CP0861
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #91
Well, it's been a while, but I finally bought something.
I just bought a 2003 Lexus RX300 yesterday for $4k. 200k miles but it's SUPER clean and was regularly serviced through a Lexus dealer. The paint is nearly flawless and shines like new (it was regularly detailed and was garage kept) and the interior is immaculate. It has the most detailed Carfax I've ever seen - perfect history of regular oil changes every 5k miles since new, and all other fluids (brake, ps, trans, diff, coolant) were also regularly checked and/or changed. I don't think it would be possible to find a more well maintained used vehicle. The timing belt has been replaced 2 or 3 times...most recent was 9k miles ago. Trans fluid and brake fluid was also changed at that same service. New battery last month.
It needs a set of tires, but aside from that (and maybe brake pads, although the brakes feel great), it should be maintenance free for a while with the timing belt and trans fluid recently done. I drove it home today and it felt great.
It's not necessarily fuel efficient (I wish it had an extra gear or 2), but it will hopefully get me 20ish mpg. It will serve the purpose of saving miles on my Ranger and will be a perfect daily driver, and from what I've read 400-500k miles is not out of the question with this motor.
EDIT/UPDATE:
Shew. Ole girl likes her gas. I haven't hand calculated it, but the cpu is reading 18ish mpg on my 1st tank. I filled with 93 too. Might be about right from what I researched (17-20mpg). Not sure that I'll keep using 93 if she's drinking that much. But it did feel noticeably better with premium. I'll try 89....or maybe mix 93/87 for 90. But so far, I'm pretty happy with it. It runs and feels unbelievably smooth for a 200k car.
Also, and of interesting note, I looked in the service records and the tires only have about 29K miles on them and they're 60K tires. They are about 90% gone and I'm certain they wouldn't pass inspection. Out of curiousity, I called Michelin who told me that I could take the car to a Michelin dealer for a tire inspection...so I took it to Pep Boys today who reported it had dry rot and wear down to 2/32...they will report that back to Michelin and *hopefully* I may be able to get a nice little discount on new tires. The current tires are Michelin Premier LTX's....they were apparently notorious for wearing out quickly and were discontinued. So long story short, if you buy a used car that needs tires, at least Michelin's, you may be able to file a warranty claim. IF you have documentation from when they were installed - luckily I have the record (which can also be obtained with VIN if dealer serviced) as well as records showing the tires were rotated.
I just bought a 2003 Lexus RX300 yesterday for $4k. 200k miles but it's SUPER clean and was regularly serviced through a Lexus dealer. The paint is nearly flawless and shines like new (it was regularly detailed and was garage kept) and the interior is immaculate. It has the most detailed Carfax I've ever seen - perfect history of regular oil changes every 5k miles since new, and all other fluids (brake, ps, trans, diff, coolant) were also regularly checked and/or changed. I don't think it would be possible to find a more well maintained used vehicle. The timing belt has been replaced 2 or 3 times...most recent was 9k miles ago. Trans fluid and brake fluid was also changed at that same service. New battery last month.
It needs a set of tires, but aside from that (and maybe brake pads, although the brakes feel great), it should be maintenance free for a while with the timing belt and trans fluid recently done. I drove it home today and it felt great.
It's not necessarily fuel efficient (I wish it had an extra gear or 2), but it will hopefully get me 20ish mpg. It will serve the purpose of saving miles on my Ranger and will be a perfect daily driver, and from what I've read 400-500k miles is not out of the question with this motor.
EDIT/UPDATE:
Shew. Ole girl likes her gas. I haven't hand calculated it, but the cpu is reading 18ish mpg on my 1st tank. I filled with 93 too. Might be about right from what I researched (17-20mpg). Not sure that I'll keep using 93 if she's drinking that much. But it did feel noticeably better with premium. I'll try 89....or maybe mix 93/87 for 90. But so far, I'm pretty happy with it. It runs and feels unbelievably smooth for a 200k car.
Also, and of interesting note, I looked in the service records and the tires only have about 29K miles on them and they're 60K tires. They are about 90% gone and I'm certain they wouldn't pass inspection. Out of curiousity, I called Michelin who told me that I could take the car to a Michelin dealer for a tire inspection...so I took it to Pep Boys today who reported it had dry rot and wear down to 2/32...they will report that back to Michelin and *hopefully* I may be able to get a nice little discount on new tires. The current tires are Michelin Premier LTX's....they were apparently notorious for wearing out quickly and were discontinued. So long story short, if you buy a used car that needs tires, at least Michelin's, you may be able to file a warranty claim. IF you have documentation from when they were installed - luckily I have the record (which can also be obtained with VIN if dealer serviced) as well as records showing the tires were rotated.
Sponsored
Last edited:
