I have a 2004 LSV8, same Color. I have about 117,000 miles on mine.
My experience has been less than satisfactory so let me warn you about my opinion...
At 85,000 miles the LS you are looking at is at the mileage where a lot of relatively expensive stuff "wears out" .
The LS is not a car for someone who can't afford expensive repairs or do them himself.
Common problems( I and many others have had these) with the Generation 2 LSV8 models with this many miles include...
Transmission problems, usually valve body and or solenoids. Moderately expensive, but could go as far as a minor rebuild.
Ignition Coils(COPs) usually due to leaking Valve cover gaskets. Expensive
Front wheel bearing/sealed bearing assembly. Can be expensive, if there is rust.
Dammed plastic cooling parts failing left and right, this costs plenty to repair if you don't do it yourself, and plenty even if you do. Replace them all at the same time or they will nickle and dime you and strand you every few months until all the parts are replaced.
Leaky sunroof, an easy fix.
Brakes wearing in about 30,000 miles or so.
Plastic interior trim parts breaking. The seat back is very common and costs $100+ but an easy home fix is posted.
I feel the LS parts quality is less than I would expect from a sedan with aspirations for the premium market. Most of the parts failed on my LS were plastic of very low quality/durability in my opinion. But then I have never owned a different "premium" brand, maybe they use junk too. No other car I have owned ever did this.
The good thing is that the LS price drops like a rock after new, so it is affordable in comparison to other similar cars.
I will say much to my contrary expectations, the engine has been relatively reliable once you get past the almost sure to have COPs failure.
I rented a KIA Optima(I think) a couple years back and I would say in the week I had it that it had just about all the same features as the LS and similar level of quality. The KIA is an economy brand with some attempts to move up market. I would assume other brands like Hyundai etc would be similar and have much better warranties than the LS. I bet that Genesis would be a screamer. BTW I don't like foreign brands but some of them are certainly starting to shine.
Before you buy, you might want to get a repair history on that LS. IF most of the problems I mentioned have been fixed, then you are probably good to go for another 90K miles or so. If not, then expect several thousand dollars worth of repairs to be coming due in the next couple years.
So now you have had a comment from the nay sayer side of the fence. Remember you will hear a lot more about complaints than the good on this kind of forum, so take my comments with a grain of truthful salt.
BTW, according to my manual the Advancetrac button is on the shifter console and looks like a car with squiggly lines behind it. The regular(cheaper) stability control is usually on the overhead console and looks like a tire with squiggly lines.. I DO like the way the Advancetrac works, maybe saved my butt a couple times, but it also has some gremlins that are common.
Good Luck,
Jim Henderson
), and others. I am looking at the car in the URL. I was wondering what you all thought about it, price, mileage, quality because I actually don't know that much about them. So any comments, good or bad, will be appreciated. Thanks.
