mph1978

Hi everybody; first post, but have spent so much time reading these forums in the last week that you all feel like family now (<-- tears of sentimentality). Congrats on keeping such an awesome community all these years.

My question: I'm looking at a couple 2006 250s (no 350s on the market in St. Louis, where I am now). Both are at 90k miles at around $15k (RWD no nav). How are these holding up for people? I saw the 120k post by stef_khan and the 250k by MoLexus, but anyone else have experiences to add?

This guy scared me with some serious doom and gloom:

http://www.justanswer.com/lexus/6n8c...s250-107k.html

He claims ridiculous cost of ownership and failure rates. I see brakes on tirerack for < $200 and tires for $500-600, which seems reasonable to me.

Thanks!

KillaIS250

iTrader: (1)

I'll share what I personally think about that guys response....

Uhhh brakes are definitely not $1000.....yeah maybe if you get it done at the dealer and let yourself get ripped.

Tires lasting 20k....I guess some members here have complained about low tire life, but honestly I haven't experienced this at all. My front tires had 4/32 tread with 35k on them, I had to swap them out because of a bubble in the sidewall, but i'm sure they would have made it to at least 45k. My rears are just now needing to be replaced (3/32), and I have put 40k on them. I don't think that's bad at all for a RWD car. Seems like most of the tire issues stem from issues with the fact that the 2IS has a bit of negative camber from the factory. I dunno if it's just the Dunlop Sport Maxxx tires, but I only recently started noticing some camber wear...and they are already in need of replacement now anyway. Never had issues with camber wear till the tires got close to the end of their life.

Can't argue with the guy on the carbon build up issue. It's a pretty common issue on the 250, i've personally had it and it will probably be the only reason I would sell the car. I had the top engine clean done, and then had the pistons replaced with the newer version...but still get the shake and everything. I'm debating whether or not to deal with just having to do a top engine clean whenever/if I have the issue again in the future since my warranty will be expiring soon. But that guy is wrong about having the carbon issue if you don't use premium fuel from day 1......my car never had anything but premium fuel and still had the issue I can't say every 250 suffers from the carbon issue though, although its a design flaw that almost makes it a matter of "when" and not "if", there's still a good number of members here that haven't had carbon issues and are in the higher mileage range.

Can't really comment on the cam gear issue, I know some people have had their cams worked on, maybe they can chine in. Personally never had the issue on my 250. Also haven't heard too many people having issues with the door lock actuators that he mentioned....but that's actually a pretty common issue on many cars as they get older. Navigation he's right about though, plenty of member's here have had their navigation freeze up on them and not respond to touch response anymore. I avoided that issue by not getting one with a nav anyways There's no big issues with the non-nav stereo.

Alexbenz

So is there a way around the carbon buildup?? So it'll cut engine life less? I'm also in the market for a used is250 and want it to be a tank like my es..

slimjimtel

Best way around the carbon build up... Buy a 350, they don't have this issue.

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

Yup.


Other than that if you get a 250, expect to need to do a top engine cleaning from time to time (how often varies)

My0gr81

Probably better to buld it into the 30k miles (50k km) service interval, but overall, there is too much variability involved to really put a real number on it.

mph1978

Cool -- thanks guys. Dealing with the buildup seems straightforward enough (really wishing the 350 were an option right now, but it doesn't sound so bad on 250), so that's reassuring.

As for the other stuff, that's great input, KillaIS250. Hopefully soon I'll be accumulating some experience to add, and hopefully not confirming too much of what that guy said

mph1978

Thanks again for the input, guys. Got the tungsten 250 and am pretty happy so far; planning a preventative top-cleaning this week just to keep on top of things.