Do Not Sell My Personal Information Jump to content


Final Tips On Buying A 400h


Recommended Posts

I am just about to hand over the money on a 2 year old rx400h se-l that has done 40k miles. My last (maybe) questions are

a) the brake calipers looked a bit rusty to me - does that seem normal?

(I did a search and others are saying that it is, although I saw similar age vehicles in the dealer that did not have this and had a worn down black finish)

B) There is a noise in the back seat of leather creaking. The dealer assured me that this just needed a bit of leather treatment (lubrication?) and would go away immediately. They are doing the work, but will it keep coming back? Any experience of this?

c) When I looked under the car at the exhaust and spare tyre bay it looked generally brown with rust and not shiny metal. Does that also seem normal.

d) there was a little bit of a 'tide mark' around the top left hand side interior trim on the tailgate. Does anyone suspect a leak or is that normal.

e) I looked at the car's maintenance history on the computer and it has been serviced properly to the schedule. Should it have had any other work like recalls done?

The car has had a one owner, drives perfectly (beautifully quiet) and the engine bay certainly looks clean and tidy.

Many thanks if anyone can offer any help or thoughts

Link to comment
Share on other sites


I am just about to hand over the money on a 2 year old rx400h se-l that has done 40k miles. My last (maybe) questions are

a) the brake calipers looked a bit rusty to me - does that seem normal?

(I did a search and others are saying that it is, although I saw similar age vehicles in the dealer that did not have this and had a worn down black finish)

B) There is a noise in the back seat of leather creaking. The dealer assured me that this just needed a bit of leather treatment (lubrication?) and would go away immediately. They are doing the work, but will it keep coming back? Any experience of this?

c) When I looked under the car at the exhaust and spare tyre bay it looked generally brown with rust and not shiny metal. Does that also seem normal.

d) there was a little bit of a 'tide mark' around the top left hand side interior trim on the tailgate. Does anyone suspect a leak or is that normal.

e) I looked at the car's maintenance history on the computer and it has been serviced properly to the schedule. Should it have had any other work like recalls done?

The car has had a one owner, drives perfectly (beautifully quiet) and the engine bay certainly looks clean and tidy.

Many thanks if anyone can offer any help or thoughts

Any rust, can and should be replaced under warranty as car is only 2yrs old :winky:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can vouch for creaking leather, mine was "treated" by the dealer, but still squeaks - it goes away if someone heavy sits in the seat, but my 3 year old and 1 year old aren't heavy enough to stop it!

Spill the beans on how much you're paying! Hopefully it's over £30K, but with 40,000 on the clock I wouldn't be surprised if it was less.

Cheers

Jon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spill the beans on how much you're paying! Hopefully it's over £30K, but with 40,000 on the clock I wouldn't be surprised if it was less.

Cheers

Jon

I'm paying £30.4k - it's about the cheapest one I could find. Unless someone suddenly pops up and offers something better at the 30k mark.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...

B) There is a noise in the back seat of leather creaking. The dealer assured me that this just needed a bit of leather treatment (lubrication?) and would go away immediately. They are doing the work, but will it keep coming back? Any experience of this?

...

Mine does this after the back seats have been folded flat and the put back again - running my fingers once between the gap cures the squeak!

Link to comment
Share on other sites


30.4K, for a 2 year old SE-L, which would have been 44 new back then. I wonder how much the guy got in trade in for it 26? Which would be 9K a year for 20,000 miles a year - a bit heavy for my liking, but that is quite high mileage.

Go for it, sounds like a reasonable deal, not too special, but definitely reasonable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

be aware that if you leave the car standing for about 10 days u need to jump start it!

I have read that problem on a few forums. However, I am assuming that it doesn't affect all of them as I have also read lots of owners who do not have the problem. Assuming that most people are on a forum are the ones with problems I am not sure exactly how widespread the problem is. If it affects me I'll be going for the larger amp/h Battery as a replacement.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share



×
×
  • Create New...