Mrmateo

Hello all!

Just wanted to introduce myself, names Matthew and this is my first personal Lexus although my mother just traded in her 07' IS250 w/130k after a problem free ownership.

Monday I sold my 2002 Ford F250 7.3 Diesel and Wednesday I picked up this 2001 Lexus LS430 base in Black Onyx with 50,010 miles when I picked it up. I paid $9450, I'm sure everyone will agree the price was right. Originally I was looking for an LX470 but stumbled upon this steal.

I verified 6 pages of impeccable service history through the Lexus owner portal prior to making the purchase. The entire history was done at Lexus of Kendall in Miami and the last Lexus dealer service was 1/8/13 @ 43,700 miles and during that service the following was completed:
-Timing Belt
-Water pump
-Valve cover gaskets
-Transmission pan gaskets
-Idle pulley tensioner
-3rd trasmission flush to date
-3rd cooling system flush to date
- 4 new tires installed
- resurfaced rotors and replaced brake pads back and front.

Paint looks great although I would still like to clean/polish/seal it with a portal cable. I will be replacing the stock wheels with 18x8 Lexus replica wheels (still up for debate which ones).

Interior is flawless although you can see where lexus replaced center console wood (confirmed in records) after scratching it during service as the wood does not match colors that well.

Only real issue I am having is the passenger side mirror is just sort of attached on the right and center but the left side of the mirror always pops out and up...it appears as though the center or left leg is missing or broken

I also have a real low speed metallic sound which sounds like heat shielding under the rear of the vehicle. At speed you do not hear the noise.

I plan to switch to Mobil 1 Extended Performance 5w30 full synthetic oil and a Motorcraft FL-400S filter in the next week.

I'm a big fan of cars and a sucker for a deal but typically go through a new daily driver every 10-12 months, if I plan to sell this sooner I'll post it on the forum as well.

Below are a few pics after washing/spray waxing/Lexol

mappo

Congrats - you stole that car! I'll be watching for you in a year if you sell it.

The previous owner messed up letting the dealer get away with that mismatched wood though. It looks like they used bird's eye maple panels instead of the walnut that was there.

KING

iTrader: (1)

^^ + on the wood panels. That is so weird lookin', I don't understand why they would've changed it or had it that way.

Congrats on your new car, you'll love it hopefully. It's nothing like a 7.3 diesel truck though, actually it might be the exact opposite of that.

First thing I'd do is remove those wheels, my goodness why did Lexus even bother with this one..

Welcome to the forums Matthew.

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

Welcome. Nice low mileage LS. Check out the FAQ thread.

I wonder if you could go back and get them to fix the interior wood mismatch if possible. Even though it was done under the previous owner if it was warranty work and the wrong part was put in you may have some leverage with cooperate. They can put the strong arm on a dealer to fix it. I would at least try if I were you.

Tom57

Welcome to CL. Beautiful example of a '01 LS. My bet is you that you keep this "daily driver" longer than your typical 10 - 12 months.

There are CL threads for DIY fixes of outside mirrors. It looks like 3 pieces of the wood on the upper console are mismatched from the correct trim code. The dealer damaged the wood, then passed off the wrong trim code replacement pieces on the prior owner. Beware of that dealer.

Mrmateo

I've done some research through this and other forums to determine that as being one of the better filters. I've only used Motorcraft filters on the F250 as they were stock and the best you could buy for the money.

2KHarrier

Congrats on the car and welcome to the club! Looks like you have the Ultra rare non heated seat model. A real "Base" model...

Super nice condition!

Mrmateo

You're correct! I noticed no heated seats as well... I figured a flagship model would have that standard in 01'... Being a south Florida original car I can see why the dealer might not order it.

R Z

Welcome. You got a smokin' deal on your car. I'd certainly look into matching the wood on your console. It's not too difficult to pop out the lower piece. I'm sure you can find them on line.

Enjoy!

MX5

Congrats on a great buy, I got mine (also a black '01) right at a month ago and am loving it.

I like my factory 17" chromes quite a bit and they are in mint condition, but I would like a set of the 18" factory Sport alloys which I think look great on these big cars.

I'm like you in that I often get tired of a DD at about the year mark, but I'm really not sure what I would like more than this as a DD so it may last awhile.....

2KHarrier

I love this color combination. The chrome wheels look great with Black..

MX5

Thanks 2kHarrier.

OP - if the console wood coloring bothers you, search eBay for "LS430 trim" and you will see several of those exact pieces for sale between $40 and about $130. Sorting the results by highest price first and setting the results to 200 per page will put those on your first page of results.