Possible Lincoln LS owner soon...

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powerbookkid

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hello! Okay, i recently had my parents purchase a 1992 Lexus SC300 as my first car...and i think we got taken on it. it has 186k and we paid $4.3k plus brand new tires first day. since then its been nothing but repairs. Waterpump, timing belt, radiator, ac compressor, CRANKSHAFT PULLEY, ect.

WELL, i found someone locally who might be willing to trade me for a 2000 Lincoln LS V8 with 188k.

my question is this: how reliable are everyone's LS's? how much do parts cost compared to other makes? (lexus parts are EXTREMELY expensive...found that out after buying)
Can i safely use 87 octane gas?
and what is everyone averaging for mileage? my SC is getting about 16mpg, which is HORRIBLE for an I-6. my V8 JGC gets 13...

thanks everyone!
 
Any car with that kind of mileage isnt going to be the most reliable car. As for parts, i cant see them being more expensive than a lexus. As for gas, dont worry about it, the price difference between 91 and 87 is only about 5%.
 
Parts for the LS are expensive as well, not sure how much lexus parts are but i would think the LS would be less.
With the 2000 LS having 188k on it, I would think that you would be making repairs, unless the owner has sunk alot of money into it already.
If you need a reliable car with cheap maintanance and repair costs then that car is not what you want.
 
okay, so i pretty much need to use 93... i do that in the SC and it makes no difference at all, so i thought id ask.

as to reliability, im tending to think a 2000 is going to be better then a 1992... yes or no?

im going to do all my own maint on whatever car i have, so im thinking an american made car will be better than a jap. the issues ive run into are that every single part for my car has to be ordered and shipped from somewhere else...and i have a feeling my local autozone has almost every part for a ford. just a feeling. everyone is telling me that the SC is a good car and will last. Thats easy to say when your new to you car hasnt stranded you three times in the two months you've owned... out of those two months, ive maybe driven it 4weeks total, because its been taken off the road so much for various problems. im spooked, and i know im.

im just wondering if the LS will be easier to work on, and if things are more... easy to fix with an american made car.

thanks for the replies!
 
powerbookkid said:
hello! Okay, i recently had my parents purchase a 1992 Lexus SC300 as my first car...and i think we got taken on it. it has 186k and we paid $4.3k plus brand new tires first day. since then its been nothing but repairs. Waterpump, timing belt, radiator, ac compressor, CRANKSHAFT PULLEY, ect.

WELL, i found someone locally who might be willing to trade me for a 2000 Lincoln LS V8 with 188k.

my question is this: how reliable are everyone's LS's? how much do parts cost compared to other makes? (lexus parts are EXTREMELY expensive...found that out after buying)
Can i safely use 87 octane gas?
and what is everyone averaging for mileage? my SC is getting about 16mpg, which is HORRIBLE for an I-6. my V8 JGC gets 13...

thanks everyone!
Click to expand...

You need to look for a camary,accord <---not a v6 or avalon.
 
Im pretty sure just about everyone would agree that any vehicle with close to 200k miles is going to be a money pit. I dont care what brand it is every car has parts that have a lifespan, when its time to break its gonna break. Your asking people about their LS but not too many people in here have over 100k, but even if someone had a LS with that many miles it all depends on how well its been maintained. A 9 yr old car with that many miles has ALOT of possiblities as far as problems and repairs, then again it could have been maintained perfectly. Anyway, on to your questions:

Parts are gonna be less expensive and most service should be able to be done at any Ford dealership due to the LS sharing most parts with the Thunderbird. For more extensive repairs i'd stick to a dealership vs. Joe's auto repair. The LS isnt exactly an easy car to work on, i guess its up to your skill level.

Can you safely use 87 octane? Sure. Depends on what you consider "safe". It wont blow up on you, and when/if it ever breaks down you can sit "safely" on the side of the road till a tow truck arrives. When a car requires a certain octane its for a reason, the extra $2 it might cost to fill up on premium vs. regular isnt a reason to not use the right octane.

Mileage... there are tons of threads with this topic with all kinds of input. Again with a 186k car the mileage will be related to how well its been maintained. Do a search.

Lastly i'd be alittle leary of someone who's wanting to trade a 188k Lincoln for an older 186k Lexus. Just my opinion. The age/year of a car doesnt correlate with its reliabilty. My grandfather owned a '69 Lincoln that was probably more reliable than most LS's. Its all about how its driven and cared for. I wouldnt recommend that an LS be bought unless it has some length of the factory warranty remaining, i personally never buy a car that isnt still covered by a factory warranty. That way any issues i adopt with a new car can be taken care of. What happens after the warranty expires is a gamble.
 
