Ahheck01 - I agree with all your points, with the caveat that you must be able to handle an occasional fairly expensive repair (or can do your own work).

 

Ahheck01- just straight on your question- nothing else.
My wife drove ES300 for 7 years an put 70K on her. Nice design, but quite not for taller people. Have to admit- the less reliable Toyota -branded car we ever had.
I bought my first Corolla in 1992 and since then we tried many brands, but always kept Toyotas in our household mainly because the great resale price and their dependability.
I wouldn't recommend ES older than 2005 and more than 120K miles, because otherwise one has to pay hefty bills or do a lot of maintenance by yourself ( matter of choice).
______________
2001 LS430 ( first registered 04/2002), 1 owner, 75K, purchased 12/13 in FL for $9K still in condition able to be restored to her glory years.

 

Wow, I appreciate the insights. I'm certainly leaning towards an early LS430, such as this one: http://mankato.craigslist.org/cto/4246445703.html I've been talking to the guy, and it seems like a fairly solid deal, except the timing belt has never been changed in 150k miles O_O so that would be a first step for a purchase, making that slightly less of a great deal at that mileage...

 

This is exactly what i'm doing... put it in my signature as a daily reminder

 

i agree with this 100%

 

98-00 LS400

/thread

 

Vs an 01-03 LS430 at the same price point?

 

You can get a low mileage LS400 vs a high mileage LS430 for that price range.

 

Hello from MN as well.

The 2003 in the craigslist link looks good. I have the same year and color. Bought it a year ago, $11.7K, with 115K miles. And this was a steal versus other LS430s for sale at the time.

Even with the extra miles, the price of the Mankato car is pretty good.

 

I see you've dropped the Avalon off the list....
That's probably one of the better deals for saving money and getting reliability...
You can find those for sale pretty cheap and due to the style/cost.. usually treated well by their owners.
I've had 3 of them and would not hesitate in buying a clean used one...
Just picked one up for my dad last year... 98 model with 100k, one owner, university professor. Practically like new with all major work done. Only tinted the windows. for $2500 it was the perfect car for the price. My 95 Avalon has over 200k on it with nothing but standard maintenance and one starter rebuild. Just gave it to my younger brother.
In the end, it's all personal choice....I'm in love with the 99-'00 models and want to keep mine a long time.
Good luck in your search...

 

Okay so between my dad and I we've owned a lot of the cars being talked about here. My progression through the Toyota brand has been as follows:

1987 Toyota 4x4 pickup.... bulletproof, ridiculously rough ride, cold with heat on blast.
1988 Toyota Corolla... again bulletproof, great mpg >30, sister's husband drove it without oil to kill it
1993 Toyota Previa van... Bulletproof. Dad still has it with >300,000miles/regular maintenance
1995 Toyota Camry V6 XLE.... Bulletproof. Sold running great with 280,000 miles on it
1996 Toyota Camry V6 LE..... Few probs, sold last year at 250,000 miles
1996 Lexus ES 300 .... currently for sale, exhaust rusted a small hole, abs sensor went bad, otherwise bulletproof. Has 205,000 miles and 14 people have called to buy. Good car
1998 Lexus LS 400 .. even though was crap when I got it(power steering leak, steering wheel not tilting, leather seats looked horrible.) Bought in 2007 for $3,800 with 110K miles, sold without ever visiting a mechanic and DIY maintenance at 203K miles in the same condition I bought it(aside from fixing PS and steering tilt).
2008 Toyota Avalon .. Dad(65 years young) love this car. No problems at 60K and it really rides very, very smooth. Kind of fast for a V6, good mpg, but feels like a grandparent-mobile
2006 Lexus LS 430 .. Just purchased. Well maintained w/ 160K miles for $10,700 private sale. Came with extra set of rims for snows, telescoping function only problem(I will DIY a fix) Just like all the other Toyotas I expect thousands of trouble-free miles.
1998 Toyota Land Cruiser 190K miles and runs like new, leather seats look great, no problems only maintenance
Wife's Parents cars:
2004 Lexus GS 300 ... Good car, needed control arms/bushings, now rides like brand new again at ~130K
2005 Lexus ES 330 ...No problems, looks fit for a grandma, but is smoother than everything except the LS models.
Summary, for your budget any of the cars in the list above have been great. The two LS(98 and 06) blow the others away in ride quality and seemingly build quality as well. Beware sellers who have treated their vehicles like crap. Smell the oil, get service records whenever available!

 

Can't say that I am. It's good to have a car that isn't needy for repair every other week and looks great too. Get a BMW or Mercedes-Benz of similar vintage or newer and you'll be dying to have your LS back.

 

LOL....talk about raising a dead thread. This is over 5 yrs old. I'm sure this dude has way moved by now.

 

I'm only going to "'tow" a bike rack with my 2004 LS430. I don't need the size, weight, and clearance loss of the Curt Class II hitch. Has anyone seen a receiver hitch for these cara that is light-duty?

 

In the ad pics of my car it had a hitch but I realized they removed it when I brought the car home...had mixed feelings as I wasn't sure if I was going to use it but still annoyed it was not on the car. Hope this picture helps...