Brian7

iTrader: (2)

My car had the airbag recall open still but I got it done pretty quickly. Lexus will take care of you on the recalls for sure. These cars are pretty easy to work on too. I just did the water pump in my car and it only took a few hours after watching some youtube videos. Also did spark plugs, oil change, PCV valve, brake pads, all the small maintenance items that were neglected by the PO and nothing was difficult at all.

istarzan

iTrader: (8)

The touch function of the Nav will eventually die. The water pump and alternator can and will fail soon. And as you know, the amp issue. Easy fix for the amp, take it out and air it with a hair dryer. Besides that, great price. The luxury package is very rare.

Rezno

iTrader: (1)

If you don't care about the fact that the car has a salvage title that is a pretty incredible deal. I got my 07 350 with a clean title and 72k miles for16, so that is one pretty amazing deal if you could care less about the title. A few things:

1. Nav screen will die out at a random point. No real way of telling when it will happen.
2. If the transmission fluid hasn't been flushed, make sure to do that as soon as possible.
3. The dashboard will most likely rattle because the plastic clips holding it together get loose. Honestly, I just got used to it and I can't hear it if I have music playing or if I am talking, but just thought I should let you know. The dealer fix is $1k, which is just too much.

As usual, make sure the car appears clean and taken care of, make sure the owner followed with maintenance and such, and best of luck!

Raar

Why does everyone think it's a salvage? OP didn't mention anything about it being a rebuilt. That should've been clearly stated in the ad.

While the market value still remains high for the 2is in comparison to other competitors during its time, prices actually paid are starting to come down.

Buddiiee

Here's what I do. Then again I am a bit over the top when I research things. I pull the autocheck history. If the car was a lease, rental or fleet car I keep moving. (used to maintain lease fleets.) If it was in an accident, repainted or has a salvage title I keep moving. If it passes that then I show up and check for non reported repaints. If it was repainted, somebody screwed something up, and 99.9% of mechanics cut many many corners when fixing things. No thank you. Unless it's me working on it it'll never be the same. Trust me. On most cars if it has more than 40,000 miles I keep going. On a Lexus I'll bite on anything under 70. When I show up, I want to see it passes a compression and leakdown test both wet and dry. Gotta see oil pressure with a pressure gauge as well. If it's ANY subaru I ask for a few ounces of oil for an oil analysis test. (yes, they're that bad, but I still love them) If the wear metals are good, then I can proceed. And I always ask about viscosity. If it's 20w50, there's a reason it passed the oil pressure test then lol. (yes, people do that. which is why I am the way that I am.) Listen for rhythmic knocks, and feel for good shifts. I will also sometimes pass on car if it was owned and operated by a woman as well lol. Sorry. Heard WAYYY more than my share of "Well I brought it in because it was making a grinding noise." and the rotors were wore down to the cooling fins. No thank you. I'll pass. lol. If there's a guy owner or at least a husband in the house then I'll be ok lol.
I really hate problem cars. This is how I get to find out I'm not inheriting some morons headaches. I don't have a lot of time to wrench on cars like I used to cuz my wife *****es so much lol. So this is what I ended up with to be able to get a car that I know will be problem free for a little while.

Rezno

iTrader: (1)

This is excellent advice and almost makes me regret not doing as close up of an inspection of my car as I did. I'll use this for my next car hopefully.

heliskiier

Good stuff. Compression check is a bit beyond what I do, but the rest is by the book. I do all plus make sure I'm seeing Lexus dealers doing all the service through the life of the car. If not, I'm out. There are plenty you can find that have life-long Lexus service. I wouldn't touch one that doesn't. That Lexus owner's site is a gem. You can see how hard it was driven by how many times the pads were changed or if the wheels had to be replaced. Also, how many times it came in with an idiot owner that didn't know his or her tires were toast and wondered why the thing drove like crap. I found one where the valve thing had toasted the motor at 37k miles. Total motor replacement. Primo!!!! 35k fresh motor. Dang thing got bought before I could get my **** over there. I need to see oil changes at least at 5k intervals with a 7.5 or two in there and all recalls taken care of. So many out there with open recalls...means the owner didn't give a rat's ****. When I went after cars in the past in the absence of a good site, I just called a dealer and had them pull the maintenance history. Worked like a charm 15 years ago before you could get dealer records on-line. Now it's way easier, but even the used car guys selling them don't know they can get the history just by joining the site. Makes them easy meat for a buyer.

Buddiiee

I can tell you this; anyone would love to buy a pre-owned car from me, as I am the most particular person you've ever met BUT, because of this I will RARELY let anyone else touch my car especially a dealer; not only are they really expensive, but a lot of times their people work under other people's license and I just don't trust that. My brother worked for a dealer and he cut a lot corners on cars. I've had too many cars messed up by "mechanics" that I do everything myself unless it's a huge job. So honestly, while a car coming from me could be in the running for the most well maintained car in the U.S., you wouldn't find a one service record on my car after I've purchased it. I do write everything down in the back of the owners manual though, if that helps lol.

heliskiier

I do the same. Yes, dealers screw up. Hard to screw up maintenance stuff though and that's what I'm there looking for. At least I know that the previous owner valued and took care of their ride.