Got my Christmas present today

[ponyo]

Took delivery of 2005 Lexus LX470. I've always liked the Land Cruiser and wanted one since college. But for some reason, I never pursued it. About a month ago, my Tundra truck needed new throttle body. Local Toyota dealership quoted me almost $2k for the new throttle body. So I called and visited my cousin who's master mechanic at Lexus dealership. He found used one for $180 and swapped it out for me. I noticed he was driving Lexus LX470 and mentioned to him how much I liked that design and how I always wanted a Land Cruiser. It turns out he had another similar LX470 listed for sale. I told him to cancel the listing and I would buy it from him sight unseen. He told me it needed some minor work and he was going to sell as is but since I was buying it, he would fix everything. He installed new timing belt, water pump, spark plugs, headlights, tires, and checked & fixed lot of small things. Basically he made sure I wouldn't have to do anything to the vehicle other than drive and change the oil at regular intervals going forward for probably the next 100k miles. It does have relatively high mileage at over 214,000 miles which would concern me if it was any other vehicle. But that's nothing for Land Cruiser. These vehicles are engineered to last minimal 25 years and 300k miles in the harshest conditions. I'll probably use the LX470 mainly as around town grocery hauler and family vacation car so mileage going forward should be minimal. It's heavy vehicle with weak engine by today's standard so it drinks gas but so does my Tundra so I'm used to it. I plan to keep this forever.

214,089 miles so it's just now broken in. I should easily get another 10-15 years of reliable use out of it.

 

[Thebobo]

Congratulations. Very clean for that millage.

 

[DaTT]

Congrats on your new purchase!

 

[squirrel dog]

sweeet ! Clean too !

 

[Yuriman]

You're being optimistic on the maintenance, even if it is a Toyota. It's going to need little things at that age and mileage, even if nothing major breaks.

EDIT: An undersized engine will often be better on economy, rather than worse (all else being equal), FYI.

 

[ponyo]

Congratulations. Very clean for that millage.

Congrats on your new purchase!

sweeet ! Clean too !

Thanks! It was single owner vehicle but the owner smoked. My cousin changed the air filter and used ozone machine to get most of the smell out but light traces remain. And the driver side leather seat is worn and torn but he ordered new aftermarket leather seat cover he's going to install for me. The part hasn't come in yet but he wanted to give me the car before Christmas so that's going to have to wait until after New Year. Other than some small minor cosmetic blemishes here and there, it's in good shape for 12-13 year old vehicle. And mechanically it's solid and with all services up to date. It needs nothing.

You're being optimistic on the maintenance, even if it is a Toyota. It's going to need little things at that age and mileage, even if nothing major breaks.

EDIT: An undersized engine will often be better on economy, rather than worse (all else being equal), FYI.

I'm not worried about maintenance. It's Toyota Land Cruiser. These things are bulletproof. They're purposely overbuilt. I'm clueless about car maintenance and repairs so I buy cars with appliance like reputation. The main expensive thing that can fail on the LX470 is the AHC suspension. It's super cool system but if that fails, I'm probably looking at $4-5k to replace and fix at the Lexus dealer. But my cousin told me don't worry about it because it's usually one of the four suspension accumulators and it's rarely all four. But even set of four is only like $1k in parts. That's cheaper than the crazy throttle body part on my Tundra. Seriously, new throttle body for '02 Tundra is $1,100 just for the OEM part. It's crazy. But if the vehicle needs expensive repair, my cousin told me to call him and he would take care of it. So I'm not worried about anything.

The LX470 drives like a big tank. It feels so solid and the ride is so cushy. Yesterday I drove on the 2nd comfort setting while doing Costco run. It was little too comfortable so I might play around with the sport setting to see if that rides little harsher and more like a truck. The ability to lower and raise the vehicle height with a push of a button is really cool and made me feel like a rapper. The LX470 is rated at 12 miles city and 16 miles highway for combined EPA rating of 13 MPG but like I said, I already knew that going in because of my Tundra.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Congrats!

 

[eng2d2]

The suv is nice. Congrats but I also think that luxury and comfort is over rated. I had a Lexus and it’s comfortable but I had no idea what the big deal is. If you drive a new small car like a corolla it’s also comfortable but not luxury. It still get you from a to b. How comfortable do you want to be while driving? You might end up sleeping while driving if it’s too comfortable

 

[ponyo]

Congrats!

