u/MollyCoooL

I am in the market for a cheap new/lightly used CPO cars. Considering only Kias, Hyundais (for the warranty and moderate reliability) and japanese manufacturers (overall reliability). Got tired of finding a reliable and cheap used car.

I have an offer for a 2026 Venue SE from a dealer 7 hours away at $18900+tax = $21200 OTD. It has only a few miles on it but it was titled to be a company car for the dealer but never used much - It is now being sold as a CPO vehicle.

Dealer is not reducing a penny more despite pointing out the ridiculous $799 doc fee and the fact that I am going to register it out of state. I was hoping to be around $20k otd as it is a CPO car and qualifies only as a used car - so my bank's interest rate is going to be close to 7% instead of 5.5-6% on new cars. There are also no manufacturer financing offers for the car.

Should I pull the trigger or wait for a better deal? Thank you!

Edit: Personally, I do not mind that the car is small or underpowered - I do mind that it affects the resale value of the car.

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Hi everyone - I went to check out this 2007 ES 350 the other day because I want a reliable and fairly cheap car to buy as my first. 115,390 miles on the ODO. Oil changes every 4-5k miles from 60k to 115k (Nov, 2024 last record). From my research I understand 2007-2009 are probably the most problematic but I decided to check it out anyway and it ran pretty well even at 80 mph. The brakes didn't feel perfect, but I couldn't find any issues with the tranny or the engine in terms of leaks (I am no mechanic). The water pump had already been done at 90k, along with alternator and radiator (possibly non OEM). 2 owners - current registered owner has had it for 18 years. 2 accidents - minor - 2014 and 2017.

I am paying a local shop to inspect it thoroughly this Monday.

Currently I have negotiated the seller to $4750 from $5900 due to the obvious paint damage, cosmetic issues on the interior (rips in seats), scratches and things like that.

A few issues I felt overall with this sale -

1. CARFAX shows owner's last record as emissions done in Nov, 2024 - recorded mileage is 115260 at that time. I find it hard to believe that only 130 miles were driven in the last 1.5 years.

2. The owner is seller's uncle but the seller has the title signed by the uncle (sort of like an open title) when he bought it from his uncle 2 years ago. The seller has been driving it by being added on the uncle's insurance to save money. This is incredibly problematic but I have made sure that I will get the title transferred at the DMV before I pay any money to the seller. This also makes me sus about the odometer recording but I could not find any report of odometer fraud or rollback online on VIN checks/carfax. Purely on vibes, seller was overall fine and did not behave shady.

3. I went through lexus service records (dealer records) on the lexus website and found that the owner declined a transmission fluid change at 64k miles and according to CARFAX, there has been no transmission fluid change. I am worried about this after reading all the posts on reddit about transmission failure for this model but I am hoping I can still drain and fill once I buy the car.

4. Seller reported that ever since he got the car, he has done engine mounts, spark plugs, used tires on the car through his mechanic who is a friend. No records on carfax. According to the seller's mechanic, only one power steering hose is old and might need to be replaced soon and he said the friend quoted him $60 for labour and $50-100 for part - everywhere I check this seems to be an expensive repair.

Am I wasting my time and $150-200 for the inspection or am I getting a good deal for the slight inconveniences/risks if mechanically everything turns out fine from the inspection? The reason I am wanting to buy this is because I could not find any camrys/avalons at this mileage under 5k and this is lexus is a glorified camry.

I know its a long post but thank you so much for reading through and helping me.