are you still under warranty? if you are why did it cost you 3200, the benz seems to be a 50/50 either they have problems or they dont. i still want an ls i just wish they would of budged. we'll see how it plays out. i want to see if the dealer calls me back. what year s? also i plan on keeping the until warranty expires and then rid of it

 

Dude it's not about the warranty. My dad has an extended warranty on his SL -- it's not about the money either, the LS was $$

It's about the entire experience. You buy a Lexus and you're FOR SURE going to have a car. You buy a Mercedes, and the dealer going to own the car for half the time

Save yourself a *ton* of headaches, get a LS430 UL. Get the Datasystems Airride Controller and slap some sick 20's on it.

You'll be VIP in no-time

 

no, out of warranty; because thats what ward mercedes charged; 2000; good idea to rid if not under waranty

 

do you think 36 800 is a good price +++ for a 2004 ultra 37000 miles certifed?

 

Thats an AWESOME PRICE!!!!! Do it!!

 

do you work for the dealership

 

^^^ This is very true. It's an annoying PITA to take a car to the dealership repeatedly for repairs, even if you don't have to pay the dealer to work on it. But the bigger thing for me is that after several trips in for repeated warranty repairs I don't see how anyone could maintain respect for a POS like that. I mean, hell, it's 2007. Even Hyundai can build a car that doesn't break every month. Once I lose respect for the engineering and build quality of a car, I lose interest in owning it. Hence, no more MBs for me most likely.

 

Do you have a link to this car?
What was their orignial "sticker" price?

I too hav been searching for a good LS for about 6 months now. I want an 04 with less than 50k, sport susp (or at least the 5 spoke wheels). Nav. Non UL (for price reasons & i'm suspect on the air suspension quality). Average prices on cars.com are in the 35k range. I really woudl like to get one for 30k.
Dont know if thats possible though. Has anyone seen a similar LS go for aroudn that?

 

Add me to the group of looking for a 04 (lets not bid against each other I hope) and considering the E class.
I have just about ruled out the E class even thou in some ways,like the way the front and overall outside looks,I like it better.My reason to not go for the MB is, as others have said, real concerns about problems,you see them posted on Edmunds,you see lots of them on Ebay as "factory buy backs" for ele,SBS and SRS issues.I don't want to spend time at the dealer arguing with a service writer.I also figure if a MB owner got a good one,he either traded it back to a MB dealer for a newer one or kept it.If he got bad one it went to the auction (via the other branded dealer he bought from).

I am looking for a lower mileage one(under 30,no nav,one owner- for $30-32k) then the one you looked at lexon20 but at $36.8k for the 37k it does seem high,of course the Ultra and the certified add say 3-4k.That and a Lexus dealer is going to get more than others.I would think they,the 04's would continue to drop and we all will get better deals soon.
Keep us posted

 

Lexon20's - you'll always get a much lower price for your other car if you trade it in. The dealership will have to get it up to their spec, warranty it for some period, and make a profit when they sell it. All of which will come out your pocket. When I bought my LS, I wanted to know what they would give me for my trade in - and it was 1/2 of what the going price was. So I sold it privately for the going price, and went on a nice trip with the difference. So your only comparison should be the price difference between the MB and the LS - and the cars themselves.

 

I just paid $42k for mine about 3 weeks ago. Direct from the Lexus dealer with the extended 3 years/100k miles. I know he made $2k from me as I know him personally If you can get a certifed for your price, that is awesome. My dealership owner is building a brand new Lexus facilities soon so free car wash whenever I want

PS: I also consider the Mercedes S500/S55 and the E500. There was a 2004 E500 fully loaded with solar panel and all options $34k but after reading all the headaches involved with out of warranty Benzes no thanks. (and I had a last generation 129 SL that was a money pit. I must of paid for my mechanics' kid college. They should of invited me to his graduation )

 

I know it varies from state to state, but if you buy a used car from a dealer, they collect sales tax, whereas if you buy from a private party, no sales tax is charged. Also, if you really wanted a cpo Lexus, wouldn't it be better to buy a well kept car from a private party and buy a Lexus Platinum extended warranty later (assuming car is still under factory warranty 4yr/50k) ???

 

No sales tax if purchased from an out of state dealer.You do have to pay the local or state tax in your home state thou (mine has no sales tax )

 

In Florida (where the OP is) you have to pay sales tax before you can register the car, whether you pay the dealer or pay the DMV directly.

I would not waste money on a CPO or an aftermarket warranty on a well-cared-for used Lexus. Odds are that you will not recover the cost. I have two (2) 2003 model Lexus vehicles with a total of 133K miles on them and here is the complete list of what's gone wrong with these vehicles since new:
1. Remote mirror control switch sometimes wouldn't work on driver's side LS430
/end of list

Now, certain other brands such as MB -- I wouldn't sleep well knowing I owned one that wasn't covered by warranty, although the Starmark MB warranty often manages to find ways to hit you up for charges anyway, IME.

 

Luck you, my tax was nearly $4k.