I currently have a 2004 Infiniti G35 coupe, but I'm looking to get something more practical and comfortable. I'm looking at a 2014 GS350 with 55,000 miles.

​​​​​​I know Lexus as a whole are reliable, but things are bound to need to be replaced at some point. What's the DIY community like for Lexus? Coming from a G35, there's endless resources and how-Tom's for anything you could need to do on the car, as a lot of people who own the tend to do their own work (myself included). Are there's a lot of DIY resources for Lexus/the GS350, or is it more along the lines of a take-it-to-the-dealer demographic, where finding resources for things like perts replacements, fluid changes, etc will be harder to come by?

 

Mostly regular maintenance diys. My 2013 GSh is at 138k miles and only oil changes, spark plugs once, brakes, washer fluid, filters, never touched transmission, never touched diff, battery replaced once, tires, tpms sensors replaced after 9 years, changing sunroof seal. Most of my diys are retrofitting factory options my car didn’t originally have.

Some people have had to replace struts, mine are perfectly fine with no leaks. I also have 18” rims and upsized tires.

I’ve only taken my GS to the dealer once and that was for passenger seat airbag recall. I do all the maintenance myself.

 

​​​​​​Speaking of the passenger airbag: the one problem with the one I'm looking at is that the passenger occupancy sensor needs to be replaced. I can't find anything online showing how to get to it, only a few threads where people were told by the dealership that the whole seat needed to be replaced.

This is the kind of stuff I'm wondering about. I'm wanting to make sure that whatever I get, there's a strong community that knows how to work on the car with things like this

 

I don't think the 4GS will have the strong DIY community you're looking for. I think it's mostly a "stuff doesn't really break", at least yet. There might be a more DIY community with the older GS, or maybe with a more popular model like the IS or RX. That's at least my take on it, O haven't been over there to see what they're like.

If there is a one off issue, there might be a post about it with suggestions but a lot of times people don't reply back to see if the suggestion worked. That might be a general forum problem, though.

As a side note, to your occupancy sensor issue, it looks like at least for the IS models, buying a used seat lower and swapping it in has been a solution.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-2nd-gen-2006-2013/959934-passenger-occupancy-sensor-bad-2800-seat-replacement-help.html

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-f-2008-2014/953611-bride-driver-and-passenger-bucket-seat-and-tutorial-to-get-rid-of-the-srs-light.html

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc430-2nd-gen-2001-2010/926422-occupancy-detection-sensor.html

 

Impressive! I just got my ride around 80k, good to know about transmission fluid lasting a long time without touching it!

 

I would probably say most DIY's are basic mods and maintenance, but Lexus car's are pretty easy to figure out, nothing too difficult!

 

I think this might have been what they replaced when they did the recall, that or the seat rail.

Here is the part number:
8995230033
https://www.lexuspartsnow.com/parts/...952-30033.html

You can replace it yourself, just take the seat out of the car, it just might be a sensor under the seat the easy to access, otherwise you might have to take the seat bottom apart. The seats are not hard to take apart.

Scroll down this thread I have pics when I took a seat apart:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...ury-mod-2.html

 

The GS is great. I still they think are some of the best and well aged cars Lexus has made in a while. It slips under the radar, it doesn't have a bad rep, and honestly it has what most people want in luxury without the BS.

 

Appreciate everyone's input!

I guess it makes sense that there's not endless DIY resources, because with how well they drive and last, there's less of a need.

Right now it's between the GS350 or a Toyota Tacoma, enjoyable/a little fun to drive and slightly practical (GS) vs totally practical but not really fun to drive (Tacoma)

 

I had a 2020 Tacoma that I LOVED! But the GS is way more fun.

 

If you bought yourself a well maintained GS350 then it should treat you very well. The drivetrain and electronics in these cars are very reliable. As for the DIY community there isn't much because these cars rarely break. About the only resource I can think of is DIYDan on youtube who has quite a few DIY maintenance videos for the GS350.