Just bought a new car for the kids

[thelawnet]

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...

It's a Lexus LS460 SE-L (SE-L = SWB, with every option ticked) - £71k in 2006, I paid £13k.
71,000 miles.
0-62 in 5.0s
4.6l V8
ruinous mpg
lots of gadgets
£500 VED

The kids were very pleased.

Edited by thelawnet on Sunday 26th October 00:50

[Andy665]

Fabulous quality car and thats a real bargain price considering what you get

[TheHound]

A Hell of a lot of car at a fantastic price. Enjoy!

[davamer23]

That's a large slab of car for the price OP and even better chipping 2k of the sticker price. Makes you wonder what the sucker who chopped it in got for it. They could've given it a clean for the Ad pics though.

[Patch888]

Nice car and saving,

Very nice all-rounder.

[Pete102]

A guy I used to work with used to commute 70 miles way, each day in one of these. What a guy!

[Jonny_]

Very, very nice indeed.

I really fancy an early LS600h, they're almost sensible (reliable, practical, 4WD) and crop up around the same sort of price as your 460. Only trouble being they're rare and tend to have covered vast mileages, which I suppose is testament to the reputed reliability!

[Baryonyx]

These are absolutely incredible. I love Lexus. I went to a dealership once on business matters unrelated to buying cars, and ended up chatting with the showroom manager. He showed me round the LS600h and the GS450h, which both seemed like incredible cars!

[thelawnet]

Jonny_ said:

Very, very nice indeed.

I really fancy an early LS600h, they're almost sensible (reliable, practical, 4WD) and crop up around the same sort of price as your 460. Only trouble being they're rare and tend to have covered vast mileages, which I suppose is testament to the reputed reliability!

I had a look at ls600 prices, basically:

£2k-£3k more for the same age/mileage
£285 rather than £500 for the fuel tax.
30mpg rather than 25. So over 15,000 mlies a saving of about £600 in fuel.

You lose some of the boot space for the hybrid bits (though I think mine has lost some boot space for the rear seat recliners and such like, but I'm not really sure yet)

Most more recent (less depreciated) LSes are 600s, whereas the early ones tend to be 460s.

All in all I couldn't see the point, although it comes down to price really, all cars depreciate to zero in the end, so I'd rather a number closer to that than further away, IYSWIM, so an early 600 is a good buy at the right price I think.

Edited by thelawnet on Saturday 25th October 22:50

[thelawnet]

davamer23 said:

That's a large slab of car for the price OP and even better chipping 2k of the sticker price. Makes you wonder what the sucker who chopped it in got for it. They could've given it a clean for the Ad pics though.

4 previous owners, last guy had had it since 2012, put about 6000 miles per year HPI showed lexus finance active. Lexus service history prior to last owner who had serviced it at some no-name place in Greenford.

I got a valuation:
£10,900 in excellent trade in
£9,700 average
£8,350 below average
£14,360 dealer
£13,000 private

They offered me £4,000 for my Vw Eos 2.0 TSI 56 plate, with 53,000 miles, and bumper paint scrape/dent (body shop said £500 to repair). Haven't decided whether I will take this yet.

They didn't seem to be particularly interested in the lexus, apparently px'd for a RAV4, they don't get a lot of them in, and when I was asking things like 'how do the wireless headphones and tv in the back work' the salesman was just saying 'sorry, I normally flog Yarises.' So I guess they were wanting rid, plus the Mrs wasn't exactly chomping at the bit to buy, as she's going to be paying for the fuel lol, so I think they knew I would walk at a penny over £13k.

Don't know why they didn't polish the paint before sale, minor scratches and the like that would polish out, but they've promised to do it for me now.

Got a years warranty thrown in, I assume all the gadgets work and are covered, everything seemed present and correct, two pairs of wireless headphones, remote control for the DVD player, and so on.

Wasn't planning to buy it exactly, was going somewhere else, on the motorway I was asking the wife about the S class, and she said 'it's so boring looking' and 'you'll look like a Pakistani cab driver', so we ruled that out, and had arranged to see the Lexus just to see what it was like, stopped in the dealers, got in the back and was 'wow' at the space and all the buttons to play with, and then the dealer said 'so how much?' and I gave him a price that I was happy with and that was that.

Need to figure out what to do with the eos - fix the bodywork and try and make it look nice, or just shove it out the door as a cheap but slightly tatty example.

