Facebook marketplace Lexus RX400h SE-L, what could go wrong?
Discussion
With my Lincoln Town Car tucked up in storage for the winter, the space that it formally occupied on the driveway was now going spare.
And as we all know, a space on the driveway is a terrible thing to waste....
Truth be told, I had been looking for a second car to be used in place of our Nissan Leaf for less stressful longer trips.
The key points for the next car were as follows:
Good condition
Comfortable
Petrol
Decent boot
Isofix
Not awful on fuel
Decent amount of creature comforts
Automatic
Not starship mileage
Also a car that both my wife and I can fit in, she’s short of leg and so a lot of cars she can’t reach the pedals.
Apart from that, the world was my oyster! Like you I love browsing for cars and so I took to my new task with gusto. I looked at a whole heap of cars, Rover 75 tourers Ford Mondeo Estates, Jeep Grand Cherokee’s, Subaru Legacy Outbacks etc.
Nothing really stood out, I had looked at early 2003 RX300s but they seemed pretty bad on fuel and pretty expensive.
Until yesterday morning when I was lying in bed fighting off a Christmas cold (ho, ho, ho) my wife messaged me to say that she’d found a good looking 2007 RX400h SE-L on Facebook marketplace for £5000 with 116k on the clock.
Colour me intrigued!
From initial discussions with the owner things sounded good. Full service history, majority Lexus main dealer apart from the latest which was at a hybrid specialist. I quickly booked in a viewing and rose from my mucus lair.
It’s important to not judge a book by its cover, but on arriving at the venue I had a good feeling, immaculately clean house and the owner immediately wanted to walk through the paperwork of the car showing MOTs, servicing, hand written dates of when he had changed the oil and filter every year. Receipts galore. Even wanted me to check the vin plate etc.
The car itself was similarly immaculate, leather regularly conditioned, official overmats, plastic boot liner. We spent a good time chatting through the many features of the car - including some he didn’t realise the car came with such as Bluetooth and iso fix.
Time for a test drive, I hadn’t arranged insurance and so he had to drive but nothing major made itself known, there looked to be a some play in the steering but the bushes were noted as on way out at the MOT and the car came with replacements so I was not overly concerned. The hybrid system seemed to work well, and all the toys did as well.
So dear reader, I bought the car - I managed to agree on £4900 and the deal was done. The drive back home was uneventful and hopefully that’s how things will continue!
And as we all know, a space on the driveway is a terrible thing to waste....
Truth be told, I had been looking for a second car to be used in place of our Nissan Leaf for less stressful longer trips.
The key points for the next car were as follows:
Good condition
Comfortable
Petrol
Decent boot
Isofix
Not awful on fuel
Decent amount of creature comforts
Automatic
Not starship mileage
Also a car that both my wife and I can fit in, she’s short of leg and so a lot of cars she can’t reach the pedals.
Apart from that, the world was my oyster! Like you I love browsing for cars and so I took to my new task with gusto. I looked at a whole heap of cars, Rover 75 tourers Ford Mondeo Estates, Jeep Grand Cherokee’s, Subaru Legacy Outbacks etc.
Nothing really stood out, I had looked at early 2003 RX300s but they seemed pretty bad on fuel and pretty expensive.
Until yesterday morning when I was lying in bed fighting off a Christmas cold (ho, ho, ho) my wife messaged me to say that she’d found a good looking 2007 RX400h SE-L on Facebook marketplace for £5000 with 116k on the clock.
Colour me intrigued!
From initial discussions with the owner things sounded good. Full service history, majority Lexus main dealer apart from the latest which was at a hybrid specialist. I quickly booked in a viewing and rose from my mucus lair.
It’s important to not judge a book by its cover, but on arriving at the venue I had a good feeling, immaculately clean house and the owner immediately wanted to walk through the paperwork of the car showing MOTs, servicing, hand written dates of when he had changed the oil and filter every year. Receipts galore. Even wanted me to check the vin plate etc.
