Good evening gentlemen. Considering purchasing a 2010 LS 460 AWD, comfort package, cold weather package, 100K on the clock, dealer wants $15,900.

2 "owners", originally 3 yr. lease in NY, then bought from dealer in ATL by most recent owner. Carfax and service info from the lexus owner's site shows regular oil changes, brakes, right front shock replacement, lower control arms, CV boots.

Vehicle looks very clean but I haven't laid eyes on it personally (I can rely on the dealer photos, right?). Seriously though, if ends up being clean does that sound like a fair deal?

 

I’d look for rust if it’s from NY. Otherwise you probably don’t need AWD if you are in FL.
I would probably prefer a local RWD version.

 

Appreciate the feedback gentlemen.

I was looking for AWD because I anticipate keeping this car for a while and we frequently travel to TN and I also may take some travel assignments out west in the next several years.

The car was up in NY for the first three years, owned in Atlanta after that. Is that long enough up north for rust to be a concern? What should I look for specifically? Just general inspection of the undercarriage I assume?

 

If it lived in NYC or Westchester County, I would not be particularly concerned about possible rust compared with somewhere upstate like Buffalo or Syracuse.

The asking price does not really seem out of line for a dealer.

 

You might want to plug in all of the specifics in sites like Edmunds, KBB, etc. and see what values you get to give you a general idea of value.

I wouldn't worry about rust. I've driven my car on salt roads every winter with no sign of damaging rust.

 

Join good luck with your search,

you are in florida great, best place in America to buy a used car.

For you a 2nd good thing is Lexus are abundant in Florida

my 2 cents only buy a Florida car bought and used here and preferably garaged

The roads lead to suspensions that can go over 250k
especially with work done on the control arms or shocks

good luck,

 

I have this exact same vehicle and would agree with FunFact. You can get this vehicle for much less than $15.9 and $13k is reasonable. Because the bottom line is you may need to put a few bucks into the car within the first year of buying it. But is it worth it? Oh yeah. Great car and I would not worry about rust. 5 bucks in quarters one on knee and power washing every nook and crannie of the undercarriage and she'll be fine. The paint and clear coat on these vehicles is of exceptoinally good quality.

So yours does not have air suspension? Good, you don't want it. I would also caution against the alabaster (light cream color) interior or any of the lighter colors. Black will allow you more weekends of free time as the light colored alabaster is an alab*tch to keep clean. I would assume the light grey and parchment are as challenging as well.

Here's what I've done with control arms. When I replaced them about 3 years ago I replaced the entire arm with the bushing already installed in the new control arms. Do NOT buy Lexus control arms. It doesn't make a difference as they will wear out just as fast as something from Ebay, Rock Auto or Oreilly. . Anywho, once I had the old control arms out of the car, I replaced the bushings by taking them to a machine shop and they pressed the new bushings that I provided in for me. I watched the process and since it's my intent to keep this car for a while, I plan on buying a 10 or 20 ton press from Harbor Freight for about $100 and doing myself in the future. And I'd be able to replace more bushings throughout the vehicle to contribute to a longer life span. And I'll always have a set of control arms with fresh bushings in them, ready to go in the bullpen so to speak.

AWD? Hmmm...not sure about this one. I personally love the feature as I had a LS 400 that caused me to pucker more on ice and snow than any other car I'd owned. Terrifying. Like watching Paris Hilton at a Spelling Bee. However the 460 AWD is confidence inspiring. I've run both Nokian hakkapeliitta and Michelin X-ice as winter tires and I have driven in 12 to 16 inches of broker snow down Interstate 25 at 80 miles an hour in very light traffic and never felt that the car was not on stable footing. Works just as well in standing water and rain. It does add a few hundred pounds to the car and the MPG on this car wasn't great to begin with. And she likes top shelf 91 octane, not the stuff in the well.

So I vote YES if you can get it at a good price knowing full well that you'll periodically have to swap out control (or I call them clunk arms) arms every once in a while. The operating costs are higher because of reduced MPG and higher octane fuel. And if you'v e got the wrong color interior you'll start to require your passengers take their shoes off and leave them in the trunk lol... go for it. This is my third LS and I love them. Even with the few warts this model year has. It's quiet, it's cool in the heat, it's deceptively fast both of the line and top end, it's roomy and super comfortable, and you can do just enough to soup them up a bit, give them some growl etc. that you can make that pimple faced neighbor kid with the hopped up Subaru WRX keep his mouth shut and not get the beat down from the old man down the street with that big *** LS 460 and his 3 buddies in the car with their golf bags in the trunk He wouldn't stand a chance.

You might also find out if the plugs have been replaced as well as the timing chain/belt and water pump. Use that as ammunition to get teh lower price since if they've not been done, you'll want to schedule those on your calendar for sometime in the next year or so, if not sooner . Personally, I've never had any issues with the ML amplifier, wind noise, brake actuator etc. or the other things that had Tech Bulletins or recalls about but these were other issues you might check with Lexus directly to see if previous owners ever took advantage of any of these recalls.

Good luck and I hope you get a deal that you're happy with and PM me with any specific questions.

 

Thanks for all the input!!

I drove my father-in-laws 08 Sat. morning for a bit. I had driven one before but it had been a while. My current daily is a BMW 540i M-Tech, damn fun car but you know, that crazy redhead is alot of fun but you can't count on her. You mentioned modifications that could be done to these cars....tell me more!?!?!?!?!? I know they are not a "sports-sedan", but man, I'd be very interested to know what I could do to one of these to give it a little more feel/fun factor.

 

You mention you changed out the control arm bushings. I have a 2011 AWD and haven't been able to locate bushings for it. Could you share what bushings you used?

 

Continuing to search, certainly plenty of nice ones to choose from, although finding one in that $12K-$13K range that is in really good shape with mileage under 100K, not much luck there.

460 vs. the 460L, does the L actually feel substantially bigger? How different does it drive from the regular wheelbase?

 

I've had both, the L feels more "stately", has more presence on the road, rides better and more "elegantly"

 

Nice.

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I have a 2009 LS460 with ~75k miles, and there's rust starting to form in front of right rear wheelwell. I live in NJ and prior owner was from tri-state NY (so not Buffalo/upstate). So I wouldn't be so confident about not worrying about rust (albeit its a 10yr old car so maybe 'normal').