Da Hapa

The lease just came up on our 2006 LX470 and we sold it to Carmax. We thought for a while about buying it off of lease but Lexus was unwilling to move on the price of an extended warranty and given the surprising amount of small, minor issues that we had with this Lexus... we decided to pass.

So anyone in S. Ca that's looking for a used LX470... keep your eyes peeled for new inventory in Irvine. Our Lexus was in pristine shape with all maintenance up to date and nearly brand new tires.

I'll miss a lot of things about that vehicle but since we never really used it for it's intended purpose (off road)... it's time for something new.

Hoser

Care to share the residual value or buy at end of lease cost?

I'm still holding onto my LX and NSX! I hope to add a 997 C2S soon!

cobra2top

What kind of small minor issues? Jut curious if you wanted to launch it if it would still be a good one for someone here.

felixsc300

iTrader: (5)

I don't follow, aren't you supposed to return the car to the dealership (Lexus)?

pagemaster

I am curious to know what issues you had with your LX470?

Da Hapa

Cobra2top and Pagemaster - We had a lot of minor issues. These issues included:
- Faulty outside mirrors. The feature with the auto tilt down continued to fail. The driver's side mirror was replaced twice and the passenger's side was replaced once.
- drivetrain issue. Our developed a strange groan at idle. Some bolts were faulty and had to be replaced and retorqued.
- creeky sunroof. The dealer added felt, lubed it every time it went in for service and it never was right.
- faulty driver's seat. The power lumbar support gave up the ghost and had to be replaced.
- faulty back up camera. Replaced twice.

Clearly none of these issues were serious in and of themselves and none left us stranded. But they were annoying and frankly, surprising. We still have our 1997 LS400 with nearly 155,000 miles and we have literally had 0 problems with that. Based on our previous Lexus ownership (two other LS, an IS and an RX) we don't expect to have issues with Lexus vehicles. Esp. not when the vehicle in question was the most expensive in the line up (at that time).

In addition, we had several dealership issues. We had to replace the front windshield after catching a rock on the 405... the knucklehead at the dealership left his belt buckle on and scratched the hell out of both front fenders and doors. Everything got repainted. Another dealership didn't set the parking break and let the LX roll into a wal. The front bumper got repainted.

We loved our LX but in 4 years and 45,000 miles we honestly thought the car was cursed. And given the myriad of minor issues we had, we just couldn't pull the trigger to buy it out.

End of the day... it doesn't matter. Carmax listed the car on Tues of this week, put up pictures on Wed. and it was sold by Thurs. morning.

Someone got a very well cared for, very nice vehicle at a great price. I hope and pray that our curse doesn't carry over to them.

Da Hapa

That is one option. But you have many.

You can also buy the car out. We had a closed end lease with a set residual. In our case Carmax gave us several thousand more than what our buyout was. We sold the car to Carmax, they made Lexus "whole" and we pocketed the $.

Da Hapa

I honestly don't recall the capitalized cost on our LX so I can't calculate the residual as a percentage of MSRP.

But... we paid $1,000 less than list on our LX back in 2006. We got a great deal because we've purchased so many Lexus and gas prices were pretty high at that time...

I think... emphasize think... that put our cap. cost in the low $50,000 range. Our buyout was $30,400. Carmax listed (and I assume sold since they have no haggle pricing) at just under $39,000.

V8_Fan

Only issue I've had with my 03 LX since getting it in early '06 and putting 38K mi on it (currently at 86K) is the VGRS ECU had to be replaced under warranty since the steering wheel was turned 10deg to the left when the car was driving straight. My LX was one of the first built with VGRS; dealer said the ECU was superceeded by a new design. It was covered under warranty.

After '05, LX/LC's were made by Toyota. Before that, they were made in Japan by Araco, a maker of custom motor coaches. Araco had been the sole builder since the landcruiser was first made in the 1950's. A bunch of 30-40 yr landcruiser factory veterans were rumored to have retired when Toyota took over production. Just looking at the statistics of the number of problems on ih8mud, it seems the 05/06-07's dispproportiately have many more problems. One item (which you don't have issues with in CA) are the AHC height sensors. In states where they salt the roads, the newer (05+) sensors corrode very quickly while those on prior LX's didn't have nearly as many issues. Apparently, Toyota changed parts vendors about the time they took over the Araco operation.

No question that Toyota quality has been going downhill, especially in the last 5 yrs. I think peak Toyota quality was around 1995-2005. This is one reason I decided to buy the previous model tried-and-true LS430, besides not being able to afford a new one.

Da Hapa

I would agree that Toyota/Lexus quality isn't as good as it once was. I don't know how much of that; however, is due to QC vs. the sheer magnitude of all the fancy electronic doo dads that are in today's cars. My parents old 1984 Camry that ran forever had less computing power in it than the HVAC system probably does in a current Camry.

I will say this too... my folks are on their 4th LS (1990, 1994, 1997 (that I now own) and now a 2006). Each car had well over 100,000 miles on it before it was sold for the next. The 2006 now has 60,000 miles and it has been rock solid EXCEPT for a recurring problem with door seals that squeek. Again... nothing serious but it's really annoying... esp. in a tomb quiet car like the LS. And the dealership has been on top of it. But we're glad we we have an extended warranty on that puppy!

V8_Fan

This is a common issue on the LS430. I had the same issue w/ mine, but fixed it! My dealership was unable to fix it (was still trying by the time I figured it out myself...literally took two rocket engineers to solve the problem!

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/4989984-post1.html

Da Hapa

Thanks Jim. The creaks in their car are actually in all four doors and the dealership seems to have corrected them but I'm going to keep this link handy in case the creeks magically re-appear.

Best regards,

V8_Fan

The creaks will reappear about after 2 months. You just need to clean the rubber door seal and the area the seal contacts on the body with a damp rag, let it dry, then reapply the Sonus to both the door seal and the flat rubber part on top of the door (I use a 1" foam paintbrush), let it absorb for a few minutes, and wipe off the excess. I found that the creaks were NOT from where the window glass meets the plastic moulding eventhough the sound disappears if you slightly crack the windows. I noticed a 2009 ES350 loaner car I had with low miles had the same creak. My LX has never had the issue, but I think it has something to do with the double rubber seal, probably more for waterproofness (river crossings offroad) than sound proofness.

Da Hapa

So far... knock on wood... that hasn't been the case. The last go around with the dealership last May seems to have finally cured the creaks. We'll see.

But I appreciate the tip.

Regards,

sirCharles

Carmax making off with the goods. Dang!