Been looking for a nice used Lexus for our second kid who is getting her license. Not much inventory in our area.

This is for sale.

https://fargo.craigslist.org/cto/d/2...546161557.html

I know it would be maintenance ticking time bomb. That is a lot of car for $6,500.

Any LS owners had/have a 745?

 

There is a known coolant leak issue (if you've ever seen a X5 or 7 of that vintage, with white smoke pouring out the back, that's why), which costs $10k at the dealership to fix. The independent route still costs maybe $2k. My buddy just went through what you are, and got a Nissan Versa, CPO. His plan worked because his daughter is ashamed to be seen in that car, let alone drive it to school. So she takes the bus or gets a ride (kids today I woulda loved to have that car and woulda waxed it like there were no tomorrow). Their insurance more than doubled, and if they didn't add a vehicle, it would have almost doubled. How do parents do it?!

 

I've read the nightmare repair bills on the 7 series. Not fun. We only have 1 car with full coverage. 3 liability only. So far our insurance has been reasonable with 1 kid driving. 2 more to go!

Car shopping is interesting. Absolute garbage for $6k, $7, $8k. I'm sure the 745 rides great, but one big issue and you are toast. I drove some cars that are laughable. Even a Lexus RX with 200k+ can be "used up". So many noises and rattles I couldn't tell if the engine was running.

I have a line on a 2005 ES 330 with 76k miles. Old lady driven. She can't drive anymore. Hoping to look at it early next week.

 

I am really dumb.....even my 1998 Maxima SE,. which never had a claim in 19 years, I only dropped collision 4 years ago, and still have comp. That's how dumb humans are (me!!).....I think I can have the proper risk tolerance on many things, but why would I not have dropped collision on all our cars...our newest car is a 2011! Although, one justification is that when you rent a car, it takes on the highest coverage you have, so maybe keep collision on the cheapest to insure would make sense (my wife's SUV, it's like $7xx per year). My dad was always one to not take collision, although believe it or not as he got older he did.

That Hoovey's Garage video where he went and bought a manual tranny ES, amazing. Forgot what he paid but was it $300? lol

edit: he paid $200!! I would gladly pay $400!

 

Not sure I would do a 7 series BMW due to repair costs. Like someone said I've head they have the coolant leak and you basically have to take the top part of the motor off to get to it which is why the cost is so high and I heard it was in the $10k range as well....I'm sure that's dealer cost.

You are correct, there is a bunch of junk for that price range especially since you are up North where cars of age are prone to cancer. Like I mentioned in the other post, the GS or even an ES would be a good option IMO but you might have to look outside of your local area to find something reasonable. Right now I am so pleased with the price and quality of my son's GS I'm really considering buying another one in another year or so when my middle son starts driving and if something were to happen to the GS we have I would go find another.

I was also looking at the Civic coupe so that I could find one in a standard trans for my kids to learn on but those are still going to cost you $8k - $10k for a reasonable one that's not all ragged out. The average buyer of the Civic is buying because they are cheaper than the Accord and thus they don't have or want to spend money on their car which means they aren't maintained as well. On the flip side, the average buyer of any newer Lexus is usually willing to spend money on their car. Not to say you're not going to see trashed Lexus' out there but at least you have a better chance of finding a more maintained one.

If I could have found a manual ES like the one in the video, I would have bent over backwards to get it.

 

The 745's are complete garbage they are unreliable, that is why you can find them with 60,000 for $2000. I would avoid them like the plauge.

 

For $2,000, I could live with the white smoke, I mean at some point, one can take on some risk. That's part of the excitement in life. I mean imagine if all we knew were total reliability, that may be Lexus, but that's not the rest of life. I've seen a lot of NY to VT to Canada on flatbed trucks, it builds character to some extent. Think of the Liberty Mutual commercial where the mom is so overjoyed that her son can't and doesn't have to change a flat tire. That's what we don't want imho...

 

That manual ES for $200 + Tires + Brakes is really nice. It cleaned up very nicely.