[MrBarry123]

Excellent OP - love it!

[thelawnet]

Here's a Fifth Gear video covering the toys in this particular vehicle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZQ4zsWw72U

[thelawnet]

Here's some stats and info for the current LS460/600, from

https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/browse/lexus

LS460 introduced August 2006, there is a Mark 1 and a Mark 3 (no Mark 2):

LS460 (2006-August 2009 base model) - 85 sold
LS460 SE (2006-August 2009 model with more gadgets) - 97 sold
LS460 SE-L (2006-August 2009 fully loaded - confusingly NOT a LWB) - 600 sold

Around 700 original LS460s remain.

Lexus stopped selling the LS460 late in 2009, selling only the LS600h.

In November 2012, they introduced the reintroduced the LS460, in Luxury and F Sport trim.

LS460 F Sport (November 2012-) - 7 sold
LS460 Luxury(November 2012-) - 57 sold
Just 64 Mk3s have been sold.

LS600 exists in Mark 1 (August 2007), Mark 2 (2010), and Mark 3 (late 2012)
LS600h (2007-2009 SWB model) - 80 sold
LS600h L (2007-2010 LWB model) - 140 sold
LS600H L Rear Seat Relaxation (2007-10) - 230 sold
450 Mk1s were sold

LS600h (2010- SWB model) - 3 sold
LS600H L (2010- LWB model - with Rear Seat Relaxation as Standard) - 41 sold
Only 44 Mk2s were sold

LS600h Premier (2012 - current, and in LWB only) - 36 sold
36 Mk3s have been sold

Original price list:
https://web.archive.org/web/20070320171158/http://...

Basic list price LS460 £57,000

Standard spec:
18" 235/50 alloys
10 million airbags
8" satnav/multifunction display with DVD maps and RDS traffic
Central TFT info cluster
Bluetooth
Steering wheel audio/phone controls
Voice climate/navigation/audio control
Cruise control
Dual climate
Memory front seats with air con
10-speaker FM/MW/LW 6-disc in-dash cd changer
Bi-xenon headlights autolevelling with popup cleaners
Parking sensors

Options:
Rear Seat Upgrade package £3,550 (cool box, door armrest leather, four zone climate with separate rear aircon, multi-function central armrest, electric memory rear seats, electric rear headrests, rear airbags, roof climate diffusers, electric sunshades)
Upholstery upgrade package £1,500 (semi-aniline seats, alcantara roof lining and pillar finishing, leather door integrated armrest)
Adaptive cruise control/pre-crash safety system (advanced obstacle detection with radar and camera, drive monitoring, emergency steering assist) £2,200
Advanced safety pack (as above, plus lane keep assist, lane departure warning, rear pre-crash safety system) £3,750
19" alloys £1500 (245/45)
Mark Levinson Audio (FM/MW 19-speaker 6-slot in-dash DVD changer, with Surround sound) £1560
Sunroof £900
Intelligent Park Assist £400 (self parking)
Power Boot Closer £350
Smart Card Entry £210
Rear Seat Entertainment (9" roof-mounted screen with remote control and twin wireless headphones) £2500
Heated wooden steering wheel £600

The SE pack was £8,000 and included: Rear Seat Upgrade Package, Mark Levinson Audio, Sunroof, Power Boot Closer, Rear Seat Entertainment (total individual cost £8,860)

The SE-L was £14,000 over the base model, and included every option on the list as standard (so beyond the SE you gain: upholstery upgrade, advanced safety pack, 19" wheels, intelligent park assist, smart card entry - £15.7k worth), save the heated steering wheel.

Summer 2007 brought the LS600h SWB (£84,735) and LS600h L (LWB) (£86,935).
The LS600h in either SWB or LWB matches the SE-l spec, except that there's AWD as standard, and the bi-xenon lights are replaced with LED lights, which mean the lane keep assist and lane departure warning system cannot function, there's an upgraded all-leather dashboard, and the alloys, while also 245/45/R19, are 7-spoke instead of 5-spoke.
The rear seat relaxtion package was an additional-cost option (£91,195), for the LS600h L only, featuring: left-rear electric footrest, infrared (body temperature) rear climate sensors, electric folding front passenger headrest, remote control rear massage seats, fixed rear wood console, retractable wooden table,

The LS had a minor refresh as of 2009/10, with the LS460 cancelled, and the LS600 updated with rear massage made standard, while the advanced safety pack was standard only on the LS600h l, and there was a choice of 4-seat (roof-mounted 9" screen) or 5-seat (central console-mounted 9" screen with independent DVD player) rear relaxation, but only in the LS600h l. In addition, the satnav was upgraded to a hard drive model. There was also improved paint.

