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Hi guys, I am new to this forum and I'll hopefully be a member of the Lexus club very soon. I am in the market for a GS450H and I am in need of some advice. First some background information for a little context. I live in the Netherlands, so some used car prices I name will sound ridiculous to you all. Sadly it is how it is in this part of the world, a fully loaded GS450H was 84000 euros back in 2012 for example.
Currently I own a 2011 Prius, it's been in the family for three years now and it's done its duty in a remarkably excellent way. I am in my early thirties and the time has come to buy a crazy car, it helps that I can do it financially at this point of course. I have test driven the IS300H (cramped inside), the Audi A4 (a bit boring) and the Mercedes C200 (the 1.6 engine was just barely enough for that car). All great cars, but not the huge jump from my Prius considering how much I am willing to spend. Then I test drove the GS450H, wow is the only thing I can say. Problem is, I must gor for high mileage cars if I don't want to completely go over my set budget.
First question: is it smart to spend major money on a 2012 model 80K miles GS450H? Maintenance record is excellent, assuming the dealer that maintained it did everything what was supposed to be done. I know Lexus is a very reliable brand (that's why I don't even consider BMW), but a high mileage V6 hybrid scares me away. I'll be doing about 12.5K miles a year, so not that much I guess. Are there any major incoming repairs? Things I must absolutely ask the seller? The car has two year warranty, but wear-and-tear is obviously not covered.
Second question: There are three cars I am interested in, with a preference for the almost fully loaded, high mileage one.
- 2012 GS450H president, 80K miles, every option (including bamboo) except pre-crash system, 31500 euros
- 2012 GS450H president, 60K miles, every option though no bamboo, 35000 euros
- 2013 GS450H, 45K miles, as barebones as can be for a GS450H (no ML, no ventilated front and heated back seats, 8 way seat adjustment, no AVS etc), 32500 euros
I lean towards the first car since it's a slight bit over my 30K budget. I can easily afford the 35K one, but I don't want to spend that much money actually. I'll miss adaptive cruise control, it works great in my Prius, but I can live with it. So, should I just go for it and buy the first car?
Hi there,
I would go for the 1st one as well. There's really not much to worry about hybrids other than the battery. And the fact is you still have 2yrs warranty.
FYI, i live in Singapore and cars here are ridiculously expensive. A brand new GS450h cost S$ 300k in 2012. I bought a used one that is 4yr 8mths old for a bit more than 100k.
btw, with the current exchange rate
S$300k is equilvalent to 187k euro or 220k USD.
ferrari, lambo, bentley over here cost more than S$1M and above depending on models.
Feedback from several 3GS hybrid owners I know is that they all had to have their hybrid battery or inverters replaced. Maybe that why the 4GS hybrid was made with slower performance than its predecessor?
@chlim: wow that's a lot of money to spend on a car
@er34: well what does a man really need We have summers here too. I won't need that feature 90% of the time, but I think I'll be glad to have it when that 10% comes.
@webra: any ideas at what age/mileage they had to do that? I know the battery of the Prius can go for miles and miles. We can do a hybrid health check for 40 euros here btw, which gets you a year of warranty on the battery. This can be done until the tenth year of the car.
True enough..
and i forgot to add that cars here have a limited lifetime of 10years regardless of mileage. But u do get some money back at the 10th year. For my gs450h, i can get back 20k. Cars here are the most expensive on earth.. Lol
Hi there,
I would go for the 1st one as well. There's really not much to worry about hybrids other than the battery. And the fact is you still have 2yrs warranty.
FYI, i live in Singapore and cars here are ridiculously expensive. A brand new GS450h cost S$ 300k in 2012. I bought a used one that is 4yr 8mths old for a bit more than 100k.
btw, with the current exchange rate
S$300k is equilvalent to 187k euro or 220k USD.
ferrari, lambo, bentley over here cost more than S$1M and above depending on models.
dang... I guess people make more enough then we here in US to afford these cars. Never been in Singapore but on my list to visit in near future.
Welcome to the forum. Hybrid warranty is until 100K miles, but many people have gone above that mileage and never experienced a problem with the hybrid battery. If you do get the dreaded "check hybrid battery" warranty, I've read about many 3GS hybrid owners getting Corporate Lexus involved, who has often covered either the full or half the cost of the replacement. The best place to read about real word stories in the 3GS hybrid forum: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/hybrid-technology-215/
Considering most people have yet to hit 100K miles with the 4GS hybrid, it's a bit hard to say just how long the hybrid batteries will last. Here is someone with a high mileage 4GS hybrid: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/hyb...0000miles.html
I had asked MSAGRO if he could provide an update to his thread on his hybrid and if he has experienced the hybrid battery light yet, so expect an update soon.. but you are more than welcome to PM him as well.
