New Ls400 Owner

[HD462]

Hi all,

Just a bit of an intro, as a new LS400 owner. I hadn't really considered one before, or actually seen one. But when I was looking for a car for my son a month or so ago I spotted this LS in the traders yard. Joked to my son, "what about this one then", to which I got the reply, "yeah as if I could afford the insurance on that". I said, "I didn't mean for you, I meant for me....lol"

First thing I noticed when I opened the door, was the deep pile carpet, leather seats that looked in really good condition for it's age, and a pretty much as new looking interior in general. I put it on my eBay watch list when I got home, and kept looking at it. Problem was I have an Older Mitsubishi Pajero too, that's done me well for two and a half years and 28,000 miles without missing a beat, so reluctant to get rid of it, especially with any new car being an unknown quantity until you've lived with it for a while. On paper the running costs looked good, similar mpg to the Pajero, but didn't really want to lay out any extra money on a car at the moment.

I'd shown it to the wife, but saw no way to get it and keep the Pajero for now (at least until the LS proved it's reliability). But I had mentioned to my wife that the car tax on her Daewoo Tacuma was more than doubling, thanks to the budget (going up to £460 a year same as large 4x4s and the like). It was due the end of April so she suggested getting rid of hers now as they reckon prices will nosedive when people realise about the car tax increase. So I said I'd been watching the LS and he'd reduced the price a couple of times and it was now somewhere near what her car was worth. I suggested we see if he fancied a straight swap, as he might fine the Tacuma easier to sell than a car with a 4 litre engine the way fuel prices are.

So we went and had a haggle. Didn't get a straight swap, but a swap plus £300, which wasn't too bad. It's a 1996, 11 months MOT, just under 100,000 miles when we got it, now just over, full history right up to 95,000 miles, with bills showing work done, including timing belt kit at 95,000. Been on a private plate until 2009.

I always thought the gearchange on the Pajero was smooth, but the LS is in another league. You don't even feel it, and so quiet, even at 70mph.

I spent 4 hours washing, polishing, nourishing the leather, and cleaning the engine bay on Saturday ready for a run out yesterday. You certainly noticed it turning heads. Seems a really good car up to now, loads of toys, and everything seems to work, even had the original Lexus "Welcome to the LS400" CD in the autochanger.

I've found a few things need doing but nothing major, the stalling thing coming off a motorway, did that a couple of times, but found the answer on here (thanks), the bonnet struts were weak, changed them already. Brakes need looking at, but would do that anyway with any new car I get. Also the rattle that I've read about on here when cold, but goes once warmed up (shield or idler pulley bearing, haven't had chance to have a good look yet). But nothing major, drives like a dream, I won't mind putting a couple of hundred quid into it to sort the minor issues out.

Here's a few of pics after polishing it, if they show, not sure if new members will be able to post photos. I know some forums don't let you:

[oliver261]

where did you get your bonnet struts? mine are right on the edge (dont hold if its cold, but will when warm)

theres a youtube video of some from car gas struts .co.uk but they dont look much stronger than the ones the chap is replacing.

[willskoda]

Ah nice - same colour combo as mine! You have a very good car there and body work looks in really good nick! Have you checked the front heated seats work as this is a common failure but with no quick easy fix I'm afraid. Would you mind me asking how much it was for sale for?

[SHELLDRAKE]

Sounds like a nice motor,only problem is for some reason I can't open the photos,this has never happened before, mine is the same,Ls400-97 also the same colour combo as yours and willskoda's. You wil soon get used to driving your ("MAGNET") I say this because when I park mine at the local supermarket,away from the rest of the other cars,and I come back it is surrounded by other cars hence the MAGNET.Enjoy the Lexus Experience.

[mikeyv]

I couldn't see them either, so I tried copying the links and hopefully here they are?

Very nice too.

[SHELLDRAKE]

Cheers Mikeyv: photo's look good nice clean car just like mine.

[Bluesman]

Should have years of smiley miles in her she looks great.

