RE: Shed of the Week: Lexus LS400
Discussion
Brave Pills ?
I would be more worried about more modern diesels or loads of other stuff before these.
The engine is nigh on indestructible, its only done 96k, they were built like little else and its £1500, they dont generally suffer with rust.
Suspension can need work but generally not that hard/expensive.
It has lasted 21 years and still looks pretty good, just have a look over the previous MOT's for anything looming, old car stuff like brake pipes and get the cam belt done, aside from fuel it shouldnt be too ruinous, even the VED is fairly cheap on these being ancient.
And its a not too s
t colour, I say that as they never really did any good colours, just some are less horrific than others.
I would be more worried about more modern diesels or loads of other stuff before these.
The engine is nigh on indestructible, its only done 96k, they were built like little else and its £1500, they dont generally suffer with rust.
Suspension can need work but generally not that hard/expensive.
It has lasted 21 years and still looks pretty good, just have a look over the previous MOT's for anything looming, old car stuff like brake pipes and get the cam belt done, aside from fuel it shouldnt be too ruinous, even the VED is fairly cheap on these being ancient.
And its a not too s
t colour, I say that as they never really did any good colours, just some are less horrific than others.When I was first interested in cars in the early 80's, I used to laugh in a derisory fashion at the big Jap exec cars - Toyota Crown etc with their weird styling, rubbish road manners and terminal rust. When the LS400 came out in late '89 I thought it was the same - big, bland, characterless.
I was wrong.
Encouraged by the Barge thread and the availability of a nice MK4 near me and the immediate need for wheels - I bought one.
I'm now terminally addicted like a sad junkie. 5 years, 120k miles, 12p a mile on LPG, no nasty surprises, a very special cossetting, refined character that only comes with experience. And being driven in one is arguably even better!
I was wrong.
Encouraged by the Barge thread and the availability of a nice MK4 near me and the immediate need for wheels - I bought one.
I'm now terminally addicted like a sad junkie. 5 years, 120k miles, 12p a mile on LPG, no nasty surprises, a very special cossetting, refined character that only comes with experience. And being driven in one is arguably even better!
cib24 said:
How much do timing belt, water pump and suspension bushings cost to replace? What about models equipped with air suspension?
I'm not sure on the costs involved there but i believe it's the LS430's that have the air suspension. Those would be considerably more expensive to sort out, which is one of the reasons why the '400's are a better bet.TooMany2cvs said:
The mate who's just got one is having the belts done this week, with a service. He's bargaining on about £700.
Hopefully he'll have a pleasant surprise. Belts, pump and ancilliaries was c. £450 for mine. Even Lexus dealers offer fixed price replacement on belts - if you just want the belt it is £295 apparently thought not all seem to know about this from what I've heard. The belt is Kevlar reinforced and I can't find any examples online of them snapping even with crazy miles - it always seems to be the water pump failing that precipitates any problems.Suspension bits though are expensive as Garlic found out. I've been luckly with my 2 and have managed to avoid any problems even on the 215k mile one I sold last year.
J4CKO said:
Brave Pills ?
I would be more worried about more modern diesels or loads of other stuff before these.
Indeed - and in any event isn't the whole point of a shed that if something big does go wrong then you have the option of just scrapping the thing without having lost too much - in this case £1,500 minus scrap if it fell apart tomorrow (rather unlikely with an LS400). As opposed to getting a £2k bill on a car worth £10k,where you've got pretty much no choice but to cough up. I would be more worried about more modern diesels or loads of other stuff before these.
Judging by that ad they've tripled in value over the last 10 years. Mine was in similar condition 110k on the clock in 2007. I bought it for £650.
Good car but ultimately boring with lacklustre handling even for the segment. Performance for the economy is pretty underwhelming too.
Better than throwing money away on depreciation any day of the week mind.
Good car but ultimately boring with lacklustre handling even for the segment. Performance for the economy is pretty underwhelming too.
Better than throwing money away on depreciation any day of the week mind.
J4CKO said:
Brave Pills ?
I would be more worried about more modern diesels or loads of other stuff before these.
The engine is nigh on indestructible, its only done 96k, they were built like little else and its £1500, they dont generally suffer with rust.
