I have an IS300 2001 with 253,000 miles. Bigger items are starting to wear out. So I found a local vw dealer that has a 2008 AWD GS350 for sale with 110,000 miles, no accidents super clean and good service history on carfax and on Toyota owners website too. Its been there since 10/29. The price is $11,750. Within a 100 miles its the highest price car for sale. I think I can get them down on price, hopefully $10,000 or lower.

my question is this. It will be my commuter car 75 miles each way 4 days a week. Thats a lot of miles. How well do these GS350 last? Will I be plagued with maintenace problems or major repairs? They let me take it home for a day to see how I like it. I crawled underneath and its clean as can be, no leaks anywhere. I like the car but fear a major repair causing me to spend thousands to keep it running.

i admit I like the simplicity of maintenance of the 2001 IS but it cant live forever. Is this a wise purchase for a commuter car?

Thanks for the info. The 3.0 is a dog and plagued with problems, I know that. My daughter has a rx300 with the 3.0L and it drinks oil. I had to change the valve cover to get it to stop sucking oil from the engine.

so tonight my wife and I drove the GS350 and it feels like a solid car on the road. I crawled under it this morning and its built like a tank. However while we were driving tonight, I was getting an odd smell from the vents. Almost like a burnt rubber smell. The seats have the same smell. My wife had the seat warmer on. I wonder if tne cleaner supplies they detailed the car with are making their way into the vent system. Im a little unsure if it might be an electrical issue/short or just cooked leather cleaner. I plan to drive to work tomorrow in it and see what kind of mpg I get.

Will there be a problem using 89 octane gasoline (mid grade). 89 octane is $2.45 and 91 octane is $2.95 by me.

lastly, how well does your rear defroster work. This one is weak at best. The window was still fogged after a 1 hour drive. That cant be normal.

According to the lexus service records, the water pump was done at 60,000 miles, but I would keep an eye on that. The vvti cam gears were done twice. Once before the recall and once after the recall. The valve springs were done early on too. The fuel pipe recall has not been done yet.

tell me more about the MMR. Is that different from trade in value on edmonds, kbb, etc.? Is mmr something the general public can access or do you need a business license? I heard a dealership sales person mention mmr but I didnt know what she was talking about. I would like to learn more about it.

Update: I took it to work on Monday as an extended test drive. Now I am disappointed because I really thought this was my next car. The GS350 is not only built like a tank it drives like one too. I was expecting a more nimble luxury sedan but it a lot like the LS in handling only with stiffer suspension. Granted I am coming from an IS 300 which was built to compete with a 3 series bmw, but the GS just feels heavier than it is. I can see why brakes need to be replaced more often. My commute is 75 miles all highway door to door. On the up side, it was getting 26 mpg on aveage. That is better than what I get now on my is300 at 23mpg.

I am so torn on this car. The price is right on a luxury sedan that has a great record and good mpg, but it has a smell that the dealer thinks its the cleaning product they apply to the engine coming in the vents. And its not very nimble especially in rush hour traffic. And the seats are very firm, and started to bother my low back after an hour each way of driving.

I think I should start looking at the LS460 if this is the cruiser for my commute. But that would suck the joy out of driving for me. Or look at a 2008 IS350 and see how I like that. Argh! A bigger car has its benefits but so does a smaller car.

one last question. Are you folks happy with the agility of your GS or do you feel like its hard to work thru traffic because of size and weight? Thanks again for your input.