Lexus Reliability starting to wonder
Lead Lap
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 604
Likes: 67
From: Virginia
Amazing. No weird things with my GS. Does everything like it should. It's amazing. Three years later. Great mileage, ride is perfect, it's quiet, ML is cream of the crop, tech works perfectly, feel bad for you all that keep having issues. Only thing I ever had to deal with was the sunroof seal.
Thread Starter
Driver
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 126
Likes: 1
From: MA
Yea Idk man. I just wasn't expecting to have powertrain issues. My mother had an 04 Toyota Highlander that was run into the ground but not once did she have any powertrain issues. Did the thermostat work? No not really did the interior look like crap after 10yrs and 200k miles sure. But not once did it leave her stranded or unable to pass an emissions test. I was just expecting the same quality/reliability with Lexus being in the Toyota family.
Advanced
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 570
Likes: 58
From: Ontario
IMO on the whole the good choices (mostly japanese marques) are still head and shoulders above the 1980-1995 era of cars, which is pretty much a dark age in my
mind.... a lot of that stuff was just junk, absolute dumpster fires, with a handful of exceptions.
I think the reason BMW/MB/Audi have improved is they figured out at least how to make the cars not blow up in the first 100K. I know that tomorrow if I lease one of those
and throw it away at 36K or even 45K that I'm not going to have any serious problems. In my mind thats not really a test though. That option is nonviable for me because I drive 50-60K in 36 months not 30K... lmao. Then again I was a camry owner.... all I did to it was brakes, oil changes, and tires... and before I got rid of it, suspension. It got me to 260K and I still would have it as a 2nd car if I could have made the finances work. (I used it as trade bait for my GS).
No manufacturer is perfect but if I'm gambling, and I have to- because I keep my cars a long *** time and put a lot of mileage on them... I'm still betting on Toyota as a
whole. It's still a safer bet and I know long term, that I'll save money unless I got a lemon out of the gate.
I will take a moment to knock lexus for some of their QC.... like for example, with the 4GS.... with ML.... this rattling switch panel thing? Even though it was an easy fix it was
really stupid- IMHO that should have been a published TSB that just gets automatically fixed when someone brings their car in for service. Same thing with the squeaky brake thing... Lexus could have at least conceded that it was a problem and offered the consumer some alternate pads at a discount. I would have just paid them a few hundred bucks for that... but its like "denial is a river in egypt" and even Lexus falls for it, and that's sad.
LOL, also as far as CVTs go.... those ****ing things are an industry wide plague, as far as I'm concerned. The only case where those things tend not to **** up is in the
hybrids like prius, etc. Otherwise theres no way in hell I'm touching anything with a CVT in it. That was a hackneyed idea to put a golf cart transmission in cars to gain a
few MPG for the CAFE bullcrap. Subaru is the worst afflicted with that disease, too... they had to suck for CVTs because they have no hybrids to act as dummy loads for
the CAFE garbage. Thankfully most of the transmissions in the lexus ES/LS/IS/GS are pretty damned solid if treated with a modicum of respect.... worst whining I've ever heard in the 4GS is if you have an 8 speed sometimes it seems to have "issues" with gear hunting.... IMHO thats more of a QC thing than anything else.
It's kind of sad really because most of the "defects" I've seen/read/heard about in Lexus vehicles are either easily fixed, or they could have been remedied with some
engineering changes.
I think another issue infecting the industry right now is way too many people are leasing cars instead of buying them. This creates a trend of not wanting to favor long term ownership prospects.... I don't think that's fully infected Lexus yet.... hell, for a "luxury" mark I see more 6+ year old Lexus vehicles on the road than anything
else. I see more 3GS 350s than I see even 4GS, and that says something. Hell my dad is still driving an 04 ES330 and won't let it go.... I want him to get into a damned LS so I can buy it off him... at 240K or whatever its at, that car still runs and drives great, and its survived 2 accidents! It needs a new lumbar assembly in the drivers seat (it tends to get stuck, but once you get it to work, you just leave it there!) but it's paid for itself for him several times over....
-Mike
mind.... a lot of that stuff was just junk, absolute dumpster fires, with a handful of exceptions.
