Traded in my old 1997 Toyota Avalon XLS. Bought it in 2007 with intent it was for the
wife starting her new job at Walmart. Bought it with 181549 miles on it for only $1750
and after processing came to $1858. Traded in for with 222687 miles at Car Clearance center
in Rochester,MN. Had been looking for months online at deals an a Lexus LS430 within a
250 radius. This deal was to good to pass up. Was listed for only $3650 online and had a
lot people looking to buy it. Called them yesterday morning and the told me someone was on
the way to look at it. Ya right. The sales ploy. Was not worried. Hoped in the Avalon and
drove 110 miles over to check it out.

They were the nicest guys I have ever met at a used car lot. Met with Ron Peck and he told
me the guy that was suppose to show never showed up. Yep, I believe that. That was ok with me.
He took me over to start it up and look it over. Its not perfect for this price and it has
138546 miles on it. But looked good enough to me. Its replacing a around the town beater car.
He let me take it out for a test drive and he hopped in and I drove it all the back to Dodge
Center, 7 miles west and back. Handled like a dream.

I then asked them if they might be interested in my 97 Avalon as a trade. They emailed before
driving over it was not worthy of trade. Did not see the email till arriving. Dave Hagre the
Sales manager asked me to take a spin with him in old Avalon. So I gave the the entire story
of my purchase knowledge of the previous owner. Had all my service records and the previous
owners in the glove box. He was impressed with my knowledge of the car and its history. Well
we drove for 10 years. Had to know some thing. Did most of the work on myself and when I could
not kept all sales receipts. He shook my hand as he parked and said I will give you $400 for it
Geez, I did expect him to take it.

The 2002 Lexus LS430. Drove it home with a great deal
on it for only $3636.10 with it all processed.

Spent most of day today clearing check engine codes and fixing burnt out lamp and rear deck
sub-woofer had a serious buzz. Fired up Google and had it all fixed today in couple hours.
Going to need to get the exhaust fixed and a brake job. Then look into pricing some body work.
Hoping it last me as long as the Avalon.

Some photos taken down in our wash bay. Been to Foggy to get any outdoor yet.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/1001jimk/albums
/72157679433739445

BTW, this car sold for $68K. will get a photo of the window sticker sales receipt tomorrow.

Oh yes, my 2003 Jagaur S-Type with 111678 miles is up for sale. Just to hard for the wife to
get in and out of. Sits around to much. Have it up $3000. Yeah we were ripped off. Waiting
for Spring to push a sale on it. Had few lookers, saying its to nice to drive in winter.
I agree after putting over $3000 into a $8200 purchase.

Wife is really bummed her Avalon is gone.

Not bad. I cam real close to buying an Acura TL (2004) with a similar number of miles for my kid to drive to college and for me to drive to work.

The big problem you need to watch for is electronic gremlins getting into the system. After talking to my mechanic I got turned off of the Acura for that reason. The car was clean, well maintained and looked great but he said that when the electronics go haywire they can get expensive, fast.

Good luck with the car. Lexus makes a good car.

Electronic Gremlins just killed a friend of mine's Jeep Cherokee. Computer failure didn't let him know of major overheating till he smelled it and it just froze up and by then the head was warped and gasket blown.

I freakin LOVE my 95 Saturn. < 100k miles, no freakin computer controlled crap and sips gas thru a swizzle stick.

You guys are describing my 2003 Jaguar S-Type. It has to many gremlins is another
reason we are going to sell it. Money pit for sure.

When I drove the Lexus home. 110 miles I checked the mpg. 27.8 not bad for a 4.3V8.
Found many of the electrical problems were easily fixed from Google and Youtube.
Still learning all the features. It is a far nicer working Car wise then the Jag.
Need to check the full size spare and see what the original wheels look like.
The Wheels on it now are not the ones that came with it.

Went to check out the full size spare, good thing I did. Was flat. I like the original rims
better. Now I need to find a lug wrench that will fit the lugs on those rims. Could not find
one in the trunk anywhere. Found another cool feature in it today. Power rear window shade.
Had no idea what this button on the counsel did till I tested it. To cool, going to need it
this summer, black leather interior. At least the front seat are cooled to. Here is the
original window when it from a Lexus dealer in Illinois.



Here is a shot of the original wheels that came on it. All aired up now.

My ex boss had one he got new in 2000, very nice car to drive, I only got to drive it once tho. It was quite quick but not as fast as his brother's S8, on a side note his brother features in a youtube video of a jump in a rally car when competing in the Jim Clark Rally. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOjnulKIRvk

At that time as a company car I had a Toyota Landcruiser Amazon VX, just about the most reliable car I have ever driven, and the Lexus of Vince gave no trouble what so ever while he had it.

