Ls400 Mk Iv Satnav Reliability

[FrankB]

Hi,

Still looking for my LS400, I am considering a 1999 or 2000 Mk IV but one thing bothers me: the touchscreen for satnav, climate ctrl and so on.

I am not that confident in the reliability of a 10-year old touch screen. Usually they are the first thing to fail in any system. As I don't need the sat nav (I have my own portable unit, and I understand the old CD maps are obsolete), I don't want the touch screen to fail, thus leaving me unable to control the sound system, the aircon...

What is the feedback of the current owners of 10 year-old Mk IV? Should I expect trouble from an old touch screen?

Is it possible to find a good Mk IV without the satnav and that annoying touch screen? I thought they all had it from the factory but I recently saw a french LS400 from 2000 that did not have it, and it was definitely a Mk IV.

Thanks for any help/advice/comment.

FrankB

[david_hornet27]

Hi,

Still looking for my LS400, I am considering a 1999 or 2000 Mk IV but one thing bothers me: the touchscreen for satnav, climate ctrl and so on.

I am not that confident in the reliability of a 10-year old touch screen. Usually they are the first thing to fail in any system. As I don't need the sat nav (I have my own portable unit, and I understand the old CD maps are obsolete), I don't want the touch screen to fail, thus leaving me unable to control the sound system, the aircon...

What is the feedback of the current owners of 10 year-old Mk IV? Should I expect trouble from an old touch screen?

Is it possible to find a good Mk IV without the satnav and that annoying touch screen? I thought they all had it from the factory but I recently saw a french LS400 from 2000 that did not have it, and it was definitely a Mk IV.

Thanks for any help/advice/comment.

FrankB

My advice is not to worry about the touch screen. These cars are an incredible feat of reliable engineering, I have a 98 Mk4 and everything still works first time every time. It has been well looked after and I would recommend you make sure your new purchase has a full Lexus service history. I have not heard anybody complain that the sat nav is not working on their car, and it is very rare to hear of anything serious going wrong with anything if the car has been properly maintained.

It is natural to worry about these things with lesser cars and I was kind of worried when I was looking for my LS400 that I might be buying a money pit. However I took the plunge after reading many posts on here and bought the cheapest local one I could find with a full service history after a good long test drive, and looking at and driving more expensive ones that were advertised so I knew what a good car sounded and looked like.

You are able to get quite recent updates for the sat nav and I use mine quite often without problems. It gets me where I want to go without problem, although it is not the most modern of units obviously so has its limitations.

Good luck with your hunt, you will not be disappointed when you finally find the car you want.

[GEN]

Hi,

Still looking for my LS400, I am considering a 1999 or 2000 Mk IV but one thing bothers me: the touchscreen for satnav, climate ctrl and so on.

I am not that confident in the reliability of a 10-year old touch screen. Usually they are the first thing to fail in any system. As I don't need the sat nav (I have my own portable unit, and I understand the old CD maps are obsolete), I don't want the touch screen to fail, thus leaving me unable to control the sound system, the aircon...

What is the feedback of the current owners of 10 year-old Mk IV? Should I expect trouble from an old touch screen?

Is it possible to find a good Mk IV without the satnav and that annoying touch screen? I thought they all had it from the factory but I recently saw a french LS400 from 2000 that did not have it, and it was definitely a Mk IV.

Thanks for any help/advice/comment.

FrankB

Mine is also a 98 Mark IV. Nav screen works fine. Although it has not been updated it does get you around quite well (though no Poscode facility). Lexus tell me that the update costs £200 - I already have a TomTom and could buy another good portable system for £200 so I won't be updating it, but, most of the time, around London, I use the inbuilt system. As for radio/cd player (for me, I don't change radio stations that often) and the a/c (just set the temp. and leave it on auto) the dashboard controls would be sufficient. But for now it's working fine. The LS400s I looked at, and they had to be MK IV (I wanted the engine upgrade), all had the touch screen. You could always get an earlier one - two benefits (depending how you look at it): no touchscreen and no interference engine.

All the bst

[TeamDax]

i have a 98 LS400 too.... the touch screen works great, and as its a lexus i expect it to continue to work great for many years to come.

The satnav certainly isnt as good as a modern tomtom.... but it wouldnt be, its 12 year old technology, i still use my tomtom most of the time.... but the lexus satnav has always got me home when i needed it to.... and thats on the original CD.... i will upgrade it to more recent maps eventually