Are Lexuses reliable?

Cyrix_2k · 05-09-06, 06:41 PM

I've been looking at getting another car. I originally planned on buying the firebird in my avatar. That car has 184,000 miles on a 2.8L fuel-injected V6 w/ a 5-speed. It's in decent shape: the car runs and drives, A/C needs to be repaired, needs a windshield washer pump, paint is starting to lose it clear coat, interior needs to be cleaned, has no options, missing speakers, and it hit a deer so it recieved a new windshield BUT the roof & fender need some MINOR bondo work. The guy wants 1200 as-is for it.

I was all set to buy it - but my friend is buying a '99 Camaro LS1 and he mentioned in passing that his father was selling a car to pay for the Camaro. I asked which one and he said a 1992 Lexus with 150,000 miles for 4k inspected. I told him I might be interested and he said he thought it was a SC400, but might be a SC300 and that it was black paint on tan leather. He said it has been maintained very well and is loaded.

The Lexus looks to be a good deal ATM and looks like it should be reliable. I also love leather interiors, so if it's in good shape, I'm probably going to buy it. Is their anything I should know about this car before I agree to buy it? Are they reliable?

Thanks

Firebird (actual car):

Lexus (ebay - same model & color)

Current ride - 1989 Caprice Brougham

ryuen · 05-09-06, 06:43 PM

im unfamiliar with the sc models but i know that a lot of the other Lexus models are based off toyota cars. they use them interchangably (my toyota highlander uses a older RX engine). plus its japanese/toyota so im sure it should be reliable. i would check on how the user used the car and if that specific year+model had any problems

techun · 05-09-06, 06:46 PM

there are a lot more options for 4k, i've been checking my sunday paper and there are a lot of cars in that range.

it sounds like the firebird might not be a good choice. The lexus would be better but it is still a slightly older car, and 4k could get you a decent car.

Cyrix_2k · 05-09-06, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryuen

im unfamiliar with the sc models but i know that a lot of the other Lexus models are based off toyota cars. they use them interchangably (my toyota highlander uses a older RX engine). plus its japanese/toyota so im sure it should be reliable. i would check on how the user used the car and if that specific year+model had any problems

I think this is based off the Supra although I keep finding references to a Soarer(?). I haven't found any problems so far though - everyone seems to be happy with it so I guess that's a good sign.

sno.lcn · 05-09-06, 06:50 PM

Which sc is that?
My buddy has an '94 es that's never had a single serious problem.

Cyrix_2k · 05-09-06, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by techun

there are a lot more options for 4k, i've been checking my sunday paper and there are a lot of cars in that range.

it sounds like the firebird might not be a good choice. The lexus would be better but it is still a slightly older car, and 4k could get you a decent car.

Yeah, I'm thinking I should probably stay away from the 'bird. The problem is I either want a 3rd gen Firebird (or a 1991-1992 Camaro RS) or a BMW / Lexus. The BMW's seem to be out of my price range as I want a 1993+ 5-series so that leaves the F-bodies or the Lexus. 3rd gen Firebirds are a royal pain to find around here for a good price in good condition, so the 1985 firebird above is one of my only options there.

Of course, I could always keep my car. I really want something smaller though plus it leaks/burns oil and leaks tranny fluid like crazy. It's not good to buy cars that haven't been driven for a while since the seals dry out - as I found out

sno.lcn · 05-09-06, 06:59 PM

I used to have a '94 525i that I bought for like $3500. It was a great car until I blew two of the cylinders busting hella donuts...stupid thing to do looking back on it now.
The car to have is an e30 bmw. You can't go wrong with one of those.

Sucka · 05-09-06, 07:05 PM

My mom's 94' Lexus was bought new back then, and has never had any work done to it short of maintainence/brakes/tires. Been rock solid, which has been why she hasn't replaced it until now. My toyota on the other hand, is a pile....

Crash893 · 05-09-06, 07:52 PM

I dont know if they are reliable or not
but i know they suck in the rain and snow

Cyrix_2k · 05-09-06, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crash893

I dont know if they are reliable or not
but i know they suck in the rain and snow

why? because they're RWD? I like RWD, infact, that's a requirement of mine

Cyrix_2k · 05-09-06, 08:49 PM

hmm - it's a LS400, not SC400. It looks like a mafia car.