Very nice car you have Jim

Ok, just how did you fix a buzzing speaker using Google and a couple of hours??? Didn't you need to replace it?



The Jedi Master

Youtube video showing me what to look for after pulling the cover off the sub. Turned out
the foam attched to outer rim was loose in about a 3 inch long area. I used a tube of clear
silicone indoor outdoor and ran a bead around the entire rim of the foam to plastic and
smoothed it out. Waited 24 hours and gave it the test. No more rattling or buzzing. Many
talked the quick fix was hot melt glue. I did not think that would hold up at all.

Oh, so that was all that was wrong with it. I thought you meant it was totally blown.



The Jedi Master

Mark Levenson sub for the Lexus is outrageously priced. Around $900.
They talk about Polk that will replace it, but some serious work to
make it fit and then wire it. The Amp for it is very sensitive and the
wrong wiring will blow it. Was not even going to think about if that
were the case. I would just cut the wires. Plus you must remove the
entire back seat and take out the rear window panel to get access.

Rear wheel drive going to be a problem in Minnesota in the winter?

Grew up driving rear wheel drive in winter in MN. You never forget. Been driving since 77.
Throw a couple 50lb bags of rid ice in the trunk and good to go. Even though I will most likely
be driving my Honda Odyssey. Have a winter Storm warning for up to 10 inches coming.

I kept a concrete beam to throw in the boot(trunk) of my Ford Sierra(Taunus?) without the extra weight the car would go nowhere, it was about the worst car I have ever driven in the winter.

Well it is snowing here but it is just above freezing so it won't stay even tho it has been -5c to -8c for more than a week

Trunk on this car is amazing. Just hauled over 15/50lb bags of rid ice from Garage to the other.
750lbs in the trunk and prolly had room for about 4 more. Left 2 in the trunk. Snow has not started
yet and they reduced our snow totals down. Thankful for that. 3 to 6 is plenty.

Nice buy and a timeless car!
Your point about a quick search for a fix is dead on. The internet has been brilliant for used cars, changing the game from before 20 years ago, when you had not much more than a Haynes manual. Whatever the car, somewhere there's a car forum dedicated to it and youtube videos on how to take care of it. Issues are often extremely common and well documented by owners these days. You can usually find quick and easy fixes to problems that before the internet would've driven you CRAZY to find before and even today can cost you hundreds in wasted repair attempts if you don't educate yourself. How many cars suffer from easily cleaned EGR's and manifold ports that throw exhaust codes and a CEL? Dealerships will be glad to tell you to replace the part and it still won't fix the issue. Cars prone to that kind of thing you'll find directions and tons of owners chiming in on with advice and directions. One of the BEST uses of the internet.

One car that surprised me with the size of the trunk was my Fiat 124 Special T, for a little car it was enormous, but again it was so light on the back end and with a very peaky 1600cc DOHC engine lets say it was interesting to drive in the winter, and on a good day would see off a Mustang Mach 1... that was just so sweet, the owner of the Mustang demanded to see what was under the bonnet, wouldn't believe it was just a 1600.

The Internet and youtube in particular has been a great help to my son whom is restoring an old BMW 325ix touring

Its how I research any car buy these days, will look at a make and model and run it and see what kind of
problems might common with and then proceed to search dealerships and private sales online. Within a 200
to 250 mile radius. Was lucky to find such a deal only 110 miles away. Taking it in Thursday morning to
fix the exhaust leak. Then online again pricing rotors and brake pads.

LOL, we drove 50 miles to buy my wife's car and I thought that was interminable! I can't imagine going that far for like 2.5 hrs each way unless I was getting a brand new Porsche or something for like $10k.
There was a dealer half as far that I would've rather gone to but my wife didn't like their choices of finance companies. Of course, it turns out the one she got was actually worse, a credit union with ridiculous rules that makes paying a real hassle.
We'll be doing a refi on it soon.



The Jedi Master

I had the cash to buy it without any financing which made the drive easier in the
fog. We only financed when we bought out 2006 Honda Odyssey and paid it off in half
the finance term time. In other words. They did not get any interest money from us.

Drove from MS to IN to buy a car once. It was about 9 hours one way.
It was worth it, got a car I'd wanted since they were new when I was in college. Certainly not a Porsche though.
Can't always find what you want locally, but if you're willing to drive and the price is right to make it worthwhile, go for it.