Lexus - Buying a LS400 ( Budget 1.7k)

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Fri 25 Jan 2008 17:55
Buying a LS400 ( Budget 1.7k) - Harry Pearce
Hello all

I want to buy a LS 400 for about £1700 are they any good at this money i know they are very expensive to fix if they go wrong however I heard they are very reliable can I get spare parts on EBAY etc?

Edited by Pugugly {P} on 25/01/2008 at 18:04

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Fri 25 Jan 2008 19:19
Buying a LS400 ( Budget 1.7k) - craig-pd130
Can't speak specifically on Lexuses (Lexi?) but a mate of mine regularly buys and sells 1980s E- ans S-class Mercs, all around the £500 to £800 mark. The 80s to early 90s period was reckoned to be when Mercs **really** were built to last.

Over the past couple of years he has bought a dozen or so, some he sells on quickly (at a profit by valeting and advertising with good pics on eBay), others he's kept for a few months. He did keep an S500 for a year that he bought for £550 and did nothing other than put petrol in it. Everything still worked, including all the electric toys.

His theory is, if you buy them at the right money, even if something big does go wrong, you could still flog what's left for not much less than you paid for it.

BUT he also has strict rules for buying. He interrogates the vendor on history etc, and only buys cars that have an honest history. Doesn't matter if its one owner or 8 owners, if it doesn't have paperwork to prove money spent, and MOTs to verify the history, he won't touch it. He's also good at "reading" the vendor.

The quick answer is, you could get a genuine one or two owner, well-cared for genuine car, or you could get a dodgy pile of trouble.

I'd say a Merc is a better bet for used spares, there are more of them at breakers than Lexuses.

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Sun 27 Jan 2008 09:02
Buying a LS400 ( Budget 1.7k) - blue_haddock
Adam who used to be on here nearly bought one of these from a family friend. Appeared to be well looked after but shortly before taking possesion the gearbox failed which due to the value of the car and the cost of repair pretty much wrote the car off. I would say great if it works but when it goes wrong it will be costly to keep going.
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Mon 28 Jan 2008 10:29
Buying a LS400 ( Budget 1.7k) - CQ
I bought a four year old LS400 with 27k on the clock. (95 model) for £20k, ran it for seven years up to 180k sold it for £1k in 2007. Only two expensive repairs, power steering pump leaking and a rear wheel bearing went. Great car replaced with LS430.
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