Advise needed

[FuntimePhil]

Hi all,  sho looks like im back again. something always keeps pulling me back to the lexus. 

So I've just wrote off my Mazda 6 and need a replacement asap. My family has grown and we like camping so im looking for an SUV. Unfortunately my budget is maximum 3.5k.

it looks like I can get a 04/05 RX300 with around 100k on for this price. car looks smart and tidy,  lots of gadgets but generally is this a safe buy? 16 year old motor with 100k on I'd usually laugh at but these seem to be built to last. 

and advise welcome. 

[katabrontes]

My 2005 RX 350 SE with60K is probably only worth about £3.5K so I would think you could do better than a 300.  The 350 is a much better car than the 300.

[FuntimePhil]

you fancy selling Haha

[rich1068]

Road tax on a 350 is pretty eye watering though.

[FuntimePhil]

5 minutes ago, rich1068 said:

Road tax on a 350 is pretty eye watering though.

I knew there was a reason I'd avoided it

[Malc]

remember seeing on here some eye-watering rust issues on the undersides of the 300 too

maybe not all but sure worth investigating if you are tempted by one

Malc

[Gliderpilot]

You could go for a 400H, less tax and better economy than a 300. Just check that the cam belt has been done if over 100,000 miles.

[rich1068]

Obviously this prompted me to spend yet more time on AT  and I found an absolutely mint low mileage 300. Looked lovely but it must have been one of the last and was registered in '06 so £570 tax!!

[Gliderpilot]

When I had a 400H road tax was £480 and it averaged about 27mpg. My 450H is £150 tax and averages 30 mpg.

[rich1068]

Very odd. Road tax on a 400h is now £290ish. Did they alter bandings for hybrids? 

[Stupot]

I just changed from a LS400 to an 04 plate RX300 SE in December. I'm very happy with it...If looking for a practical car with a good dollop of luxury and refinement, that's pretty reliable and cheap to buy... then that era of RX is hard to beat. If you are patient and lucky, you should be able to pick an RX300 up with circa 100k for much less than £3.5k. I'm sure you already know the RX300 is not good on fuel... expect low 20's mpg

Some of the RX300 and 350s have the air suspension option which I wanted to avoid as it's £700 a corner to fix when they go wrong. So unless you want the air suspension, watch out. It came on the SE-L model, but many dealers and even private advertisers list their car as an SE knowing buyers want to avoid the air suspension. The giveaway is the air suspension adjustment switch just above the gear stick.

The 350 is currently going to cost you £570 in car tax which is mitigated by the slightly better mpg (about 2mpg) verses £325 for the RX300. The 350 is chain driven so no timing belt to worry about, the RX300 needs a belt every 100K or 10 years.

Re car tax.... the new government has it's first budget on 11th March and I'm expecting them to come after SUV owners... so you may want to wait and see what happens there.

I looked at several RX400h and a few RX300... but the 400h were always a LOT more pricey like for like and the examples I viewed were not worth the extra purchase cost. If they were all the same money, I'd have a 350, all the power without the hybrid to worry about.... but my RX300 was screaming at me to buy it on shear value alone.