serbarry

When I had the Prius I put more than once a brand called Windforce. My local tyre garage suggested them. They always lasted at least 50,000kms and I have never had a problem with them even driving up to Dublin and back (270 kms of motorway each way) 3-4 times a year, sometimes under the rain (and you know in Ireland it rains a lot). Obviously I used to drive the Prius quietly as you can imagine the driving experience in a Prius. Maybe I was just lucky with these tyres or maybe they were not so bad.

If you still think of changing the car every 3-4 years you should not have considered the GS in the first place as, as you wrote, a 14-15 year-old car is more difficult to trade in. It's a shame that the dealer refused your offer as 600 euros off could have been accepted. I am curious to know how long it will take to sell and at which price. Good luck with your search.

Thimmy also for me the GS was expensive at 8,250 euros (13 year-old car) when I bought in 2021. It was actually advertised at 8,750 euros and I only managed 500 euros off. But in Ireland the GS450H is such a rare car especially in the spec Sport that I wanted. I had been looking for nearly one year before finding mine and I bought it even if I think a fair price would have been 7,000 euros or 7,500. In your case you said that your wife's opinion counts (in my case it did not as my wife did not want me to buy the GS) so you should probably consider other options. Have you considered the fact that the GS has a small boot? Even if it looks overpriced and, as you said, would not sell easily as most people buy SUV or estate models, you have to set your priorities in choosing which car you want to buy (SUV or saloon). If you decide to go for the GS, you may try to negotiate the price further, but I would not wait too long hoping that the dealer reduces the price because nobody comes forward to buy it. You may end up that someone else buys it at 15,400 £ while you are waiting.

It is just a guess and I may probably be wrong and anyway I thought the price was in euros (15,400) not £. Of course I would advise you to negotiate further if you can, possibly on the fact that no warranty is given.

No I am talking about yours which can reduce in value to 10-11,000 euros in 3 years. Of course they don't increase the value.

If it is a 2012 GS it will be 11 years-old in July. Mine 2008 I bought in December 2021 for 8,250 euros. I don't know how much value it could have in 3 years, maybe 10 - 11,000 euros? Anyway I would not buy it now for keeping it only 3 years as I would choose something to keep longer.

Just to give you an idea of similar GS on sale in Ireland https://www.donedeal.ie/cars/Lexus/GS/Hybrid?sort=publishdatedesc&year_from=2011&year_to=2015&engine_from=3000 yours is cheaper

I would still keep servicing it at Lexus for peace of mind: you may save some money on the cost of the labour (but not on the parts if you use original ones) if you have it serviced by an independent garage but for me it is not worth: I recently had mine serviced by Lexus and I asked the major service with the replacement of the spark plugs. I knew that replacing the spark plugs is not an easy work and I did not want an independent garage to do it. Next 14th April I will bring it again to Lexus to replace the shock absorbers. Again I may save some money by going to an independent or using non OEM parts but even my garage suggested me to bring it to the Lexus dealer for this work.

I agree with John: before buying the GS I had a 2004 Prius which was my first hybrid. I can't complain as in 12 years that I have owned it only had one issue solved with 150 euros. It was ok to drive, very good in consumption, comfortable and with a huge boot. But the driving experience was poor obviously, compared to the GS: I could not overtake in safety with the Prius on local roads. It was even the 1.5 cc engine (while the one you saw is the 1.8 cc one) so really a quiet car. It was ok as my first hybrid but after sometime I felt I needed more pleasure of driving. It is not worth buying a car which firstly is not cheap (Prius or Corolla), and secondly you may regret it because you don't enjoy driving it. In your position I would buy the GS, if I really desire it, knowing that it might be a risk without any warranty but also that it rarely fails. Anyway even my Prius was without any warranty when I bought it and I kept it for 12 years. I would have kept it longer if I had not found the GS that I wanted.

If you really want it and wait too long it might be gone soon and you will regret it 😜. Between a GS450H with 6 months warranty and a IS300H with a longer warranty, I would always choose the GS without blinking my eyes. Better audio system, more powerful, rear wheel drive, etc. If it is sold by a Lexus dealer with one owner from new and full service history you must be very unlucky that something goes wrong. Anyway if the battery is faulty you would find out within 6 months from the purchase. In your place I would have already bought it if I was so in love with it, but I am the kind of person who takes some risks in life and indeed I bought a 14 year-old GS450H without any warranty and only with a visual check and a few kms drive, and I am not a mechanic. I was just lucky.

I bought mine in December 21 with 190.000 kms from a private seller. No warranty at all, not even full service history (the last 4 services were done by an independent garage). I have not spent anything until now but I now have to replace the rear shock absorbers (1,200 euros at the Lexus dealer); I have already paid 60 euros last week for the wheels alignment and tracking (apparently they were really bad); I am going to pay 150 euros next week to fix 2 leaks in the exhaust system. Fortunately the hybrid battery is good as it passed the hybrid health check 2 weeks ago at the last service. Is the warranty given on used cars only 6 months in Sweden legally or that particular dealer offers only 6 months?

