Im 18 years old and looking to buy my first car. I'm eyeing the is250 right now. There is a 2007 model with 211000 km and the guy said that he'll give it to me for 5000$ CAD. I was wondering how reliable is a 12 year old lexus with that many kilometers. What parts are gonna break? How much am I gonna spend fixing a year? How likely is it to have the carbon build-up issue? He said that he maintained it very well. I am not planning to drive it much. Only about 5000km a year (2km to gym and 5km to school). Here is the link to the listing https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...4476144406216/ (french listing). Also, am I doomed to crash it since it's RWD or should I be fine if I accelerate slowly. I live in montreal and we have a ton of snow.

 

I'd say skip it. I personally think it's a lot for the age and kms but that's based on my experience with a dealer offering $6k for my car at 140k kms for trade in.

Given it's a 2007, the alternator and waterpump would need to be changed if it hasn;t already. Depending how much city driving it has in it, there's a high chance of it having high carbon buildup deposits. You'll probably need to replace the suspension and bushings given the kms and age. It will also need new spark plugs around that interval as well ~100k-120k kms unless it's already been done. Make sure any and all recalls have been done If everything has been fixed and maintained then it could be an ok buy and could last you quite awhile but check for yourself and not just going by someone's word.

No you're not doomed to crash given that it's RWD, just drive cautiously for the conditions and have the proper tires for the weather. It also helps to toss the car around in an empty parking lot in the snow to learn to control slides.

 

Thanks for the response! He said that he changed the suspension, front and rear brakes, wheel bearings and front and rear link kits this january. I'd have to get a pre purchase inspection to make sure that this is true. Can a random mechanic check if recalls have been done or do I have to go to a lexus dealer. That would leave me with the water pump and the alternator. How much would it cost me to replace them if they break? What are the chances of them breaking if I only drive 5000km for 4 years (20000km) before selling it.

 

The dealer can check for any recalls and do a PPI if you want one. As I mentioned in a previous thread we purchased our '08 IS250 with 152,000 miles for our 20yr old and it runs great. Yes we knew about the carbon buildup issue going in but it's not a deal breaker. Just keep an eye on it. We did have the fuel pump fail the first week we had the car but other than that it's been problem free.

I grew up in Buffalo, NY and we also get a ton of snow. You can drive a RWD carefully but an AWD is best. Of course finding one at the right price is key.

 

Water pump itself isn't expensive if you source the OEM equivalent Aisin pump off Amazon, it's mostly just labor. The alternator is a couple hundred bucks, again go for the OEM equivalent Denso (I know denso makes Lexus parts). For the pump you can usually hear a sort of noise in the engine bay aside from the noisy injectors or just look around the front of the engine where the pump is(around the belts etc) and check for pink residue which would be dried coolant. The alternator is a common failure, if it's original it could fail soon or maybe you might be lucky and it'lll never fail. I thought I was the latter until I lost it randomly one day.

 

That's 3500 us dollars for a car with 130,000 miles. You cannot buy a better car for the money. Heck you can't buy a corola For that price. Buy it you can't go wrong. It will likely give you 5 years of trouble free driving after which you can throw it away and buy something else.