I think the reason BMW/MB/Audi have improved is they figured out at least how to make the cars not blow up in the first 100K. I know that tomorrow if I lease one of those
and throw it away at 36K or even 45K that I'm not going to have any serious problems. In my mind thats not really a test though. That option is nonviable for me because I drive 50-60K in 36 months not 30K... lmao. Then again I was a camry owner.... all I did to it was brakes, oil changes, and tires... and before I got rid of it, suspension. It got me to 260K and I still would have it as a 2nd car if I could have made the finances work. (I used it as trade bait for my GS).
No manufacturer is perfect but if I'm gambling, and I have to- because I keep my cars a long *** time and put a lot of mileage on them... I'm still betting on Toyota as a
whole. It's still a safer bet and I know long term, that I'll save money unless I got a lemon out of the gate.
I will take a moment to knock lexus for some of their QC.... like for example, with the 4GS.... with ML.... this rattling switch panel thing? Even though it was an easy fix it was
really stupid- IMHO that should have been a published TSB that just gets automatically fixed when someone brings their car in for service. Same thing with the squeaky brake thing... Lexus could have at least conceded that it was a problem and offered the consumer some alternate pads at a discount. I would have just paid them a few hundred bucks for that... but its like "denial is a river in egypt" and even Lexus falls for it, and that's sad.
LOL, also as far as CVTs go.... those ****ing things are an industry wide plague, as far as I'm concerned. The only case where those things tend not to **** up is in the
hybrids like prius, etc. Otherwise theres no way in hell I'm touching anything with a CVT in it. That was a hackneyed idea to put a golf cart transmission in cars to gain a
few MPG for the CAFE bullcrap. Subaru is the worst afflicted with that disease, too... they had to suck for CVTs because they have no hybrids to act as dummy loads for
the CAFE garbage. Thankfully most of the transmissions in the lexus ES/LS/IS/GS are pretty damned solid if treated with a modicum of respect.... worst whining I've ever heard in the 4GS is if you have an 8 speed sometimes it seems to have "issues" with gear hunting.... IMHO thats more of a QC thing than anything else.
It's kind of sad really because most of the "defects" I've seen/read/heard about in Lexus vehicles are either easily fixed, or they could have been remedied with some
engineering changes.
I think another issue infecting the industry right now is way too many people are leasing cars instead of buying them. This creates a trend of not wanting to favor long term ownership prospects.... I don't think that's fully infected Lexus yet.... hell, for a "luxury" mark I see more 6+ year old Lexus vehicles on the road than anything
else. I see more 3GS 350s than I see even 4GS, and that says something. Hell my dad is still driving an 04 ES330 and won't let it go.... I want him to get into a damned LS so I can buy it off him... at 240K or whatever its at, that car still runs and drives great, and its survived 2 accidents! It needs a new lumbar assembly in the drivers seat (it tends to get stuck, but once you get it to work, you just leave it there!) but it's paid for itself for him several times over....
-Mike
Intermediate
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 470
Likes: 40
From: NY
IMO on the whole the good choices (mostly japanese marques) are still head and shoulders above the 1980-1995 era of cars, which is pretty much a dark age in my
mind.... a lot of that stuff was just junk, absolute dumpster fires, with a handful of exceptions.
I think the reason BMW/MB/Audi have improved is they figured out at least how to make the cars not blow up in the first 100K. I know that tomorrow if I lease one of those
and throw it away at 36K or even 45K that I'm not going to have any serious problems. In my mind thats not really a test though. That option is nonviable for me because I drive 50-60K in 36 months not 30K... lmao. Then again I was a camry owner.... all I did to it was brakes, oil changes, and tires... and before I got rid of it, suspension. It got me to 260K and I still would have it as a 2nd car if I could have made the finances work. (I used it as trade bait for my GS).
No manufacturer is perfect but if I'm gambling, and I have to- because I keep my cars a long *** time and put a lot of mileage on them... I'm still betting on Toyota as a
whole. It's still a safer bet and I know long term, that I'll save money unless I got a lemon out of the gate.