Suspension can need work but generally not that hard/expensive.
It has lasted 21 years and still looks pretty good, just have a look over the previous MOT's for anything looming, old car stuff like brake pipes and get the cam belt done, aside from fuel it shouldnt be too ruinous, even the VED is fairly cheap on these being ancient.
And its a not too st colour, I say that as they never really did any good colours, just some are less horrific than others.
Yupp. In fact, any petrol Lexus of this vintage for cheap shouldn't be too bad. They may go through consumables fairly quickly, due to their heavy weight. So, tyres, brakes and suspensions bits may need to be kept on top of. But, apart from that, there's not much to look out for.I would be more worried about more modern diesels or loads of other stuff before these.
The engine is nigh on indestructible, its only done 96k, they were built like little else and its £1500, they dont generally suffer with rust.
Suspension can need work but generally not that hard/expensive.
It has lasted 21 years and still looks pretty good, just have a look over the previous MOT's for anything looming, old car stuff like brake pipes and get the cam belt done, aside from fuel it shouldnt be too ruinous, even the VED is fairly cheap on these being ancient.
And its a not too s
t colour, I say that as they never really did any good colours, just some are less horrific than others.Owned a few LS's. Love them.
Not sure what people expect from an old car, but these have bulletproof reliability compared to any peers. This is borne out by numerous JD Powers quality and reliability surveys.
Also, it was voted world's best car in 2007.
It won't come anywhere near a sports car, obviously. But then, that's not its design brief, and if that's what you expected, then maybe look elsewhere.
But as a car to waft in incredible comfort and be pampered in, I love them.
Just did a holiday outside Barcelona and drove through Andorra. Wonderful driving, comfortable, enjoyable. The family loved it and I can't recommend these enough.
Not sure what people expect from an old car, but these have bulletproof reliability compared to any peers. This is borne out by numerous JD Powers quality and reliability surveys.
Also, it was voted world's best car in 2007.
It won't come anywhere near a sports car, obviously. But then, that's not its design brief, and if that's what you expected, then maybe look elsewhere.
But as a car to waft in incredible comfort and be pampered in, I love them.
Just did a holiday outside Barcelona and drove through Andorra. Wonderful driving, comfortable, enjoyable. The family loved it and I can't recommend these enough.
They're very good cars and this one seems to be an excellent choice of Shed of the week. I don't think it would be a money pit and would be an easy, cheap and relatively trouble free way into a luxury V8. (IIRC this model does have an interference engine though, doesn't it? - Some versions do, some don't)
Though I can find much to admire in the Lexus, I would never buy one. They lack a vital element which must be there for me to want to own a car - character and feel. It is at least a decade more modern than my Jaguar XJ40 and there are areas where the Lexus is definitely superior, but there are too many places where it falls short of my Jag for me to ever be tempted by a Lexus. The interior ambience and the way it drives are two of them.
Still, an excellent Shed of the week.
Though I can find much to admire in the Lexus, I would never buy one. They lack a vital element which must be there for me to want to own a car - character and feel. It is at least a decade more modern than my Jaguar XJ40 and there are areas where the Lexus is definitely superior, but there are too many places where it falls short of my Jag for me to ever be tempted by a Lexus. The interior ambience and the way it drives are two of them.
Still, an excellent Shed of the week.
dbdb said:
(IIRC this model does have an interference engine though, doesn't it? - Some versions do, some don't)
I'm not 100% on this but i think the 1990-1995 models were non-interference. Anything from there onwards was interference. There aren't many stories of the cambelts snapping pre-maturely though. However, If they do, it will mostly likely cost the same amount to buy this car for. I can almost guarantee that this only really happens when they're not done as scheduled.The engines in these amaze me really, BMW V8s spurt fluids all over the place, Mercs eat their cam sprockets, these just seem to carry on, almost, so many pull the engine out of a ropey, battered LS and stick it in something else, have seen whole cars go for £500, running perfectly but needed bodywork, tyres, suspension, brakes etc but with a perfect engine, then the owner sells some bits, weight the rest in and effectively gets a free V8 engine that still has plenty of life left, why would anyone bother with Rover V8's nowadays, unless its a space issue, the quality and reliability of these things is unreal.
