swirvin

Rewind back to early June 2014. Purchased a 2009 LS460 AWD CPO from Hendrick Lexus in Charlotte, NC. At this point I have nothing negative to say about the dealer. They have so far gone above in service and seem to be willing to go beyond to make this right. I will continue to do business with them and refer business to them.

The car had 69k miles. The 1st issue we had was with the paint. Some major cosmetic flaws I didn't notice til later on. They agreed and did paint work on the car. My fiance picked up the car and of course she doesn't know much about paint. After I saw the car I found several issues with the new paint work.

Then while driving the car on a hilly road at speeds around 45mph the car started to hesitate and when I would accelerate the car to the floor the RPM's would not go over 4k and the car hesitated for like 5 seconds. After I parked for a few hours and drove car again and didn't happen anymore. On July 5th driving to Florida on Vacation we came to a long bridge on a big incline with stop and go traffic and the car does the same exact thing except this time I have to put the car in sport mode to force it to shift. It continued to do it on flat roads also. After the car sit for hours it never did it again to we got back home from Vacation it did it again.

So we took the car to the dealer 07/14/14

The service adviser agreed the paint work was not acceptable and I was't being too picky. The 1st thing he wanted to get handled was the engine problems.

He called me yesterday and said they found the issue and it was a TSB. The heads along with a new ECM would have to be replaced! After looking at the cars service history in detail the car had the same exact TSB done @46k miles! We've only driven the car 1200 miles!

I told the adviser we don't want this car anymore and we need to get with the manager to figure out a solution. I also sent out a email to our salesman to let him know our issue.

Within a hour the salesman and the manager called me as a courtesy to let me know they would work together to get this resolve to our satisfaction asap. I told him we no longer felt we could trust the dependably of this car along with the condition of the paint.

The manager said they would take the car back and make it financially good for us. We traded with $5k equity so I expect that to be applied towards the new car we decide to purchase.

After reading the forums on all the LS460 cars having the exact same issue I've decided were gonna go with a different model Lexus. I'm supposed to go to dealer this evening to take a look at some different models and crunch some numbers.

So i'm very curious if they will 100% take care of at minimum our equity towards new car, I'll keep you updated!

Anyone else had a similar or same experience?

greg3852

Not a single issue like that here. Sorry you had a bad experience, but I think you may have just had some bad luck. Obviously it is not a model issue, but an individual vehicle issue or lexus wouldn't have the reliability record it does.

swirvin

Trust me I love the features and ride of the car. They have a 2010 LS460 RWD w/ Sport pkg w/ 48k miles CPO

I've highly considered going for it, but I'm real nervous & hesitant after reading threads several pages long with the same issue on AWD or RWD.

sydtoosic

go for it... 2010 LS460, don't allow one bad apple to spoil the whole bunch. LS460 = Happieness

swirvin

LOL! The other issue is the wifey drives the car some too. I'll never hear the end of it if we have further mechanical issues.

nsaldanh

I had a 2008 SWB and now have a 2012 LWB. Neither of them have had these issues. I would stay away from the AWD if you don't need it.

jlawr

If you're considering buying the car, I'm sure the dealer would let you take it home for the weekend before purchase. That should be enough time to tell if you like it or not.

Pamperme

Despite Lexus's enviable reliability record, the fact remains that the 2007+ model years are unfortunately NOT as reliable as the previous years. Consumer Reports bears this out. I love my Lexus (LS 430) but I will also be the first one to call Lexus out when their reliability record starts to slip. And it DEFINATELY has been slipping. LEXUS GET UR ACT TOGETHER!!!!

shrikelex

Yeah I don't know about other states, but Cali has the 48 hour deal, where you pay 250/for 24 hrs or 500 for 48 hours and after you purchase the car, if you decide to return it you get all your money back, its actually in writing and kind of cool I thought, I almost jumped on it, but my 08 with 105K seemed fine to me, and its still running like new, but I didn't do it, I test drove it pretty good and put it thru the emergency stop to test the brakes, haha., salesguy probably had go get an ekg after that but hey all part of the test drive. I'd like to get something new, but can't afford to lease a new LS only a GS so not sure I wanted to go GS status or even RX lease status, although they look pretty cool.

swirvin

Update:

The dealer is taking car back for what we paid.

I know most of you are going to think were crazy. But we didn't feel confident in buying another used LS460 unless its 2013+ but we don't want to spend that kind of money.

But we decided to lease a brand new is350. We're in our late 20's so it still suits us for now and we love the new sporty look.

We'll trade in it two years and maybe a used 2013 LS460 will be in a price range were comfortable with.

Amphibulus

An IS 350 is a fun car, but the ride is so stiff and the car is really noisy. I'm still in my 20 too, and I got the ES 300h, cheap on gaz and it's way more comfortable than the IS. I got an IS while my ES was in for a rattle, and I was so happy to be back in my ES.

After driving a LS, which is quieter and smoother then ES, I don't know how you could downgrade to IS. You are a very brave men

But I agree with you, the 2013+ are looking really nice, I will probably get one later when the price are getting a bit lower.