shakazulu

Hello all!

First I wanted to say that this is easily the most well laid out forum on the web for Lexus. I've been a lurker for a while occasionally posting in off-topic, waiting my chance to finally join the ranks. I had initially thought I would be looking at a GS400, but alas, a new job and family are pushing my size requirements upwards. (the dated styling also didn't help either). I drive 2 thousand miles a month and am concerned with reliability and comfort primarily.

I'm looking into a used LS430, most likely a 2001 for cost purposes, I wanted to know what kind of street pricing people are seeing out there? I live in portland oregon and it seems that there aren't many in the classifieds. My only catch is I absolutely have to have navigation, I'm in outside sales and its become a must for me and I don't want to pack around a portable unit. I would prefer mileage under 40k, but with this car does it really matter? It seems that they are incredibly reliable. What about the CPO program or extended warranties?

In terms of the navigational unit, are there voice-controls? How useful are they? I drove the new Acura TL the other day and was amazed at how far voice technology has come ( the dealer would not budge from 4k over sticker which made me think a used LS430 was a better buy)

Anything else I should know or look for? I'm well versed on cars in general, however I know next to nothing about the LS as that I never thought it went with my image before (i'm only 23 and I'm sure everyone here knows the stereotype on cars like this). As a side, other cars I'm considering are the 2002-03 Q45 and FX45 and I'm open to suggestions on others, but it seems the japanese cars are going to fit my needs best from a reliability standpoint and I don't really like any of the other options I see out there, the G35 and TL are a little small, again the GS doesn't really wow me from a styling standpoint but I suppose I could be convinced into it, , not sure about the LX, but it seems to be an LS430 on stilts and priced the same.

I am still scouring through the "search" feature, but I would appreciate any insite some of the members could provide me.

Thank you so much in advance

shakazulu

Anyone? I still have not had a chance to get to a Lexus dealership this week. They aren't located near my daily travels. I would really like to know what kind of pricing to go into it with so that I don't get burned, and I don't like looking at Edmunds or KBB as that on the last three cars I have purchesed, I found much better pricing than they indicated and it was simply through research on the net.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Wish I could answer you specific question on the model you are interested...

As for rough pricing, eBay motors is a pretty good guide for private sales, watch those for a week or so. Cost Co, AAA or whatever association also has pre-negotiated deals/discounts for pre-owned cars. My rough guess is that an '01 '02 LS430 will be ~$32K in that mileage range.

I'd go CPO myself. Obviosuly the better deals will be private so long as you can get a detailed service history.

ultra63

I would be very careful about any warranty but a Lexus one. Look what happened to Warranty Gold customers.

houstonnw

Enter your zip code here and you can check what is available in Portland:

http://www.lexus.com/cpo/index.html

You can search by model and year and price and miles. There should also be information about the CPO program, and I think you might be able to buy an extended warranty.

I just bought a new LS, and my only requirements were NAV, laser/radar cruise, and enough headroom. The headroom ruled out the Q45, so I never even drove one. The FX45 ride was too stiff for me, and based on the miles you plan to drive, the gas mileage is also very poor.

I plan on driving my car for 10+ years and 150k+ miles minimum, based on a previous ES250 (yeah, first year, really) and GS300.