Fla02LS said:
Im pretty sure just about everyone would agree that any vehicle with close to 200k miles is going to be a money pit. I dont care what brand it is every car has parts that have a lifespan, when its time to break its gonna break. Your asking people about their LS but not too many people in here have over 100k, but even if someone had a LS with that many miles it all depends on how well its been maintained. A 9 yr old car with that many miles has ALOT of possiblities as far as problems and repairs, then again it could have been maintained perfectly. Anyway, on to your questions:

Parts are gonna be less expensive and most service should be able to be done at any Ford dealership due to the LS sharing most parts with the Thunderbird. For more extensive repairs i'd stick to a dealership vs. Joe's auto repair. The LS isnt exactly an easy car to work on, i guess its up to your skill level.

Can you safely use 87 octane? Sure. Depends on what you consider "safe". It wont blow up on you, and when/if it ever breaks down you can sit "safely" on the side of the road till a tow truck arrives. When a car requires a certain octane its for a reason, the extra $2 it might cost to fill up on premium vs. regular isnt a reason to not use the right octane.

Mileage... there are tons of threads with this topic with all kinds of input. Do a search.

Lastly i'd be alittle leary of someone who's wanting to trade a 188k Lincoln for an older 186k Lexus. Just my opinion. The age/year of a car doesnt correlate with its reliabilty. My grandfather owned a '69 Lincoln that was probably more reliable than most LS's. Its all about how its driven and cared for.
Click to expand...

exactly. if and when i go to look at this LS, im going to have a dealer look it over and im going to inspect all the service records ect, which i stupidly didnt do with my lexus. The person im talking to about trading says this car isnt used anymore, which makes me think theyve simply replaced it with something else. ill see.

as to an accord or camry, i have looked...but why would i pay $5k+ for a low end car, when i can have a luxury one for the same price? i looked at an accord ex v6 2door, and they wanted $4.5k for a 98 with 200k+ on it! i said "your insane" and walked away.

im just really confused about this.

my feeling is i'd rather sink money into a newer car then an older foreign one.

from what im gathering, either most LS owners are fairly new, or arent in it for the long run... there HAS to be some people on here (or somewhere) that have LS's with 150k+ miles...


and as to gas, im just going to say screw it. the only car ive had so far has been a Jeep, which drinks and drinks and drinks, no matter what kind of gas is put in it. lol. =)
 
hey quick question:

if i get the VIN from the guy with the LS, would anyone be able to run a Carfax on it? i really dont see the point in paying for one single report when unlimited reports are like $5 more. lol. =)
 
When buying a car it seems you can go two ways when you have a limited amount to spend...a cheap basic model that is still fairly new, or a luxury car that is either old or very high mileage. You gotta pick whether you wanna get where you wanna go but look not as cool, or look real cool while broke down on the side of the road. One other thing i would highly recommend is running a carfax on the car. Its a cheap way to keep from making a big mistake.
 
yeah. i thought i was making a good choice with my Lexus, because it was a 1 owner, and the carfax was squeaky clean. dumb me, i guess.

anyways, what i was asking was if anyone had purchased unlimited carfax's, and would be willing to run one for me... lol. =)
 
don't let looks fool you. even if the car looks good cosmetically, and this is a major seller for the LS since it looks so clean, it is easy to fall in love and be rash and want to buy it right off the bat. take your time with inspecting it and honestly, if you chipped in a few more grand (which you might have to do anyway as far as parts and labor to fix a few things on this LS) you can surely get an 01 or 02 with significantly lower mileage. there are plenty of good deals out there. i loved the way my car looked on the lot but since then i (as well as many other members here) have dumped a pretty penny fixing things here and there. btw my car just hit 123456 not so long ago so high mileage LS' are out there, it's how they were maintained that matters. hope that helps a bit
 
Your lexus was a good car and it DID last.....its 15 years old now....but its nearing the end of its lifespan....
 
tank386 said:
Your lexus was a good car and it DID last.....its 15 years old now....but its nearing the end of its lifespan....
Click to expand...

thats my point...now. thats why im thinking a trade for a new car with high miles would be a better idea... :?
 
2000 LS w/ 102,000

After reading the posts, I think most of the guys are correct in what they have said here.

I just purchased a 2000 LS with 102,000 miles on it. I knew that I had some issues to deal with (ball joints, coils, hard starting) since I was around the car for the last few years.

I probably have close to $600 in parts already, and I have done all of the labor and this site has provided the brains. Needless to say it probably needs another $600 to get it in my comfort zone for driving this spring.

I couldn't imagine where to begin on an LS with 150,000+ miles without knowing much about the car.
 
personally....i got my car new...i work for ford i got a smokin deal...there s no other way i would have ever gotten this.....you have 5 grand....screw the luxury doo dads buy something easy to fix.....you sound pretty young get yourself a mustang or somethin.....an ls with 188 on it sounds like trouble....i ve only had experience with 1 and its had half its parts replaced under warranty...when i was younger i bought a 1990 jaguar xj thinkin id be drivin around like a pimp with a fancy car and a job that paid $8 an hour...i hated that :q:q:q:qbox so much i rolled it into lake muskoka and its probably still there
 
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