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I agree. There's a reason it cost 1 billion dollars to develop over 5 years, and that's partly down to substance over style, with the drag co-efficient being extremely low. In fact it's still better than many brand-new models today! It's part of the reason why they get the best mpg out of the big luxury car line up of the era too. Personally, while I think the LS 400 isn't beautiful, there's still something handsome and masculine about it as it barges its way down the road.

Lexus engineers are more clever than most of us and there was a reason behind the LS400 looking that way. most will think mmh thats an ugly boxy looking tank but it was designed to be quiet, smooth, sprint from 0-60 quickly for a big luxury car of its size and year, and ability to travel at high speeds of 140-155mph without sounding strained and the actual design gives it a very low drag coefficient cd figure of 0.27 which is very impressive figure for a car built in the 90's. the LS400 built in 90' has the same drag coefficient as the Nissan GTR built in 2008. the low drag coeffient figure a car has the better it cuts through air resistance and travels at higher speeds comfortably. Toyota spent Billions of dollars on designing every aspect of this car in the 90's and yes things have moved on since then in terms of car design and in order for the LS400 to achieve this low drag coefficient figure it had to look that way. thats why its one of the smoothest quietest cars ever rolled out of a production line. Rolls Royce of the same era was not as quiet and as smooth as an LS400

Ill tell you what is pretty ugly about my LS400 ......................................... All the cobwebs in the engine bay because I never have to lift the bonnet because it doesn't break down How awful is this !!!!!!!

Me too Mike (think they're beautiful that is) And after wafting home late last night from London's West End back to Sussex, I reminded myself why they're so hard to part with!

Funnily enough, my wife calls mine a boat. However, many boats are things of beauty, including my little 12 foot Tideway dinghy. The 400 may look like a boat, but what do most modern cars look like? Homogeneous, over designed, over developed, under engineered, soul less, hard riding, expensive to maintain, fast depreciating tin boxes. They all look the same. I watched an episode of Minder the other day (the proper one with Dennis Waterman) and as Arthur Daley drove around in his X, I could name every car and van instantly, because they were so distinctive, with individual personalities. I could not do that now,even if modern cars were interesting enough for me to try.

The dreaded clicks announced the demise of the Mark Levenson Amplifier in my 4 year old LS460GL with just 27,000 miles on the clock. RRG Stockport told me repair wasn't a possibility and a replacement would be £2,000 but Lexus would contribute 35% to the cost. I spoke to Lexus Customer services and they had no other suggestions. RRG insisted they would have to keep the defective unit despite the obvious salvage value. Lexus say this was simply confusion as that was the procedure for Warranty claims. If you Google "Mark Levenson Amplifier repairs" there are at least two reputable firms who will pretty well guarantee a satisfactory repair for less than £300 all completed wiithin 4 days!! Unusually poor advice and service from Lexus refusing to contemplate a repair or exchange unit (which is what happens to returned units from Warranty claims) and with RRG Stockport sadly one of and endless stream of problems. For anyone with Amplifier problems the message is to Google for a repairer as my experience is that Lexus and their dealers will deny the possibility of repair even though they will attempt to snaffle your defunct unit for reconditiioning with the only recompense an alleged discount gesture (less than the obvious salvage value of the defective unit) for being a longstanding customer!! The misinformation and whole experience ended my relationship with RRG and after 20 years of Lexus ownership I have also ended the discussion about the purchase of the new LS460 model. I am sure that things would have been different even five years ago but it sadly seems that at Lexus things are a changing.

The Luxury I had with 6k on the clock I could easily get >50mpg and now with a new F Sport I'm getting at best mid 40's. Probably improve as it beds in..

I think they are beautiful. Mike

I have never actually driven one and I only want one because i've never heard a bad comment about them from anyone apart from the look. And the owners on here cannot rate them highly enough. When I show the mrs and say I wouldn't mind one she says it looks like a boat.

I've always said the LS400 is an "ugly" car. Doesn't change the fact it's is/was an engineering master piece. Just think they could've been a bit braver with the design. :)

Indeed, there are various specs available. Some are HID some are Halogen's. My 220d had H11 and HB3 halogens (and they were rubbish) at illuminating the road ahead. The only way to be sure is to have a look.

Michelin primacy are superb for comfort grip etc ,

red circeled gives you problems. mine are gone too. the problem is - dealer dont sell them and the solution is - press in some opel/vauxhall vectra bushes that need to bee skimmed trimmed down a bit I am thinking of doing this soon.