Mike

[HD462]

where did you get your bonnet struts? mine are right on the edge (dont hold if its cold, but will when warm)

theres a youtube video of some from car gas struts .co.uk but they dont look much stronger than the ones the chap is replacing.

Hi Oliver,

I work on heavy vehicles, and they're used on them to hold access panels up. A mate had a few that were obsolete stock (nothing they fit anymore), we compared them and found a pair the same size, so didn't cost me anything.

Before I mentioned it to him, I was going to get them from eBay, they're about £50 a pair on their and a fiver delivery. I won't post a link as it's probably against forum rules, but if you go on eBay and put "Lexus LS400 bonnet struts" into the search box you'll find them.

[HD462]

Ah nice - same colour combo as mine! You have a very good car there and body work looks in really good nick! Have you checked the front heated seats work as this is a common failure but with no quick easy fix I'm afraid. Would you mind me asking how much it was for sale for?

Hi Will,

Yeah it's pretty tidy, the odd scrape and a couple of small dents here and there, but nothing for it's age. I'd rather see it original like that than just been painted and not sure what's underneath. Yep, the front heated seats both work, the rear ones too, burns your backside off. Not something I'd probably use much really. I think I've checked everything electrical now, and all seems to work fine.

It was for sale for £1690 originally ( at a used car dealer), then he reduced it by £100. Then just before we bought it he reduced it again to £1290, which made it more interesting re a possible swap. What we paid depends what you valued the wifes car at, as it was that, plus £300. We paid £1200 for it last October, so I'd say it was worth £1000 to £1200, so for the LS, roughly £1200 to £1500 with the extra £300. I have seem them cheaper on eBay, but with more miles on, but this has none of those dreaded car park dings down the panels, and the interior is really good too. With 11 months mot, and full history/bills too, I felt it was worth it.

[HD462]

Thanks for the replies guys, and to mikey for sorting the photos out, dunno why they wouldn't show, but I know some forums say you need to have ten posts or something before you can post photos. There was a couple more pics I think, I'll see if I can sort the first post out, or copy and paste the link to get the photo up.

I know what you mean about car magnet, I always park away from other cars so you don't get doors whacked into you (I do with the Pajero too), but you always come back and people have parked around you, even when there are loads more spaces they could have chosen.

Those photos were taken at a classic car show we went to on Sunday. The guy waved us in as we were going to the public car park. I stopped saying did you think we were going into the show, as we hadn't booked (and it's not really old enough). He said yes, you can just pay on the day, so we put it in....lol

We had a 1991 Eunos Roadster last year (Mazda mx5 import), which we put in shows, it was just old enough at 20yrs old. The LS certainly turned heads anyway, saw a few people giving it the once over. :)

[mikeyv]

If you call it £1500 tops, you'd be hard pushed to get a better value car imo.

It's got to be virtually depreciation free by now as well, and that's the biggest cost by far to most motorists, even though petrol costs get the headlines.

I've not had mine long, but liking it more with every mile, that's when I can get the wife out of the driving seat of course.

[HD462]

That's exactly how I get my head around the fuel costs, same with the Pajero. When people looked shocked at the mpg, I say yes, but I've got a car that the depreciation is virtually nil on, a car I could never afford to buy new, where on their newer car they're losing £50 a week before they even turn a wheel. They seem to conveniently forget that.

One of the lads at work was looking at it at dinner time today, you could tell he fancied one. He'd got rid of his 51 reg Rover 75 for and 08 reg Megane because he wanted the cheaper road tax. I said to him, you've paid out an extra £5,000 to save a bit on road tax...lol When he was looking today, I said see, you could have got one of those instead of your Megane, and had £5,000 left over. He said yeah, but more tax and fuel. I says, yeah, but you can buy a lot of tax and fuel for £5,000 :)

[cruisermark]

Congratulations on your new purchase

Scary as it may seem but i used to have a Pajero 2.5TD - i bought it when they were bringing them in by the bucket loads - very comfy car and full of toys but a bit gutless - i later found out i should of gone for the 2.8 as they are much better and not cambelt to worry about.

