I've never had a Lexus vehicle that I wouldn't rate as "extremely reliable".

Seriously, if I think of the repairs I've had done to the 6 Lexus vehicles I've had that were not ordinary wear maintenance...

The 98 LS had an intermittent starter issue towards the end of its ownership (165k miles or so)
The 03 ES had a bad 02 sensor once or twice
The 03 ES had the lower control arms replaced at about 160k miles
The 03 ES had the dogbone engine mount replaced around 125k miles

Other than that...I can't think of anything...I'd rate that as pretty good.

 

I have to agree.

I have a Mercedes 560SEL and an LS 430. The MB has 125k miles; the LS 115. The MB is 25 years old; the LS turns 15 in March. Mechanically I'd consider them similar in age.

I have the service records for both since new or near new. The records for the MB take up 2 manila folders. The LS takes up half of one.

The LS460 was a clean-sheet redesign and is a more complicated car but several times has been the top car in JD Powers Initial and long term quality surveys. Not just for it's segment but across the entire survey.

Yes parts are expensive and some things will go wrong; but just try crying a river to a BMW E65 owner. He'll (try) to beat you senseless with his (almost empty) wallet.

 

Bwahahaha. Me first!!! Though my wallet is now a little thicker since replacing my E65 with the LS.

 

The telling thing, IMO is the number of problem areas on these very complex cars. No car is going to be perfect, but the LS is closer. The LS has about five chronic issues (and the most severe of those were fixed during the run). The German competitors have far more. "Everything" can go wrong on a LS and you still won't be out THAT much, and that's just not true with something like an E65 or F01.

 

Took the LS in today for the fuel line recall and 75,000 mile oil change. Service writer called me to say the water pump was leaking badly and needed to be replaced. Fortunately, it was covered by the extended warranty ($1000 otherwise) but I thought this rather strange. I was used to this in my BMWs (with their plastic water pumps - it was more of a "scheduled maintenance" item) but rather surprised in the Lexus.

 

What!!?? WOW! I did mine for 55 bucks, plus some coolant and 90 minutes of my time! That's unbelievable.

 

Toyota water pumps are a weak point...

 

Now, here is the thing...
Roadfrog:
You know first hand how thankful I am for everything you helped me with regarding this repair with my LS.
Now that I have done it, and essentially twice, due to a minor hick-up, I have no idea what so ever, why in the world they would charge so much money for this repair.
For them to charge that much is simply criminal.

 

Now I come to think of it, most repairs on that car are a nice round multiple of $1000....... makes you think!?

 

Its very simple, the dealers are taking a playbook from the healthcare industry. Jack up the prices so people see the value in overpriced warranties. We don't have that much time left because they will pass legislation where owners cannot work on their own cars. They will say it's either proprietary or a safety concern for others that share the road. All of a sudden DIY people will get a bad rap in the media for accidents caused by the result of their work and insurance companies will cement the deal by not insuring these owners.
I hope dealers charge even more for repairs just so people can see how bad the scam is. Once everyone is on a warranty system then the premiums go up.

 

I've said it before and I will say it again.

DO NOT TAKE AN OLDER LEXUS TO THE LEXUS DEALERSHIP.

You will get killed on repair bills. Lexus dealers have a "replace first, and keep replacing until you fix the problem" mentality, thats how Toyota teaches them to operate. Thats fine when Lexus is paying for warranty work...but when it gets old and you are paying...it will break you.

There is nothing on this car that can't be worked on by any good mechanic. Find a good, trustworthy independent mechanic and this is a pretty cheap car to operate.

 

True, in principle.......... But in my neck of the woods (Chapel Hill, NC), the independents charge 95% of dealer rates. The only people that charge 1/2 that - well, you wouldn't want them touching your car!

 

You have independent mechanics that charge $130 an hour for labor?

 

Yeah, no kidding. Not much of an incentive to use independants in that case.

 

Yes. Our dealership charges $120/hr and the independents are at $100............. whether it's a Corolla or an LS460............ because they can!