Thanks!

The suv is nice. Congrats but I also think that luxury and comfort is over rated. I had a Lexus and it’s comfortable but I had no idea what the big deal is. If you drive a new small car like a corolla it’s also comfortable but not luxury. It still get you from a to b. How comfortable do you want to be while driving? You might end up sleeping while driving if it’s too comfortable

I don't care about the Lexus badge. I wanted Land Cruiser and this kind of dropped in my lap. I'm a fan of big vehicles in general. I can load all our fishing, crabbing, beach gears, and luggage and not be cramped. It's really not about my comfort as a driver. It's about the comfort of my family as passengers on long drives. And safety too. Big land barges like this will survive just about any crash. Gas mileage sucks but gas is cheap and the car is going to be sitting majority of the time.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Hey, looks like a great purchase! Congrats, and Merry Christmas!

I'm still driving a van, it's treating me OK. I went for like a year without changing the oil, though, and while it still wasn't due due to mileage, it was probably overdue due to just age. Now the engine chugs somewhat, even after an oil change a few months ago. I had a buddy help me to change out my brake lights the other weekend, it needed a few of them replaced. I replaced all of them while I could.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Kickass!

 

[jlee]

Awesome! Excellent choice - it should serve you well for many years to come.

You may want to hang around here: https://forum.ih8mud.com/forums/100-series-cruisers.26/

 

[ponyo]

Hey, looks like a great purchase! Congrats, and Merry Christmas!

I'm still driving a van, it's treating me OK. I went for like a year without changing the oil, though, and while it still wasn't due due to mileage, it was probably overdue due to just age. Now the engine chugs somewhat, even after an oil change a few months ago. I had a buddy help me to change out my brake lights the other weekend, it needed a few of them replaced. I replaced all of them while I could.

Thanks! I know people will tell me I'm dumb but I have '07 Corvette that I change the oil every two years. I use Mobil 1 synthetic and OEM filter. I drive the car less than 1,000 miles a year. I had the car for almost 11 years and only recently broke 10,000 miles. I know having the car sit and not driving it much is bad for the car. And I should change the oil every year regardless of miles. But I don't care. I think 2 years is fine.

Kickass!

Awesome! Excellent choice - it should serve you well for many years to come.

You may want to hang around here: https://forum.ih8mud.com/forums/100-series-cruisers.26/

Thanks! I've been doing some reading at ih8mud the past month while I was waiting for the work to be completed on the LX470. That site is dangerous because you start wanting stuff for your vehicle that you had no idea you wanted. And you start wanting other vehicles too. But that's site is great resource. I'm now trying to think of ways to get rid of our Sienna minivan and replacing it with Lexus GX460 or LX570 without my wife getting mad.

 

[eng2d2]

Thanks! I know people will tell me I'm dumb but I have '07 Corvette that I change the oil every two years. I use Mobil 1 synthetic and OEM filter. I drive the car less than 1,000 miles a year. I had the car for almost 11 years and only recently broke 10,000 miles. I know having the car sit and not driving it much is bad for the car. And I should change the oil every year regardless of miles. But I don't care. I think 2 years is fine.



Thanks! I've been doing some reading at ih8mud the past month while I was waiting for the work to be completed on the LX470. That site is dangerous because you start wanting stuff for your vehicle that you had no idea you wanted. And you start wanting other vehicles too. But that's site is great resource. I'm now trying to think of ways to get rid of our Sienna minivan and replacing it with Lexus GX460 or LX570 without my wife getting mad.

What does the oil look like when you drain it?

 

[ponyo]

What does the oil look like when you drain it?

Honestly, no idea. First couple times the dealership changed it and the last time I took it to family friend's shop. I just supply the oil and filter.

 

[TennesseeTony]

Very nice ponyo!

My '06 ML350 holds 7 quarts of synthetic, requires changing the oil annually or 15k miles, but after 12k miles, it's pretty dark, so I'll be changing more frequently.

 

[Yuriman]

Very nice ponyo!

My '06 ML350 holds 7 quarts of synthetic, requires changing the oil annually or 15k miles, but after 12k miles, it's pretty dark, so I'll be changing more frequently.