and heres my old lexus

http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy178/SAHIL0786/LX2.jpg

[HD462]

Congratulations on your new purchase

Scary as it may seem but i used to have a Pajero 2.5TD - i bought it when they were bringing them in by the bucket loads - very comfy car and full of toys but a bit gutless - i later found out i should of gone for the 2.8 as they are much better and not cambelt to worry about.

and heres my old lexus

http://i789.photobuc...HIL0786/LX2.jpg

Really good shine you've got there, looks like it's just come out of the showroom. Re Pajeros, yep, the 2.8 is the one to go for, more power and torque, great for towing. I thought that was luxurious with all it's toys, until we got the Lexus, the Paj can go off road too though....lol :)

[Bluesman]

That's exactly how I get my head around the fuel costs, same with the Pajero. When people looked shocked at the mpg, I say yes, but I've got a car that the depreciation is virtually nil on, a car I could never afford to buy new, where on their newer car they're losing £50 a week before they even turn a wheel. They seem to conveniently forget that. One of the lads at work was looking at it at dinner time today, you could tell he fancied one. He'd got rid of his 51 reg Rover 75 for and 08 reg Megane because he wanted the cheaper road tax. I said to him, you've paid out an extra £5,000 to save a bit on road tax...lol When he was looking today, I said see, you could have got one of those instead of your Megane, and had £5,000 left over. He said yeah, but more tax and fuel. I says, yeah, but you can buy a lot of tax and fuel for £5,000 :)

Pay just over £1000 and have it converted to LPG save loads a money.

Mike

[HD462]

Yeah, I've been reading about that on here a few days ago, the place in Leeds? Have to think about it, best done soon after getting it if possible to maximise savings, but not sure how long I'll keep it. I worked out the other day it would take a year to pay for itself with the miles we do. We do a fair few miles as we like to go on roadtrips (did all round Scotland in the Pajero last year, and Devon and Cornwall later in the year in the mx5). You'd be unlikely to get the money back on selling the car as it'd make it too expensive, so would have to be done on the basis of more than covering the cost just on fuel savings.

[SHELLDRAKE]

Let me know how to ad pictures and I'll put some of mine on view.

[HD462]

Host the photos on a photo sharing site, such as Photobucket. Then copy the url of the photo, then come here to post and paste the url with these tags in front and behind it, like this but without the spaces. [ img ] myimageurl [/ img ]

There's also an 'image' button at the top of this text editor, but doesn't seem to add the link properly, that's why my photos weren't showing at first. I had to edit the post and type the links by hand.

[abs66]

www.strutsdirect.co.uk

Less than £50 delivered. Easy to fit and great service plus I got my brolly back :-)

[SHELLDRAKE]

Well,I have tried all kinds of things to try and get some pics on here of my 97Ls and sofar no luck,I even went onto photobucket and still nothing ,so it looks like I'll have to give up.

Cheers Norman.

[HD462]

You could just put a link to the album on Norman, then we can click on it to go to the album. One we can see them, we may be able to link back to them for you.

We've had the car two weeks today, and done 600 miles already. :)

[mikeyv]

I've just loaded some pics of mine on here, here's the link to see if it works.

http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/gallery/album/1350

[Bluesman]

I've just loaded some pics of mine on here, here's the link to see if it works.

http://www.lexusowne...lery/album/1350

Hi Michael.

She looks really nice.

Enjoy. Mike

[mikeyv]

I've just loaded some pics of mine on here, here's the link to see if it works.

http://www.lexusowne...lery/album/1350

Hi Michael.

She looks really nice.

Enjoy. Mike

Thanks Mike, I've got a terrible habit of changing perfectly good cars, it's like an itch that just has to be scratched, but I'm not sure Mrs V would ever forgive me if I sold this one.

We both love the car, and, as I've read on here many times, everybody who rides in it comments on the comfort, more than any car I've had before, and doesn't want to get out at journeys end.

[SHELLDRAKE]

I hope these turn out still having trouble downloading pictures.