Shed Of The Week: Lexus LS430

This big Lexus is "in need of some TLC" - are you feeling brave enough?

What, in your opinion, does the phrase 'some TLC required' mean?

The answer to that very much depends on who it's coming from. We all have different standards. Shed has spent many expensive hours in dirty trains looking at cars described as 'requiring some TLC', only to find on his arrival that what they actually required was an urgent rendezvous with the crusher.

Is this retirement paradise?

In fairness though, he has also discovered some real gems apologetically advertised by the owners as needing 'some TLC', when in fact all they needed was a new twopenny sensor or a pipe-clearing blat down the bypass.

What do we reckon is the story behind this week's Shed, an imposing Lexus LS430 in a fetching bishop's colourway of purple and gold?

First though, given that this is its debut appearance as SOTW, what is an LS430? Well, it was physically bigger than the ground-breaking 400. Some say that the ride from the 430's retuned air suspension and optional 18-inch wheels was a bit more physical too. It never had the S-Class's imperious disregard for oikish potholes. The factory's attempt to add some sportiness in lieu of ultimate pliancy was a slightly odd decision given the car's cigarillo-and-six-iron market.

Still, what the LS did have was refinement. Its bigger displacement motor generated the same 290hp as the previous LS400, with a small 20lb ft torque top-up to 320lb ft, and its five-speed tranny gained an extra cog. That made it good for a claimed 0-60 of 5.9 seconds, all of them in eerie silence and 0.4sec quicker than the old car.

Mmm!

Besides silky smoothness the LS430 had several thousand tons of kit, up to and including laser-guided adaptive cruise control. This car doesn't seem to have the big wheels and low profile rubber so the chances are that only an owner of the plush old LS400 might detect the relative brittleness of the 430's ride. Handling falls squarely into the category of safe understeer.

The vendor's reason for selling this first-year 430 (replacement by a later model), plus pics on a classic slice of pensioner coastline and his use of a capital 'E' in 'Email' all suggest someone in the autumn of his years. An assumption given more credibility by his failure to reply to Shed's 'Email' inquiry as to the exact nature of the TLC required. As we all know, old codgers only look at their Emails once a month.

Of course, this good ole boy persona could be nothing more than an elaborate sting designed to lure potential buyers to the car's actual location on a council sink estate oop North. Not that that should put you off. Many perfectly nice people live on council sink estates oop North. Just watch Gogglebox.

While the grovelling machine is on, apologies to any female readers offended by the assumption of male ownership. Surely though there are even fewer ladies driving LS Lexi in the UK than there are behind the wheels of Jag XJs? When did you last see one? A lady LS owner, that is, not a lady.

Acres of space back here too

The odometer tells us that this car has been nearly all the way to the moon, but few cars wear big mileage as easily as a top o' the range Lex. If, as seems likely, the owner is a serial Lexist, it's an odds-on bet that he'll have kept the servicing up, because that's what Lexus owners do.

So, what might the problems be with this particular car? The pics would seem to indicate some bonnet lacquer peeling, but that could be a trick of the bleak coastal light. The Shedly solution is to electronically lower your seat so you can't see the bonnet.

The biggest generic problem with the LS, as Mr Garlick late of this parish will grimly attest, is the air suspension. It can lock itself into a bone-shatteringly hard high position or drop itself to the deck in finest lead sled stylee, all on its own. Ride height control sensors get wonked out by water ingress. Lexus GB extended the warranty on these parts to five years, but you're on your own now. The fix is simple enough, if not cheap if you're used to running less opulent cars.

But given that this car is only a grand, isn't it worth a shot? Be advised that the next cheapest 430 we could find anywhere on the British chunk of the internet was nearly two and half times the price of this one.

Buying any used car is a gamble, but all things being equal and with nothing too disastrous lurking behind all that leather and wood, this is less of a punt than it may appear. Even if the suspension is terminally knackered, you've still got one of the best and most bulletproof V8 engines ever made to form the basis of your mad one-off special.

Here's the ad.

LS430 with all the usual refinements in need of some TLC, hence the price. I have owned this car for over 10 years and it is in use everyday. The sale is due to the fact that I have just purchased a later model.
There is 5 Months left on the MOT
Please phone / Email for further information.