Tahara

Good luck with the search :) You might be better off with a recond model from Japan, as the speedometer will read in km/h, the indicator stalk will be on the right side of the steering, the car would be less susceptible to rust, etc. What is your budget in RM? Thank you. The budget is 100,000 ringgit (= 20,000 pounds), or I could go up to 250,000 if I financed it with one of those 2,70% interest deals. But I don't want to pay 50,000 pounds for a used car that is five years old. My thinking is that if I find a nice LS that is under 10 years old, and under 100,000 ringgit, it should provide reliable transport for say another 4-5 years. Yes, I know they last longer than that, but I don't want repairs and the car out of service waiting for parts, as might happen to an LS400 due to the age. You mentioned the advantages of Japanese imports. Those are true. The Japanese also drive little, trading in cars with lower milage on average than we do in the West. A used car with less than 10,000 km driven per year is normal in Japan. The Japanese are also even more obsessive about keeping their cars spotless than the Germans are. The downside is if the car controls are in Japanese. All those buttons are labeled in Japanese, and the navi/control screen is in Japanese and speaks Japanese to you. You have to memorise which buttons to push. Or learn some Japanese.

The LS they have on oto.com.my are mainly 2nd hand imports from Japan. (You guessed it. "Oto" is Malaysian spelling for "auto".) I will have a look at some of them when I have the opportunity. But at these prices I think I will stick to window shopping, unless I can find a good LS430. They are cheaper as the businessman crowd who drive demand for used imported LS460 don't want to be seen in the old model.

Hi, Welcome to the forum. Will you be coming to the meet next month? Mike Thanks, Mike. Sorry I can't go to the meet as I will be in Asia.

Thanks for the welcome, everyone. This seems to be a friendly place. And lots to read and learn, too. Prices in Malaysia. Import taxes on cars are high. A new LS is more than double the price in Malaysia compared to the UK, 165,000 pounds. Consequently most Lexus on Malaysian roads are imported 2nd hand, mainly from the UK and Japan. Now for the good news. Petrol 95 is 40p a litre. Service and repair is cheaper thanks to low labour cost. Parking, toll roads etc are cheaper too.

If they stole an average LS off the street it should be better than this one. I did indeed think about flood when I saw grass sticking out in various places, as high as the lower end of the rear window. I did not find any waterline or soil, though. But a dip in clean water might not leave any such trace. Or they cleaned the car with a high pressure washer and forgot the grass, which was stuck so you had to pull it out by hand. One thing that struck me was that the seats were much better than the rest of the car. Why was the headliner a disaster while the driver's seat looked unused? The steering wheel leather was shiny from wear, suggesting high mileage. The driver's seat should show wear too. Maybe they had changed the seats. Then there was the smell. At 27,000 miles an LS should smell good inside, almost like new. But this one smelt old and unhealthy. Flood damage could explain the problems the car had. And it would only be the start of them. What would be next? More electrical problems? Transmission failure? I know one guy who has an Lexus RX with a transmission that suddenly died for no particular reason. That one was also imported 2nd hand, from Japan. Could be a tsunami car. Lots of fun to be had with flood cars as unseen components take their time to fail from corrosion and dirt.

In mainland Malaysia the road tax for the LS460 is 1,800 pounds per year. On the island territories it is lower. Pangor and Langkawi islands pay 900. The Malaysians states on Borneo pay 600. The island of Labuan gets away with only 300 pounds.

I saw this LS from the road as I was driving past a used car dealer. The dealer had a shack of sorts, a barrack for office and some car display areas with a tin roof over the cars but no walls. It was a typical Malaysian used car dealership. I went in and parked my Camry next to a barely used, current model Mercedes E-class. The place was packed with 2nd hand luxury cars imported from abroad. Some other customers were looking at an Audi A6. A salesman approached me. He was in his forties and simply dressed. His face was rugged and his front teeth could use some work. He was a native. Behind him, staring at me from the barrack, was the Chinese boss. The boss gave me the vibe of a godfather evaluating a victim, trying to estimate my gullibility. He did not speak to me. I explained my interest in the LS to the salesman. I had not gone over to where it was, as the maze of buildings and cars made me unsure if the car belonged to the shop I was in or the competitor next door. It was ours, the salesman said. Then I was face to face with the Lexus. It was a 2008 Lexus LS 460L from the UK, imported 2nd hand and sent by ship to Malaysia. Rust, was my first thought. Cars in Malaysia don't rust. There is no road salt here. But a UK car can be salted enough after five years to be keep rusting after it comes to the tropics. The car was in silver metallic, with blue leather interior. Mileage: 27 000 miles. Tires were a cheap oriental brand, unevenly worn. Brake disks were rusted from lack of use. I found dry grass around door openings and the boot opening. I wonder where that came from. The seller had no explanation. The man with the tooth deficit got the key from the boss. I entered the LS and pressed the start button. The master warning light (red triangle) was permanently lit on the instrument panel. Seller said he would reset it. The carpet under the seats was damp, front and in the rear. The headliner was an uneven dirty grey from hands touching it. The seller said he would foam-clean it. They buttons on the centre console were worn, with the markings coming off. The air suspension would not go to HIGH. The ventilated seats did not work. The seller said he would fix these things if I bought the car. There was no service book or any other documents in the car. The seller said I would get them after buying. When standing still and the engine idling with the bonnet open, I noticed abnormal ticking from the vents. The seller said the engine needed to be serviced. The seller offered a test drive. I let him drive first. After finding a quiet side road, I took over. A "clunk" from the front brakes was evident when braking at low speed. It did not bother me. My Camry has the same sound. The tires were way too loud, especially on the driver side. The car pulled to the left. The seller said the alignment needed to be adjusted. Apparently, the noisy wheels were from tires getting worn out by the faulty front suspension and then put on the rear wheels, while the process repeated itself on the front wheels. Braking made the ABS system hammer constantly, even at low speed. Another sign of the alignment and tire problem, I guessed. I drove up a steep hill. The engine sounded harsh and loud when driving. A 4.6 should not be like this. The seller said it would be smooth again when he changed the oil for me - again, after I handed over the money. The seller wanted 380,000 ringgit (75,000 GB pounds) for the car. An LS is 840,000 ringgit new here, or 165,000 pounds, thanks to taxes. The seller dropped the price to 340,000 without me asking, saying I should negotiate further with the boss. I believe the plan was to make me feel I made a great deal by allowing me to bargain the car down to to 280,000, only 50,000 above other 2008s on the market. I told the seller I would think about it. What I really was thinking was: What a poor, abused LS. 27,000 miles? I don't think so. More like 150,000, the odometer rolled back. An unloving owner. This car could not have been maintained for years. I am sure the salesman and his boss has my best interest at heart, good honest people as they undoubtedly are. But really..... Would you buy it?

Hello, My first post here. I took my nickname Tahara after the factory where they made the first Lexus in Japan. Clever, eh? B) I drive a Camry now. It is a good car. However, I lust after a Lexus. It can take a while before I get one, but I want to share my adventures as I look at some 2nd hand ones. I looked at a 2008 LS yesterday and will post about that in the model forum. I live in Malaysia, where things sometimes are, ahem, different. But the cars are the same. Happy motoring everyone.