I have been running one of these identical to this one but in British racing green colour since February. At the time I paid £1400, I did the belts, water pump etc as is a good investment. It amazes me really, it is so uber silent for a 20 year old motor, why can't other marques get that bit right even now? Refinement is remarkable.
They are pretty quick and a pretty constant 22mpg, this really is the best car they built (except the LFA of course) over engineered, super comfy, what else can you like that for under £2k that is this reliable? I have driven all over the UK this year in mine and is the perfect motorway cruiser. I can wax lyrical about these all day, sure they can be a bit boring but a great way to get around and I have a 996 for fun.
I keep thinking that these can't be this cheap for much longer surely, especially when you look at the equivalent German marques of the same vintage which lets face it are no way as reliable and 20 years on can be a money pit
They are pretty quick and a pretty constant 22mpg, this really is the best car they built (except the LFA of course) over engineered, super comfy, what else can you like that for under £2k that is this reliable? I have driven all over the UK this year in mine and is the perfect motorway cruiser. I can wax lyrical about these all day, sure they can be a bit boring but a great way to get around and I have a 996 for fun.
I keep thinking that these can't be this cheap for much longer surely, especially when you look at the equivalent German marques of the same vintage which lets face it are no way as reliable and 20 years on can be a money pit
J4CKO said:
The engines in these amaze me really, BMW V8s spurt fluids all over the place, Mercs eat their cam sprockets, these just seem to carry on, almost, so many pull the engine out of a ropey, battered LS and stick it in something else, have seen whole cars go for £500, running perfectly but needed bodywork, tyres, suspension, brakes etc but with a perfect engine, then the owner sells some bits, weight the rest in and effectively gets a free V8 engine that still has plenty of life left, why would anyone bother with Rover V8's nowadays, unless its a space issue, the quality and reliability of these things is unreal.
On my daily commute I join the A55 via a short slip road - it is a busy dual carriageway and quite hard to join. I never tire of the feeling of flooring the accelerator with the gearbox in Pwr mode and this lardy shed flying to the horizon hitting 6000 rpm in each gear with a lovely noise and smoothness. Slightly terrifying though! They are amazing engines.daveco said:
I remember reading about this when it first came out.
Toyota essentially took a Mercedes W126 series s-class apart and copied its dimensions (I think length, width and height are identical to the SE model in the S-class) and gave it a more reliable power plant.
If you look at the two models together you can see that even the design is a more modern take on the W126.
Anyone I know who owns the LS swears by them and keeps them until they don't run anymore (i.e. they still have them to this day
)
I can fully believe that. MB took one apart and then built the LS having learnt a lot.Toyota essentially took a Mercedes W126 series s-class apart and copied its dimensions (I think length, width and height are identical to the SE model in the S-class) and gave it a more reliable power plant.
If you look at the two models together you can see that even the design is a more modern take on the W126.
Anyone I know who owns the LS swears by them and keeps them until they don't run anymore (i.e. they still have them to this day
)But don't forget that the S-Class was getting a bit oong in the tooth surely, having a model run between 1979-91.
Other than the dimensions (which I will accept as being correct as I have no idea of them) I never have seen how they are a bit alike, as the Lexus is 'next-generation' inside and has more muscular bodywork and a more refined power plant.
As to which is the better quality, I guess that's objective, (for instance, the LS has leather that I feel looks like high quality plastic imitation-leather), and my friend, who has had many Mercedes and Lexus LS's would argue the case for either marque, but would probably come down in favour of the Lexus.
Another positive in favour of the ricer, is that the engine can always be sold to BMW owners who want a V8 engine transplant in their E30's......
culpz said:
I'm not 100% on this but i think the 1990-1995 models were non-interference. Anything from there onwards was interference. There aren't many stories of the cambelts snapping pre-maturely though. However, If they do, it will mostly likely cost the same amount to buy this car for. I can almost guarantee that this only really happens when they're not done as scheduled.
Correct, plus 1995-1997 were non-interference. The MK4 vvti engines from 1997 on were interference.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff