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So my wife's Honda Odyssey is dying at 170,000 miles - transmission again, big surprise. We rebuilt the thing once already, and now I don't know about round two. My wife loves the Odyssey for the kids, as many wives do.

I looked at a neat little site called dashboard-light where they consolidate the reliability metrics, I went through it and kind of discovered that the GX470 is perhaps one of the most reliable cars ever.

http://dashboard-light.com/reports/M...uxury_SUV.html

Somehow it's called a mid-size SUV even though everyone on this forum calls it a truck. But the label of SUV is appealing enough to my wife, I am NOT calling this thing a truck around her for now. Although at 5000 lbs it's basically a small bus.

However, the sample size on dashboardlight is a bit small. 1500 cars, vs like 100,000 for the Ody.

http://dashboard-light.com/vehicles/Lexus_GX.html -- something went wrong in 2009, but all the other years are perfectly fine.

As a guy who once got a C in statistics back in my college days, I only vaguely remember that smaller sample sizes can skew results, so kind of looking at any feedback. I read the "issues" thread where there are like 5 or so known issues with this car, but they all seem moderately ok compared to Odyssey's "rebuild transmission or get a Jasper every 5 years" so I'm relatively ok with it. I've read around this forum that these engines are 300k if you maintain them properly. 2011 used is 43 grand for 35k miles, 2006 is like 13 grand for 118k miles, feel like if it's only done with 1/3 of its life but depreciates at a STUNNING rate, I couldn't possibly buy this thing new or even slightly used and just flush cash like that at that speed.

So here's what I'm looking at, car and carfax:

https://www.carfax.com/VehicleHistor...&partner=ATD_W

http://www.crownmercedes.com/used/Le...359f10ebc3.htm

So it says "90,000 mile service performed" on the carfax, should I consider this to mean they did the water pump/belts at that point? They don't really specifically say what they did in the carfax, I've always kind of felt like carfax gets gamed a bit.

Don't punish me for being a ghettoboi trying to buy a Lexus at the 13k price point. Just asking for some advice, like when I roll into this joint this weekend, what should I look for? Usually what happens is I open the hood and look and think, yup, it has an engine... lol. But 118k miles, 13k price point, what would your negotiation angles be, or things to watch for, in terms of either getting them to cut the pricing on this thing, or have them fix something before I buy it. Service records look nice. I note the trailer hitch which may indicate that this thing has been used to tow stuff around, which I'm not entirely pleased about, but anyway enough about my small and mundane thoughts, what do YOU think?

Also looking at this one:

http://www.kdkauto.com/details.cfm?s...cfid=387184827

Not trailer hitch so perhaps not as much of a towmobile as the other one.

https://www.carfax.com/VehicleHistor...BT20X160120033

This carfax CLEARLY states that the water pump was changed, unlike the other one. Carfax game is strong.

ToyoPet

For the first GX with the VIN ending in 9967, you can call the Germain Lexus dealership or a local Lexus dealership near you to get the details of the 90,000 service performed. Lexus dealerships have their own internal network that track exact details of all service performed, as long as the service was completed at a Lexus dealership (which this car was). My 2013 Lexus GS was from California and serviced at the Beverly Hills Lexus. When I purchased it in Texas, I called a local dealership and gave them the VIN. They walked me through the service history and even scheduled an appointment for me to bring the car in for an inspection.

I would also recommend you order an Autocheck report before purchasing any vehicle. When I was car-searching, I found a lot of cars with a clean CarFax that had actually been in accidents. The Autocheck report disclosed them. I've also seen it the other way as well so it's best to get both. If you wan't to be more accurate, you can always have an independent inspection completed. I was ready to purchase a nice GS that had clean reports and then the independent inspection identified that the passenger fender was not original. The inspection cost $300 but it saved me from spending $30K on car that had been in an unreported accident.

As for the GX tow hitch, I've known a lot of owners who purchase the car and never tow anything. Heck, my first 4runner came with one and I never used it once. If it was used, it might have added some stress to the transmission but for the price, it could be worth the gamble. I would definitely say that 118k miles is fairly low for a GX but I've seen a lot of them surpass 200k. Best of luck with your future purchase!

Listers

Just checked the lexus owners site for the lexus service history of JTJBT20X260099967 and this is all it says about the 90k service:

SERVICE: 90K MILE SVC

DESCRIPTION: ngRepeat: Item in value 90K MILE SVC ~ ~CUSTOMER REQUESTS A 90K MILE SERVICE ~ ~CUSTOMER REQUESTS A 90K MILE SERVICE ~ ~90,000 MILE SERVICE - PREMIUM end ngRepeat: Item in value

If you go to this website,(http://drivers.lexus.com/lexusdrivers/) you can register and look up the 'detailed' dealership performed maintenance on any lexus if you have a VIN. It is essentially like a Lexus internal CARFAX