Xenocide · 05-09-06, 09:07 PM

my buddy has had nothing but problems with his 92 sc 400 blew his motor, tranny, and rear end with in a 4 month span. he said eff it and bought a 95 ls 400. he is a lexus freak though.

screw lexus, get the camaro, but get an 00 or up because you don't want your wrist pins falling out. my buddies blew up @ 80k miles. (he drove the **** out of it, but still wrist pin knock sucks at any mileage)

Xenocide · 05-09-06, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sno.lcn

I used to have a '94 525i that I bought for like $3500. It was a great car until I blew two of the cylinders busting hella donuts...stupid thing to do looking back on it now.

Open differential with a heavy car and an underpowered engine FTW!

@md0Cer · 05-09-06, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyrix_2k

hmm - it's a LS400, not SC400. It looks like a mafia car.

Huh? The one in the picture of the first post is definitely an SC.

As for the reliability, it is hard to say, Lexus is to Toyota what Infinity is to Nissan, Acura is to Honda, etc.

The general trend of reliability and quality that is consistant with Toyota is mostly the same for Lexus.

Just because it is a Toyota/Lexus or even a Japanese car for that matter, doesn't necessarilly mean it will be reliable though. Every car is different. For example, most people think Honda/Acura are super reliable, well that is partly true, but some generations of Accord's are known to have problems, there was actually an article posted somewhere recently about that.

The way I know though, is I search for all the car forums related to that particular car, if there is a problem that pops up frequently with a certain model, you will likely see it in a sticky or something. I origionally thought Acura TL's were rock solid cars without any problems, until I joined an Acura forum to ask about something relating to the TL, and found out many people have had up to 4 transmissions installed in their cars. At my Nissan forum, just by skimming I found out the 2002 Sentra SER-Spec V has more problems than newer models, 95-99 Maxima's blow up their CD players and have trouble starting, etc.

Basically, just try to find as many forums as you can about that particular car and read up.

Damian · 05-09-06, 09:15 PM

All Lexuses are based off of Japanese Toyotas. They should be fine.

Xenocide · 05-09-06, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Damian

All Lexuses are based off of Japanese Toyotas. They should be fine.

please do not make generalizations when you do not know much about the topic

FSBxtreme · 05-09-06, 09:25 PM

This car is nice. My buddy had one and it was a good car. Didn't give any trouble at all. Lexus is not picky on maintaince like Honda. Good basic maintainces on the Lexus will prolong its life greatly.

RJARRRPCGP · 05-09-06, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sno.lcn

It was a great car until I blew two of the cylinders busting hella donuts...stupid thing to do looking back on it now.

How did you do that?

Cyrix_2k · 05-09-06, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xenocide

my buddy has had nothing but problems with his 92 sc 400 blew his motor, tranny, and rear end with in a 4 month span. he said eff it and bought a 95 ls 400. he is a lexus freak though.

screw lexus, get the camaro, but get an 00 or up because you don't want your wrist pins falling out. my buddies blew up @ 80k miles. (he drove the **** out of it, but still wrist pin knock sucks at any mileage)

Was he driving like a nutcase? I haven't seen that happen to anyone else so far, but if he wasn't doing anything stupid then I'll heed your warning.

I'm not a huge a fan of 4th gens otherwise I'd have one by now...

Quote:

Originally Posted by AMD

Huh? The one in the picture of the first post is definitely an SC.

As for the reliability, it is hard to say, Lexus is to Toyota what Infinity is to Nissan, Acura is to Honda, etc.

The general trend of reliability and quality that is consistant with Toyota is mostly the same for Lexus.

Just because it is a Toyota/Lexus or even a Japanese car for that matter, doesn't necessarilly mean it will be reliable though. Every car is different. For example, most people think Honda/Acura are super reliable, well that is partly true, but some generations of Accord's are known to have problems, there was actually an article posted somewhere recently about that.