@chlim: wow that's a lot of money to spend on a car
@er34: well what does a man really need We have summers here too. I won't need that feature 90% of the time, but I think I'll be glad to have it when that 10% comes.
@webra: any ideas at what age/mileage they had to do that? I know the battery of the Prius can go for miles and miles. We can do a hybrid health check for 40 euros here btw, which gets you a year of warranty on the battery. This can be done until the tenth year of the car.
I believe the 2 cars I know had to change out their hybrid batts before 100k kms. For one of them it was the second battery change. Then the inverter failed.
Its true the Prius can go on and on. Many taxi's using them here though some companies are beginning to use the Ioniq.
@Im2bz2p345: thanks, I'll check that thread hoping it'll be updated with new experiences. I didn't read the sub-forum you mention, assuming it was tech talk about hybrid tech. I'll browse through it now.
@webra: now you're scaring me I asssumed I wouldn't have any problems with the battery and accompanying tech, but it seems I must be wary for that. I've actually read a lot about the IS300h because I was interested in that car, it seemed to be as unbreakable as the Prius. Is the GS450h that much different?
I expected to hear about problems with wear and tear items (heavy big and fast car, more stress on components, more expensive components). If I have knowledge of what's coming, I can make an educated guess whether investing this much money in that car is smart. It seems there's no clear answer for it. My wife already thinks I'm nuts buying this car, spending thousands on possible repairs in the five years I plan to own it will mean war
I planned a test drive for the first car I mentioned next week, hopefully I'll like it. I decided the high mileage shouldn't be that much of a problem since the hybrid warranty can be extended until 2023. I've scoured the internet for 450h reliability, there are just not many reports about the fourth gen GS450h. I guess sales numbers being low does that. An almost fully loaded GS450h which is priced at about 36% of its initial value after five years seems like a steal. The only sketchy thing was the vagueness of the sales rep regarding what exactly is covered under the two-year warranty. Should the inverter be covered, or is that simple wear and tear if it fails?
I've test driven the first car I mentioned, it was briliant. The interior was very well maintained and everything worked as expected. The sales rep, a different one than I spoke to earlier, was also a very nice guy, He outright said "don't buy this one of you plan to sell it in 2-3 years, you'd lose a lot of money". He also said a low mileage car with all the options would be impossible in my budget for at least a year. So I am inclined to just buy the first car in my post, even though I never bought a relatively high mileage used car before. Judging by prices in the past (used GS450h's are too limited to get an exact picture), every 10K miles lower mileage makes the price go up by about 3K euros.
Last question to you guys. Are there any major differences between model years? The 2012 cars are the first batch of the new gen GS450h, will there be a lot of improvements in the 2013 models?
I made a deal for the first car I mentioned, the cheap high miles one. I drove it for about three hours today, what a beautiful car. The mouse will take some getting used to, but it works fine. I think ML sounds very clear, I have JBL in my Prius and ML is definitely better. I'll pick it up next week. The second car I mentioned had saddle tan leather, looked beautiful. It also had a god awful sigar smell, I couldn't sit in it for two minutes. I really liked the sales rep, a very pleasant guy. When I mentioned I really wanted to test drive the second car, his first reaction was "maybe you should sit in it first, it stinks"
I just had to convince wifey we really truly absolutely needed the GS450h instead of the IS300h (we really don't need it), luckily she immediately said "go for the big one" after a test drive in the GS450h and an IS300h. Both great cars, but the difference is just too big to ignore.
I made a deal for the first car I mentioned, the cheap high miles one. I drove it for about three hours today, what a beautiful car. The mouse will take some getting used to, but it works fine. I think ML sounds very clear, I have JBL in my Prius and ML is definitely better. I'll pick it up next week. The second car I mentioned had saddle tan leather, looked beautiful. It also had a god awful sigar smell, I couldn't sit in it for two minutes. I really liked the sales rep, a very pleasant guy. When I mentioned I really wanted to test drive the second car, his first reaction was "maybe you should sit in it first, it stinks"
I just had to convince wifey we really truly absolutely needed the GS450h instead of the IS300h (we really don't need it), luckily she immediately said "go for the big one" after a test drive in the GS450h and an IS300h. Both great cars, but the difference is just too big to ignore.
Two pics, not mine but form the dealer site.
Congratulation,
is your country required to have that fire extinguisher in the car?
10-05-17, 04:24 AM
High mileage GS450H
We have summers here too. I won't need that feature 90% of the time, but I think I'll be glad to have it when that 10% comes.
