To Bid Or Not To Bid?

markuk1234 · June 26, 2009

Hi all,

I registered today after searching through your great forum. There seems to be a lot of helpful people on here so I thought I'd join up and get your advice!

Anyway, I don't own a Lexus yet, in fact Lexus hadn't even entered my consciousness since wanting a Soarer many years back. I work for a large American corporation in London and in the last few days an internal auction for a Silver LS430 on a 53 plate has appeared on the kitchen notice board. The car has done 185K miles! which has raised a few scoffs from people as they peruse the advert. Now in the age of high petrol and tax hikes every year, and the fact that I work in London City and therefore not very practical for most, I seem to be the only one interested in bidding on this car which is a sealed auction (email to the fleet manager with highest bid).

I'm closer than most to the guys that look after this car and have spoken to the chauffer who used it to drive the company CEO around, and all in all it seems to be a sound car. It certainly hasn't wanted for servicing I called the Lexus branch in Sidcup where it has most of its servicing and they confirmed that its been maintained to schedule. I have only seen the manual and service book, no reciepts, is that normal?

I had a test drive yesterday for about an hour through the busy city of London, and the things that I can see that are not perfect are :- wheels are corroded all round, a couple appeared to have been kerbed. Front tyres (245/? I believe) are worn on the outside of each, perhaps a tracking problem or worse! Paint bruised on front bumper. A couple of chips on the bonnet and side. Reversing camera doesn't work. Not sure if voice activation works as I had such a short time to play around.

I tried pressing all the buttons etc, and as far as I can see they seem to work. I'm not sure if this is the premium pack, I do know it has sat nav and rear screen and smart access. I don't know if the back seat moves and massages etc as I didn't even know that was an option until searching the internet in the evening! Do the front seats massage too?

Without trying to bore you to distraction, my point is that I really really like this car but my head says its not practical because at the moment I don't have my own car, I drive my wifes Honda Jazz when needed. I'm actually a new motorcyclist and ride to the train station (less than 10 minutes) for my daily commute from Bedford to London, and at weekends I ride for pleasure. This car in effect would be almost like a secondary car for when the winter starts to bite and I can't safely ride, and for long weekends away with my family to see the inlaws etc up in Leeds. I have a decent income but don't want to own a money pit.

I love this car because of the technology and the fact that its a whole lot of car with performance to match. Given that you now understand my circumstances and the fact that this car, If I was to win it would do low mileage in the foreseable future, do you think it would be worth taking on, considering any large bills that I may be facing? Some people who know that I want the car say I should offer £500. Now, I'm hoping that this reflects the ignorance of others who have seen the advert in which case I could get this car for a steal! How much would you bid or would you?

Thanks!

john99t-reg · June 26, 2009

52 plate 101k £7750, 03 110k £7995 at dealers on autotrader. if it was me i would put in a 2100.00 offer, and i reckon that would be a bargain, i think it would be worth a lot more possibly 4-5k, then you could either sell it on for profit or keep it and enjoy, get possibly independent servicing to keep running costs low if keeping. really worth an offer of some sort though, if you're keeping it yourself don't worry about that mileage.

jsj24uk · June 26, 2009

Hi there.

The front seats don't massage but they cool and heat. It should also have Bluetooth as well built in. I can't help you with the reversing camera as mine has always worked. It will have electric rear seats, rear aircon and fridge located behind the rear arm rest. Alloy wheels have always been a problem. One of mine is just starting to bubble so will be getting this replaced under warrenty.

So long as the service history is there I wouldn't worry about the mileage.

Just remember though, you might be buying a bargain, but these LS's are not a bargain to run. It will need a service every 12 months or 10,000 miles, tyres arn't what I would call cheap and I'm averaging 22 mpg and that is driving it like a district nurse. As near as damn it £80 to fill up from empty.

But, I love mine to bits and wouldn't change it for anything. Well, I say anything, perhaps a Mercedes S65AMG.

