So I recently purchased a 2001 GS 430 about two weeks back and after the new used car euphoria wore off I think I may not have quite the steal I think I did.

The car is a 2001 GS 430 black/tan fairly loaded with nav, chrome 17s, spoiler, and wood steering with 89k mi. I ended up paying 17k, after taxes and what not it was 18,750 total.

Unfortunately, after further inspection, several things have popped out at me that is wrong with the car.

- The most significant is that the car's trunk lid has a small crease in it from what looks like a very minor rearend collosion and a couple very small dents on the body.

- Then, there is quite a bit of rock chips on the front/hood.

- The car came with mismatched tires, it the rear pair was two (about 2/3rd tread) summer ZR tires, and the front was two all season tires, one kumho and another hankook. Also, it turns out the spare (which is also mounted on a chrome 17" rim) has a flat and so is no good. I have been driving the car fine even with the mismatched tires but since I reside in UT and winter is coming, I ordered a set of new kumho ASX high performance all season tires which just got into my local sears auto center tonight and which I plan on getting mounted tomorrow.

- rear brake pads are nearly worn out so they need to be replaced soon, rear rotors possible might need to be resurfaced.

- Both the front drivers side and passanger side lock actuators have started to go bad and so need to be replaced soon.

- lastly (something I knew before buying) the 90k needs to be done and thats another 1,000-1,500 right there as well.

On the bright side the car drives remarkably well, have put about 1,000 mi on it since I bought it and it works great. Before buying the car I did the pre-purchase inspection at the local lexus dealer and also had my mechanic check it out and other than the upcoming 90k service, they gave it their approval.

Also, the car has a clean carfax despite three other owners (first was a 3 year lease, then 1.5yr lease, and 3rd owner had it for 10months). The car was bought in phoenix and for the first 60k mi (up until about 9months ago) the car was consistently serviced at the lex dealer. So no worries about rust or anything like that.

So all in all, I think I got a nice car, just needed a bit more investment than I originally planned. What are your guys thoughts on this? Thanks all!

 

Even with all this extra money you're going to spend, it's still going to be a good deal. Don't worry about it.

 

I think it sounds like you did ok. you just need to take care of a few minor things. hopefully the trunklid is no biggie. the rock chips are standard, these car have a blunt front end that is very prone to chips. change all the fluids and you could probably go to 100k at least on the t belt.

 

thanks guys, I was really estatic at first that I bargained the dealer all the way down to 17k from their asking price of 21k but I guess it all evens out in the end. The main thing that I am consoled by is if anything unexpected were going to occur financially in the future (since I have a auto loan on it right now) I can turn around and sell the car for pretty much the 18k outstand amount on my loan.

I believe according to kkb (which is about 1-2k higher than edmund's tmv) the retail for the car is 25k, private 19-21k, and trade-in 16-17k.

After I get done invest ing $500 new tires, $1500 service (including replacing the actuators), the car should be in very good shape then.

The main thing that was important to me was that I was not upside down on my loan since I still haven't sold my old 97 F150 yet and i took out a 0down capital one loan.

 

sounds ok to me Im in the market for a GS300 after driving my girlfriends dads around for a week. Good luck with the car you will love it.

 

sounds like u get a real good deal... the body... well, thats wear and tear pretty much (but still sux)... the rest of the stuff, the tires would **** me off, but thats something i woulda noticed at first... the actuators, well, if ur handy, u can buy them from carson toyota for like $210 a piece and install urself... the rear brakes are so easy, its a joke (1/2 hr job total) and the 90k service, well, u gotta suck that one up. u will love the car tho

 

heh, yeah, I totally missed the tires. I mainly was checking for tread and all 4 tires had 60%+ tread and I did inspect both rear tires (since on rwd cars those tires are the ones worn down fastest) and saw the tires were the same model so I in my haste to test drive the car and check out the other parts I skipped the front tires.

Oh well, even if all 4 tires were matching summer, I would still had to shell out the money to buy another set of new winter or all season tires. This winter the southwest is suppose to have quite a bit of snow and from my past experience of having oem summer lightning 18" tires on my F150, you can not get by driving around in the winter with summer tires.

The actuators aren't too bad, just annoying that the door only locks/unlocks 1/2 the time. I am now used to just hand locking the drivers door as I get out and manually inserting the key to unlock the door when I come back. Still, annoying though and when I am trying to impress people (including pretty girl buddies and family) with my new fancy smancy car, having to use the key to unlock the car doesn't help the luxury car image.

