I checked out that LX450 this evening in person. A young kid owns it - he also has another Lexus RX and a 2005 4Runner - 'tweaked out' with custom rims, K&N filter, number of other blingy things I don't recall.
He's the third owner - originally the car was corporate lease in Tampa, FL. His buddy bought it and brought it to CO and he bought it from him 3 years ago. Says that he'd put in less than 15K miles on the truck in the last 3 years.
Inside, the truck is showing some wear - the driver's seat side leather is ripped. I don't think the owner has a vacuum cleaner... Once again, a modern stereo (single) in a large opening resulting in a single empty bay... tacky. It's been a family car for them he says, though this somewhat contradicts the meaty 285's that he'd put on... he said he works too much to off road and has not gone wheeling, though he's been through a couple of snow storms in it and liked the way it handled them all.
Under the hood the truck looked pretty clean - there was one rubber hose on top of the valve cover that had some oil around it - he said he just fixed it recently... The engine ran quietly and evenly with no surprises. Once again, however, I find the overflow coolant bottle bone dry! (it's 6 for 6 now...
). When I pointed it out he said he never checks it... he never added any coolant - ever, so that's somewhat of a concern.
The truck has a remote start and an alarm - aftermarket. The truck starts right up, it's smooth in acceleration but the brake pedal had long travel and felt spongy. I didn't notice any pulling when driving and the birfs were quiet when turning hard even in Low range, though both knuckles were wet and greasy (once again) - he said he never serviced them...
One odd thing during the drive - when I accelerated, I heard this subtle whistling noise coming from the back - sounded like from the tail pipe or from the muffler - he said they all do this, but I have not heard that on any of the ones I test-drove.... so I don't believe him.
He told me that he bought the truck because his father had owned one when he was a kid and he wanted a Lexus as soon as he could afford it - now that he'd owned one for some time he's ready to move on (and they have a total of 3 SUVs).
He told me that when he first bought the truck he 'base lined' it himself - he rattled off: oil, filters, replaced diff fluids, flushed the coolant. It seems to me that he's done nothing since then except (maybe) change oil in this thing.
The rear cargo area has a work platform built in (he built it himself) with a large drawer that you can pull out - seems kind of functional. THere was a big amplifier in the back under that platform which he'd installed along with some sub-woofers... that kind of turned me off. He said that he likes his tunes.
See the pics attached - is that a factory gasket (in red) in that second photo?!
All in all - the good as I see it:
o Fairly low mileage (132K)
o Good overall condition (not great) mechanically and cosmetically
o Solid new tires
o No signs of abuse
The bad:
o Questionable maintenance history
o Some neglect
Overall I like the vehicle - it looks nice and I could probably make something better out of it - I just don't have a very warm and fuzzy feeling about it - just got this feeling that he just really didn't care for it much. Would I be buying a 'problem child'?!
What does the group think about it from that desciption?!
THx,
James
