Scott R

Hello all, I'm a former owner of a '99 RX300. We bought it used and it was primarily my wife's car. We started having some significant issues with it after it passed 100K miles (I forget the exact number - it's been at least 5 years since we've had it) and so we eventually traded it in. Because of the high cost of the Lexus dealer wanting to charge us for things, we kind of swore off Lexus for a while, but several years later I found myself buying another Lexus. This time, an '02 SC430 (I bought it around '06 w/about 60K miles on it). I've still got it, about 120K miles now, and while I am a bit bored with it, it has been (knock on wood) super-reliable and low-cost. Pretty much no problems whatsoever. For better or worse, I don't bring it in to the Lexus dealer for anything...I just bring it to local shops for oil changes, brakes, etc., and had a timing belt job done from a local shop as well.

Anyway, my daughter is turning 16 soon and is eager to start driving. I'd just as soon hold her off until she moves out, but I remember back when I was turning 16 and I wanted to drive, too, so I guess I should stop acting so old. We're thinking we'll want to get a 3rd car, have it be in our name, and allow her to drive it as we see fit. My initial thinking was to get an older Prius or high-MPG vehicle, but my wife is obsessed about "safety" and would like it to be an AWD/4WD vehicle if possible (BTW, we're in CT). Of course, AWD adds significant cost and in searching through cars.com, it seems like even older, high-mileage vehicles with AWD are pretty darn expensive. Circling back to a previous comment I made...I have an SC430, and every winter I think to myself, "Maybe I should get something with AWD." So, again, I'm sort of thinking about all of this in terms that this 3rd vehicle could primarily be *MY* 2nd vehicle and my daughter's usage of it could be a secondary (or shared) matter.

So getting on to my question...I look at cars.com to see what I can get for $10K or less with AWD and there's not much to see. Everything is super-high mileage, and much of it is American made, which worries me in terms of reliability. A Honda CR-V or Toyota RAV4 seems to start around $12K with close to 100K miles. But here's where it gets interesting...for just a couple grand more, I'm seeing similarly high mileage RX330's ('04-05). Let's say $14K. Now, based on my really positive experience with my '02 SC430, I'm thinking that I'd much rather spend a couple extra grand on an RX330 over some high-mileage American 4WD vehicle or a blah Honda CR-V, especially since I can use it myself to drive around in a bit more luxury. But I worry...just why are these RX330's as cheap as they are? It also seems weird to me that used Highlanders of a similar year with similar mileage seem to go for quite a bit more.

So is there something I don't know? Are these '04-05 RX330's a nightmare in terms of reliability/maintenance costs, or are they a true sleeper in terms of overall value?

kiwi

often times financing companies have an age cut off, so there arent many people with cash to buy cars, supply and demand, the price falls.

Scott R

Yeah, but that would apply to all vehicles equally. It seems like the RX330 has a lot more depreciation than other cars of that age.

kiwi

people also assume that an expensive when new vehicle is extra expensive to maintain and repair than something else when it isnt the case.

RX330inFL

Those RX330's you are looking at are now a decade old. Think you need to spend some time looking at historic residual values and cost of ownership numbers. For a vehicle which may have had a starting price tag of $40K when new to now be worth $14K after a decade is doing very well. Also, you do not say how these Lexus were configured. Did they have NAV? Do they have HID? Do they have the 18" wheel upgrade package? AWD or FWD? All those added to the price of the vehicle.

The Highlanders are a 3-row vehicle, even back in those days, in some configurations. More desirable for families. Perhaps that is why they are going for more today. It is definitely bigger than an RX330. Also, you need to see how these are configured and compare same-to-same.

Henry2024

My wife, who works at a major bank, told me that the finance companies/banks generally won't finance vehicles with over 100K miles. You would need a good down payment. Which is why they are hard to sell, thus the lower prices after 100K. Therefore, the higher the mileage, the lower the value and price of the vehicle.

Its no problem getting financing on an 07, as long as its under 100k miles.

nipponbird

Is this a trend all over the US? I mean the bargains to be had with older RX? Or is it related to a part where Lexus is not that popular? People tend to say that Lexus is very popular in the US? But the US is not a little enclave, my geography teacher used to say it is" el biggo" and he was a guy not to be taken lightly. My point is just this: Here in South Africa Toyota is big, Lexus not (because Lexus follows the Rolls Royce marketing approach - we do you a favour to sell a car to you).
The result is you can buy a high mileage ten year old RX, for a song, but for a Toyota Prado that's even older and more abused, you pay an arm and a leg. Can it be that there are parts in the US, where Lexus suffers from the same syndrome as here?
One can say of course: Get real, you can easily buy a car in LA if you stay in NY City, this is the 21st Century. But, then , does it cost nothing to have this car transported over that distance? My geography teacher said that you need some time out to travel that distance by road or rail (know you can look that up on your Apple iPhone, but they got it from guys like my teacher who didn't need cellphones to be clever) . So if you buy a car cheaply in LA (hypothetically), somebody must pay the delivery charges and it can end up not to be the bargain of a century.
Even here prices can differ from one region to the other and assuming that it is the case in the US that Lexus is in a given locality less in demand, it can have nothing to with factors like reliability etc. It can work to the knowledgeable consumer's advantage if people are too ignorant to realise the worth of a certain car. Depending on the reasons you buy it and it is clear from the OP's text that he wants it for the medium to long term.

Henry2024

But isn't that based on a kernel of truth? Take Mercedez Benz for instance. Those are some expensive repairs. And it certainly isn't cheap to fix a Lexus if you go to the dealer for the most part. If you want to replace the timing chain an a 07 and above RX, that requires lifting the engine and tranny to get to it (same with the water pump), and I've read that is a 24.7 labor hour job.

ranma21

iTrader: (2)

I just traded my 2008 rx350 85k miles with great condition except needing tire replacement. I am in Houston, private party selling price seems to be about $17-$18k. Traded my RX for $15.2k with a 2014 Sienna SE, with tax saving and tires comes out about $17k. I am surprised the values goes down a lot more than I expected compare to my 08 IS250.