^^^^
so, I bought the GS with 72k miles on it, pretty low mileage. It was a California car and it looked to have been nickel and diming the owner. Carmax actually had it priced reasonably, perhaps due to reduced sales, but I found a bunch of brokes, which they, to their credit, fixed. Sunroof motor, two lock motors, seatbelt retractor, fuel pump.... and all which they farmed off to the Lexus dealership to perform. its already paid for the extended warranty I picked up, something I’m not inclined to normally do. also, I figured at 72,000, the car was still too new to be harmed by insufficient major maintenance.
I went through it all myself in the months after the purchase - brakes all around, 2 ATF d/f, diff fluid, plugs, oil, filters. 5 of the plugs were consistent and clean, with maybe just a touch of looking like it runs rich. Since this is a high strung (I had no idea what I was buying, had no idea the pedigree of this engine, I just assumed it was their Swiss Army knife minivan/Camry/suv motor) engine with a lot of tech, forged internals, etc., i could see it perhaps running rich, AND those 5 were consistent, so, “ok.” The 6th was probably still an almost clean-ish plug. It looks like it’s burned some coolant or came from a vehicle which has seen a lot of cheap fuel. Rearward passenger side. It wasn’t bad enough to warrant a drive to seek warranty work because it shows no other symptoms besides some clicking from that corner, and it has consumed zero coolant. the plugs that came out looked original, and there was a surprising amount of gap wear for iridiums. I installed new... either denso or ngk (iridiums) and just drive it.
are the lifters really hydraulic in the 350’s v6?? I wouldn’t expect that, for as high strung as that engine is, but I wouldn’t be disappointed at all if they are.
-m
ps- and btw it is a wonderful vehicle. it actually took me some time to get used to - I wanted a smaller runabout so I wasn’t always driving the truck, and had been looking at used volvos (I quite like the gen1 s60s but they are getting pretty harried, tried the 2nd gens and felt they lost their soul), and then considered small bmws for RWD. Couldn’t get comfortable in the ones I saw and the salesman let me sit in a Lexus. Seats were almost as good as a Volvo, but the Japanese design language for luxury was weird to me (most of my cars have been far more basic), and the handling dynamics were strange at first. It has a long wheelbase for its body length and ... it may sound funny ... but I found it took a lot of body language to get the car to rotate (front/rear) for turn-in and balanced handling. Not that anyone really needs to get that feel, driving a Lexus at the speed limit around town, but even in my middle-aged place in life, i need to feel the CG and dynamics of the vehicle to be comfortable. Truly, I found that the car will absolutely respond, it’s poised ready for stronger inputs to set the chassis up and then will perform well beyond what I’m used to. It’s willing to be quite serious about its play. Understanding it, it’s a joy to putt-putt around town in. The infotainment designer ... again, an attempt at luxury that goes outside my bounds for form vs function, but ... in the end it’s a tool. Reminds me of the same dna as the 80’s celicas - heavy front end, RWD, very weighty-feeling chassis. It’s amazing that their designs over 40 years somehow have a remarkably reminiscent feel.