I have booked my car with Lexus to replace the rear shocks absorbers for the 14th April. For the other works I am still looking for someone to treat the calipers and to repair the leak in the exhaust, but the shocks were more urgent.

Thank you John, anyway when I called my garage this morning he said that the calipers showed signs that they had been seized but they weren't when he checked them. Anyway if I decide to go for new calipers with Lexus it would be a long lasting solution, wouldn't it? How long could it last if I decide to find a garage which tries to fix the existing ones?

I can confirm now that Lexus Cork did not try to rip me off and I am glad to discover this: my garage has confirmed the diagnose of Lexus Cork. Here below is the reply from my garage: "Yes the mudflaps are fitted and the tracking is done , the rear shock absorbers should be replaced as soon as possible as they are leaking and unsafe; the exhaust system is leaking as per lexus recommendation and there was signs that the left front brake caliper and the left rear brake caliper were seized as per the lexus report these would need to be change before you can say this car is safe to drive". So now I have to decide if to let Lexus Cork to do these works (for peace of mind I would prefer it even if is crazily expensive) or trying to shop around for a cheaper price. Anyway if I go to Lexus Cork maybe I can leave for now the exhaust which does not seem to be very urgent and try to find someone who could fix the leak. I would replace only the shocks and the calipers for now. What do you suggest?

You may save money on the cost of labour by going to an independent but for peace of mind I would trust much more the Lexus dealer in servicing my car, especially for some specific works like replacing the spark plugs. And if you can take a service plan (unavailable in Ireland unfortunately) it could even be cheaper to go to the Lexus dealer.

Oh what a very sad news!!! Apologies for not writing sooner but I was traveling back home to Sicily on Wednesday and didn't have a chance to look at the Loc. I joined the forum on January 21 and John was the first one to welcome me. He gave me some very precious advices when I was looking for a GS450H and I have always appreciated his active contributions to the forum. Following his most important advice to all members of the Loc, I have thoroughly read the owner's manual of the GS450H even before purchasing the car. I was very surprised that he had not replied to my last discussion about my car being serviced at Lexus Cork but I now understand why. My sincere condolences to his family and friends. You will be greatly missed John. RIP.

I have just received a call from a lady who asked me if I was satisfied with the service and I told her that I was not happy at all for being ignored for 2 days concerning the loan car. I would have appreciated even if they had told me that the car was not available but I did not like being left without an answer and me chasing them. I also added that as for the quotation of 3,689 euros of necessary works to be done in my car, I will think about it but it surprises me that these works are necessary now when my car passed the NCT in September without advisories. I might be wrong about this but I will see what my garage says next week.

Thank you very much John.

Hi David, I don't know the name of the managing director at Lexus Ireland but I guess I could still address the complaint to him. I have all the emails with date and time that I can print. I will wait for my garage to tell me what is the condition of my car in order to have the bigger picture.

Thank you both Ron and Frank. I will see what my garage says and I will report here. I had also thought about writing to Lexus Ireland but I would not want to make things too bad than they really are. I may still need to use the services of Lexus Cork in the future.

Why 8? They are 6 on the GS.

The only reason why I brought my car to the Lexus dealer is because the car has been serviced by an independent garage in the last 5 services and I don't know if the spark plugs were replaced at 180,000kms (the car has now 195,000 kms and I bought it at 189,000 kms). I just wanted it to have the proper major service with the spark plugs replaced which, I have been told, is a complicated work as there is much to dismount to access them. I simply preferred to have the job done properly by Lexus. It also passed the hybrid health check but it does not matter as there is no warranty anymore.

Hi Bart, nice to read you again after some time. Yesterday they did the pre-NCT check also for my car. It was anyway included in the price so I did not care even if I have the NCT again in September but in the invoice it says that "the car is ready and checked for NCT but they don't guarantee that it will pass". I was laughing reading it. This is why I usually never do a pre-NCT check. What is the point of paying for something which is not guaranteed and moreover if you fail the NCT and have to pay for a re-test, the garage would not refund you the money of the re-test or the money paid to them for the pre-NCT test. I prefer to fail the NCT directly and fix whatever needs to be fixed rather than paying for an useless pre-NCT test. I think sometimes with the NCT is just a matter of luck depending who checks your car. So you did not change the shocks in yours as Lexus suggested? I remember when I bought my car the seller told me that the previous owner he had bought it from 5 months earlier (yes he had kept the car only for 5 months as his wife did not feel comfortable driving it) had told him that the car had failed the NCT for the shocks. He replaced them and the car failed again. So he went to the garage which replaced the shocks ( I don't know if it was a Lexus dealer) and they told him to go again for the NCT with the switch of the shocks in Power (or Sport). He did it and passed the NCT. And I did the same when I passed the NCT last September. I will see what my garage says about the car but I am not so sure if I will bring it to Lexus Cork again for the next services. I don't see the convenience for a car out of warranty to overpay their services when my garage should be able to service it for much less.

I understand your point Linas and I hope it is just a genuine mistake as I would be very surprised if my car has deteriorated so much since last September. I will see what my garage says and hopefully it will be able to fix whatever needs to be fixed for a cheaper price than Lexus Cork.

I can't find the pushrod on ebay.