tkbalt

Engine buzz / felt wobbly - not something I have ever experienced.

Why the side moulding replacement?

I would have it inspected at Lexus Dealer if I was serious about this vehicle.

Sounds like the 08 may be a stronger candidate at this point.

Liongate

Thanks all.
To clarify, i havent test drove the 08 yet. Looks to be good condition based on photos. I am going to see it in person this weekend.
2010 is in mint condition cosmetically. Looks brand new especially the interior. I am not sure if carmax would let me take it to the lexus dealer but then there is 5 day money back guarantee.
I am leaning towards the 08 because of $9k price difference so i am just hoping it is in good condition when i see it in oerson tonight.

Max707

5 day return is a nice cushion, post pic's of the one you buy.

Tec80

http://www.lcpo.com/VehicleDetails/c...-FL/2524259223

Max707

That's a typo, bet it's a 6 not a 3

Liongate

Yesterday evening I checked out the 08. Unlike the photos, the condition of the car was subpar. It looked like a ten year old car. Corrosion was forming on the chrome trim here and there, rust was forming on chipped panel, and just in general the car just has not been taken care of.
So i pulled the trigger on the 2010 today. There was a ding inside the rear passenger door sill and was told due to seat buckle trapped. The car seems left out in the sun often and the leather feels a little dry but looked clean. It does have about four small chips thats hard to see but carmax touched them up. Only gripe I have is the wood part of the steering wheel is scratched up and about 1/3 lost shine. Also, on my way home I realized one of the tires have significantly lower pressure and the steering wheel is pointing left by about 5 degrees when going straight. Is this something I should be concerned of? I have until Friday to return the car so I will have carmax fix the steering wheel and I will also find time to take it to a lexus dealer for general inspection. Any idea how much it would cost? Oh, they also showed me their cost after I signed all the papers. $44,500. That is $5,450 markup. Seems a lot. $3,000 seems more fair but they gotta do what they gotta do I guess.

Max707

Congrats, have it looked at by Lexus ask for their advice on your concerns. Have carmax make the items right. Nice low mileage ride. Get some 303 Aero protectant for the interior. I use ICE spray on wax by Turtle Wax and a Microfiber towel keeps my paint looking new and it only take 5 minutes to do the entire LX. I also always use a front window sun shade when I park in the summer and my front side windows are tinted the same as the back.

grsams

When you have an available weekend, I would suggest clay barring the entire truck to remove any industrial fallout and get the paint clean (I had a lot on the rear hatch of my 2009 when I bought it). Afterward, I applied CQuartz UK to the truck (2 coats) and I couldn't be more impressed. If you don't have the time, I would find a dealer that applies the coating as it will not only protect but it will minimize the upkeep in cleaning the exterior. Check out the detailing section for more info.

Liongate

So I took it to the local lexus dealer. To my surprise, they said they would check the car for free! I am inside the dealership's guest area waiting for them to do a what they call a luxury diagnosis. It involves 27 point inspection and a lot of used lexus buyers come in for this. They also asked if I want to do 30,000 miles service for $650. I said i would think about it if the car is deemed in good condition because i dont want to spend that money only to return the car for money back. But wow that expensive for 30k miles service? Thats 3% of the entire value of the car!

Regarding 303 protectant and cquartz, I spent good three hours browsing the auto detailing section of the forum. All I can symay it's very confusing! So cquartz is a paint coating which shouldnt be used in conjunction of zaino products? Do i need to invest in polisher as well? Is it difficult for a first timer? I found the local detailer who would do cquartz finest and they charge $600. I went ahead and bought zaino z9 and z10 as they seem to be the best product for leather.

Max707

Do the 30k by looking in your owners manual and do only the things that say "change" like oil/filter unless it was already done, put in a new air filter it's real easy, have the dealer grease and re-torque the drive shaft. Have the brake pad width checked. Cabin air filter should be good until 45k miles, you can even change it yourself, go to WWW.IH8MUD.com ask your question there, they are the do it yourself guys with many posts telling you how to do this stuff.

Liongate

So the dealer found out that the car is in good condition. I asked one of the technician to test drive to check the wobbly ride. Boy was he good. He pointed out exactly what I had felt and said the alignment is alittle bit off and it could also be tires with uneven wear. He said he could try road force balancing but may have to do it again when roatiting tires. He recommended to demand carmax a brand new set of tires and an alignment. I was blown away by the quality of lexus service people. They didnt push to sell anything and treated me like I just bought a brand new lexus. Now I am going to talk to carmax tomorrow and ask for new tires. I doubt they will but we'll see.

Max707

Get the MicHelin Latitudes. Don't get the Dunlops!!

tkbalt

Glad you had a positive experience with the dealer. That is why I drive a Lexus and have it serviced at the dealer. They get to know me and my vehicles. Yes - it cost more, but I do not have the time, energy, or interest to wrench on my new LX. I know others do, and that is great and certainly more cost effective.

That said - I do not just tell the service advisor that I want the "30K" service. We review what I want to have done and I generally supply my own fluids, filters, and parts. They always look the entire vehicle over while doing the service (checking brakes, all fluids) and let me know if I need to consider some other service. You can find many OEM parts on-line at significant discounts.

My approach is certainly more expensive than the DIY method, but I want to be able to drop the vehicle off, drive off in one of their demo's, and come pick the vehicle up later.

But that's just me....

Max707

That was my experience with Lexus in Atlanta,KC,and Vegas. Here in Austin you either buy their "service" which includes a 27 pt check of the vehicle, which costs more. Your paying like $50 more for the tech to "look" at your vehicle. Example when I came in for a brake fluid service, they never checked my brake pad depth, that only happens on a "5" "10" "15" "20" "25" etc. "service appt. where you pay extra for them to look and give you feed back. I even went to the GM about this stupid customer approach and told him and showed him how Lexus of Vegas even on a oil/filter change checked everything and gave me a written recommendation of addl. service they would recommend. The GM did note my file telling the tech's to do all the checks on and visit I made to the dealership. The reason I state this is you need to know what they are and are not doing, and do not be afraid to ask for things to be checked. Ask to see the old filters and parts etc.

Liongate

So here is the update:

The carmax did the alignment service but refused to do the road force balancing of the tires or offer brand new tires. After some thought, I decided to keep the car despite some of these issues as they are not serious issues and/or will be fixed once i replace the tires.

I had my local retailer put on Cquartz coating and replace the headlight with HID.

One thing that drives me nuts is the rattle from the rear left seat. The seat constantly shakes and the hatch on the floor and locking mechanism at the bottom of the seat constantly makes clanking noise. When someon is sitting on the seat the noise disappears.

But overall, extremely happy with the truck. The feeling of I can go anywhere with this thing is great. Gets a lot of compliments. I will post some photos.