Owning a Lexus????

[03ESimposter]

Since Toyota is the "daddy" of Lexus, should the cost of owning/maintaining a Lexus be much more than a Toyota? For example, I own an 03 Camry and say I want to upgrade to an ES300, would the cost of ownership be much different? I know that parts would be considerably more, because it is a Lexus, but would "maintaining" it be more? If so, what extra maintenance must be done in general to own a Lexus over a Toyota? Any help/suggestions appreciated.

Also, my previous post was regarding service on the Camry, and I currently have 36,000 miles on it and have not flushed the tranny. Is it too late??

Thanks

[MRQtwinturbo]

because the lexus is branded a "luxury" car...expect to pay higher than normal prices for parts and service from the dealership....

[Fresco Bob]

insurance will also be a lot more

[MadDawg]

for a luxary car it will be more? wtf, how come mercedes benz's cost much less in insurance than toyotas do?

[Porkch0p220]

who knows....

[amerikim]

MBs don't get stolen as much as Toyotas

[slyguy_32]

Originally posted by 03ESimposter
I own an 03 Camry and say I want to upgrade to an ES300, would the cost of ownership be much different? Thanks

From my understanding, the ES300 is a Camry, simply rebadged and different front/rear fascias. There are few cars (besides Lexus of course) that would be of such peerless quality, ride better, or have the levels of NVH that my Camry does. I don't see the reason to drive any other 4-door sedan.

Sly

[Toysrme]

Not if you don't go to a Lexus dealer for service. They're notoriously expencive, HOWEVER, It does sometimes pay to do it! There are a lot of instaces where they'll give you a new GS430 or IS300 to pimp around in for a day or two if they need to keep the car.

Just find a qualified Toyota service department, or an Indipendant Toyota technition.

($4 Large Camry v6 filter is worth $31 at a Lexus dealer)

[Snow White IS]

The dealership will always rip you off... but they do have good service... they clean your car inside and out, and yes, they give pretty good loaner cars as well. But for $300 per maintenence, not worth it to me...

[mcelligott]

The dealer figures if you can buy a new lexus for 40-50k you dont care about having expensive maintenance. Kind of sucks for those of us who have used ones and want top notch serivce.

[jf1972]

Originally posted by Fresco Bob
insurance will also be a lot more

That might not be the case. I have a 2001 Lexus IS300 and I am paying CAD$1800 fully cover. ( before i had a 92 VW Cabriolet and was paying CAD$2200/ third party only)

[MRQtwinturbo]

^^what was the time period difference between owning the two cars??.....that plays a factor in insurance costs..u could have owned the VW when u first started driving which would mean high rates....

[jf1972]

i just came back to toronto 18 months ago. I have about 16 years of driving. But when I told this to the insurance company, they said that it doesn't count oversea. I lived in Canada from 87-95 and had driven two cars. (Swift GT and VW Cabriolet/my first one)For swift I was paying about CAD$3000 and when I switched to Cabriolet. I had to pay CAD$5600.

[TheRupp]

My insurance went down after I got rid of a 2000 Chevy Cavalier by about $300 USD. The Cavalier is considered an "unsafe vehicle" The crash test ratings, under "Side Impact" were "Very poor: High likelyhood of pelvic injury"

[skperformance]

Actually Q you are wrong when it comes to the price of parts, they cost teh same as toyota ones as tehy use the same part numbers to cross reference on all models that use the same parts.
Since he is asking about an ES it is teh same drivetrain parts.
The dealers labour prices are more but teh pars are the same which is pretty cheap for what you get.