Advice?

Time is money, spending excessive time in the repair shop is money (even if you're under warranty).

Smart money = Lexus

 

I have to agree here. I have been in the market for almost 3 mos. and I have looked at many, many cars from $40-80k , Lexi is the smartest decision out of all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

and it's not really even close....

 

I personally wouldn't buy any pre-owned German car unless it had an extended warranty.

There is a reason why I have a Lexus.

 

That's what I'm saying. If you have to buy an extended warranty, something doesn't smell right. Abort!!

 

I prolly will get a lot of crap from ya'll, before I pulled a trigger on the gs350, I was strongly considering a 2010-11 Mercedes e63 AMG. It is the best value for the bang mid $40's. The car is absolutely amazing, from every stand point, the 6.3L AMG engine is just superb, mega fast and mega smooth.

But, because of the fact that I had to either buy a CPO which only covers engine and transmision, or buy an extended warranty I gave up on my dream car and bought a Lexi

 

Yeah, you would have been in the shop every other week. Good choice.

 

I owned a 7 series, probably the most problematic car in the BMW food chain, you bet I've learned my lesson.

Now I'm sharing the wisdom with you.

Don't be a dummy with money, stick with Lexus.

 

+1
I agree. It all depends on what the person is looking for. If you really need to drive a beast, get a German and expect something(s) to go wrong along the way (thus I suggest the warranty). I'm obviously not trying to make anyone "feel good" about their reliability. But the fact is, Lexus has nothing that compares to a pre-owned M5/E63 luxury, price and performance wise. If the buyer wants that level of performance, "go get a Lexus" isn't a solution.

On the other hand, if you want the luxury but don't want to deal with the issues and can live w/ 300hp get a Lexus or Infiniti. (Yeah that's right, I said the "i" word. )