Malc

Wow, so mine at 8542 miles costing £3700 3 years ago ( 94 LS 400 ) was a snip ! Now done just short of 39000 miles and quite good looking to............ I should wash and polish it more often I guess. Thought mine might be worth about £2k max tho ! The 93 one, whilst a nice looking car is much overpriced BUT there we have it, where oh where would you find another one and how much was it new ????? Becoming a classic maybe and with many years of likely trouble free motoring ahead ( cambelt at 60k tho ! ). If I didn't have mine I would have bought it but would have hoped for a significant deal on the price. Great and classically beautiful car ..... one to drool over. Malc

Hi, brake pipes and lines are usually easy peasy for any competent general mechanic to achieve. The hardware is usually quite inexpensive and the bends are usually the norm, shaped according to the car's contours. They often look " rusty " but are mostly NOT. But it's good to catch them b4 they start to perish and leak anyway. Methinks a main Lexus dealer would charge two arms and legs to do them ...... anybody else would be " normal ". Anyone else a better view of this issue ? Best wishes. Malc

You must have a mighty big driveway to accommodate all us LS400 owners and a drink, wow, we'll have to stay over !! Sounds good tho', . Where are you in the UK by the way ? Malc

My old LS, a J plate 92 model with 189k miles and scrapes all over and needing a cambelt change and exhaust / flanges or whatever being noisy, I gave away in the end to a buddy who kept it together for his dad to run. Needed new tyres and rear bumper that someone kindly wrote their Micra off on Xmas 2007, and I couldn't part with it as a scrapper after 5 years of great motoring. I loved that car, dopey I know. But hey Ruud, yes my " silver " 94 LS windscreen is the same tint as the other glass. Malc

Ruud hi, I can't seem to reply to your pm message via this site !! strange. However, my silver LS is said to be " gold " but looks silver to me and my tinted glass looks to be grey ish / brown ish I think Malc sorry if I've upset the thread on this one .. apologies.

And you think the upgrade to a 430 would bring you more reliability ??? and less on-going costs ! If the cambelt was changed less than 100,000 miles / 10 years ago then it really doesn't need changing yet and the rest is probably just fair wear and tear that will cost you less than the cost of the upgrade. But there you are, deep in your heart you really know the answer already, and if you want to scrap the dear old lady and take on heavier maintenance and servicing costs and capital costs out of your pocket then, well, go ahead and sell her for a pittance to the breakers ! Watch her cry !!!! It will be sad. She should be good for at least another 150,000 miles yet. Malc

That's lucky then ........... good to know that not all MOT Testerts are too picky and that as expected, your LS will live on and long with little trouble ! Malc

Guess I'll be keeping mine forever then :winky: Just can't see me changing it as I only do 10,000 miles a year in the Lexus. BUT of course some unhappy event might take place that would write the old lady off and force me to buy another one. 8 years now driving a LS400 and there's nothing to compare so far as I'm concerned. And of course my " old " model has so, so little complex technology to go wrong compared to later models. Malc

Probably 10 years / 100,000 miles since the last change then would be OK. At 24 years then ! Beggars belief doesn't it. Mines only done 39,000 miles now and the cam belt was changed in 2004 at 3,100 miles !!( not by me tho' ) Malc

Banjo, hi; Guess your cambelt was probably changed because of the age rather than mileage covered then ? Good low mileage example too. Malc

Hi, I think that I mighht wait for an MOT advisory before getting them done. Malc

I guess one would have to declare the car as modified for insurance purposes then .......... wonder what they would say ! Malc

Thought ( new ) bonnet mascots in the UK might actually now be banned in view of road safety when a pedestrian jumps out and hits the bonnet. Worth checking maybe !! ? ! Malc

Hi, welcome to LOC Chris Vince on here does the aircon /temp readout / clock ( lights gone ) on your car BUT he's off the M3. Is this anywhere near to you ? If you wanted his email / phone no. let me know. Malc

Just sit back and enjoy ( comparative ) trouble free motoring then for at least the next 10 years ............. I hope to ! and maybe more. Malc

Sounds like a crappy service to me ! These cars are just about bullet proof. I've been driving the LS 400 for 8 years or so as my main car ( second LS now ) and have done about 100,000 effortless miles in that time. Few service costs but ZERO grief. Suggest you get someone competent to give it another look. Malc

Hi, not heavy footed and about town I achieve early 20's mpg and on a good run, fully loaded and averaging 75mph it achieves 30 mpg on a good day. Heavy footed and it seems as though I'm pumping the fuel straight out of the tank ! Malc

Sounds as if the price might have been OK then really ............... must have a huge mileage on the clock if they have gone already ........ can they be simply re-conditioned by someone somewhere ? Just Google searched and Bilstein shockers can be reconditioned at £80 a corner for a Subaru where the price for replacements seems to be £1600 too. phone number is 01455 283407 .......... maybe not a bad starting point ! Good luck Malc

Hey, I think that if you bought the car from any sort of car dealer or trader at retail price or close then you would have an automatic right at law to get them to fix it for free IF it's a problem and would be an MOT failure. Trading Standards should help you if the dealer won't voluntarily ! If not then what about re-conditioning them with a specialist. ! Malc

I had a 92 J reg plate one before and spent 6 months at least trying to find the one I now have. I guess once one has a LS400 there's nothing like it to want to replace it with. I went for the lowest mileage example I could find and amazingly .................. found it. Malc

Looks exactly like mine ...... only clean !!! So there we have it .......... . depreciation of £666 per annum ( £55 a month ) for a golden oldie. Can't be worth much less than £1700 can it ? surely !!! My expenses to date have been getting Vince ( on here ) to re-solder the dash so it lights up ok and a new battery. 4 new tyres and brake pads back and front and an oil and oil filter. It came with original and just about perished tyres. Oh, and about a zillion pounds in fuel !! Coming up are a further 2 tyres and another oil change. Absolutely fantastic motoring for no money methinks ! Malc

Well done. Mine's now done 38230 on an " M " plate and I bought it December 2007 at 8542 miles. How much did u pay ? Mine cost me £3700 3 years ago now. Malc

And ur Comprehensive cover includes windscreen which having just claimed for mine and the cost looked like @£600+ makes it expensive TPFT. So I will continue with Fully Comprehensive BUT I've just had my renewal and the premium looks to have rocketed by some 50 % this year. Sam at the NFU is away today but I'll tackle her Monday beforer I go hunting for quotes. I see someone mentioned the Co-Op CIS. I insured with them with my first car in the late '60s .. Am I that old !!!! Malc

Hi, I use the NFU for all my car insurances .......... Sam at Market Drayton Cambs NFU. I now insure 4 cars with the NFU and I thought the NCB extended to ALL cars. Malc

Hi and welcome. Good to see new members arriving ...... with old cars too especially. Don't know about " new " stuff BUT Benfur / maurice on here breaks LS400s Malc