PM me if you want to know anything else.

Jim.

ManicMark · June 27, 2009

Hi the tyre wear could just be from a lot of town driving, the tyres would wear on the outside edge, If not it could be the upper control arms (wishbones) about £700 to replace, did you notice any creaking sounds from the front,At 200,000 it will need its cambelt & idlers + water pump doing about £1000 all in from Lexus cheaper from an independant,£3500 would still be stealing it, as said if its got full history & is a 1 driver company car forget the mileage, Its good for double that,

Good luck if you buy it you wont regret it

markuk1234 · June 27, 2009

Thanks guys for your useful advice and info. ManicMark, I got a quote from 2 dealers who quoted between £650 & £750 for the cambelt and service (not sure if VAT's included in that!). I aslo dont know whether that includes water pump. I didn't notice any creaking so hopefully its not the wishbones.

It almost seems a shame and even extravagant that it would be sitting on my driveway for much of its life due to my current daily motorbike routine (brought about by soaring parking prices that I resent paying!). But on the flip side, I will always have a literally top car to drive whenever I need. I guess road tax will be very expensive. Are these cars stolen often by the way?

My wife is not familiar with the car so I was hoping to go my local Lexus dealer in Milton Keynes today so that she can see for herself what has got me so excited. I have to admit that I'm a sucker for technology and this car ticks more boxes than I even knew were possible, especially at this price range! The thing is I dont need this car, but I think I want it!

Anything else I should be aware of? I'm really starting to feel optimistic about the high mileage now.

Patch234 · June 27, 2009

I think you are in the perfect position to buy a high mileage car. You will not need to use it a lot so the mileage, once it is bought, will creep up very slowly. I used to own a toyota camry 3.0 V6. This engine was well documented to reach mileages of 300,000 plus.

As for the wear and tear, if the car has been serviced to schedule, you would imagine that the ball joints/wishbones were already addressed by now. The outer wear could be due to these being changed but the tracking / geometry needing adjustment. It could even be over inflated tyres!

I'd go for it, bearing in mind that you may need to spend £1500.00 plus in the short term.

Great car though!

sparkyhx · June 27, 2009

I think you are in the perfect position to buy a high mileage car. You will not need to use it a lot so the mileage, once it is bought, will creep up very slowly. I used to own a toyota camry 3.0 V6. This engine was well documented to reach mileages of 300,000 plus.
As for the wear and tear, if the car has been serviced to schedule, you would imagine that the ball joints/wishbones were already addressed by now. The outer wear could be due to these being changed but the tracking / geometry needing adjustment. It could even be over inflated tyres!

I'd go for it, bearing in mind that you may need to spend £1500.00 plus in the short term.

Great car though!

might be worth investigating if you qualify for free congestion if you convert to LPG

ManicMark · June 28, 2009

Thanks guys for your useful advice and info. ManicMark, I got a quote from 2 dealers who quoted between £650 & £750 for the cambelt and service (not sure if VAT's included in that!). I aslo dont know whether that includes water pump. I didn't notice any creaking so hopefully its not the wishbones.
It almost seems a shame and even extravagant that it would be sitting on my driveway for much of its life due to my current daily motorbike routine (brought about by soaring parking prices that I resent paying!). But on the flip side, I will always have a literally top car to drive whenever I need. I guess road tax will be very expensive. Are these cars stolen often by the way?

My wife is not familiar with the car so I was hoping to go my local Lexus dealer in Milton Keynes today so that she can see for herself what has got me so excited. I have to admit that I'm a sucker for technology and this car ticks more boxes than I even knew were possible, especially at this price range! The thing is I dont need this car, but I think I want it!

Anything else I should be aware of? I'm really starting to feel optimistic about the high mileage now.

Hi they are not stolen & have a good security system, you would get cheaper road tax & it would be congestion charge free if converted to lpg £1200 at the moment to convert it.