Hey Scotty! I live in the Phoenix area and I’m looking to buy a used car. 5000 budget. I seen a 2004 Lexus Rx350 for 3400 bucks with 260,000 miles. Would this be a good investment? It looks well take care of and I checked the vin and title is clean. Please let me know your thoughts!
Would this be a good investment?
A car is not an investment, it's an expense.
The RX350 is a good vehicle overall but there's a lot of very expensive things that can go wrong in a nearly 20-year-old luxury car with that kind of mileage. Just because it's been cleaned up and shined doesn't mean it's been well-maintained over the last two decades. Best to have a good mechanic give it a thorough inspection before purchase if you proceed.
First off, that should be a RX330 for 2004. That was the first year they made them, and sadly there were a good number of complaints. Not really any dead transmissions or engines, but many complain about the odd transmissions shifts. Complaints were all over the place.
I have a GX470 so I am not against Lexus, but I judge each model of a company on it's own. Being as they only made it for a few years would make me a little worried. Parts for a Lexus can already cost a lot more, more so on a car with a short production.
The MPG pretty much stink, some even said low teens or worse in city driving. Expect no better than low 20's on the highway.
If it were me, I would be looking at a Rav4 or something else that had a longer production run, and shared a lot of parts with other models. If you are not opposed to the size of a 4Runner, that would be a solid choice at higher mileage, with good maintenance records. The mpgs are not going to be much lower than the RX anyway.
