Purchased off of Craigslist. Previous owners obviously never maintained the car at all. Have sunk in a couple of thousand dollars so far. It's still needs struts, and I'm sure a transmission down the line. Now whenever I turn the steering wheel it squeaks. Mechanic says might be a problem within the steering column. I like this model a lot and I'm hoping it was just neglect that has created such issues. Should I take a chance and get another one? Maybe get the next model the 330? It has a little over 145,000 miles on it. I wonder if I should just put it back on Craigslist and see what happens. Any advice from RX300 owners?

 

I don't know why you would do this. The sum of the parts costs more than the car is worth,

My (unhelpful) advice is don't buy a car that hasn't been maintained unless it is drive-able and the plan is to drive it as-is until it dies, hopefully where you can get a cab. I've driven some butt ugly cars that I got for free, put in maybe a battery and some plugs, and drove for months. I would never have put major work into them unless they were classics of some sort.

 

Not sure how to respond.

The squeak we hear is typically is at the cabin exit point. Small shot of silicone lube fixes it.

I have 1/4 million miles and have no issues .. so I cant say if your transmission will go bad or not.

Only good suggestion I would make is try to evaluate your purchase first.

Salim

 

Well I took it to a well known recommended mechanic to look it over before I bought it. He said it needed brakes, a water pump and a radiator. That was IT. Then once I purchased the car all this other stuff came up. Found a much better mechanic who was stunned that the first one missed so much. It needed an o-ring, all the spark plugs, and the fuel lines were leaking. Had that all fixed. Then this new mechanic said watch your fluids. Your transmission fluid was low. *sigh*. So not worth keeping? I LOVE this model car. I am hoping they aren't all bad.