The way I know though, is I search for all the car forums related to that particular car, if there is a problem that pops up frequently with a certain model, you will likely see it in a sticky or something. I origionally thought Acura TL's were rock solid cars without any problems, until I joined an Acura forum to ask about something relating to the TL, and found out many people have had up to 4 transmissions installed in their cars. At my Nissan forum, just by skimming I found out the 2002 Sentra SER-Spec V has more problems than newer models, 95-99 Maxima's blow up their CD players and have trouble starting, etc.

Basically, just try to find as many forums as you can about that particular car and read up.

Yeah, the car in the pic is an SC. My friend just called me an said it was an LS instead of the SC. He also said it has a sunroof

I belong to automotiveforums and have been looking around. The SC400 didn't seem to have any issues & I believe it had the same motor as the LS. The LS does have an issue with the interior temp gauge though - not a big deal.

Cyrix_2k · 05-09-06, 09:41 PM

Ok, here's the ebay photo's of a similar LS400

If it's as large as my car - I'm walking away from it. However, this is supposed to be similar to a 5-series which means it should be smaller. It's only 3800 lbs, so it's about 300 lbs more than the SC400 which isn't too bad IMO.

05-09-06, 06:41 PM	Thread Starter #1
Cyrix_2k Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: College Park, MD (School) - Westminster, MD (home)	Are Lexuses reliable? I've been looking at getting another car. I originally planned on buying the firebird in my avatar. That car has 184,000 miles on a 2.8L fuel-injected V6 w/ a 5-speed. It's in decent shape: the car runs and drives, A/C needs to be repaired, needs a windshield washer pump, paint is starting to lose it clear coat, interior needs to be cleaned, has no options, missing speakers, and it hit a deer so it recieved a new windshield BUT the roof & fender need some MINOR bondo work. The guy wants 1200 as-is for it. I was all set to buy it - but my friend is buying a '99 Camaro LS1 and he mentioned in passing that his father was selling a car to pay for the Camaro. I asked which one and he said a 1992 Lexus with 150,000 miles for 4k inspected. I told him I might be interested and he said he thought it was a SC400, but might be a SC300 and that it was black paint on tan leather. He said it has been maintained very well and is loaded. The Lexus looks to be a good deal ATM and looks like it should be reliable. I also love leather interiors, so if it's in good shape, I'm probably going to buy it. Is their anything I should know about this car before I agree to buy it? Are they reliable? Thanks Firebird (actual car): Lexus (ebay - same model & color) Current ride - 1989 Caprice Brougham __________________ ASRock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen3 2500k @ 4.9ghz Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO vCore 1.287 \|Idle: 33°c \| Full load: 68°c 16gb Corsair XMS 3 \| Sapphire 6950 2GB UNLOCKED F O L D For Team 32!! Black belt Ubercloxx0r Audio Technica ATH-A900's "yet another issue with the R-series. If I actually use it on my lap, I can feel my sperm count dropping."
	QUOTE Thanks

05-09-06, 06:43 PM	#2
ryuen Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: at home	im unfamiliar with the sc models but i know that a lot of the other Lexus models are based off toyota cars. they use them interchangably (my toyota highlander uses a older RX engine). plus its japanese/toyota so im sure it should be reliable. i would check on how the user used the car and if that specific year+model had any problems __________________ My Heatware
	QUOTE Thanks

05-09-06, 06:46 PM	#3
techun Member Join Date: Jul 2004	there are a lot more options for 4k, i've been checking my sunday paper and there are a lot of cars in that range. it sounds like the firebird might not be a good choice. The lexus would be better but it is still a slightly older car, and 4k could get you a decent car. __________________ Sugo SFF cube case 4850 45W 4 gigs ddr2 800 7200.11 500gig
	QUOTE Thanks

05-09-06, 06:50 PM	#5
sno.lcn Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Atlanta, GA, USA	Which sc is that? My buddy has an '94 es that's never had a single serious problem.
	QUOTE Thanks

05-09-06, 06:59 PM	#7
sno.lcn Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Atlanta, GA, USA	I used to have a '94 525i that I bought for like $3500. It was a great car until I blew two of the cylinders busting hella donuts...stupid thing to do looking back on it now. The car to have is an e30 bmw. You can't go wrong with one of those.
	QUOTE Thanks

Are Lexuses reliable?

