Greezy

Here are the specs:
2008 Lexus LS460
Standard Wheel Base
Rear Wheel Drive
Smokey Granite Mica with Black Interior
49,000 miles
Certified Pre-Owned (3yr/100k warranty) from a Lexus dealership
Clean Car-Fax, one owner, no accidents, all service done at dealership
Paid $31,000 -- (before taxes/reg fees) good deal? I'm not really sure. I thought so.

Really liking the car so far. I'm not entirely new to Lexus, back in 2008 I had a brand new 08 ES350 that was given to me when my mother upgraded to a 2009 Audi A5. But that ES350 is nothing compared to this 08 LS460..this is a true luxury sedan. I was looking at a ton of different cars such as the 09 Audi A8L and 09 Mercedes S550. I ended up with the LS due to the reliability factor, and also price amongst other factors. Trying to be practical with the Lex. The Benz was more than I wanted to spend and too costly to maintain and the warranty wasn't as good. The Audi A8L was really nice inside and out and originally I only wanted AWD and quattro is legendary. And the interior was really gorgeous on the Audi, however the exterior of an 09 A8 is really outdated looking, as nice as the car is I couldnt get passed that. I feel like the Lexus is a more timeless exterior and still keeps up with the times even at 6 years old. But Finally it came down to the 2008 LS460 SWB RWD and a couple 2010 Lexus LS460's LWB AWD's. The 2010's were a lot more money. And I really wanted to spend that extra money, but I was trying to just be smart and not regret the bigger payment 3-4-5 years down the road. Well I'm really happy with the 08..but for the long term I definitely want a fully loaded car with the extra room and AWD. But the 08 will do for the next few years. A couple things I wish my car had that it doesn't have: -No mark levinson system, -No reclining rear seats, -Rear seats are heated but not ventilated, -No alacantara headliner, -No self parking feature (its a rare feature but I've test drove LS's with it and its awesome), -No all wheel drive or air suspension (no sport/comf. modes), and finally no side shades for the rear passengers, only has the auto rear shade. Eventually I think I want to upgrade to a LS with those features if I don't just go all out and get a 2012 Mercedes S550, assuming that car is worth buying in 2017 which is when I'd be ready to get it.. Anyway, I'm thinking about doing some things to the car and would really appreciate any feedback at all. Thinking about putting either 19" F-sport wheels or 20" custom rims on the car, not sure what tires would be best. Also thinking about vinyl wrapping the car to be matte grey or possibly doing a white. One thing I'm sure I want to do is black out the exhaust tips. And I'm almost positive I want to make the roof black to sort of imitate the look of a panoramic roof, but I'm not sure if I should do that now or wait til I want to wrap the whole car and tie in the roof with that. The car already had light tints, I'd say they're between 70%-50% tinted. During the day you can pretty much see inside the car, but at night it is pretty hard to see in. I'm probably gonna do what I've always done and make them all 20% besides the windshield. Also thinking about upgrading the sound system a little bit. I already bought digi-fit weathertech floormats which ive found are worth the money simply because I work at a scrap yard and I literally have change my shoes three times just to step in my car, and with the weathertech mats I can cut that down to just two times. One more thing I'm definitely 100% buying is this: (http://www.vaistech.com/site/mml.php) which allows my ipod to be played and controlled through the cars screen with actual good audio quality instead of the crappy quality you get with an auxiliary cord. Any thoughts, suggestions, criticism, or feedback would be great. Thanks and happy holidays.

brianlin87

iTrader: (11)

Congrats on the new pick up!

Tee

Congrats on finding a nice LS460!

1Putt

Congrats on the new ride! sounds like a good deal for a CPO

Nospinzone

Congrats on the new car, and good luck with it!

There is a wheel and tire sticky at the top of this forum that should give you some good info.

As to your deal, you can price your car out on Edmunds.com to check on how good it was.

And one suggestion, paragraphs are your friend!

LexusManny

Great deal. I paid $30k for mine from private party and no warranty. It had 62k miles with springs and amp already repaired by previous owner. Got $600 credit at dealer that I redeemed for two additional key transmitters.

I only wish I could upgrade the maps myself and fix the pulsating brakes at slow speeds. Other than this...great car so far.

hjones4841

Me, too. Previously I used a Garmin and had the lifetime map upgrades. When I bought my CPO 2011 3 weeks ago I noticed that it had the original maps. I decided to upgrade and took it to the local dealer. BTW, he said that for most people, upgrading every 3 years makes sense - that we would notice a difference at that interval.

Greezy

Thanks for the replies. I didn't know that you could update the maps. I thought whatever maps you have when the car is bought in 2008 is the maps you're stuck with. Do all lexus dealerships do this? Do they charge for the service?

Hjones4841, I had a Garmin in my previous car and it was brand new out the box, it actually took me the most retarded routes and half the times it wouldn't even take me the right direction. Maybe it was just mine but im really happy to have a built-in navigation again.

LexusManny, thanks for letting me know how much you paid. Did you shop around a lot for an Ls or did you buy it in a rush? It doesn't sound like a bad deal but without a warranty I would make sure I checked out every little detail on the actual car and the car fax. These cars are supposed to be reliable so at least you have some peace of mind with that.

hjones4841

My local dealer charged just over $300 for the map upgrade. Yeah, ouch!