Prices were:
£90,636 600h
£93,936 600h L
£100,086 600h L

The LS had a major refresh for late 2012, with the LS460 reintroduced, and a restyling. There's 5% better MPG on the petrol, 10% on the hybrid, and they ditched the spare wheel, in order to give a bigger boot.

Other changes are:
Improved 'nanoe air filter'
12.3" satnav
LED Headlights that automatically protect oncoming vehicles from dazzling on the LS600h only

The LS460 Luxury is basically the SE-L but with 235/50/18" alloys and is £71,995
The LS460 F Sport is the SE-L but with lowered suspension, upgraded brakes, limited-slip differential, and is £74,495
The LS600h has 245/45/19 alloys and is £99,995.

Stats:

LS460 (2006-2010)
381bhp 4.6l V8/32 valve
493 Nm torque
0-62 in 5.7s
8-speed sequential shift autobox
17.1mpg urban
35.8mpg extra-urban
25.4mpg combined
261g CO2

LS460 (2012-)
26.4mpg
249g CO2

ls600h (2007-2010)
394bhp 5.0l V8/32 valve (445hp combined)
CVT autobox
520 Nm torque
0-62 in 6.3s
25.0mpg urban
35.3mpg extra-urban
30.4mpg combined
219g CO2

Ls600h (2012- model)
32.9mpg
199g CO2

Dimensions:
503cm long
188cm wide
Fuel tank: 84 litres

Boot:
LS460 505 litres (2006-2010)
LS460 SE/SE-L (or base model with rear seat upgrade, if such a thing exists) - 420 litres according to the brochure, but some sources say only 385 litres - the space is lost to the rear aircon
LS460 (2012-current) - 560 litres (no spare wheel)
LS600h or LS600h L - 330 litres - space lost to the hybrid system
LS600h current model - 420 litres (no spare wheel)

Colour options:
Ivory, White, Grey or Black leather (semi-aniline in SE and SE-L and in the LS600h), with wood inlay
If you picked the white or grey on the LS600h, you got an all black dashboard
Paint: Pearl, Byzantine Silver, Palladio Silver, Slate, Velvet Black, Obsidian Black (exclusive to the LS600h), Siena, Namibian Gold, blue, sable or olive

So as you can see, if you want a cheaper LS460, i.e. one released prior to 2012, then 90% of them have the small boot due to the rear seat climate. If you want a bigger boot you need one WITHOUT the rear seat console + screen, that is, not an SE/SE-L.

If you get the LS600h, then unless it's a 2012 or later model it will have a very small boot, and it also won't have lane keep assist (apparently fantastic?) due to the bling headlights, again unless it's a 2012+ model.

Bottom dealer CAP prices:

Base 460 Jan 2007/70,000 miles: £10,750
SE 460 Jan 2007/70,000 miles £12,250
SE-L 460 Jan 2007/70,000 miles £13,600
SE-L 460 Jan 2008/70,000 miles £15,300
SE-L 460 Jan 2009/70,000 miles £17,150
SE-L 460 Jan 2009/50,000 miles £19,200
Luxury 460 Jan 2013/40,000 miles £36,750

LS600h (SWB) Sep 2007/70,000 miles £19,400
LS600h (SWB) Jan 2008/70,000 miles £19,995
LS600h (LWB) Jan 2008/70,000 miles £20,750
LS600h (LWB Rear Relaxtion) Jan 2008/70,000 miles £21,500

So it's very hard to see that the 600 offers good value compared with the 460.

[stuno1]

Incredible cars for the money and not slow either. Great purchase.

[Riknos]

Some of those options are awesome! Sounds like a bargain, top work!

[Martin_Hx]

Very nice car, nice to see something different as well!

[thelawnet]

Riknos said:

Some of those options are awesome! Sounds like a bargain, top work!

