Legender

Sounds like you've already convinced yourself that this is the deal... I took the Avalon route for my kids... called it a baby lexus... son still drives his with over 200k on the clock...and nothing but maintenance and one starter rebuild. They are cheaper than a Lexus, use regular gas and have the Toyota reliability. But it sounds like you've got your heart set on this... I think around $7k is a fair price. You seem to able to see the glimmer of this one under the grime. Good luck.

zippinbye

Well, I gotta say all the comments, both for and against this particular car, are very helpful. Made me ponder a lot. I'm a bit slower in reacting than I normally would be due to a sick child. Only reason I'm in LA is due to 5 y/o being hospitalized at UCLA. Since there's a lot of down time it was a great opportunity to look at cars. But even with that time on my hands, stress and other distractions slow the thought process down a bit compared to normal. I've learned over the years not to spring to decisions in such circumstances. I've also come to the conclusion to either "feel the love" (not feeling it) and pay the price for what you want, or seek a smokin' deal if you don't have the warm fuzzy's about it. In this case it would have to the latter, which would probably involve an offensive offer relative to the asking price. By nature I don't like to **** people off or hurt their feelings about perceived value, but sometimes you just gotta go there. Would I be happy with this car for $7K, knowing it's mechanically solid with many miles ahead, even if it's not a shinning example? Absolutely. It's no beater - way nicer than so many cars out there. Probably not going to happen, but I'll probably give it a shot today. Thanks again for all the useful advice!

SocalMr2

iTrader: (1)

I paid 12,000 recently for a pristine black on black 1999 LS400 just touching 50k miles. She was garaged and not driven for ten years. The car is fully loaded: Navigation, air suspernsion, full wood trim, ect. all with the original tags that were still on the damn car. I tripped out knowing my cars value was $63,000 in 1999.

Legender

Sounds like you've got a lot on your plate right now. Sorry to hear about your child...I know that tugs at the heart. Best to you in all things. Good luck on the car deal. But more importantly healing prayers for your child.

zippinbye

I sometimes forget to lodge a "conclusion" post when I move past an issue, whether it be a purchase thread or a simple repair topic. So I just wanted to let it be known that I never even threw out an offer. As noted, I had a lot of things going on and the LS 400 ended up being a distraction. We got discharged from UCLA last night and made it back to NV. Things are better with my 5 y/o girl, but there's still a lot to deal with. Thanks for the well-wishes!

Chances are I've put this one to rest. Even though it's intended to be a driver and not a poser, I have a hard time embracing a LS that has not received proper cosmetic care, even if resolvable to a degree. But I had 60,000 miles pulling at my heartstrings!

BTW Legender, I'm totally into the Avalon concept. I never mentioned it in this thread, but Avalons are strong contenders in my current car search. It's the other Toy/Lex car that packs big room, safety and size-defying MPG. Looking at the Gen III 3.5 V6 performance specs, I wonder how many "sports cars" have been smoked by grand dad's Avalon in a stop light duel? (zero to 60 in 6.0 - holy smokes!). A Gen II would be fine for my purposes, but the Gen III is a really sweet used car right now. I checked on a 2006 Limited with 100K on the odometer in the OC that was asking around the same as the LS 400 - $9000 or so. I guess it was gone because I never heard back from my email and phone call. Not sure I care for the in-dash display, whether it be a NAV car or not. Could present problems with age and limit audio mods, I assume. I'm finding some pretty decent Gen IIs in LV for $5k and less, even a sub 50,000 mile one for a bit more.

The hunt continues. And it's more fun when there's no hard timeline, so hopefully something will fall in my lap. I'm sure my daughter's vote is for a near-term score. She isn't buying-in to my assurance that fond memories will always be with her from the first POS car, her stylin' Volvo 850. Maybe those terms of endearment are a guy thing