I will take a moment to knock lexus for some of their QC.... like for example, with the 4GS.... with ML.... this rattling switch panel thing? Even though it was an easy fix it was
really stupid- IMHO that should have been a published TSB that just gets automatically fixed when someone brings their car in for service. Same thing with the squeaky brake thing... Lexus could have at least conceded that it was a problem and offered the consumer some alternate pads at a discount. I would have just paid them a few hundred bucks for that... but its like "denial is a river in egypt" and even Lexus falls for it, and that's sad.
LOL, also as far as CVTs go.... those ****ing things are an industry wide plague, as far as I'm concerned. The only case where those things tend not to **** up is in the
hybrids like prius, etc. Otherwise theres no way in hell I'm touching anything with a CVT in it. That was a hackneyed idea to put a golf cart transmission in cars to gain a
few MPG for the CAFE bullcrap. Subaru is the worst afflicted with that disease, too... they had to suck for CVTs because they have no hybrids to act as dummy loads for
the CAFE garbage. Thankfully most of the transmissions in the lexus ES/LS/IS/GS are pretty damned solid if treated with a modicum of respect.... worst whining I've ever heard in the 4GS is if you have an 8 speed sometimes it seems to have "issues" with gear hunting.... IMHO thats more of a QC thing than anything else.
It's kind of sad really because most of the "defects" I've seen/read/heard about in Lexus vehicles are either easily fixed, or they could have been remedied with some
engineering changes.
I think another issue infecting the industry right now is way too many people are leasing cars instead of buying them. This creates a trend of not wanting to favor long term ownership prospects.... I don't think that's fully infected Lexus yet.... hell, for a "luxury" mark I see more 6+ year old Lexus vehicles on the road than anything
else. I see more 3GS 350s than I see even 4GS, and that says something. Hell my dad is still driving an 04 ES330 and won't let it go.... I want him to get into a damned LS so I can buy it off him... at 240K or whatever its at, that car still runs and drives great, and its survived 2 accidents! It needs a new lumbar assembly in the drivers seat (it tends to get stuck, but once you get it to work, you just leave it there!) but it's paid for itself for him several times over....
-Mike
mind.... a lot of that stuff was just junk, absolute dumpster fires, with a handful of exceptions.
I think the reason BMW/MB/Audi have improved is they figured out at least how to make the cars not blow up in the first 100K. I know that tomorrow if I lease one of those
and throw it away at 36K or even 45K that I'm not going to have any serious problems. In my mind thats not really a test though. That option is nonviable for me because I drive 50-60K in 36 months not 30K... lmao. Then again I was a camry owner.... all I did to it was brakes, oil changes, and tires... and before I got rid of it, suspension. It got me to 260K and I still would have it as a 2nd car if I could have made the finances work. (I used it as trade bait for my GS).
No manufacturer is perfect but if I'm gambling, and I have to- because I keep my cars a long *** time and put a lot of mileage on them... I'm still betting on Toyota as a
whole. It's still a safer bet and I know long term, that I'll save money unless I got a lemon out of the gate.
I will take a moment to knock lexus for some of their QC.... like for example, with the 4GS.... with ML.... this rattling switch panel thing? Even though it was an easy fix it was
really stupid- IMHO that should have been a published TSB that just gets automatically fixed when someone brings their car in for service. Same thing with the squeaky brake thing... Lexus could have at least conceded that it was a problem and offered the consumer some alternate pads at a discount. I would have just paid them a few hundred bucks for that... but its like "denial is a river in egypt" and even Lexus falls for it, and that's sad.
LOL, also as far as CVTs go.... those ****ing things are an industry wide plague, as far as I'm concerned. The only case where those things tend not to **** up is in the
hybrids like prius, etc. Otherwise theres no way in hell I'm touching anything with a CVT in it. That was a hackneyed idea to put a golf cart transmission in cars to gain a
few MPG for the CAFE bullcrap. Subaru is the worst afflicted with that disease, too... they had to suck for CVTs because they have no hybrids to act as dummy loads for
the CAFE garbage. Thankfully most of the transmissions in the lexus ES/LS/IS/GS are pretty damned solid if treated with a modicum of respect.... worst whining I've ever heard in the 4GS is if you have an 8 speed sometimes it seems to have "issues" with gear hunting.... IMHO thats more of a QC thing than anything else.
