Son is set on this car: Lexus GX 470 '08-'09, but we’re all trying to talk him out of it to get something with better mileage since he’ll put a lot of miles on it. He wants a lot of space, which he says this thing has. He found a 2009 with basically 180k miles on it that gets/got 12-13 mp. Other than him, everyone else thought it wasn’t a good car for him, especially since he does a lot of driving. He’ll probably put close to 20k miles a year on it.
I know we kind of went through this when I was looking for a car, but my budget was $20-$22k. His is $10k and under. Nothing to trade in.
None of us, including him, have any real knowledge about cars, and he thinks 180k miles isn’t a big deal. It might not be to someone who knows about them and can do even minor maintenance themselves, but that’s not him.
So, once again, can you guys give suggestions as to what kind of car he could/should look at in that $10k and under price that has a lot of trunk room, not really interior space since there won’t usually be any passengers.
Thanks again.
Annnnnnnd or Andddddddd, as I was writing this, he’s on the phone with someone almost 400 miles away, and when he gets off says he’s just bought the guy’s car - the one he wants, the Lexus GX 470 '08 or '09, don’t know which because I wasn’t paying attention to his discussion, with 160k miles for $12k. So I guess this queston is moot, and unless something happens with this, no need for replies.
You’re right, not a great choice, bad mpgs, expensive repairs, a lot of miles. If he needs room I bet a Highlander would have more. But a $10,000 budget means maintenance and condition will be critical in his choice whatever it is. He really has to have a pre purchase inspection.
If he bought it from a dealer there might be a chance to return it if there are significant problems, depending on state laws. Your son should get a post-purchase inspection ASAP.
The price he paid sounds just about right when I looked up this vehicle here in NY. Some of them are being sold for $11,000 up with that mileage.
It’s a Lexus. It is a strong SUV. He can get another 100k miles out of it, assuming the parts are new.
I wouldn’t have bought it for the same reasons the others before me pointed out but if your son likes the suv and he’s mechanically inclined, he will enjoy it, especially now that Donald Trump has won the election gas price should be a lot cheaper.
As I have posted many times here, there is literally no vehicle on Earth which offers better bang-for-the-buck than a 1997-2001 Toyota Camry. Especially when equipped with the 4-cylinder engine and automatic transmission. Excellent reliability, performance, and fuel economy. You can’t go wrong with this model!
Nope, not even close. The price of gasoline is controlled by the market, including OPEC as a market factor. Drilling won’t affect prices because there is already enough oil for existing refinery capacity. I have a hard time believing that anyone will open a new refinery or even one that was retired in the last 20 years.
+1
The reality of the situation is that refineries are continuing to shut-down, mostly as a result of a drop in demand. Phillips 66 announced recently that they are shutting-down their LA refinery, and Valero announced plans to possibly shut-down their Wilmington, CA refinery. Additionally, Lyondell is going to close its Houston refinery.
In terms of supply and demand, we now have plenty of crude oil on the supply side, and dropping demand should cause prices to stabilize and–possibly–drop further. But, the lessening supply of refined product as a result of multiple refinery closures could negate that process and lead to some shortages of refined products, and I think that most of us know what that will do to retail refined prices.
Everyone makes at least one bad car decision. It’s the price of tuition. You just try to mitigate the loss. I just have never put mpg as a main issue though if you actually calculate gas cost.
I wonder ‘why that vehicle’. Because it’s neat? Luxurious? I’d have to have real strong reasons to put up with the constant gas costs and repair/maintenance costs.
My brother bought a 2011 Sequoia for his family and the MPG and the size aren’t ideal for around town but they were squished into the Subaru Legacy wagon and he almost bought a Honda Pilot when the Sequoia showed up on the market. Longtime mechanic’s gave him an idea of what services and repairs would run so it wasn’t totally an impulse buy. Wanted the split 3rd row with room behind it. They have a short enough commute to work to manage the fuel costs. A Sienna or Highlander would not work as well for the five of them and the winter conditions where they live.
The Legacy or his '09 GTI get driven in town and for shorter trips. Brother can take the bike to work on a trail that used to be a rail line that runs right from their house to within 1/2mi of the hospital where he works.
Well, I think otherwise. Before buying any vehicle, I always look online at the instructions for doing both common routine maintenance, as well as major repairs, in order to ascertain if I would be able to do the work myself with the tools and equipment at my disposal. Any vehicle with an internal water pump driven by a timing chain is an automatic “no go”, as is any vehicle with direct injection, or an open-deck aluminum engine block.
20k miles is considered a little above average. Pre-covid I averaged 40k.
How well a vehicle is maintained is key. The Lexus GX 470 is an extremely reliable vehicle if maintained well. 200k miles is NOTHING on a well maintained Lexus GX 470. I’d make sure it has a good maintenance record and get it inspected.
Finding a good reliable large SUV under $10k is a crapshoot. Good luck.
I made two car purchases that were mistakes. I had worked for a mechanic back in the late 1950s and early 1960s mowing the grass around his house and shop. His advice back then was to “stick with Ford or Chevrolet. Parts are readily available and every mechanic knows the problems and how to deal with them”. I didn’t take his advice and bought a used 1955 Pontiac from the Rambler dealer where my dad had purchased a car. The service department had “overhauled” the engine and the Pontiac had a manual transmission which I thought would be trouble free. I had problems almost right away with the oil passages in the studs that supported the rocker arms. I had to have new bearings in the transmission. I thought I had done my homework as the 1955 Pontiac had a good repair record according to Consumer Reports. The problem was that an oil filter was optional equipment on the 1955 Pontiac and my Pontiac didn’t have that option. Also, very few 1955 Pontiacs had manual transmissions and th GM Hydramatic was a very reliable transmission by 1955. Also, the V8 engine was new to Pontiac in 1955.
I think my mechanic friend today would say “Stick with the Toyota Corolla or Camry or the Honda Civic or Accord”.
The other mistake was a 1965 Rambler. I bought th car in 1965 with 7000 miles on the odometer. I went off to graduate school and there was no Rambler dealer in the town where the university was located. That made some parts hard to get.
