Okay guys, I have been silently researching th eforums since I am in the market for a new IS. New guy here. Now I have a few things im considering. For one, I was trying to avoid gettin one with nav, because its crappy anyway and because it fails somewhat often. I also prefer the 350 over the 250 for obvious reasons. I also want an 07+ for the traction control button and what not, and I guess finally I like the tan leather vs any other color, but that is minor. The issue is the price vs. miles of the selection. I dont have a very wide selection considering I want to stay under 20k used. I found a 350 with 80k on the clock for 18k, a few others with less miles sitting at about 21k. Finally one that has been modded with 45k on the clock and only 19k. I did some reasearch on it and found it came from NJ. I live in FL currently. Plus, it has Intake and exhaust, wheels and an aftermarket vented hood... Idk if the price is too good to be true, or maybe the mods drop the price, plus its an 07, but in Red, not my first choice in color, but also a minor issue. Recommendations?? I know theres a thread for this but like opinions from people who have them that I can personally use.

Thanks CL.

 

Mods do drop the price, since 1) in most cases they're specific to one person's (the original owner's) tastes, 2) the majority of the car-driving population does not want a modded car, so you're restricting yourself to a small market of buyers, and 3) mods can give a bad impression of the car, since they're not covered by warranty and they might have been done by someone inexperienced, etc.

I think you need to get specific on your question. Is your question which of the specific cars you mentioned should you go for? Or is it more general, what type of car should I look for? It would also be extremely helpful to list them in bullets (hard to pick everything out of one block paragraph) and to include links to the cars.

 

Calvin said it well. I'd add that I'd be extremely hesitant to buy a car that wasn't in the color I preferred. Remember, you have to drive it every day. Color isn't something you can easily change if you later decide you're not satisfied with it.

I think you did well in your research and narrowing down your choices. Obviously, the lower the miles the better but there are many threads from 2nd gen IS owners that are well into the 100k miles without any significant issues. As far as mods, the most common mods done to these cars (intake, exhaust, suspension) have very little chance of failure. Any faulty install would be evident right away. Definitely, do your homework on the car (Carfax, Lexus maintenance history, etc..) and possibly take it to a mechanic for a used vehicle inspection (costs about $100-200 depending on where you go).

Good luck!

 

Thanks for the replies guys

so far, this one:

http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/invento...992_isFeatured

would be my favorite, except its an '06, and I want the traction control button.

This one:

http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/invento...sting=30448527

Is nice because the mods are already done for me, except im not a huge fan of red, plus it came from a snow state...

This one:

http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/invento...sting=33255683

I dont have any interior pics on, but the min deal is the amount of miles, although from what I have read I can buy an extended Lexus warranty before the 70k?

This one would be just about perfect:

http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/invento...sting=33404423

except for it is a little out of the budget, although I would probably be able to haggle down to 20k

Let me know what you guys think, I like the experience factor with this car, which I lack

 

These cars are extremely different. I think at the end of the day you're going to have to determine what it is you value most: low price, color, options, or mods?

Are you going to track the car? I highly doubt it. If you're not going to track the car, it would be extremely, extremely foolish to pass on a car that was exactly what you wanted simply because it didn't have the traction control button. For one thing, you can still do the pedal dance and turn off traction control. But more importantly, how often will you be turning off traction control? I drive my car 40 miles a day, city and highway, and drive fairly spiritedly. The number of times I've turned off my traction control? Zero. There's no reason whatsoever to do so on public roads; in fact, it's dangerous and reckless disabling a key safety feature and trying to drive your car more "to the edge" on public roads.

I wouldn't even consider this one. The reason the price is so much lower is the mods, which as I stated above reduce the price significantly. I'd run away from this one for a few reasons.

First, how do you know all the mods are ones that you want? You may not like the exhaust or the intake they've installed, and then you're back to square one needing to remove the parts and buy new ones.

Second, isn't the whole appeal of modding your car identifying things about the car you want to change or upgrade, locating the specific parts you want, and installing them yourself or having them installed. Modding is all about infusing your car with your own tastes.

Third, clearly this seller knows mods don't help sell a car because they don't even mention them in the description. You have no idea if the previous owner installed them himself or had a shop do it, whether the installer had any knowledge of cars at all, whether they installed them correctly or not, whether the mods have been acting up and they're trying to get rid of it, etc.

Fourth, as a 2007 at 44k miles you'd still have time left on the powertrain warranty, but depending on how much this person's modded the car, a large number of parts won't be covered, and if those parts fail and cause other failures, those are out of pocket too.

Finally, mods signify to me a person who wanted to up the performance of their car which also signifies to me a person who drove and treated their car in a rougher manner than others.

No, in this situation you cannot buy a Lexus warranty.

If you purchase a Lexus that is outside the factory 4 yr/50k warranty from a Lexus dealer, you CAN, at the time of purchase, elect to purchase an extended Lexus VSA warranty (Powertrain, Gold or Platinum).

If you purchase a Lexus that is outside the factory 4 yr/50k warranty from a private party (which this sale would be), you CANNOT at any point purchase a Lexus extended warranty. You would have to purchase a third-party or aftermarket extended warranty not through Lexus.

So if you are interested in a Lexus VSA warranty, which I highly recommend purchasing, then purchase either 1) a vehicle from a Lexus dealer, or 2) a vehicle still under factor warranty from a private party.

Don't hold your breath on haggling down $4,000. The reason the price on this is higher is that it has nav and the luxury package. You'll have to determine if you value those or not.

On this car in particular, one year ago I purchased a black 2007 IS350 with 56k miles, nav, and luxury package (so very similar to your car) but it was Certified by a Lexus dealer (so it came with the 3 year/100k mile warranty) all for only $24,500. So that comp doesn't make this look like a great deal.

In addition to all the above, all the cars are different exterior and interior colors, so you must have an opinion on that. But finally, why are you using this site? I've never heard of it. I would discontinue using it immediately and instead use something like Cars.com or Autotrader. The reason is that this site won't provide information on the seller or dealership without contacting them through your site, a sneaky tactic. They're clearly trying to drive traffic and sales through their site specifically instead of just being up front and providing the name of the selling dealership so you can contact them and verify the details on the car as well as look up information on the dealer itself.

 

I really appreciate the input. Reason I use this site is because I have used the afforementioned sites, and frankly this one has more selection for whatever reason. Also, they compare the price based on blue book value and you know if its a good deal. As far as the car itself, I think you definitely have a good point with the first one, I like the black exterior/tan inside. It has good mileage, and priced well, hell, if I could haggle another thousand Id be peachy. As far as the warranty goes, I guess i'm going to bite the bullet forget all about that factor since the lexus dealerships have these prices way high. Main concern would be to see if the TSB's have been done, to avoid paying out of pocket for those.