It's kind of sad really because most of the "defects" I've seen/read/heard about in Lexus vehicles are either easily fixed, or they could have been remedied with some
engineering changes.
I think another issue infecting the industry right now is way too many people are leasing cars instead of buying them. This creates a trend of not wanting to favor long term ownership prospects.... I don't think that's fully infected Lexus yet.... hell, for a "luxury" mark I see more 6+ year old Lexus vehicles on the road than anything
else. I see more 3GS 350s than I see even 4GS, and that says something. Hell my dad is still driving an 04 ES330 and won't let it go.... I want him to get into a damned LS so I can buy it off him... at 240K or whatever its at, that car still runs and drives great, and its survived 2 accidents! It needs a new lumbar assembly in the drivers seat (it tends to get stuck, but once you get it to work, you just leave it there!) but it's paid for itself for him several times over....
-Mike
He said the Lexus and Toyota problems are usually quickly resolvable (a customer had squeaks and rattles, 30 mins later they put some felt pads in from the dollar tree and it was fixed). Once a bad PCM was swapped, customer then put 75K trouble free miles on it, traded it for another lexus at his dealer.. He said he had BMWs under state warranty that he and his techs couldn't solve, went to the BMW dealer, they threw their hands up, he had to buy the car back, car went back to auction for another sucker. He thinks many BMWs are given up when the car becomes unreliable, they are traded in for the next sucker. He said even if you don't buy from me, NEVER buy a German car with 100K, or you will be sorry. He said for what it will cost you in upkeep you are better off leasing a new one, he said even the new ones have issues and he personally would never drive one. He drives a GS350. He said buy here pay here lots like them, because when the screw up they just repo them and the next one deals with it.
Racer
Joined: Feb 2014
Posts: 1,684
Likes: 69
From: SoCal 858
After taking the "European Tour" (owning Euro cars), I'm still much better off owning a Lexus than the way it used to be with the other brands. If you compare the owning experiences, owning a Lexus is still much better (on your wallet and your sanity).
Lexus Champion
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 13,614
Likes: 2,921
From: Texas
Nothing like bringing back a 7 year-old thread that an owner of a car with 116k miles is complaining about something - that if he had been the owner of record when Lexus informed owners of a problem the repair would have been taken care of at no charge - but no, the OP just wanted to complain about something not lasting forever. 
Rookie
Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 45
Likes: 31
From: NJ
Nothing like bringing back a 7 year-old thread that an owner of a car with 116k miles is complaining about something - that if he had been the owner of record when Lexus informed owners of a problem the repair would have been taken care of at no charge - but no, the OP just wanted to complain about something not lasting forever.
Lexus Champion
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 13,614
Likes: 2,921
From: Texas
Rookie
Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 45
Likes: 31
From: NJ
I meant to comment on another post but scrolled too far down and posted the comment on this "related thread." Who pissed in your cereal this morning?
Intermediate
Joined: Feb 2025
Posts: 262
Likes: 38
An 09 Sonata is not as heavy and complicated as a GS, so the wear and tear of parts isn't comparable. Some stealth aircrafts have to be maintained and repaired after a single flight. Some race car engines are rebuilt after every race..
..
..
Last edited by Red4GS; May 9, 2025 at 03:14 AM.
Racer
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 1,285
Likes: 30
From: none
Lexus is the best i drive 40 years old honda with leaking coolant, tons of rust, leaking oil, leaking, clutch fluid and many other issues, if you want reliability go to LEXUS LS 90s baby, newer cars have more things to fail and you should be prepared to pay. Lexus vs other brands, i do repair cars all day, most common visitors are german brands.i will not mention them but, bmw, mercedes, audi, vw , so many problems some of them over 100 issues. Lexus are rock solid. Also doesnt suffer from Direct injection issues like hyindai kia and other crappy brands .
Their software is also very well made vs other brands.
Price for parts are also fine.
Their software is also very well made vs other brands.
Price for parts are also fine.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
rominl
GS - 2nd Gen (1998-2005)
9
Nov 3, 2002 01:59 AM