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I confirmed that I actually CAN'T buy a Platinum warranty for a Lexus that is not still under the original powertrain warranty (4 years/50K miles), as several of you have pointed out. Toby from Shreveport did say that I could buy an extended CPO warranty from him if I find a certified Lexus. That may be what my local Lexus dealer was talking about...
I think most people wouldn't care for the golden almond color, but it's actually very similar to the color of my 2006 SC430, and it's kind of grown on me.
This car has been well serviced it's whole life, from reviewing the Lexus service history (see attached below). It had both front and rear air shocks replaced at between 50-55K miles. It did have the wind noise problem when new, and had several TSBs applied to fix the problem. The Lexus dealer just had to replace the water pump and direct injectors due to leaks. Looks like the Lexus dealer recommended the Upper and Lower front control arms be replaced, but no indication that was done (I'd insist on it being done if I were to buy the car). Nav hard drive was also just replaced. Brakes were replaced at 70K miles. Tires are fairly new. Seems like if the control arms get replaced this car will likely go a long time without any more issues...
Price is about $1,000 over KBB Retail, so there might be a bit of negotiating to be done. If I could get the control arms replaced and buy this car at around $17k, I'd probably jump on this one. Any thoughts from my forum friends?
Thanks, Steve. I think that gold color is so far out of fashion that it may actually start seeming unique again. And it would definitely be a nice match to my SC430 (here's a photo of my SC on the day I took delivery):
My only real concern is the lack of AWD. I would be driving the LS all winter, and we do get a fair amount of snow and ice here in Nebraska. I'm not sure I want to go through the hassle (cost, storage, etc.) of having a second set of tires/rims to switch to snow tires every winter. There are really probably only a handful of days that the snow would be a real problem, but all things being equal, I'd prefer an AWD LS460L... We'll see how aggressive this dealer gets on a final price. The car has been on their lot for nearly 60 days, the color is undesirable, and the car is RWD only in the middle of a very snowy state... The salesman said the Control Arms have not been replaced and that the car drives just fine - he doesn't think the arms are bad yet, even though the Lexus service guys recommended their replacement late last year. I know that if/when these arms go bad, I could have them replaced via my independent shop using decent aftermarket alternatives for much less than the Lexus prices, but I need to factor that into my decision.
I made an offer of $16,000 on this car this morning, and am awaiting a response from the sales manager. I kind of doubt he'd go that low, but that's really about what it's worth to me. We'll see.
$16k is not a bad offer. You can always go back up but you'll never come back down. The LS500 should be coming out soon and when they really start hitting the dealership I bet the prices on all of our LS are going to take a little hit.
Update: The Germain Lexus sales manager came back at $17,950 on the 2008 (his "best offer"). While this is probably a reasonably good price for a nice car being sold by a Lexus dealer, it's not quite low enough to make me jump just yet. The car has been at that dealership for 56 days, and will likely sit there another 30 or more (selling a gold-colored luxury car with RWD in the middle of Feb in the snow belt is a tough proposition). I told them to let me know if the price drops any further as time passes...
I did get a note from my local Lexus dealer saying that he's dropped the price of the 2010 LS460L AWD he has on his lot right now (https://www.lexusofomaha.com/Vehicle...-NE/3146146853). The price is now $21,992. That one is also somewhat attractive to me. The car has been religiously serviced at Lexus since new. The local dealer did some reconditioning to bring it back to perfect before putting it up for sale (repainted the front and rear bumper and trunk deck, plus one interior leather repair). Here's the full Lexus history for anyone interested/willing to give an opinion.
Last edited by riknchar; Feb 16, 2018 at 08:42 AM.
The 07 I bought in October is Golden Almond Metallic. When my client bought the car in 07 I did not much like the color. I have wanted this particular car for several years, given how it was maintained and used, so color really did not matter. Since I bought it from her I have only seen one other Golden Almond LS, and I like the uniqueness of the color. I have also received several compliments on the color, and vehicle as well.
I guess they must have renamed the interior color. While my 07 interior looks like this 08, my build sheet says Ivory interior.
The 2010 looks like a nice car. Are you going to go check it out.
I drove it last weekend when I was out looking. It drove perfectly, and everything on the car worked as designed. Like I said, this is a pretty nice car that would probably fit the bill for my needs. It's just a bit higher priced than I think it should be (I'd probably jump on it at $20k, not $22k), and my Lexus dealer is one of the new + stores that refuses to negotiate. I plan to wait them out a bit to see if they do a price drop to get down to where it would be a good deal. If not, no worries, I enjoy the hunt and am in no specific hurry to jump.
Last edited by riknchar; Feb 16, 2018 at 11:59 AM.
Reason: Typo
I drove it last weekend when I was out looking. It drove perfectly, and everything on the car worked as designed. Like I said, this is a pretty nice car that would probably fit the bill for my needs. It's just a bit higher priced than I think it should be (I'd probably jump on it at $20k, not $22k), and my Lexus dealer is one of the new + stores that refuses to negotiate. I plan to wait them out a bit to see if they do a price drop to get down to where it would be a good deal. If not, no worries, I enjoy the hunt and am in no specific hurry to jump.
Tell them you're in no hurry and to give you a shout when they are ready to take $20k.
Tell them you're in no hurry and to give you a shout when they are ready to take $20k.
My plan exactly, Caverman! I really am in no hurry to end my search, and always have the feeling that the perfect Lexus is right around the next corner. My problem is I don't stop scanning the ads after I buy, which inevitably results in remorse that I didn't wait just a bit longer... This time, I'm really trying to stay disciplined and patient! We'll see how that goes...
