UDel

It's at a Mitsu.dealership.

UDel

I don't understand raising the price of a car by $2000 that is not moving and has been on the market since Oct, makes no sense. It looks like someone did a Lexus inspection on it recently before the price went up, maybe they found something expensive wrong with it so they raised the price to cushion a repair they may have to do or a buyer lowering the offer because of any issues.

Junglequac

In a perfect world, I would bypass all dealers with perhaps the exception of a Lexus dealer when looking for a preowned LS460. Especially when looking at 2007-2009''s it is not that common to find one owner examples, they are out there.

I shudder to think of the hours I spent on the myriad car listing websites looking for just that and after finding the blessed few going on to the Lexus owners portal to pore over the service history.

While CarFax can be handy, there are countless cars out there that show no accidents only for that not to be the case. Sometimes, it is a simple oversight and or some collision shops purposely do not report repairs. That said, if involved in an accident requiring the police to show up, I don't see how that can be withheld,

In my experience, many folks so prioritize a car not having an accident history that they pay little attention to service history. I would way rather have a car that perhaps needed a $5000 repair with a perfect service history than one with little to no service history. That said, if purchasing a car with an accident that shows up on CarFax, it will cause issues when it comes time to sell as at best the potential buyer will try to beat you up on price.

Kennyr44

Service history is overblown for modern cars. Of course it's a plus but not that big a negative. Oil changes are a must but look at the rest, mostly a bunch of check this and check that. With today's cars little is done except for filter changes at 30k and tire rotations. Brake fluid, rear axle and trans fluid can go 100k no problem. If I had proof of recalls and oil changes I would'nt rule out a car if it checked out and drove good in my color preference. Of course brakes need changing but thats gonna happen regardless. Accident repairs done right if not extreme is fine too and is no deal breaker for me.

roadfrog

Geezzzz....we definitely disagree here. Letting hygroscopic fluid like brake fluid go 100k miles would be a bad idea...especially given the brake booster issues and warranty issues, ABS, etc. Brake fluid should be flushed every two years regardless of mileage.

UDel

I wish I could find more private sales and not have to deal with a dealer markup but almost no LS460's or GS350's are listed as private sales, most people I guess are just trading them in these days and are happy with what they are getting for them. I got a great deal on my 2nd GS430 from a private seller, with its mileage it was going for less then most GS300's I saw and it was exactly what I wanted. The guy was moving and the dealer was giving him nothing for the car so I made out. It was involved in a accident that was reported on carfax but it was pretty minor, the only evidence of a accident I could see was a paint drip by the gas tank, other then that the car was just fine and drove fine for 10 years so I won't always turn down a car with a minor accident as long as it was repaired correctly. I was carfax would go into more detail about the accident and perhaps provide pictures.

Sometimes a minor accident can actually be a good thing because it fixes previous old paint, chips, dings, imperfections, etc. It did when my GS was backed into and they repainted the front bumper that was full of chips, scratches, and nicks and it looked brand new afterward which was nice, I wish the hood got dinged too because I would have gotten it painted to deal with bird etchings, rock chips, old paint, etc.

Service history at a dealership is nice and something preferred, I want to see it get serviced a few times but I took great care of my car with what I could myself for half its life, was much more gentle then any Lexus mechanic would be with maintenance and kept all the receipts and records for oil changes, transmission fluid changes, brake and steering fluid flush, pads, etc so the next owner can see.


Did anyone have difficulty with the Lexus Owners website, I registered and typed the VIN number in for a car I was researching and it keeps saying the VIN is invalid when it is not invalid?

Dave144239

Yeah, I went through that when I first signed up. The site has just changed (for me, at least - it says they're rolling out an upgrade), but I found that if I already had a car added to my profile, but it was a different model/year from the one I was trying to get the service history for, I would get the "Invalid VIN" error. If you start with the section that says "Manage your Lexus vehicles and add drivers", you can easily see what you have on your profile. Once the car has been added, you can just go to "view service history" and it'll show up.

Lexus88

So I was shopping at the dealership the other day and I ran into an old friend who worked there. He saw that I was interested in the LS460... I'm looking into a 2013 and up model... He told me that all the 4th gen LS's have an issue with the control arm. Said the car is too heavy and the control arms weren't designed for that much weight... Cost for repairs is a few grand and it's only a temporary fix. Is this true??? Was really interested in buying one of these but this issue without a permanent fix might steer me in a different direction...

Doublebase

riknchar

Upper Control Arm failures is a common problem for the LS460, especially in the 2007 - mid-2010 years. I haven't heard of many failures in the 2013+ models though, and there are definitely affordable aftermarket solutions to this issue. I would definitely not let this potential problem sway me from buying one of these amazing luxury cars! Compare the potential control arm problem to most issues prevalent in used Mercedes or BMWs and you'll come running to Lexus!

SW17LS

Its really an overblown problem. Yes the car will likely require replacement control arms as it approaches 100k miles, but so do a lot of other cars, and staying away from the dealer keeps repair costs way down.

"Temporary fix", if you consider 80-100k miles temporary.

Lexus88

Tec80

Driving style has a lot to do with bushing failures. 2 things really flex the control arm bushings: Sudden hard brake application and coming to an abrupt stop vs. feathering the brake pedal as the car stops. The bushings are a big part of what makes the ride so compliant without making the handling mushy, and as such are a compromise. Figure on replacing them once in 150k miles and it really isn't too bad - especially considering how reliable the rest of the car is.

UDel

What kits for them all cost 200? Are they high quality?

Control arms worry me but have not turned me off since there are after market and DIY options. They were supposed to have been improved around mid 2010 but if you do searches on cars that had the improved control arms I have found over 50% that still needed the control arms replaced so they did not fix the design and it does not even seem like they improved it much, it is actually only the cheap rubber bushing that goes bad, the metal part can be reused and lasts.

PwrdbyM

A control arm issue certainly isn't a reason not to buy a car. A suspension bushing (what fails, not the arm iteself) is a wear part and if enough time passes all of them on any vehicle will eventually fail. In this case the timeframe is shortened given the deisgn flaw. These aren't hard to replace if you DIY (guides on this forum). If not, try going to an independent who can install aftermarket parts-anything but the dealer.