The rest of the stuff are just wear and tear... maintence isn't too bad, spent $90 changing the oil and doing a drain and fill on the transmission, will spend another $115 to have my mechanic change out the rear pads for me. I figure I can put off the 90k for another 5k atleast, so when I change out my oil again at 94k I'll get around to doing the 90k.

(i am not super mechanically inclined and my mechanic only charges 75/hr so its worth it for me to pay a guy to do it right some something as important as brakes).

Body after a decent buffing and waxes still looks very shiny, car has a good light tint job done on it too so can't complain there. You are right, compared with my truck, this car is heads and shoulders better.

Now I just gotta fight off the modding bug again, only thing thats been bugging me other than the funky door locks is how darn quite the car is. Drove a friend's 05 Audi S4 and though his car had about the same feel of speed as the GS, the engine sound is pure sex!

I think I'll try out a K&N perf filter first since my engine filter is kinda dirty and hopefully that'll pep things up a bit. If not, then I just might have to splurge down the road for a magnaflow dual exhaust. Had them on my truck, they strick a very good balance between sounding good without droning.

 

u should do the rear brakes YOURSELF... im tellin you, you would save some money. but if you have money like that and u could afford to "throw it away," then by all means go ahead. just tryin to help you out.

 

haha, ouch... I wish I was in a good enough financial situation to rise up to your challenge and say I could just throw money around left and around. The thing is I live in a condo where the parking spaces are ridiculously small and cramped (reason why I started hating my old truck) and I don't have access to a jack other than the emergency in the trunk. Also, no access to a lift and since it would cost 75/hr to rent a lift and I would waste likely 2-3hours fumbling around, I figured I would just bite the bullet and pay $50 labor (brake pads themselves run $60) to get them changed...

 

well, i guess if i didnt know what i was doing, then i guess it makes sense to have them done by ur friend... but there is no way that a brake change is worth $50 of labor (imo at least)... anyway, i wish you LOTS OF LUCK WITH THE CAR

 

$115 to change the pads? Tell him to stick it.

 

honestly man - do the pads yourself. if it's a matter of needing more space - go to the local park or a school parking lot on the weekend and do it there. lots of room and nobody to bother you.

A member on here - BananaGS has done quite a few DIY write ups and one of them is "how to change brake pads". Follow the instructions and if you can - kick him a few bucks via paypal. It's the least the rest of us can do for going through the trouble of doing all the write ups.

Here's the link: http://lexusmodz.netfirms.com/

With regards to the rock chips- yes, I agreee with everyone else - it's just a matter of wear and tear. If you can, don't drive so close to the people ahead of you and drive slower if you don't have to rush. Both will help lessen the chances of getting more chips.

btw- you got a decent deal. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

As long as the motor and transmission are in great shape, everything else can be pretty much fixed up. I think that's a great price you paid for the car considering it's a 2001. Once the 90k service is done, you'll be more at ease with the purchase. If possible, don't take it to Lexus for the 90k service, but rather a shop that specializes in japanese/Toyota vehicles. Down here, it's $450 for the timing belt/water pump service. Best of luck with your new car.

I recently stole a GS400 for $13k with 108k miles with the timing belt/water pump/90k service and a new set of Kumho SPT tires. The car is pristine...not 1 dent or scratch on the car. Only used by owner..never had kids or anyone else in car. The leather is factory new. I couldn't be more happier with the car.

 

trust me do the brakes yourself. i paid a buddy of mine to do my brakes it took him 20 min to do the rears, it as simple as taking off the tire, removing the pin that holds the brakes in place. you dont even need to remove the calipers.

 

haha, looks like the concensus around here is to do the brakes by hand. So got a quote today at the dealer as I was getting my alignment done and the brakes will cost $237 for new pads and resurfacing . $129 at sears also...

I ended up ordering a set of ceramic brake pads from checkers for $45 and then I'll might just borrow the tools from checkers or autozone to do it myself with the help of one of my more mechanically inclined friends. Also, any of you guys know how you can tell if you need the brake rotors resurfaced? Both the dealer and the sears autocenter place that I got my new all season tires mounted at told me that when you do pads you need a resurfacing as well... I am inclined to think they are just tricky tricky!