Which Car To Choose?

[colmcork]

So how it is going, did you find a good Ls400 to buy?

I think I just might have itarumaa. There is a 1999 in Dublin with 118k on the clock, 2 owners, 2 keys and a full lexus service history. I have not driven or even seen the car in person yet though, but am planning on heding up along next weekend to view it. Doubt it will have been sold in the meantime. It is advertised on carzone atm if you fancy a look. There are also better pictures of it on the dealers own website. Let me know what you think as you have seen a few on your own purchasing travels.

[itarumaa]

It looks really clean example, low miles as well. I would do background check for the car just to make sure, but I think you will not find anything there. Also check the timing belt has changed, I think it should be done at 90k miles. Even the car has service history, I still would check it, specially gear box oil, colour of coolant (both should be red), brake fluid colour etc. Also check that exhaust does not leak, you don´t even want to know the price for new one :D

These are good cars and if you need parts, those can be bought from eBay quite cheaply.

Looks actually much better than my ls400 and cheaper as well. I have 98 model, black/grey without any service history and 151k miles.

It looks like this:

[colmcork]

Thats a nice looking car you have there. I actually prefer them in black to be honest but I dont like how the cream interior starts to look a bit grubby after time. How long do you have yours?.

I am finding conflicting reports on the timing belt intervals. Some are saying change every 60k and others are saying every 100k. Do you happen to know what the lexus recommended interval is? I am told that it is a full LEXUS history so surely everything will be in excellent order maintenance wise. One thing he mentioned to me is that the motor for the steering column is not working, but hopefully this can be solved with a little diy and perhaps a second hand motor. Also strangely enough this particular model has a sunroof which seems to be quite rare over here.

With any luck, by this day week I will have a deal done on it, maybe sooner. Will of course try to post up a few pics if I can manage it.

[itarumaa]

Based on info I have received the timing belt interval is 60k miles for older versions and 1998-2000 version it is 90k.

I do not have owners manual to check this for my car tough. I have never heard a timing belt failure in Ls400, so I think that is not a major issue with these cars. The belt is quite wide and well covered.

Motor in steering column. I think there might be two of those. One to adjust the steering column out of the way when you shut down the car and then the tilt option when the car is running.

I am not sure at all what kind of fix it might, to get this done. You have to check how the steering column now operates, can you adjust the steering at all?

How the column reacts if you power off the car, because it should move out of the way automatically.

This might be a major fix or then not, really hard to say. I think you could find a working motor in scrap yard. Lets hope this because if you have to go Lexus dealer to get the column sorted, it might cost more than the car :)

I would also to point out that just make sure things work in the car, inside and outside. Sometimes when your read advice about cars you might get a bit nervous what might go wrong with car, specially with LS400 but I think these are well built cars and you should not have any major issues with these. I haven´t and my car is far from perfect:)