Ls400 Mk4 Or Ls430

[willskoda]

Get a 430 and impress your friends with the massage seats - which as I just found out - change strength and style with every press of the on switch!

[messi]

I think the ls400 is alot more reliable than the 430 and alot more quieter and smoother

[Scribe]

I can't imagine NOT having a 430 next, though I doubt I'll ever feel as confident in it as I am in my ageing 400 (15 years old next month). But I might be wrong. As someone said recently, the problem with a forum like this is that we focus on problems that occur. And I'd feel more confident in a 430 than in a Merc of the same age/mileage - no contest there!

[messi]

Dont get me wrong, i think the 430 is a nice car, but the drive on it is not as smooth as the 400, its not as quiet as the 400, make sure you have some money for when the air suspension sensors fail, the vsv, the

Cd player, water in the boot, the wheel bearing but thats just wear and tear, the electric fold in mirrors. Thats just afew things that can go wrong.

[black400]

There is a lovely black LS430 on done deal .ie they nicest one i have seen . but as i have two 400s my next buy wil be 4 wheel drive to add to the 400s but will it be a lexus ????

[ambermarine]

Hi

just to add my twopenneth,as some of you are aware I was lucky enough to get S 98 400 mint and I mean mint with only 18K on the clock.

I have had it since July and really only use it as a sunday car,The response and handling compared with the Mark 1 I had over 16 years are immeasurable and I still marvel at this brand new car that sits in my garage.

I drove my friends 430 last year and the road noise and vibration were a lot worse than the Mark 1 he brought it to my attention as he as a Mark1 also and thought there might have been a problem with the 430 .He subsequently took it to Lexus , a technichan said it was a common fault on the 430 and 460 because of the low profile tyres and a suspension that was designed for USA highways.

I had been mulling over changing the Mark 1 for a couple of years considering both the 430 and 460 but did'nt like what I was reading on the forum so I stuck with tried and tested and every time I look at my 98 Ls400 I am so pleased I did.

[Malc]

salivating here, just remembering my 1994 Mk2 in Dec 2007 that I bought with just 8542 miles .......... just like brand spanking new too .... alas no more, a write-off last year.

The Mk 3 is brilliant tho' too, but a few more miles.

Malc

[Scribe]

The sort of 'rut' that some of us are in is that we drive old cars that are worth little on the market, and yet they're extremely comfortable, well-made and reliable. There's no way we can afford to replace them with anything newer unless we trade down to a 'normal' car - which we don't want to do. So how long do we hang on to our old 400s for? Sometimes - especially this time of year, when I have a long journey coming up over the Christmas/New Year period - I worry about running such an old car and wish I had something modern; and yet I also know that the Lex is less likely to let me down than anything newer that I could afford. The point of this waffle is that the most affordable (i.e. early) 430s don't seem worth trading up to at the moment. When I bought my 400 in August 2010 my mechanic said I could run it for ten years if I wanted to; but I wonder whether I'll still be confident in it when it's twenty years old?

[Lexmanic]

My LS 400 is high mileage but thats because its been on LPG since 2002 making it cheap to run. Drove it from Hunstanton, Norfolk to West Dorset, cost £80 LPG & the LPG tank was by no means near empty

[ManicMark]

Mine has 190k on it now I have no quarms about driving to Germany next week. It will be a 2000 mile round trip with some driving around down there. These cars were designed to do big mileages. Some of them in the states have post 500,000 miles on them.

As long as they are maintained there should be no reason why a 1,000,000 miles isn't possible. The motor isn't exactly stressed.

[ManicMark]

There is a lovely black LS430 on done deal .ie they nicest one i have seen . but as i have two 400s my next buy wil be 4 wheel drive to add to the 400s but will it be a lexus ????

Toyota land cruiser amazon all the way (V8 petrol with lpg of course) the choice of every Ausie + the taliban.

[ManicMark]

Hi just came back from a night out in my mate from Liverpool's 430 I had just hoped out of my mark 4 the suspension on the mark 4 soaks up the speed humps & undulations in the road surface much better. As for noise they are both quiet ( choice of tyres is going to play the biggest part in this I think). I am thinking I was stupid not to have bought the 200(w) mark 4 with 32k for £2500 I could have had last year.

My mate is a rolls royce engineer( a proper engineer if there isn't a part available he would make it) & thinks his mark 2 400 was better put together than the 430 but has had no trouble with the 430 apart from a rear air con pipe in the last 4 years.

[messi]

Well im looking for a mk4 ls400 now. Im not happy with the road noise im getting in my ls430.

[moriwaki]

My 460 { to continue my saga :eerrrmm: } has terrible wind noise from the drivers window.....even at 50 mph....I have tried the fix on the net with sealants etc....no better....it is slightly better if I crack the window down with a small dab of the electric window switch.....so I do that every time I use it now.....BUT I SHOULDNT BLEEDIN HAVE TO :megaangry:

Needless to say....the 400 was silent in comparison.....and a far smoother ride....the suspension is "Thumpy" on the 460 too.....

50% of that will be those "Stupid" low profiles Lexus fitted in their Infinite Wisdom !

Rant over.....Sorry lads.

]

[Bluesman]

My 460 { to continue my saga :eerrrmm: } has terrible wind noise from the drivers window.....even at 50 mph....I have tried the fix on the net with sealants etc....no better....it is slightly better if I crack the window down with a small dab of the electric window switch.....so I do that every time I use it now.....BUT I SHOULDNT BLEEDIN HAVE TO :megaangry:

Needless to say....the 400 was silent in comparison.....and a far smoother ride....the suspension is "Thumpy" on the 460 too.....

50% of that will be those "Stupid" low profiles Lexus fitted in their Infinite Wisdom !

Rant over.....Sorry lads.

]

Just let it out. Mike