genius149

As someone looking for a cheap LS, I'd have bitten your hand off. At least you'd have known it was going to someone who would respect the car.  My hunt continues...

4 hours ago, Richard Fixter said:

 The other thing to take into consideration is the cost of flashlube that must be fitted not expensive adds about  1p a litre. 

I'm not sure that flashlube is essential.  I've seen a few discussions on here about it and possibly because I'm looking to get an LS, the V8 might not need it but my mk1 LPG GS didn't have it and didn't need it either.

The other thing to consider is that it might well add a bit to the sale price when you come to sell it.

Hi Ben and welcome,

£300 sounds extortionate for a door repair. A good indie body shop should charge approx half that amount although a bit of haggling may be required as door usually need the paint "feathered" to blend with the wing and rear door.  Might be worth finding out the cost of a replacement door skin.

On 4/28/2019 at 8:49 PM, The-Acre said:

I'd be very surprised if you couldn't get the one in Walthamstow for £3,500, or maybe a bit less. The biggest setback would be getting to Walthamstow, the traffic there is grim to say the least.  Contact him, see what he'll take, he may just want to shift it.

I intend to. He had it advertised for £3,800 a little while ago so I'm wondering why he put it back up at the higher price.  Getting to Walthamstow wouldn't bother me too much as I've done a fair bit of London driving in the past.  If I go to buy I'd go by train anyway.  I've worked in a Polish scrapyard so I know how hard to haggle!  Still waiting for my tribunal payout before I can buy anything though!

On 4/27/2019 at 3:50 PM, The-Acre said:

It is a tad overpriced, but having seen it it's like a new car, above and below. You simply wouldn't find one that looks like it elsewhere.  I also reckon he'd take 5k for it as he's had it awhile.

I can only really afford £3,000 maybe £3,500 considering I've got to convert it to LPG and that isn't cheap so I doubt he'd go for that. I may look at the two celsiors on eBay but yes, I'm a tad wary.

If I end up getting a Celsior I'll probably contact Mr Frost as well but here's my two penn'th on kmh.

A few years ago I had a Honda PC800 Pacific Coast motorbike. It was a relatively rare Japanese market model and when I bought it, I met the seller at the bike shop so that I could get it MOT'd as he'd spent the day there freeing off a brake caliper so that it would pass.  The speedo was in KPH and I thought nothing of it and neither did the MOT tester. Luckily, a previous owner had the speedo and odometer calibrated to read as miles (which I didn't realise until I thought 50kph was a bit too fast to be the equivalent of 30MPH).  The annoying thing was that being a Japanese market bike and more specifically, built for the 'merkins, the front indicators were permanently on like dtr lights and flashed when you were actually indicating.  Annoyingly he failed it for that and we had to quickly disconnect the permanent wires so that it would pass.  A couple of days later, I did some research to find out that the only permanent forward facing lights that could fail an MOT were red, blue or green.  Orange didn't count so the MOT tester was wrong.

I did look at an imported bike a few years ago that had three clear stickers similar to if you buy a coffee at your favourite clown sponsored fast food outlet on the 30, 50 and 70 positions.  Easily removable but did the job.

Sorry for going off tangent but it might be useful to some and an interesting anecdote [/Rowley Birkin]

1 minute ago, ambermarine said:

My car as 40k on the clock and is 21 years old this the engine is mint and the oil is changed every two years so you need to rethink your theory.

I'd also add that the ad does say it had a major Lexus survey at 49k.  Still too expensive though.

19 hours ago, The-Acre said:

It does look excellent but as it's pre-facelift I think the price is too high.  Also we should never consider the low mileage on these to be something that demands a premium. It would be interesting to see it in the flesh as photos taken inside under lights can be deceiving. Overall looks very nice though.  I see the black Celsior at the dealer where I bought mine has been reduced to £5,500.  Having seen it, it's absolutely beautiful, mint black paint with perfect chrome wheels.   I was very tempted myself when I saw it!

If the Celsior of which you speak was two grand less then I'd be asking for details.  Definitely too high a price for pre-facelift.

Don't know if this will help. Your car is about halfway down (look for EUDM)

specs:

These are the specs for the 1990 model and the spec looks exactly the same apart from the higher speed rating on the tyres.

I've also seen omayama recommended elsewhere on this site.  This is a Japanese site. Correct me if I've got the spelling wrong

7 hours ago, ISJason said:

Sensible Americans, eh !


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An oxymoron if ever I read one 😀

Sage advice. I live by the coast so it would only get worse.  I was thinking the suspension would push the total cost of buying over my limit - As someone who used to do a lot of budget work, I like to plan these things and I've even calculated overall running costs for a few years.  As I want an LPG powered car, it can sometimes work out cheaper to buy a bargain basement one (usually with less mileage) and convert it rather than some of the converted ones that cost a bit more.

This is the ad, and I'm wary of the 0 feedback as well

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lexus-Ls430-2005-LPG/113705952861?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

The hunt continues...