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05-09-06, 07:05 PM	#8
Sucka Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Denver, CO	My mom's 94' Lexus was bought new back then, and has never had any work done to it short of maintainence/brakes/tires. Been rock solid, which has been why she hasn't replaced it until now. My toyota on the other hand, is a pile.... __________________ DFI SLI-DR \| Opteron 170 \| 2x512 G.Skill LE \| x1900XTX \| 2x250GB T7K250 RAID 0 \| PCP&C 510 SLI \| X-Fi \| Dell 2007FPW Laptop \| Dell E1405 \| Core Duo 2 Merom T7200 \| 2GB DDR2 \| Intel 950GM \| 120GB HD \| 14.1 in. WXGA+ Truelife \| XP Pro Heatware
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05-09-06, 07:52 PM	#9
Crash893 "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: 22033	I dont know if they are reliable or not but i know they suck in the rain and snow __________________ My Prime95 stats Huzza 1004.793 Years total Noli turbare circulos meos! i'm moving to Theory, Everything works there ' I want to be the unwobbling pivot at the center of an ever-revolving universe; I want to be still.'
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05-09-06, 08:49 PM	Thread Starter #11
Cyrix_2k Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: College Park, MD (School) - Westminster, MD (home)	hmm - it's a LS400, not SC400. It looks like a mafia car. __________________ ASRock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen3 2500k @ 4.9ghz Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO vCore 1.287 \|Idle: 33°c \| Full load: 68°c 16gb Corsair XMS 3 \| Sapphire 6950 2GB UNLOCKED F O L D For Team 32!! Black belt Ubercloxx0r Audio Technica ATH-A900's "yet another issue with the R-series. If I actually use it on my lap, I can feel my sperm count dropping."
	QUOTE Thanks

05-09-06, 09:07 PM	#12
Xenocide Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Charlotte, NC	my buddy has had nothing but problems with his 92 sc 400 blew his motor, tranny, and rear end with in a 4 month span. he said eff it and bought a 95 ls 400. he is a lexus freak though. screw lexus, get the camaro, but get an 00 or up because you don't want your wrist pins falling out. my buddies blew up @ 80k miles. (he drove the ** out of it, but still wrist pin knock sucks at any mileage) __________________ A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.**
	QUOTE Thanks

05-09-06, 09:15 PM	#15
Damian Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Acton, MA	All Lexuses are based off of Japanese Toyotas. They should be fine.
	QUOTE Thanks

05-09-06, 09:25 PM	#17
FSBxtreme Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: NY	This car is nice. My buddy had one and it was a good car. Didn't give any trouble at all. Lexus is not picky on maintaince like Honda. Good basic maintainces on the Lexus will prolong its life greatly. __________________ MY HEATWARE Asus P5W-DH Deluxe motherboard Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 at 3.2GHz w/ 1.375V(in bios) Patriot DDR2-800 (PC2 6400) 2GB @ 802Mhz 2.0V ATI X1900XTX video card Seagate 320GB 8mb SATAII NEC 3550A DVD writer OCZ GameXtreme 600W SLI Fan Master Lian-Li PC-7B Plus II Black Midtower 2 x Gateway FPD2185W 21" LCD Dual monitors Logitech Z-5500 speakers system
	QUOTE Thanks

05-09-06, 09:41 PM	Thread Starter #20
Cyrix_2k Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: College Park, MD (School) - Westminster, MD (home)	Ok, here's the ebay photo's of a similar LS400 If it's as large as my car - I'm walking away from it. However, this is supposed to be similar to a 5-series which means it should be smaller. It's only 3800 lbs, so it's about 300 lbs more than the SC400 which isn't too bad IMO. __________________ ASRock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen3 2500k @ 4.9ghz Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO vCore 1.287 \|Idle: 33°c \| Full load: 68°c 16gb Corsair XMS 3 \| Sapphire 6950 2GB UNLOCKED F O L D For Team 32!! Black belt Ubercloxx0r Audio Technica ATH-A900's "yet another issue with the R-series. If I actually use it on my lap, I can feel my sperm count dropping."
	QUOTE Thanks