Advice On Buying A Gs300

[iwannalexus]

Hi,I'm a lexus newbie and I'm looking to buy a GS300 not sure which spec (poss Sport).

My budget is peanuts compared to what a lot of you guys spend but I'm allowed :winky: to spend £5500-£7500.

So I guess it's going to be a 94-96 model.

So now for the big what should I be looking out for when buying?

I have enquired about a couple with so called FSH but when I asked about cam-belt changes etc... Things went a little quiet and a few dunnos were muted.

Should I expect a service history to report a cam belt change if it's been done?

Expecially on an 80,000m (am I right in thinking it should be done at 63,000m)

All help will be appreciated if you've got one for sale in my budget feel free to mail me.

Adam

[jimb]

You say £7,500 is the top of your budget. That's enough to buy you an R reg (1998) Mark II face-lifted model, albeit with higher than average miles.

I've seen a number of cars on Autotrader and elsewhere with, say, 90,000 miles listed for £8,000 or less. After haggling, £7,500 or less should buy them. And many of those are SE's with the much-needed leather interior.

Admittedly, most are private rather than dealer adds. But if the service history checks out there've got to be worth a look.

But maybe you prefer the Mark I shape.

Youwannalexus, now you should getyourselfalexus

[jimb]

Oh, about the cambelt,

Just look up the service book (if there is one) and see what, if any, dealer stamped the book around the 60 to 70k miles mark. Look up that dealer's number, ring them, give the reg and just ask if they did it.....

Happy hunting!

Also, check out the "knowledge" on this site...some useful stuff there

I'm only new here too, but there seems to be plenty of expertise here

[Daytona]

have you looked at the equivilent BMW 5 series? sorry to be controvertial but, it seems to drive firmer and give better MPG. Anyone else find that the case?

(duck and cover)

[mudzs]

have you looked at the equivilent BMW 5 series? sorry to be controvertial but, it seems to drive firmer and give better MPG. Anyone else find that the case?

(duck and cover)

Nooooo .With that sort of budget you should get a very nice mk1 sport or a very high mileage mk2 se personaly i would go for the mk1 with lower miles .It will hold its value better than the higher mileage mk2 as well .cambelt is 60,000 and look out for steering vibration as it seems to be a common problem.other than that if you go for the sport check the tyres as they are exspensive especialy if it has the 10" rears.If you are not sure wether the belt has been done just phone the dealer in the service book who has done the servicing and they will tell you.Good luck

[jac114]

also check its a real sport not a wannabe like mine..lol

[sjrainsford]

Okay then folks, i'm back!

Still hunting for one, as I lost interest before crimbo and was actually gonna keep my Toyota Avensis for a while! But now i've seen sence and am gonna go for it!

So here I go again, if at all possible - can as many of you as possible flood me with advice on what to look for. It will be an early mark 1 (not sport) and I really need the kick up the **** to buy one. Budget max £6k with my Avensis as part trade in towards that. So Avensis + 2 - 2.5 grand should do it.

Also, why do people seem to say avoid the two tone colour models? Have been looking at a white/silver model and I love it!

Mostly though, I just wanna know what goes wrong with them, and where the potential big bills are.

Thanks so much in advance, I will appreciate it. Plus you will get another gold member then too!

Stuart

[mudzs]

As said in previous posts not a lot go's wrong.Just look for lexus full service history suppoted by invoices for the work ,if not phone garage that has done work and double check.cambelt is around £400 so make sure that is done at 60,000m .for the sort of money you have you can get a sport model ,they look a lot better .as for the two tone cars especialy the white resale will be hard if you do not like it ,check it is not an import as in my opinion most two tones are .i personaly do not like the two tone ones apart from the black over grey .

[MAC_600]

Had mine for just over 13 months and done over 35,000 miles in that time

Work done

Front Ball joints

4 Services

3 pair of rear tyres

1 pair of front tyres

Needs 4 new tyres this month though

Faults

Aircon has packed in, however during the summer I was tending to switch it off and use the sun roof. Think the seals may have dried out. Waiting to get it sorted.

Judder under braking so I guess a warped disc, however, they seem to be the originals so can't complain at over 90,000 miles on them