Signed, sealed, delivered! Finalized paperwork yesterday and managed to put 50 miles on the car - averaged almost 25mpg (according to the lie-o-meter) - not too bad for 4K+ lbs piggy😃. Daughter, who had her heart set on a Mazda CX30 claims to „love it”. The simulated shifts make you „almost” forget the car has a CVT. Time to get the LS460 ready for FB Marketplace and the joy of FSBO 😅. As far as the LS goes, we’ve had it for 8 years and put just over 120k miles on it (bought with 89k, now at 211k). It wasn’t the most trouble free car we ever had, but wasn’t too bad, either. Luckily avoided some of the major problems that seem to plague them.

 

Just out of curiosity why didn't you choose the CX30?

 

Fun, fun!
Get ready for, "how low can you go" pitch. Lol

 

Came down to dollars and sense... Was going to lease the CX30, but the deals I was getting were just not there (close but no cigar). Generally speaking, I prefer buying slightly used, but more premium vehicles.
There's a good chance I'll get to drive the car when the daughter goes off to college (another year and a half). My German Buick is chugging along nicely (149K trouble free miles, 135k of them mine since I bought it 4.5 years ago), but things will start breaking down sooner rather than later. It's also nice to have a bigger vehicle for some family trips (thus saving miles on wife's 5 series).

 

well you're all about the latest features and spending money... i'm just saying i would expect an old RX to continue to run longer without major issues than even a brand new murano, the CVT is just the tip of the nissan quality iceberg

 

There’s “the latest features” and then there’s preferring a 20+ year old car to a much more modern car. I just don’t have any interest in driving something that old. A 5 year old year old Murano is a huge upgrade from a 20+ year old RX, CVT and all.

If it can have historic tags in MD it’s best days are behind it lol

 

the murano is actually an objectively nice thing to get around in i'm not trying to say otherwise, but but early 2000s lexus quality is like unmatched in the history of the universe... i'm just saying i have more confidence in an RX 330 than a murano in the nuclear apocalypse scenario lol

the longer one intends to keep the car, the stronger the case becomes for an old RX vs any murano

 

Quality was good, but its still 20 years old. If you keep that Murano for 10 years...in 10 years the RX is 30.

 

i see 30 year old camrys and avalons all the time!

i'll give you this though it'll likely be more of a headache to try and find a good old RX at this point than to just get a new murano, but if literally all the planets aligned and a super well maintained garage kept RX 330 with like 75k-100k miles popped up that thing has SO much life left in it

 

The earlier RXs are "meh" and very much the worst part of their lineup at the time.....I've owned 4. None really impressed me with reliability and fussiness. The Jeep outlived them all

 

your experiences always seem to be the exact opposite of 99.99999% of humanity lol... i also feel like you pick up the worst most neglected examples of toyota/lexus but search for the most cream puff audis you can find

btw i'm not trying to say any RX is fun or fulfilling to drive, just that they're very comfy and good for getting around

 

The struts fail easily with age, front end suspension bits wear out just like a Camry since they are one, VVT control solenoids go, under manifold coolant pipe goes, timing belt needs done or you risk shutdown of the 300 and death of the 330, rear end rusts, rear lower control arm bushings go and cause rattling.....

Transmissions are what killed all of mine. There are also annoying interior issues that are consistent across all of them like the sun visors falling down and gauge cluster issues. Sunroofs are also prone to leak if you don't clean the drain at this age as I found with my first one.

They drive nice when you replace everything though, much nicer than my live axle Jeep. Not worth the extra cost IMO

Oh and need I remind you my S4 sat for 4 years and was bought dead down in Florida lol! Did 150 on the backroads the day I got it up again, hasn't given me any issues since that I didn't buy it with.

 

While it would have been nice (to the wallet) to pickup an old RX, she's already been driving a 17yo LS. I'm the last person to spoil my kids, but it's nice knowing she can plug her phone in, use CarPlay, stream music, etc and have most of the safety doo dah one can dream about.

 

You’re the grim reaper💀 of vehicles 🤣🤣

Like the 2009 RX350 and 400h I saw at the auction yesterday. I looked up their service history and all of their service up to date and they both had over 150k miles. One was even serviced couple months ago. They both idled and drove fine. I think one owner did decline control arm replacement.

 

Sure, you see them, but they don't offer any modern amenities or modern safety equipment or advances and they are just from another era.

Exactly...