JDMVIP's 2007 Lexus GS450H Version L
Hey guys, hope everyone is well! With COVID restrictions finally easing after these long years, I thought it was time to bring in another VIP style ride, with a bit of power and hybrid practicality. Apparently, judging by the hard battles for good examples with all of the goodies, I am not the only one who has been thinking this way.
Another thing to watch out for is if the Hybrid System has already failed (bad battery pack), which I was surprised a number of examples at USS had failed batteries. I've read varying opinions but some say that an older vehicle like this with low mileage/low usage is very bad for the packs. Another common trend is that MANY of the white ones going through are color changed, so I avoided those myself and for any customers too!
I also read that they do not like hot climates and to avoid vehicles that are dark/black (and one of the bad examples was black with only 80K on it). So this makes Japan a challenging place in my opinion, at least during the hot summers, but we have one thing on our side and it's that some of these vehicles have clearly been garage kept, although many have clearly not been. I would also not want one of these examples if I knew it was from Kyushu.
Some swear the packs should last about 120-150K miles but we'll be the judge of that after 15-years.
I'll be making a long blog post about the Toyota hybrids, I had considered everything from Estima, Alphard as practical COVID people movers (got the VIP van bug even more so if you go to Asia eg. Singapore, Malaysia, HK etc...) but one thing that was off-putting is that it doesn't seem like those models had much of a fuel savings compared to GS450H. Then there was also the issue of working on the batteries in those vans, with the battery packs being under the center console, which seem to require removal of seats + center console.
I also considered an LS600H L, but the main thing that stopped me is battery support options + that handling will not be as nice as the GS / a lot of front end + air suspension. The LS600H doesn't use the same common cells as Prius/CT200H, GS450H and other Lexus/Toyota models, and this is also similar to the RX400H issue where it also has cells created uniquely for it only (this means that refurbishment is likely not an option as there aren't many sellers since these models don't have as many sold).
There are ways to refurbish these batteries, very similar to the Prius, aside from the fact that we have like 40 modules and Prius has 20 I believe ( https://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/fo...r-50/#comments )
Meet the well-aged GS450H L version, which in Japan is not a given because they have different trim levels which may not even include leather, sunroof, heated/cooled seats etc.. like this example has.
Once again I was a sucker for the decent kit that it comes with and only wished it had some nice alloys. I also wanted to go for another one from USS that had the facelift bumper but it was picked up by a reseller + it was color changed.
For rims I was thinking of using my 19" Auto Coutures but I'm open to suggestions, what do you guys think I should do for rims?
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