lexus600hl

One of my two LS 600HLs has 69,000 miles. Its a 2008 Nieman Marcus edition car.
Works great.
KBB private party value is $46,000.
I have not yet decided whether to sell it or not. I would probably sell it as a private party.

The question is - Should I even sell it?

For example, the lease of a new jaguar xjl for 20,000 miles/year 3 years is $1200.
3 year 60,000 mile cost is $43,000 for Jaguar. Almost no maintenance cost, other than oil change.

I am wondering what your experience is, about cost of maintenance for the 2008 LS 600.

I read some where that someone needed at $3500 front suspension repair. Is it common?

3 years later, with it having around $130,000 miles - it would probably not be worth more than - say $12,000? My cost is going to be about $32,000 + $5000 maintenance for keeping the lexus.
$38,000/36 = $1055/month.

I am seeking advice.. Keep the LS or get a different car for $1200/month. I used jaguar only as an example. I might even get a bmw 7 series - for about the same price.. I am not seeking comments about whether or not jaguar or bmw is a better car.. Just asking for advice, based on cost of ownership.
Thanks

dimapb

Strictly numbers speaking...
The difference in the monthly cost is minimal and if you can afford a $150/month extra payment , I would definitely go for a new car.
You can probably get a much lower monthly lease payment with BMW since they are notorious about playing with the residual value of the car to lower your monthly payment. And I would assume you would not be interested in buying it out, so you wouldn't care. The cars you've mentioned are very different but are all going to be great. If you are into Hybrid, you may want to look into S350 or S400 BlueTec.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

this is completely based on my impression on you as an owner. it sounds like it makes more sense to get new car than trying to deal with any potential issues on the LS

lexus600hl

I agree that the difference in Monthly cost is very minimal and I really don't care about $150..
But here are my questions:

1. Are my assumptions and calculations correct? Is the difference only $150? Could it be much more or much less?
2. Any known repair issues for the 2008 that I should anticipate in the next 3 years - from 70,000 miles to 130,000 miles?

Thanks

rominl

iTrader: (4)

just some very rough thinking.

i think in another 3 years with 130k miles, the 600hl will probably still worth a little more than 12k. maybe 15k?

maintenance is a really big question. i have seen a few air suspension problems around my area (won't go into details). as you stated that's 3-5k work. another problematic area is the navigation systems. i have seen more and more failures from the 06-08 cars. the screen dies and you have to replace the whole thing, which is 5-8k. another thing to look out for is the rear flip down screen. it's a matter of time before it breaks (see that often in the gx), that's another 1k?

the hybrid system i think should probably be ok at 130k miles. i don't see much of a failure on that so far, but in another 3 years, the warranty on the hybrid drivetrain is gone and it will probably make it harder for you to sell the car.

of course, the maintenance cost might not happen at all, but that's the part about uncertainly. it can be a 10k swing easily if you are unlucky

CJITTY

I am covered on CPO until 2017 on my 2008 600hL so my opinion may be a little biased. It may have been me that you are referring to. I needed new upper control arms but that was covered under warranty..about $2K worth. Each air strut minus labor is about $900, but those are covered under warranty as well. The fact that you already have two 600s would seem to get old to me..I say you sell one and get another car. If the Jag has maintenance included, then you have nothing to lose..except for essentially renting the car with a lease. Whatever you do, I would get a maintenance plan thrown in..these cars are just way to expensive these days, especially if something fails. Leasing may be my next route down the road because I simply have only had one car from loan start to finish..the rest I sold within 2-3 years or so. Maybe buy a truck or SUV and keep that as a paid off car..something I can easily get worked on or work on myself with low cost parts..like a Chevy lol..maybe even a Tacoma/Tundra/4Runner..something like that..good luck!

LXurious

Only because you have 2 of the same cars. Go for the XJL maybe the super charged if you have the funds. Im curious on your opinions and comparisons as thats the car I want to trade my 600 for eventually. Unless within the next 2-3 years we get a much better 600 than the current 13 model.

lexus600hl

I didn't drive the supercharged jaguar. I drove the regular one. Its fine but the lexus is quicker. Supercharged? REally? ha ha.. Its my opinion that all of these class of cars have more power than we would ever test the limits of. Except during test drive, almost all of us would never accellerate that fast. lol. True, some of us do drive at 90 to 110 mph (not admitting anything..lol) but any one of these cars have enough power to do that.. Yes, the 600 has amazing power - very refined. As compared to the RX 450 hybrid (which has a whining noise that i find annoying!), the 600's hybrid system is very different and much superior.

I live in Wisconsin. Therefore, I prefer awd and it comes in six cylinder xjl. Not sure if it would come on other engine sizes and for reasons I wrote in preceding, I am not really concerned about the 6 cylinder.. I might regret it of course.. I did drive it once. If I didn't own the 600 already, I would have prefered the 600. In many ways, the lexus 600 is a superior car to the jaguar (except that 600 a bit too "floaty" and I find the jaguar appearance to be more appealing). After all these years, I find that I continue to appreciate the refinement and sophistication of the 600. I continue to be awed by the 600. The leather dash, the comfort, the quietness.. its an amazing car. How ever, as with us humans, my 600s are aging. I bought them used anyway (so that I didn't get killed with the $120K price tag). They are aging very well that they have not given me problems.. but still, they are 2008 models - already 5 years old. I am planning to sell, only because of the cost analysis. It seems to make sense to sell at least one. In fact, I might even sell both, this summer. For the actual driving fun, I think the German cars and the Jaguar are better. But the lexus 600 has its own advantages - the sophisticated refinement, the quietness and the silky smootheness.

lexus600hl

I just realized the fallacy in my assumptions.
If I kept the cars for another year, they would probably go down only $7000 or so.. Hopefully, no repairs.. So, it would not be so bad..
I might wait for a few months to decide.
thanks to all for your comments..

