Hi I'am looking to buy a 4 to six year old GS 300 in the next few months. I have looked through some of the posts looking for common proablems to watch out for when buying. Are the front ball joints the only thing
Ican expect to renew trough ware and tear what about shocks etc this is on a car with less than 100k.
I was olso wondering about spare parts is it main dealer only or are there internet companies like eurocarparts which you can deal with thanks Iain.

Hello mate, i'm sure that there wont be many problems to look out for it is a lexus after all!!

Hope you manage to find the one you want soon and keep us posted

Not much goes wrong with the GS, in fact this is true for all Lexus models, as Rikos says.

Reading through old posts, things to watch out for seem to ball joints, as you have said (the GS is a heavy car). Also, if you're looking at a 6+ yr old car, check to see if the timing belt has been done, I believe its due @ 60K or 6 yrs, a GS owner should be able to confirm this? Look out for pitted alloys, all Lexus cars suffer from pitting. If the car you're looking has pitted alloys, then you should be able to get something knocked off the asking price. If not, then a refurb is about £60 - £80 per wheel. Orginally, there was a 3 year warranty on the alloys, but this won't apply to you, as you are looking at cars older than this.

Hope this helps.

After all the comment recently about the best time to change the cambelts on the IS, I looked mine up yesterday. Although I have a 430 model, it's a common service schedule and it's due at 10 years / 100k miles.

Incidentally, don't discount the 430 - it doesn't use a great deal more fuel, but goes have a good deal more power. Utterly effortless to drive... So keep an eye out, if a particular car is perfect for you except it has the bigger engine, don't be afraid to try it. The cost difference is not as great as you'd think.

Is that Banff in Canada you're in, IDBAIN? If so, whilst you're more than welcome to post on here, there is a US forum which may be able to help you better with some questions. But welcome along anyway...

Thank you everybody,its Banff in Aberdeenshire Mike B.

Other things to look out for:

Display on audio - quite often the LCD display partly fails, so that you can't read it fully. You can get the display replaced, but it is costly.

Exhaust - parts of the heat shields along the exhaust come loose as the mountings corrode and rattle. The heat shields are aluminium and corrode faster. You can remove them without worry.

Alternator/steering pump belt - hardens with age and gets noisy. Sounds like it is a bearing on the way out. A new belt will cure it.

Wind noise from the driver's window - usually the window seal.

Condensation on the inside of the headlight glass - time consuming, but you can remove it.

drivers side rear door window motor can give up

rocker cover gasket starts to let ol gunk ooze out

brake caliper seals tare and let dirt in making pistons stickey cheap enough fix if you do it diy

and as soon as you can covert the dips to 6000K Xenons trust me its well worth it

Hi All

I really like the Lexus and it saddens to me pick faults with it, but the truth has to be spoken.

Watch out for the ABS pump/Traction control. There appears to be an inherent fault and it can cost about £2000 to repair it.

Hope that helps.

PS - very disappointed with Lexus that this is the case, I thought they really were bullet proof.