I took a look at a 2011 LS460 Touring edition near me and test drove it, it has a clean carfax, decent service history, Florida car, at a Jag/BMW Dealership complex, from what I saw looked pretty good with a few scratches, kind of a nasty white one near trunk bumper and curb rash on wheels that was pretty bad on the edges of one, some clearcoat was peeling around the rear tire well, I did not have time to give it the most thorough inspection or go through everything. When I looked down when opening the drivers door there was what looked like a dimple in the paint in the door sill but it did not go all the way across, trying to upload a pic I took of it. It seemed to drive good though I have no real reference as I don't have much of any experience with these cars, no noises going over bumps, turns, acceleration seemed good though I did not go crazy even though the salesman said go ahead and get more aggressive. Interior was in good condition considering age and mileage. It is being offered at a good price, when the salesman asked if I was interested I said yes but I would first need to take it to a Lexus dealership to have them inspect it, the guy said it was against policy to take it anywhere to get checked out as they did not want it off the market for any period of time, said they check it out, I was pretty surprised and did not say much after that, I was about to say is there anything wrong with it, but he insisted they would not sell a car with issues but after a little back and forth of me saying having it inspected would be the only way I would buy it he said he would ask and they seemed to agree later when they called me.

Anyway, right as I was about to turn back into the dealership I saw a warning light about checking the Sonar Parking sensor, came on the Nav system and on the speedo area. Anyone else have a code like that or is it anything to be concerned about, high cost to deal with? Thanks.

 

 

 

Thanks for the replies, sounds like it is not too big of a deal then with the sensor. I will try to have it checked out Monday at a Lexus dealer if it is still for sale.

 

 

Thanks for the heads up, I believe it said check Sonar Parking sensor when it came on. Did you have any issue with yours or were there any other signs to know about that?

 

 

I never tried the radar cruise the test drive, it would have been pretty pointless with all the slow traffic on the road I was traveling. I will try it next time I drive it. Thanks for the info. Hopefully any issue would show up if I get it inspected at the Lexus Dealership.

The outrageous prices they charge for some of these parts that go bad do terrify me about buying the car.

 

I'm sure it would show up in an inspection at the dealer.

Like I've said before, its an expensive car and parts are expensive, you have to be prepared for that. But, think about it when was the last time you heard of a radar cruise failure. The LS430s had radar cruise, you never read of failures in there and if you do have a failure, you can always just choose to use regular cruise control.

 

I have it at the dealership, dealer says it looks like a rock chip on the parking sensor. Are they expensive to replace, is diy possible for cheap if seller does not want to fix. I notice some slight ticking when starting out, I hit brakes hard a few times and did not hear anything, dealer said it is likely di fuel pump and normal. Only other thing I noticed was a rough idle, little rougher then first time I drove it. Dealer thought might be bad gas. I will keep updated.

 

Update, the Lexus dealership says it is around $525 to replace the parking sensor but said it was a solid car, it could use new spark plugs which were over $600 at the dealership which were likely causing rough idle or possibly bad gas, said 3 Goodyear tires were direction and needed to be switched around. Unfortunately when I was pulling out of the dealership I could hear a creaking in the rear at low speeds, I did not hear that on the test drive or driving to the dealership. I went back into the parking lot and starting making more aggressive slow speed turns and going back and forth with the steering wheel and could hear it pretty noticeably, it was annoying so I went back and had the guy sit in it and listen, he heard and said it sounded like suspension but there was not a way to fully tell, said they normally just change everything out the whole suspension when you hear those noises and parts were $2500 to $3000 so that was definitely not a option, he said whatever it was likely revealed itself after it was on and off the lift, had a mechanic who worked on the suspension listen and said he thought it might not be suspension and could just be something loose but could not tell for sure. Said they normally put microphones in there but that would take some time so I took it back to the dealership, on the straights at higher speeds I did not hear anything, just on lower speed turns, a little on braking. They said they will take a look and contact me. I still like the car but the noise definitely needs to be diagnosed and fixed. I'll see what they say.

 

Personally I would pass on this one because its got to many small but expensive issues.

 

I am going to see what the seller says or offers, I do still like the car but I am concerned, unfortunately there is pretty much never a LS460 local to me with under 70K miles or a 11/12 or that is not newer/over priced so traveling over 100 miles for ones that will have their share of issues too is not very appealing or convenient, so far every LS for sale I have looked at or test driven had some kind of suspension issue/noise. I noticed in the wheel wells somewhere had sprayed something, it was probably to try to mask that noise.

 

Has anyone replaced a parking sensor? They are pretty cheap on ebay for new ones, around $30. Looks like a simple plug in.