Im looking to get a new used car and have been having trouble finding a used IS350 within my budget. I would like to stick with the Lexus brand but I may have to move on. There are other cars more available that I like but am concerned of reliability and cost of ownership. The german brand cars I have been looking at are BMW 3 series (coupe or sedan) Audi A5, possibly Mercedes C class. Im looking for a 3-4 year old car, 40,000 mile range give or take. I will only be driving 8,000 per year on it. So can anyone recommend any of these cars that will hold up in terms of reliability and reasonable cost of ownership?

 

A newish 3, C, A4/5 should be decent, though I'd buy an extended warranty for piece of mind. A friend bought a 2014 A4 Avant with 13,000 miles. At 20,000 some piston rings went bad. He had a warranty so it was covered but still

 

if the IS350 is a car you want don't be afraid to open up your search area nationwide.. fly out and drive it home.. always a fun experience driving back

 

Definitely try to stick with a CPO (certified pre-owned) of any used car, for added peace of mind. Although it'll come with some premium in the price, as with any sort of warranty type of product. In terms of cost of ownership, it's also good to know the maintenance status of the vehicle you intend to buy, which is where some CPO prep may come in handy, as vehicles with your potential mileage point would be closer to needing things like brakes and tires that a new car obviously wouldn't have for some time.

You said you only intend to drive 8,000 miles a year, but how many years do you intend on holding onto the vehicle?

 

I keep my cars on average of 8 years.

 

I had three BMW 3 series. All had problems mainly some type of issue with Valve cover leaks, electrical, etc. My last one, e90 328i, the electric water pump went at 65K. Cost me over $1000 to fix. Also the pcv valve went at 100K, it was built in with the valve cover, so it had to be replaced also at $1500K. Also the valve cover gasket leaked and was changed 3 times and as well the Oil filter housing gasket leaked 3 times. It was a great car, but I would not own any German car, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche without an extended warrant and and knowing a good independent repair facility. With the Lexus, I just change the oil, do the brakes, change the air filters, and fill it up with gas and have no worries about driving the snot out of it. But it I had to recommend a car German Car, it would be a BMW 340i 3 series, mainly because the water pump has been changed to a mechanical one and BMW maintenance prices are a bit more tolerable than Porsche or MB, but realize that this car like most BMW's ride on run flat tires.

 

 

To add on to the valuable advice already here The idea here is nothing reliable when you go High performance, carver corner vehicles. A vehicles either FUN and needs maintenance frequently or boring and rarely needs maintenance outside of regular oil changes, wipers and small things. Audis usually tend to score higher over mercs and bmws, but thats not a hard and fast rule. BMWs avoid the N54 series twin turbo, n55 bit better but still problematic if you are not good at DIY or have a good shop your in connect with. N20i n53s good series motor.