They are a high end toyota which are bullet proof. But as always make sure its got some history. And as Gareth says look on the lexus forums, theyr the best place for advice and most have a buying guide.
My BMW has expired again so ive sold it as is for a very low price. This leaves me needing a half decent car that is cheap. A mate of mine has a Lexus
GS 3.0, either a 2000 or 1998 model. It has a 24V engine and fully loaded electrics wise. I can get it for trade value so is very tempting.
Im just wondering if there are any horror stories with them or areas to be wary of. Im kind of led to believe they are generally reliable and shouldnt
be too much bother.
This car also has a LPG conversion.
If its the straight 6 engine same as my mrs' IS300, then the motor is pretty much bullet proof, very well made cars should go on for a long time
yet.
Never had a problem with hers in 5 years (from new) ownership, other than the paint costs a fortune cos its an LE, we found out when some kid fell off
his bike onto it.......
Hi mate,
I've ot a Lexus IS200 and its been bullet proof. I think the GS300 of that year used the inline 6 yliner out of the Toyota but with out the
turbos.
Have a look at the Lexus owners club LOC, theres loads of advice oer there
The GS is higher up the range than my IS, and I love every thing abotut my IS, so the GS should be fantastic. Lexus up until recently used alot of
part sharing between models, all of wich are tried and tested. Parts arn't too expensive either, I bought a full set of discs and pads off ebay
(mintex ones I think) for about 180 quid. Dealers are expensive, but service is fabulous, although with a car of that age its probably not worth
taking it to them.
If you get it, enjoy!!
Gareth
They are bloody good cars. I have a hankering for GS300 but cant afford to insure one.
They are a high end toyota which are bullet proof. But as always make sure its got some history. And as Gareth says look on the lexus forums, theyr
the best place for advice and most have a buying guide.
Only Lexus faults I have ever heard of is coil packs --- which are a dealer only part and not cheap.
All Japanese cars with LPG conversions are best fitted with a Flash lube upper cyliner lubrication system to protect the valves --- if not fit
one.
Find out as much as you can about the LPG conversion before buy as there hundreds of different systems, expect a 10 to 20% performance loss on LPG but
depending on local LPG price your fuel costs will be at least 40% lower perhaps 50% lower --- LPG price varies across the country much more than
petrol.
[Edited on 7/11/09 by britishtrident]
It has a sticker on back that suggests the LPG conversion was done by Calor (or is a calor system).
This car may have had the coild packs done as there was a couple of removed leads inside the car and a unit on top of engine that looked new.
How would i recognise a flash lube system? Are they expensive to fit?
Thanks for your help. Sounds like they are generally reliable.
Flashlube just drip feeds a tiny ammount of lubricant similar to 2stroke oil into the inlet manifold --- it costs lest the £40 to buy.
There is an electronically metered version available which gives the engine the correct ammount of flashlube when it needs it (ie when when the
throttle is open) but that is more expensive.
Tinley Tech (highly recommended seller) sell it but you will also find it on Ebay
http://www.tinleytech.co.uk/acatalog/FlashLube.html#a238
Apparently one curious characteristic of all Lexus when running on LPG is the petrol gauge will misbehave this is because of the way the fuel gauge
operates --- it calculates how much petrol should be getting used rather than use readings from the float units in the tank. As a result the petrol
gauge gets totally confused when running on LPG.
Fortunately it resets it's self using real readings every so often.
[Edited on 7/11/09 by britishtrident]
One thing I forgot to mention LPG can add a small surcharge to the insurance however some insirance companies such as LV and M&S are very LPG
friendly.
LV give very good quotes with no surcharge for LPG no extra paperwork required all done on line.
quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
All Japanese cars with LPG conversions are best fitted with a Flash lube upper cyliner lubrication system to protect the valves --- if not fit one.
[Edited on 7/11/09 by britishtrident]