Yeah the options list is quite interesting. I think they are all available on say an S-Class, but whereas most people bought the fully tricked out SE-L LS460 (the current LS460 (but not the LS600h, which is fully pimped), perhaps sadly, have lost a lot of the spec), on a Merc the equipment list is as long as your arm with extras, e.g., the door soft closure is an optional extra, so the cars are less likely to have all the bling.

So I suspect the depreciation on the S Class is actually worse than it appears, because of the extras adding thousands to the invoice price.

[thelawnet]

Just went to collect. Had to wait around while some old bloke was shown how his new Auris Hybrid worked.

Went out to see the car, they had polished it quite nicely. The salesman showed me around the car, ventilated seats, satnav (still sporting the 2006/07 maps!), stereo, seat controls.

We couldn't get the boot open, turns out there's a button hidden inside the glove compartment which prevents it from being opened using the blipper, pressed that and all was well - the boot opens and closes at the touch of a button. A bit small, but I checked my usual picnic table and tent at home and they fit fine.

Drove up to Dunstable for lunch. Nice and smooth, bluetooth working with my phone and the satnav's quite nice apart from the age of the maps and the lack of full postcode support. It feeds the nav directions (and also the bluetooth phone) into the driver's speakers only (there are 19 in the car), so it makes it a bit less oppressive than having it booming out through the car.

Stereo seems happiest with Classic FM, there's 3d sound so you can adjust the sound position towards the back and front as well (about nine different positions) as left and right. No height adjustment though. Haven't played with the DVDs, though the screen does obstruct the rear view so that's slightly irritating.

Kids happy in the back with their electric adjustable seats with separate climate + ventilation. They also have radio controls, there's probably a button stop them fiddling with it. The rear blinds automatically roll up when you put the car in reverse, which is nice. I don't know if the video screen does as well - I guess so. There's automatic parking, but I didn't think to test it till I got home, and I don't think I have quite got the knack of selecting the spot, or maybe it's not happy on my road with all the cars parked off-street - I suspect it works better in supermarket carparks with guidelines to work with.

The car was doing upper 20s, but got stuck in two separate delays totalling about 40 minutes on the M25 and ended up doing Dunstable - Woking in 23.8mpg. It's quite a good motorway barge, the Lane Keep Assist turns the wheel for you, although it will be beep if it thinks you aren't concentrating. The radar cruise is quite handy also, button press to enable, press down on the stalk to set the speed, and push up to go up in 5mph increments. I had it set on 85mph and when the lane cleared I was quite surprised to see it revving to 5000rpm to get back up to speed from the 60mph I was doing. The Lane Keep works above about 30mph so you can use it on single carriageways although here it's more likely to protest that you are going out of the lane. You get a little radar display in the console, showing the lanes and the position of the car in front.

They gave me a new MOT, and there's an advisory 'the centre stop lamp has light sources not illuminating but not more than 50%'. Haven't checked it out yet, not sure how much that will cost to fix. Also 'OSF tyre wearing slightly on inner edge'. The tracking is actually well out, it's pulling quite hard to the left, so it would have been nice for that to be done, but I can book it in the local tyre place anyway. Don't know how people drive around like that really.

The car really doesn't beg to be hooned, it's very smooth and quiet.

There's rust on the sunroof, much like the guy here: http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/79476... though not as bad I guess it's a common problem. Will need to get it treated.

I only hope they don't decide to whack up the VED in future years. £500 quite enough thanks.

Edited by thelawnet on Thursday 30th October 20:40

[thelawnet]

Lots of buttons everywhere - adjustable ride height, three suspension settings, air purifier buttons, seatbelt height adjustment, electric steering wheel adjustment. And the seatbelt sockets light up after dark, which is nice. All five tyres individually electronically monitored with their exact pressure in the HUD. Soft touch doors.

Massive wing mirrors, which is quite nice.

Still need to test the cool box. It's not huge.

And not tested the headphones yet.

I thought when I viewed, that the car had a card key, but the dealer claims only the two normal remote control keys. Maybe it was just a keyring. It doesn't make a huge amount of difference, basically if you approach the car with the key (normal or card) in your pocket and try to open the door, sensors will unlock the doors. Same with the boot. The main difference is that the card key can go in your wallet, whereas the normal key is obviously bigger and bulkier.

[jamiebae]

Looks really impressive.

Assuming they kept the plate the owner actually chopped it in for a 2007 Land Cruiser with the 4 cylinder diesel, which is a bit of a change from the Lexus in terms of refinement and comfort!