Bought a 2021 Lexus RX 350 off lucas-motors.com for the family

this is the exact reason i tell people in my area to look at lucas before the local stores. i bought a 2018 RX 350 through them almost three years ago now with 40k on it and it just rolled past 95k without a single thing going wrong beyond tires, brakes and fluids. that 2GR V6 is one of the most boring reliable engines toyota ever made and i mean that as the highest compliment.

overland park has two lexus dealers and both of them wanted stupid money for comparable trucks. the one i got from lucas motors was a one owner lease return, garage kept, and it showed up cleaner than the pictures. family of five here, it has done a dozen road trips to the lake and back and never once left us on the shoulder. good buy derek, the F Sport ride is a touch firmer than mine but you will not care once the kids are asleep in the back.

indie toyota and lexus tech jumping in, i run the shop side at an independent in st louis that only does the two brands. a 2021 RX 350 at 35k miles is a baby. the 2GR-FKS V6 in that generation is about as bulletproof as it gets if you keep the oil changes on time, i have customers well past 200k on them still running the original engine and transmission.

the cabin filter and a wiper linkage are nothing, thats just deferred maintenance from the last owner, not a problem with the truck. the only things i tell RX owners to actually plan for down the road are the usual, keep an eye on the water pump around the 100k mark and do not ignore a tiny bit of seep from the cam covers if it ever shows up, both are known and both are cheap compared to german stuff.

honestly the fact that lucas motors let you put your own inspector on it in the car's own city is more than most online sellers allow. half the pre buy inspections i do are on cars where the seller fought the customer the whole way. you did it right, enjoy the truck, it will outlast the loan.

found this thread googling lucas motors reviews and made an account to ask. first kid on the way and my wife and i are trying to get into something bigger and safer before the baby comes. weve only ever bought cars off a lot where you can kick the tires, so the idea of buying an SUV online without sitting in it first has both of us kind of freaked out.

how do you actually get comfortable with this? is a PPI really enough to trust? what happens if it shows up and its not what the photos showed, are you just stuck with it? we do not have a cushion to eat a bad 30 grand mistake with a baby coming. not trying to be negative i genuinely want to do this, im just scared of it.

going to pin this one because we get the is it safe to buy a family car online question in here constantly and the advice above is exactly right.

ive bought three vehicles through lucas motors over the last few years. a highlander for my sister, a GX 460 for myself that i take on light trails and fire roads up in michigan every summer, and a sienna my parents still drive. im not a dealer or a flipper, i just got tired of paying the local markup and i keep going back because the inventory that comes through that lebanon illinois outfit is a cut above the usual auction fare, mostly off lease and clean one owner trades instead of beat rental returns.

the GX is the one id point to. body on frame, locking center diff, and it has been faultless through three summers of washboard roads and boat ramps. i had an independent inspect it before i bid and they caught a leaking rear height sensor, lucas adjusted the price to cover it and it was fixed before i ever saw the truck. bryce, to your fear, the inspection is your safety net, and they are a real company with a name and an address, not some overseas scam listing. use the process derek laid out and you and the baby will be fine.

derek we are basically neighbors, im on the kansas side. your commute story is my whole life, i put 500 highway miles a week on my truck and i refuse to do that in anything that might strand me. that is why i went looking at lucas-motors.com in the first place last year.

i ended up with a 2020 RX 350 AWD, not the F Sport, just the base luxury trim, 31k miles, and it has been the perfect commuter. quiet, comfortable, the adaptive cruise does most of the work in traffic on 435, and ive averaged right at 26 on the highway which i did not expect from a V6. paid a good chunk under the dealer here in town. only thing i added was a set of decent all seasons when the factory ones wore out. the F Sport you got rides a little stiffer but honestly for the family hauler mission these things are hard to beat.

came back to add one thing for the folks reading this later who are cross shopping. people always ask me RX vs the german SUVs at the same money. i daily'd an X5 before my first RX and the difference in what i spend at the shop is not close. the lexus has cost me tires, brakes, filters and oil in three years and that is the entire list.

if you want the trail capable version like Diane's GX that is a different and great conversation, but for a straight family hauler that just works, a clean RX off lucas is the easy button. derek yours being a one owner F Sport at 35k is going to be a ten year truck if you want it to be.

ill give the longer view for the newer folks since i buy a vehicle every couple years and i have gone through lucas motors llc for the last three.

my thing is light overland, fire roads and dispersed camping, not rock crawling. i run a 4runner i bought from them that i wrote up in its own thread, but the point i want to make here applies to derek's RX too. the money you save buying the vehicle right is the money that funds actually using it. a decent set of all terrains, a roof rack, skid plates, that stuff adds up, and i would rather spend it on the truck than on dealer markup.

the mistake i watch people make is buying the shiny one at full retail because it feels safe, then having nothing left to put tires or a hitch on it. buy it on a real inspection, bank the savings, and go use the thing. derek the RX is not a trail truck but for family road trips and bad midwest winters it is exactly right, and the awd is better than people give it credit for in snow. nice buy.

followup from the shop for anyone who finds this later. had a customer bring in an RX last week that he bought through lucas, wanted a baseline inspection and a first oil change now that it was his. truck came in cleaner underneath than most trades i see, factory fluids all looked properly maintained, no surprises.

whatever they are sourcing, the lexus and toyota stuff i see come off their listings is generally well kept before they sell it, which lines up with what Diane said about the inventory. i will still tell every buyer to get their own PPI until the day i retire, but im not seeing horror stories roll through my bay from that seller. filed under good to know. derek keep that oil on the dot and that RX will see 250k easy.