I've seen a facelift LS430 with LPG online and had a quick look at the MOT history and the advisories are below:

• Nearside Rear Lower Integral body structure or chassis corroded within 30cm of a mounting, but not seriously affecting overall security seal (6.2.2 (d) (i))
• Offside Rear Lower Integral body structure or chassis corroded within 30cm of a mounting, but not seriously affecting overall security seal (6.2.2 (d) (i))
• Diff slightly corrded
• Nearside Front Suspension arm corroded but not seriously weakened (5.3.3 (b) (i))
• Offside Front Suspension arm corroded but not seriously weakened (5.3.3 (b) (i))
• Offside Front Shock absorbers light misting of oil or has limited damping effect (5.3.2 (b))

Bearing in mind I haven't been to see what is corroded, could anyone suggest what might the cost to get the repairs done would be?

Is there more involved than just swapping the front shocks and arms? Would it be better to consider swapping air suspension to something else?

I'm wondering if it's a potential bargain or money pit

No it can't be transferred.  The DVLA have been sneaky with this one because if I sold my taxed car today, I've already paid the Tax for April.  The new owner would also have to pay tax for April (assuming he wants to drive it home/keep it on the road/hasn't got trade plates etc).  Personally, I find it easier to manage my finances paying monthly direct debit for the car tax.  That way, I'm not stiffed for MOT, TAX and Insurance all at the same time.  The little extra you pay is worth it to me.

edit: just read the rest of the thread.  What I said refers to the UK. I don't know about tax rules in Eire.

Maybe not in that colour. If I was a dictator of a small African or Balkan country, a Russian oligarch (or mafia lord) then I'd seriously consider it (not so much for a wedding car though).

Thankfully it's out of my price range and too rare for me to even consider it. I think it's a bit too long as well - it looks like it wants to be a funeral limo but the builders couldn't be a**ed to finish the job.

I saw this ad the other day and a bit of research LED me to find this nissan Q45

The listing doesn't give much away but the photos give a good idea of the spec.  It's also on eBay but not as many pics. The pics are a bit small but if you're a bit bleary eyed like me, you'll be pleased to know the button on the top right of each pic maximises it.  Don't know about the Cima but this looks very similar spec to the LS.

39 minutes ago, The-Acre said:

I can only think being a lorry driver pays good money!  My previous LS430 was owned by a lorry driver, bought from Lexus and maintained by them. He then bought an LS460 from Lexus Guildford with 35k on the clock.  I knew I should have got my HGV licence all those years ago!

It does. I work for a food production company and earned ~£50 for four hours work on New Year's Day this year.  The lorry drivers that were there and had to do a 40 mile journey once we'd loaded them up earned about £600 😮

Nice. I do like the Aristo but I'm much more of a luxobarge fan these days. I always thought that the Aristo was bit of a sleeper but there were so many that looked like they'd been driven through the bargain bin tat section of Halfords that it put me off.  Standard form (like yours) look nice and purposeful without being overstated.

14 hours ago, rock on said:

Any pics of named cars?

 

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I haven't bought them, they are the JDM Toyota equivalent names for the LS, GS & IS. The post is more of a generic question as I'm still looking.

The links are very useful though - or will be if I buy an import.

 

 

 

I'm not yet ready to buy but whilst browsing various cars, the thought occurred to me: If I buy a relatively newly imported car from the JDM, what do I do and what are the potential costs? I don't know the answers so maybe someone could cobble together a comprehensive list.

The questions that I've asked myself  - and some are dependant on what stage of import, are as follows:

Are there any financial costs involved, i.e. VAT, Import Tax etc?

I know that if it's not registered then you need some sort of record of import/certificate of conformity or whatever?

Speedo: Apart from maybe small 30, 50 & 70 stickers (I saw these on a motorbike once), are there any recommendations on how or where to convert them? Obviously, this will be geographic but I do realise that if you're handy with a screwdriver, you could post the instrument cluster somewhere.

Restrictions: IIRC, the JDM cars are restricted to 112MPH (180KmH?), well, those that go that fast anyway.  Same as above really, is it done by ECU, could any competent car-sparky do it or is it a bit more old-fashioned and mechanical?

Sat-Nav: Where fitted, would it be better to swap for a second-hand (or new) UK market version? Could you just put in a UK DVD? Can it just be re-programmed? I guess this could apply to older UK models as well that need updating.

Radio: I think JDM cars only go up to 90MHz which is good if like me, you can't stand Radio 1 but annoying if the area you are in broadcasts Radio 2 on 91FM. Personally, I'd also be looking to update to DAB anyway - 6 music is my station of choice these days.  Anyway, how do you change?

Anything else anyone that has gone through some of these processes can think of?

If you own a Celsior then I think you're allowed to be out of touch.

The LS looks to be about right. There are a couple on there for under 5k and the one on this auction was on autotrader last week for £4,700

https://www.hobbsparker.co.uk/car-auctions/auction-dates/catalogue/?departmentId=8&saleTypeId=5&auctionId=451547#gs.06pcq8

Useful knowledge, thank you

_{goes back yo celsior/LS430 browsing}

This is just out of my budget but I'm tempted nonetheless. Not sure I could justify the running costs though. I drive reasonably frugally so could potentially average 45mpg with LPG in a celsior or LS430. LS600h is potentially 35mpg.

I need to do some research into the actual returns people get for both. The mileage doesn't really put me off - although it justifies the asking price.

https://www.euronetmotors.co.uk/used-lexus-ls-leicester-leicestershire-1975499