I drove a 2011 Nissan Juke (small SUV). 160k miles. First open the door. Smoker car. Not mentioned at all in the ad (small dealer). Take it for a drive. At least 2 or 3 wheel bearings are out or a combo of bad tires + wheel bearings. Get up to 30 mph and cannot hear ourselves talk. Turned at the first corner. Another turn. Parked it back on the lot. Just completely used up and a 2011. How the dealer could list it for $7,000 and not fix something. Ouch.

I wouldn't buy the 745. Just see them now and then and wonder if the current owner is just trying to get away from it.

 

I might do it, not anytime soon, but get a S550 W221, circa 2009. There's no need to reinvent the wheel, there is so much info out there as to what could go wrong, what is built well, etc. They all have a heater issue that is fixed by a $7x (list) part. It's a myth that all German is bad.

So many OE parts are cheaper than Japanese, it depends. I'll use this example until the sun goes down, the price of a LS430 brake sensor wire is more than double that of a BMW OE, which is maybe $30 on a bad day (get the OEM for maybe $14). To be exact, $80.84 for the Lexus, v. $26.67 for a BMW 750. This is for the factory part, what came with the car. Then, German cars also have available the OEM part, which is identical to the OE, without the mfg. logo, and a good % less expensive. Like a Bosch spark plug being green, and a BMW Bosch OE spark plug being blue, both having the same part # stamped on them. I find German cars to be way more fun. But I also like to have no car trouble. Why not get the best of both worlds?

 

I am good on the motor blowing up stranding me when I am on my way to a clients house, drs appointmentet or when my wife drives it. If i want excitement ile drink a redbull and eat a sugar cookie lol.

 

It builds character

If all a person knows is Lexus, well, I would say they are fortunate because that's not a bad thing in itself, but also, there's so much more out there they have never seen or experienced.

 

Like the old saying goes, there are few things in life more expensive than a cheap used BMW...

Here's an out-of-the-box idea: Why not lease an inexpensive car for your daughter? Okay, before everyone starts yelling about what a waste of money leasing is, please hear me out.

In my area right now, I can lease a 2018 Buick Encore small SUV for $119 per month, zero down, for 24 months. The car gets an average of 30 mpg (city and highway combined), and is bristling with the latest safety technology. SUV's not to your liking? You can lease a Hyundai Elantra for around the same price. With a low-cost lease like this, you won't have to worry about mechanical breakdowns, having to replace tires, brakes, etc. You would know your daughter is driving a safe, reliable vehicle, and you would know up front exactly how much it will cost you to own for 2 years (around $2800 total). If you buy one of the rotten cars you've been looking at in the $7-8K range, you'll constantly have to worry about the car breaking down with your daughter driving at night, brakes going out, engine blowing up, etc.

I find that most people have a knee-jerk reaction against leasing, but if you sit down and really do an analysis of the cost-to-own (and factor in the peace of mind that comes with a new car's safety features), it is at least worth considering.

I went the leasing route for all 4 of my kids when they started to drive, and it worked out very well for me. I suppose the best case would be to "inherit" grandma's 2002 Honda Accord with 60k miles and to drive it forever with little fear of a breakdown and zero cost. But that doesn't sound like your situation. Good luck!

 

I owned a Mitsubishi eclipse i have had my fill with fixing a car every week lol

 

haha most of my experiences like that was through having a V6 Volvo. For those unfamiliar, it was a collaboration between Peugeot-Renault-Volvo. Does everyone see the problem here (French)? When a dealer tells you they'd rather not work on your car and you're best off finding a specialist, you know you're on to something! But I ended up driving it for 8 years after I found a salvage yard who was a Volvo specialist. Are you in the Albany area....the place I went was Clarkies in Saratoga Springs, he was a super nice guy. "I'll get you next time," was what he would say from time to time. Who in the car business says that!!

 

I'm not opposed to a lease. The school parking lot tends to be a bumper car ride. We have long winters, lots of bad drivers everywhere. In our area I can never get those great lease deals that are available in California (or other major areas). I see you are Nebraska, so maybe I will check on the Encore. Full coverage on a teen driver is much higher here. I will find a $7k, ES or RX that still has some life left. I just have to be patient.

If I could lease cars for $120/month with nothing down and could repeat it lease after lease, I might not own a car. But it is unlikely to happen.