I had very good luck with Garmins. BTW, even with the latest maps the Lexus nav took me in a convoluted route today. I came close to pulling the Garmin out of the trunk...

PeteinPA

iTrader: (2)

Greezy, I bought my 2008 in July, it had 29K miles. It has ML and Auto park. I bought it at a Toyota dealer it came with a 24 month, 25K warranty. I look at a lot of cars before my purchase, it appears that the price points in the northeast are a little higher than in other parts of the country. The only CPO I could find in my area was a 2007 had about 37k on it. It was a Navi car and no ML. They wanted 37K for the car. I paid less than
that for my 08 but got less of a warranty.

I would say that you got a good deal for an 08 CPO with that mileage. As others have advised check KBB or Edmunds those sites will give you a good ball park on what you should have payed.

Best of luck with the car. I am sure you are going to love it.

Blueshark

Greezy, having tested on various luxury cars, how does the LS stands on the gas consomption ? i also looking for a LS, maybe a E350 or bmw 5 series. Thanks for your input.

hjones4841

If I may chime in, on a 500 mile round trip this week in my 2011 LS460, all interstate, driving 75 I got 25.5 as reported by the built in trip computer. My brother said that he gets a little higher MPG in his 2007 LS, but he likely drives a little slower than I do.

LexusManny

I didn't shop around at all. My friend was selling it and she took great care of it. I got it with a recently installed new battery, newer rear tires, the valve springs fixed, the amp repaired, and a $600 repair credit at the dealer that I used to get 2 additional key transmitters (i have 3 now) to lend one to my significant other and one at the house for backup.

You can get the maps for $150 online, but you can't install yourself. The dealer has a digital key in USB thumbdrive to install the maps and they charge you to install. It's a great car. My kids love it. I'd be willing to pay $200 to upgrade maps, but not more.

Greezy

Blueshark, here is my take on gas mileage. I have had my LS a little over two weeks and am averaging around 16 mpg. This is less than I expected but at the end of the day, Ive been doing much more city driving than highway driving, and when the traffic does open up I notice my mpg's climb higher by the minute. But I am still yet to see this rumored "above 25 mpgs" that many people are getting, but I guess I just haven't driven it far enough on open road yet to get that type of mpgs.

As far as comparing the LS with other cars in this class, I would say that it definitely gets significantly better gas mileage than the Mercedes S550 and the BMW 750, and about the same as the Audi A8. As far as the 5 series and E350 go, you definitely have better gas mileage options with those cars. You do sacrifice a lot with those cars also. I personally don't like the E350. I don't like the styling, I don't like the performance (very slow) and it is too cramped inside for me, with more than two passengers. As with the 5 series, you have the 528 which is a 2.0L turbo 4 cylinder engine that has other features involved to help the car get pretty good gas mileage. But a 4 cylinder engine in a car that big is honestly a joke to me. I can't imagine that car being able to get out of its own way.. the 535 is decently quick with a 3.0 turbo V6, but I doubt you'll see anything above 18 mpgs in the city with that engine. My friend just picked up a 2012 550i with xdrive, and that thing is just a beast with the 4.4L turbo V8, and gets worse mileage per gallon than my LS.

hjones4841, $300 for upgraded maps is steep. Not sure if I want to go that route. I just bought the MML system from vaistech for $250 which allows full ipod integration straight through my LS's nav screen. Should be here in the next few days. That same company also offers an iphone and android integration system which allows full phone integration with the nav screen. I am really liking the idea. Here is one excerpt from their website about the android integration system: "There is no need for unlock/hack or navigation bypass product as there is no lockout feature on this product while driving. There is no need to update factory navigation with the latest maps, as your navigation app constantly gets the latest Maps update for FREE. No need to get used to new user interface, as it's exactly the same as your Android Phone or Tablet." To me, this seems like a better option than upgrading the lexus maps from a dealership. For $500, you always have the latest maps, and a laundry list of every other benefit of having your phones screen mirrored on your nav screen. I think the company also offers the same or similar system for iphones.

PeteinPA, wow, 29k miles is a baby. And man do I wish I had ML and auto park and I assume yours also has reclining rear seats. I know of plenty of people that have rolled back mileage on their cars, so my only advice for that is to just make sure that the condition of the car matches the mileage. That warranty that the Toyota dealership gave you is pretty weak, however I don't see why Lexus wouldn't put an extended CPO warranty on an LS with well below 50k miles, however this would cost you around $2,000. In my opinion, that is $2,000 well spent to avoid plenty of possible headaches and expenses down the line, but you shouldn't have anything to worry about for a long time with an LS that young.

LexusManny, knowing the person you're buying the car from personally, and knowing how well they took care of it, is a huge incentive to buy the car. I'm sure anyone in that position would have done the same thing. All car salesmen are liars so regardless of what history they give you about the previous owner(s), it is most likely complete BS. Car salesmen are known to fake entire detailed intricate back-stories on vehicles that they're trying to move. These stories will sound authentic to most unsuspecting buyers. Knowing the previous owner of your LS will definitely benefit you somewhere down the line.