Luxofreak

Have you been lurking at the Jaguar forums? If not, you should. There are annoyances that we Lexus owners would not put up with. A few examples:

1 - Parking sensors in the XJ have to be turned on by hand when you need to use them, EVERY TIME. Their default is always off;

2 - Info/Nav cluster freezes for no apparent reason, randomly;

3 - No soft close doors;

4 - 2013 models have this new annoying start/stop engine function;

5 - Auto-volume in the sound system can't be turned off;

6 - No more 6-speed on '13 models. 8 speed only. The 6 speed transmission was PERFECT.

7 - Some owners report fuel level sensor malfunctions

The list goes on and on. Stunning car to look at and fun to drive, but for those of us that are spoiled with trouble free Japanese electronics, the XJ will be a rude wake up call to how well you had it with your 600h - if you trade it that is.

lexus600hl

I have not been to the Jaguar forums. I did buy a Jaguar XF for my son, last year. It has had absolutely no trouble. Not even a single issue - at about 12,000 miles and 9 months of age. No oil change for 15,000 miles (I think). He had to take it in to replace a fuse (coin in cigarette lighter outlet - probably done by a Valet). They replaced a foot cover also (because I might have broken its clips while checking the fuse) and their service, he said, was as good as Lexus. Instead of replacing just the clips, they replaced the whole pad (just a plastic pad anyways).

1 - Parking sensors in the XJ have to be turned on by hand when you need to use them, EVERY TIME. Their default is always off
I don't think so. My XF has parking sensors on all the time but I used it only for a few days. So I cant be 100% sure.. but I am pretty sure that the sensors work fine.

2 - Info/Nav cluster freezes for no apparent reason, randomly
Nav does not freeze but its not the best.. but not horrible either. I prefer Garmin but its nav works fine. Never froze. I drove it from Wisconsin to Texas.

3 - No soft close doors
True.. I still don't use soft close as much as I should. Not an issue for me.

4 - 2013 models have this new annoying start/stop engine function
Not sure what this is.

5 - Auto-volume in the sound system can't be turned off
Don't know and don't care.

7 - Some owners report fuel level sensor malfunctions
Never had the problem.

The list goes on and on. Stunning car to look at and fun to drive, but for those of us that are spoiled with trouble free Japanese electronics, the XJ will be a rude wake up call to how well you had it with your 600h - if you trade it that is.
I agree that its a stunning car. The XF's interior equals the 600's interior - including leather dash (the XJ didn't have leather dash - maybe it was an option on my xf). The XF I leased for my son has a 5 liter engine. City gas mileage is awful (may be 15) but overall is 21. It is absolutely a fun car to drive. The engine growl, the acceleration and the sportive driving - it is an excellent car. I am not really worried about the troubles - I would be leasing it.. I need to worry only after 48,000 miles. Anyway, I think I am going to wait for a while, before I change cars.

Thank you for your post. I appreciate it. You are probably correct that it might not be as reliable as the lexus.

Luxofreak

You're welcome and I just decided to post because I have been in the same situation for a while, in fact since I've seen the redesigned XJ-L for the first time in 2010. No doubt, I like its looks much better than all LS cars.

What gave me pause (and still does) are the pesky XJ issues reported by actual owners. And what turned me off even more was the fact that they put an 8-speed in it -- something I really don't like about the LS460 -- and the start/stop function - it will turn the engine off at full stops and then turn it on again when you need to go. I can see myself turning this feature off all the time (thank GOD they put a button there to turn it off, but gotta do it every time you use the car).

The XJ's parking sensors are OFF always. Need them? Gotta turn them on every time. And above a certain speed, they turn off again. A dumb implementation in my opinion.

The auto-volume thing is annoying as heck. As you drive around and the speeds increase, their sound system will EQ and adjust volume on the fly... and it's not subtle. And you can't turn it off, like you can on the LS460.

But hey, even with all these (and other not listed here) pesky problems, I might get a 2012 XJ-L that has that AMAZING 6 speed transmission and no stupid start/stop "feature".

lexus600hl

Which jaguar forums?

Luxofreak

This one: Click here

lexus600hl

Just in case the parkinig issue is a serious concern for you, the following is a reply from my jaguar dealer. As I wrote, my son's XF parking sensors seem to work as expected and I didn't even know that there was a button to engage it. So.. you need not worry about this issue, if you are considering the jag

from jaguar dealer: "The only way that you may have to engage the parking sensors is if you are pulling into a parking spot rather quickly, but at slower speeds, the front and rear sensors automatically come on. Both while in reverse and front sensors while in drive. "