Ichabod777

Looking at a 2008 ES 350 with 147,000 miles. The car is one owner and appears to be very well taken care of, it does have navigation and back up camera nice Michelin tires interior is in great condition and the car runs very strong and sound. Just wondering what a good price would be for this car from my local Lexus dealer. Also is this too many miles or should this car have a lot of life left in it. Thanks

ESh

9-9500 bucks.

Ichabod777

So under normal circumstances with routine maitnance do you feel this car has 100000 more reliable miles on it or am I crazy just not familiar with this vehicle but I've heard they go forever. And I know every car is different but I know it has been taken care of so this would just be generally speaking. Thanks

lgb0250

With proper maintenance having been performed over the 147K miles you could easily expect another 100K. BUT, I would want to see the service records as proof. If the person that owned it took that good of care of it, the records should be available. It's not hard to make a car just look good. A proper engine steam cleaning and complete detail, slap some decent tires on it and it's good to go. One good thing is that most franchised dealers would have wholesaled out this vehicle if they had any thought it wasn't as good as it looks!

John U

Has the timing belt and water pump been replaced yet?

LexBob2

Good catch with the water pump. ES350's from 2007 on, have a chain vs. belt.

12jimmyjam

Spark plugs too. That's about $300 at the dealer. I'd look for atf changes too.

What's the dealer price? I'd imagine there are a ton of ESs out there pretty cheap for around the same mileage.

Ichabod777

Price is negotiated down to 9000 and the car is at a local major Lexus dealer if that matters? It is an extremely clean car function and cosmetic, also has a perfect one owner guaranteed car fax. Going over it one more time tomorrow and if all is still good with me I'll prob bring it home

fomenter

I bought my 2009 ES 350 with 109k for $9500 and it was in excellent condition (no dings or dents). 1 owner, dealer maintained car every 5k...

If I were you, I would not pay any more than 8K for it. If it is something special (like really really clean and maintained), 8500 is the max. Tell them your offer and if they don't like it do not hesitate to say bye... they will call you for sure..(especially if you are paying cash)

Ichabod777

So I bought the car for $9,000 I was able to get them to service the transmission as well. What sealed the deal was the service history for the vehicle that I was given when requested. The original owner spent over $13,000 on routine maitnace over the 7 years of its life!!!

Aron9000

That's a crazy amount of $$$$ of money the previous owner pissed away, assuming he took it to the dealer for every problem.

That being said, I think you will get another very reliable 100,000 miles out of this car. Our family owns a 2000 Avalon that we bought new, it now has 250,000 miles on it. A couple of months ago I drove it down to Ft Walton Beach FL and back, about a 1000 mile trek, didn't think twice about breaking down.

Other than normal oil changes, tires, brakes, timing belt/water pump services, I think the following has gone wrong with that car:

1. Cat-converter- $1000 expense, sucks because we have annual emissions checks around here, went out sometime between 150-200k miles.

2. MAF sensor, $400 at the dealer, this went out around 2004, car had well under 100k on it. Only time it let us down, we were driving to Myrtle Beach SC and it failed about 20 miles away from home.

3. A/C compressor around 200k miles

4. The flapper for the HVAC control. It will blow out of the dash or defog vents, but it won't give you "feet heat". Very annoying in the winter, that failed around 220k.

5. After it moved out of the garage back in 2012, we have had a squirrel take a ride on the serpentine belt and a chipmunk chew a hole in the fuel line. We are doing better than our neighbor, who had the wiring harness chewed up by squirrels on his 1998 GMC truck. Insurance covered a total replacement of the main wiring harness on his truck.

Even after this car sitting in the sun at work for half its life, then sitting outside since 2012, the paint still looks great on this car, all things considered. Dad always kept it waxed every month or so, I'm guessing that is why even after 16 years it still looks nice.

2566SRsr

I would go to Cars.Com and follow the bouncing ball and find cars with 147,000 miles or nearly that. You might also check Car Guru and The Auto Trader.

yeskay

congrats on the purchase. that seems high $$$ for routine maintenance. Care to share the maintenance cost report.

LexBob2

The $13k for maintenance does seem high. The 1st 4 years or 50k miles were under warranty, so there shouldn't be much for any repairs during that period.

Ichabod777

I guess routine maitnace wasn't the best description, she had all recommended service done and lots of elective services done to the vehicle. Sorry for the confusion, I guess my point was the the vehicle was beyond well taken care of.