I had Blackstone labs do an oil analysis on mine (just out of curiosity) and asked about the color. They said it has nothing to do with how close an oil is to needing replacement.

 

[Meghan54]

Congrats on your new GX. Like the color.

We had an '06 GX. Wife loved it and that's why we bought it. Six months later and she's complaining the leather's too slippery and the truck started spazzing out electronically. The entire safety suite---ABS, rollover, etc., would randomly turn off and on. Made a nice looking Christmas-like display when all the fault lights turned on in the dash. No one could find the problem at $135/hr.

It got replaced by a Silverado.

 

[jlee]

Congrats on your new GX. Like the color.

We had an '06 GX. Wife loved it and that's why we bought it. Six months later and she's complaining the leather's too slippery and the truck started spazzing out electronically. The entire safety suite---ABS, rollover, etc., would randomly turn off and on. Made a nice looking Christmas-like display when all the fault lights turned on in the dash. No one could find the problem at $135/hr.

It got replaced by a Silverado.

GX or LX?

FWIW you probably had an intermittently failing wheel speed sensor.

 

[ponyo]

Very nice ponyo!

My '06 ML350 holds 7 quarts of synthetic, requires changing the oil annually or 15k miles, but after 12k miles, it's pretty dark, so I'll be changing more frequently.

Thanks! I just need to drive the Corvette more often. I love the car and keep telling myself to drive it but it only has two seats. So it just sits.

Congrats on your new GX. Like the color.

We had an '06 GX. Wife loved it and that's why we bought it. Six months later and she's complaining the leather's too slippery and the truck started spazzing out electronically. The entire safety suite---ABS, rollover, etc., would randomly turn off and on. Made a nice looking Christmas-like display when all the fault lights turned on in the dash. No one could find the problem at $135/hr.

It got replaced by a Silverado.

Thank you. The color is called Sand Dollar Pearl. I like the color but it's not a color I would've bought if I bought new. It's like light tan color. I would've preferred Blizzard Pearl (white) or Blue Vapor Metallic (blue). But having non popular color has its advantages. I have yet to see another Sand Dollar Pearl LX470 on the road. Not that I see many LX470 or 100 series Land Cruisers out there.

I'm still at the infatuation phase with the LX470. We'll see how I feel about it six months or year from now but I don't think it's going to change. I might love it even more by then. I definitely love it way more than my '02 Tundra. LX470 just feels like a tank compared to my '02 Tundra.

 

[PricklyPete]

Nice. Such a solid vehicle. To bad about the smoke. I can’t handle that...but I know it doesn’t bother everyone the same way.

 

[ponyo]

Nice. Such a solid vehicle. To bad about the smoke. I can’t handle that...but I know it doesn’t bother everyone the same way.

I hate cigarette smoke. I wish it was non smoked vehicle but it's one of the drawbacks to buying used car. It's not a deal breaker for me but like you said everyone is different when it comes to smoke.

 

[SearchMaster]

We bought a used van that had been owned by a smoker. I am HUGELY affected by cigarette smoke (probably because both my parents smoked in the car when I was a child and they never rolled the windows down), but after a few months there was no more smell. I did shampoo the carpets and seats a few times in that timeframe though.

That's a very nice truck OP. I hope it treats you well and gives you years of trouble-free service.

 

[ponyo]

We bought a used van that had been owned by a smoker. I am HUGELY affected by cigarette smoke (probably because both my parents smoked in the car when I was a child and they never rolled the windows down), but after a few months there was no more smell. I did shampoo the carpets and seats a few times in that timeframe though.

That's a very nice truck OP. I hope it treats you well and gives you years of trouble-free service.

Thanks! I don't really smell the smoke now. Maybe I'm used to it.

I plan on keeping this SUV forever. I absolutely love it. More than any other vehicle I've had. I wish I had bought one earlier. I went and applied for tag and title. It was my first experience with the new tag law that went into effect in 2013. That sucked. Paid $1,100 for the vehicle tag when it used to cost me $20. I have to keep the vehicle for at least 10 years to make back and break even on the tag cost. I'll probably give this vehicle to my daughter when she starts driving next year and buy another LX470 or LX570 for myself. Land Cruiser for life.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Paid $1,100 for the vehicle tag when it used to cost me $20.

D: wth? Where is this? (Tell us so we can never move there.)