The car itself was similarly immaculate, leather regularly conditioned, official overmats, plastic boot liner. We spent a good time chatting through the many features of the car - including some he didn’t realise the car came with such as Bluetooth and iso fix.
Time for a test drive, I hadn’t arranged insurance and so he had to drive but nothing major made itself known, there looked to be a some play in the steering but the bushes were noted as on way out at the MOT and the car came with replacements so I was not overly concerned. The hybrid system seemed to work well, and all the toys did as well.
So dear reader, I bought the car - I managed to agree on £4900 and the deal was done. The drive back home was uneventful and hopefully that’s how things will continue!
Edited by LincolnLovin on Sunday 23 December 10:42
Hah truth, I have no delusions of going off road with it.
So day two report:
Fluids still look good, ever electric feature I’ve tried has worked well and I’ve used it for a small tip run (with many blankets to protect the boot). It’s definitely going to need the lower front control arms changed at some point (no knocks or groans yet but you can feel them on the way out.).
That won’t be a cheap job I suspect, as it looks like you have to remove the subframe.
I’m going to have a proper nose through the documentation as well to see what I can find. The previous owner also printed out a massive manual for the sat nav which will be fun reading.
So day two report:
Fluids still look good, ever electric feature I’ve tried has worked well and I’ve used it for a small tip run (with many blankets to protect the boot). It’s definitely going to need the lower front control arms changed at some point (no knocks or groans yet but you can feel them on the way out.).
That won’t be a cheap job I suspect, as it looks like you have to remove the subframe.
I’m going to have a proper nose through the documentation as well to see what I can find. The previous owner also printed out a massive manual for the sat nav which will be fun reading.
See this is the stuff I like to find in paperwork:
Looks like all belts were changed at the 100k mark by Lexus inv water pump. I might try and pop along to the local dealership to see if I can get a print out of the service history.
I also found this disc:
Which I’ll need my retro pc to run:
I wonder what Windows 98 wonders will be on that disc!
Looks like all belts were changed at the 100k mark by Lexus inv water pump. I might try and pop along to the local dealership to see if I can get a print out of the service history.
I also found this disc:
Which I’ll need my retro pc to run:
I wonder what Windows 98 wonders will be on that disc!
I am beginning to wonder if the steering 'shimmy' could be tyre balancing and alignment related. It seems more pronounced at certain speeds (30mph specifically) and is not as apparent at motorway speeds.
The OSF tyre is running low, and I think the previous owner has put different brands on the front tyres, so I will be replacing them as a matter of course regardless.
The OSF tyre is running low, and I think the previous owner has put different brands on the front tyres, so I will be replacing them as a matter of course regardless.
d_a_n1979 said:
The tyres certainly won't help; you may find that alignment places won't touch it until you've sorted this, so I'd go that route first
IMO; Camskill and Tyreleader generally have the best prices for tyres
The shimmy at 30mph could be the duff tyres or bad tracking/alignment, could be worn bushes or ball joints too, so check the suspension over, part n parcel etc
Steering bushes are next on the list (advisory on the mot that they were cracking), but as I suspect it requires the lower control arms to be replaced it's going to be pricey.IMO; Camskill and Tyreleader generally have the best prices for tyres
The shimmy at 30mph could be the duff tyres or bad tracking/alignment, could be worn bushes or ball joints too, so check the suspension over, part n parcel etc
I think the key is to find the sweet spot when driving long distance where it can be moved along on battery only. I am used to coasting and finding larger objects (trucks/coaches) to follow, along side driving at 64 ish mph in the left hand lane at all times from my time in the Leaf.
It's going to be weird heading to the Zoo tomorrow and not have to plan charging alternatives.
It's going to be weird heading to the Zoo tomorrow and not have to plan charging alternatives.
I still love the Leaf, it's a great car and handles 99% of our driving - we just needed to have a second car with my wife returning to work after having the second.
So I pumped up the tyres and that seems to have reduce the 'shimmy', I might bite the bullet and get all four replaced at the same time.
So I pumped up the tyres and that seems to have reduce the 'shimmy', I might bite the bullet and get all four replaced at the same time.
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