fix the problem. The problem has occurred on our 00 LS only once in the year I have had it although others in this forum have it happen more often.
Unless you do not plan to keep it long, I recommend you go with the one with 50K miles. Has the one with 90K had its major service including timing belt? It might be interesting to know the manufacture month of both cars to see if the high mileage one is an early 00 and the low mileage one a late 00. Mine was about 210 from the end of the LS400 run and was manufactured in June 00.
Are either of these cars Platinum Series? The Platinum Series Nak is the SF variation, the std Platinum is the SE and the Nav version is the SG. The Platinums come with a few extras - maple instead of walnut, different leather and wheels. Since both cars have Nak, I assume they have seat heaters - nice to have in Colorado.
You might want to contact the former owners and see if they are the kind of people that "drove the wheels off". But heck, with the cars you already have I'm sure you have "been around the block".
The 00 LS handles wonderfully well (with Blizzaks) in the snow -- infinitely better than the 90 LS we had for 13 years or our FWD Camry V6 with Trac and ABS. It is like driving an SUV, only better.
One cool thing about the 98-00 LS is that all the connections (power, radio mute, antenna) you need to connect a phone kit, Bluetooth or hardwired, are under the rear of the center console. There is a phone antenna imprinted on the rear window that can be activated by connecting two cables in the right well in the trunk. PM me if you want info or search for the doc I put on this forum 8 - 10 months ago.
Regardless which one you pick, they are great cars.
I don't know of any unusual problems with the 00 LS other than the trip computer "Miles since refuel" issue on 98-00 LS where it sometimes resets itself zero before filling the tank. You could check to see if the fix has been applied although it does not always fix the problem. The problem has occurred on our 00 LS only once in the year I have had it although others in this forum have it happen more often.
Unless you do not plan to keep it long, I recommend you go with the one with 50K miles. Has the one with 90K had its major service including timing belt? It might be interesting to know the manufacture month of both cars to see if the high mileage one is an early 00 and the low mileage one a late 00. Mine was about 210 from the end of the LS400 run and was manufactured in June 00.
Are either of these cars Platinum Series? The Platinum Series Nak is the SF variation, the std Platinum is the SE and the Nav version is the SG. The Platinums come with a few extras - maple instead of walnut, different leather and wheels. Since both cars have Nak, I assume they have seat heaters - nice to have in Colorado.
You might want to contact the former owners and see if they are the kind of people that "drove the wheels off". But heck, with the cars you already have I'm sure you have "been around the block".
The 00 LS handles wonderfully well (with Blizzaks) in the snow -- infinitely better than the 90 LS we had for 13 years or our FWD Camry V6 with Trac and ABS. It is like driving an SUV, only better.
One cool thing about the 98-00 LS is that all the connections (power, radio mute, antenna) you need to connect a phone kit, Bluetooth or hardwired, are under the rear of the center console. There is a phone antenna imprinted on the rear window that can be activated by connecting two cables in the right well in the trunk. PM me if you want info or search for the doc I put on this forum 8 - 10 months ago.
Regardless which one you pick, they are great cars.
I already PM-ed you, but couldn't upload the pic of my car I wanted some info about the rear antenna and its potential for Bluetooth connection....
linked here....
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12-08-04, 11:50 AM
#8
Lead Lap
ToyLexmods,
Glad I could help. Congrats on you purchase and your move to Oregon. I really like the Portland area - even skied at Timberline last winter. Isn't the maple in the Platinum nice? Really brightens the interior and reminds me of the teak and maple furniture we have.
Bluestar,
I PM'ed you with the info you requested before I saw your reply on this topic. I wanted to make sure that you understood that the OEM rear window phone antenna of the 98-00 is not the one I see glued to your rear window. The OEM phone antenna is imprinted on the inside of the rear window with the defroster and the radio antenna. But I don't know if the OEM phone antenna is compatible with the frequency of a GSM-only phone and can testify only that this OEM antenna works well with our tri-mode Nokia GSM/TDMA/Analog 6340i phones.
Jim
00 LS
Edit 03/28/09: Now that Analog and TDMA has been discontinued, I can firm that the imprinted antenna on the rear window of the 98-00 LS400 supports GSM phones.
Glad I could help. Congrats on you purchase and your move to Oregon. I really like the Portland area - even skied at Timberline last winter. Isn't the maple in the Platinum nice? Really brightens the interior and reminds me of the teak and maple furniture we have.
Bluestar,
I PM'ed you with the info you requested before I saw your reply on this topic. I wanted to make sure that you understood that the OEM rear window phone antenna of the 98-00 is not the one I see glued to your rear window. The OEM phone antenna is imprinted on the inside of the rear window with the defroster and the radio antenna. But I don't know if the OEM phone antenna is compatible with the frequency of a GSM-only phone and can testify only that this OEM antenna works well with our tri-mode Nokia GSM/TDMA/Analog 6340i phones.
Jim
00 LS
Edit 03/28/09: Now that Analog and TDMA has been discontinued, I can firm that the imprinted antenna on the rear window of the 98-00 LS400 supports GSM phones.
Last edited by Kansas; 03-28-09 at 08:47 AM. Reason: Clarification
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