I am thinking of buying a 2011 LS460 with over 210,000. I just finished watching The Car Care Nut's video on how expensive maintenance can be, when you reach a higher milage.

Any personal thoughts and personal experiences one could add would be greatly appreciated!

 

Well other than the $375 I spent 2 weeks ago on getting the climate control damper door handle put back in the track I have not spent a dime other than oil and filters, brakes, tires, spark plugs, various filter (AC/engine) brake flushes, and wiper blades, and 2 AGM batteries on our 2010 LS460L. I did have the SS drip rail covers painted when the tape started to peel. I bought the car after it came off a 3 year lease with 19K. I just turned 121K. So I would say the ROI has been pretty good. We do have the rear seat upgrade package so we have a few more bells and whistles than a stock SWB LS460. It's been a great car

Dennis

 

You have given us very little to go by. At that mileage, any car will need attention.
Does the car come with service history? How much are they asking? How long are you planning to keep it? How much are you willing to spend on repairs?

BTW, I am not a fan of the car care nut. Like many content creators he is entertaining but he exaggerates for hits. Much (not all) of his technical advice is questionable.

 

Front control arms. Have them inspected. Could be worn. DIY reasonable, pay someone $$$. Air suspension if equipped, troublesome. Heat exchanger. Mark Levinson front speakers. Automatic transmission could be an issue. Oil leaks valve covers, high pressure fuel pumps. Good luck, awesome vehicles.

 

Do not jump start with the LS460. Too many electrical systems in these cars, they have computers modules for everything. When you jumo start any vehicle, do it with your vehicle off. If you jump with vehicle running, when the other vehicle starts, there will be 24V in the system something is bound to happen. Also, if polarity is reversed accidentally it's going to be expensive. So the answer should be do not jump start with modern vehicles, specially an LS460.

 

I have heard of warnings not to jump-start modern cars, and there is probably something in it. However, I have not heard of many actual instances where cars were damaged if it's done properly. The way I like do it it to connect the two batteries with the engine off (-ve terminals first), start the donor car, rev the engine to 2-3K rpm for 5-10 minutes to give some initial charge to the other battery, and then start the other car with the donor car running at 3K rpm. Disconnect the jumper cables immediately after the other car starts.

The problem I ran into was bad quality jumper cables. You need beefy cables with good clamps. Light-duty cables with cheap clamps may not carry enough amperage to start the other car. I would not skimp on jumper cables, get some nice, heavy-duty ones, you do not want your clamps to fail while trying to jump-start a car.

BTW, with properly and securely connected cables there is no way you will reach 24V. You will need a connection in series to do that.

 

As long as the maintenance was kept up i wouldn't be scared of it.

 

Actually, CCN rarely tells you the actual price. But from personal experience with LS460, you can go over $10k in no time.

 

I personally would NOT buy such a high mileage LS460, unless you have complete service records, and it shows that mufflers and cats and suspension including control arms have been replaced. If it shows great maintenance and repair, then it may be worth it if the price is reasonable (no more than $10k).

My recommendation is to look for a 2010/2011/2012 in the 100K mile range. They are out there, and not that much more expensive than one with 150k+ mile ones.

I bought a 2011 LS460 with 98K miles for $15k back in Feb 2024. Great car, solid. And I checked the service records on My Lexus website using the VIN. I have spent approx $3k in maintenance and tires.

$650 installed for 4 x Michelin Pilot Sport AS/4 tires
$800 for spark plugs, oil change, filters, etc...
$1200 for two new mufflers and heat shields.
$500 for 4 oil changes.
Added all up and you get to $3,150.

I also spent approx $200 for a remote starter with cell capability to allow starting from cell phone. That's it.

I plan to get transmission fluid changed, coolant changed, front/middle/back diff/transfer case fluid changed soon as well. That will probably be another $500 to $800
It's NOT a cheap car to fix. But if you get a solid one, that's been well taken care of, your repairs/maintenance should be reasonable. It will never be as cheap to fix as my 2004 Toyota Solara SLE V6, or my Lexus ES330. Everything is at least 30% to 50% more expensive usually. But at least the LS460 has a timing chain, and not belt, like my two other cars have. Never need to replace it. To replace the timing belts on my two other cars, it costs approx $800 each to replace at a mechanic shop. That's the only downside to those two cars.