jgcec

I leased a 2010 ES 350 for two years.

Now I am considering buying a 2008-2011 ES 350 for my wife and I.
She wants parking sensors and a backup camera and I want a head unit with Apple Carplay.
I know that parking sensors, backup camera and head unit can be added to almost any car.

For the last month, I have been looking at an ES 350 with nav, backup camera and parking sensors
for about 50-70k miles for around $15k +/-
I have test driven 10-15 ES 350s with 25-115,000 miles and none of them have what I would consider a great ride,
like my new 2010 ES350 or an average ES330 or a LS

From reading these forums a LS 430 with under 100k miles that has been well taken care of is almost new in most ways.
Here are 2 questions:
1 How much more expensive would a well maintained 2005-06 LS in California with 70-80k miles
be to maintain than an ES 350 with 50-60k miles on it for the next 50k miles?
I am guess your answer is that it will be about the same + you get a much better car.

2 Is it possible to install an aftermarket head unit that will do Apple carplay android auto in a regular LS with no screen.
With the heater above and the radio below?

MikeFoxx

iTrader: (8)

1) Cost of repairs shouldn't be too much different. It really comes down to how well you proactively maintain these that really determines how much your repairs cost. Sure there will be price differences in the labor and parts but it really isn't a big enough factor. We are all gonna say LS430 and so will some of those ES folks lol.

2) yes you can do anything if you got the $

Johnhav430

I'm no expert, but isn't the ES really a dressed-up Camry and thus easier to maintain? It would be hard to imagine that the cost of maintenance isn't lower. These are just little, non-critical things, where I can recall the list price (parts only) for the LS: mirror glass, $392, rear sunshade, over $1000, cupholder, $217 (eBay is around $130), tilt and telescope motors $431 and $404, it really starts to add up if you want your LS430 to be perfect....door actuators are $860 at Lexus but people DIY....all of the above are common things that could be wrong with a used LS430.

On the other hand, I shopped Camrys for my dad, to which he had no interest, and a 2014 ( not 2014.5) with 36k, CPO, was $14k. The Camry should have none of the above problems, and I would expect neither would a ES? But again, I have no experience with ES'. Only have had coworkers who owned Camrys and stated zero went wrong in 7-10 yrs., never had a warranty item....

BradTank

It's probably going to be more money service wise for an older LS than a newer ES with lower miles, but it's not enough to sway most people's decision.
Certain "flagship" features might need addressing that the ES simply doesn't have. Plus age does effect things even with low miles.

Both are reliable cars, the LS is a much better car all around with just higher fit and finish, ride quality, interior materials, etc but they are getting older and I could see it nickel and dimeing you more unless you can find one with really low miles. Small things can add up.

If you get an LS without a factory screen, I guess you'll have to then add an aftermarket backup camera along with a new screen/headunit to do CarPlay, and possibly also parking sensors if that's the end goal. Personally, I would pay a bit more with a newer model and get those options from the factory with a newer ES if those things are a priority for your wife than trying to add all that to an older LS. But it's definitely possible and a few people here have done it.

I agree the newer ES's don't have a great ride, I think most of that is because they put large rims on them from the factory. I drove the same year ES350 and Toyota Camry as a rental, and the Camry had a FAR better ride and the difference was the 16" rims vs 18" rims on the ES. So an easy solution there might be just swapping rims on a newer ES with ones from a Camry or Avalon.

jgcec

In researching ES 350s and going on to the Lexus.com to look at the maintenance history with the vin number,
I have found very few non wear and tear repairs up to 130,000 miles.

The ES 350 does not have a timing belt that needs to be changed.
Also most ES repairs can be done by a Toyota dealer or similar,
since most of the parts are shared with the Camry

The most common ones are
alternator - about a 400-600 repair
and water pump - about $1,000 repair

I would like to know what are the likely LS repairs up to 150,000 miles?

warminwisc

1K for a water pump holy poop.