I bought a new 2016 GS350 and gave my 2003 GS 300 to my daughter in Memphis. She was warming it up locked up in her driveway this am in Memphis and someone stole it! She is spoiled for life so shopping around for a replacement and found a loaded 2011 GS350 via Carmax with only 42,000 miles on it for $20,000 ($19,998). It looks immaculate and has sportier wheels and the navigation so pretty much has everything. That price is ok on Bluebook and Edmonds.

My question for the group, are there any watch outs, quirks, known problems, etc, with this model year?

Thanks in advance

 

I haven’t seen any issues on 2011s, but they are still fairly “new” and there aren’t that many to begin with.

The only real issue I could see being an issue in the immediate future is the water pump, but that’s only based on problems with previous years, the design may have been changed, who knows.

Carfax also offers quite an extensive warranty with their vehicles for a good price, and contrary to the belief of many, their warranties can be extremely comprehensive, especially on a car like this where repairs, which can be rare, are expensive.

 

For that kind of money why doesnt she buy a 2013-up? Im pretty sure she can find one off craigslist or ebay

20 grand seems like a lot for a 2011

 

Ditto for like a few thousand more a 4g is within reach. They're still relatively new and unless the previous owner was terrible it should be fine.

 

This is a 2014 with good mileage, im pretty sure you can easily find a 2013 for a lot less.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2014-Lexus-...ZaYMyN&vxp=mtr

 

 

Your daughter is going to LOVE this vehicle. I own a 2011 GS 350, and searched for a full 18 months for it, nationwide. Mine had 15,000 actual one-owner miles on it and I paid $22K for it. The reason I wanted this model of Lexus and this year is because it is among the rarest Lexus made--only 3,400 total made. It is also the last Lexus GS350 completely made in Japan, which is exactly what I wanted. Finally, it is the last of the GS350 3rd generation year, with 2006 being the first. I wanted a super-late model year, assuming that a lot of the bugs and glitches from the earlier designs would have been fixed by 2011. One of the glitches fixed was that, so I've read, is that the Lexus sound system would blow out the speakers. My Lexus will let you turn the sound up only so high (but is plenty loud for me) to keep from blowing out the speakers. According to what I've read on this forum, the 2006 model has had issues with transmission. So far, my car's transmission is the quietest, smoothest-shifting I've had in any car in my life, and I'm 58 years old.

From what I have researched, this model has among the lowest repair and maintenance costs of any Lexus. In short, this car is very hard to find and checks a lot of boxes for me.

Although I've owned mine only six months, I really, really enjoy driving this car. It is super-quiet, and also super-safe. I didn't have the car a month before I had to buy four new tires all around, because the tread had worn more I couldn't find a tire shop that would install only three new tires on an AWD. (You didn't say if this was an AWD you were looking at.) If there is a quirk about my car that I really don't like is the weak cooling of the front seats--it is just a recirculating fan and just doesn't live up my expectations. I've cleaned and re-cleaned the seats, tinkered with the bi-level air and fan levels, hoping to improve the seat cooling. Just don't expect much here. After I purchased, I had the dealership do a certified-type inspection, and they told me that I had to look out for carbon build-up in the engine, especially since this car had not been driven very much at all in six full years. Other than that, they couldn't find anything of note about this car or to tell me something to look out for.

For one, I doubt your daughter is going to have to leave this car running to warm it up. In Kansas City, as cold as it has been the last month, my Lexus gets very warm inside in only 4 minutes. So I am really happy about that too. It is a wonderful sedan. My wife says the Lexus is all my Christmas presents for the next 15 years. That's fine with me. It's an incredible car.

 

Thanks for all the great replies especially the last two. We are trying to stay at $20K which limits our choices on 2013 and newer. We are likely to go with the 2011. Regarding Lexus GS manufacturing - according to this Lexus website the GS is still made in Japan http://www.lexus.com/about/manufacturing

Regards,
Jim

 

I bought my 2011 GS350 after getting rid of the 2006 GS300. Bought it with 52k miles and now just under 70k. Big upgrade for me going from the 3.0 to 3.5 V6. Transmission shifts smooth as butter and is a very comfortable car.

I'm glad I bought this car, although I'm now thinking about perhaps selling it and buying a RC350.