Good morning all. I am brand new here and was hoping you could help me out. I currently drive and older Toyota Camry but want to give that to my daughter that just got her license. I have been looking at Lexus ES350 between 2007-2011 as they fall in the price range I would like to be. Now I have seen some 2007 models with around 100K kilometers on them and some 2010/2011 with around 200K on them for very similar prices. Would you buy a newer model with more KM or would you buy the older with less KM? My Camry has 325K on it so I know they runs for a long time mostly trouble free. I read that the older Lexus ES350 require premium fuel is that corrrect? Any information or help is greatly appreciated.

 

Kilometers itself is not a deal breaker. For me I look at more factors than just mileage.
Overall condition and past maintenance are important.
Rust and or accident repairs are also important.
Number of previous owners.
extra options, I like my cars with all the bells and whistles.
How many km do you drive per year and how long do you plan to keep the car and what is the actual price range you are dealing with.
If you plan to only keep the car for a short while but put lots of km I would by the lower mileage car.
If you are going to drive it for a long time the higher mileage/newer would likely be a better bet.
The other thing to consider is that currently used cars are overpriced because of a shortage of new cars and COVID. I would wait until things get back to normal.

 

Hi. Thank you for your reply. I would normally drive 35000KM a year give or take however now with my daughter getting her license I should drive slightly less once I get her a car. I do like lots of bells and whistles as well. When I bought my camry over 5 years ago I bought with hopes to have it for a few years rack up the KM's and sell it to buy another but I have loved it so much and been so reliable that I have just kept driving it and would continue if I could find a cheaper car for my daughter but looks like it's better for me to get something newer and give her mine. I plan on keeping the car for many years 5+ for sure. Not sure how many people in Canada keeps service records etc so it can be hard finding a well serviced car. I keep all my receipts for any work I get done. Also the selection of cars is pretty slim. I would have waited for the chip shortage to get better because yes they are way over priced but it seems like I can't wait that long.

 

If you can pull a CarFax report it may show services performed as well.

 

Does anyone have a preference to what year is better? I know they came out in that new form in 2007 and there were a few problems as there is will most new releases.

 

Well I ended up buying a 2011 Lexus Es 350 fully loaded with 148K on it.