mrdoofa

I have to say I’m so happy with it. I’ve had time to look through the comprehensive service history today and you can tell how well looked after it has been. All the service invoices are present inside their wallets from Lexus, all old MOTs are there too along with a full bookpack. Phil changed the radiator so no worries there. A real pleasure to meet you and your wife Phil, I’m sure the car will give me much pleasure. I’ll take good care of it. It’s a great car, I think I’ll be keeping it for a bit though!!!

That’ll be the car the private plate is on now I think!!!

Travelled down to Phil’s yesterday and bought his LS430. Superb car, drove it home 280 miles and it felt like nothing!!! Unbelievable condition throughout. Really pleased with it. Here’s a pic of it on my driveway, there will be more to come.

For some reason they all show up as CVT, only the GS450h has CVT, both the 300 and 430 have a traditional auto gearbox. I do like the 450h and the hybrid system is brilliant but extremely complicated and if it goes wrong it gets very expensive very quickly!!! I have had a mk2 GS430 and that was a stonking car, I think a nice mk3 GS430 would be a great car too, hardly any slower than the hybrid but without the same worries and won’t cost any more to run than the LS430. Here’s one on autotrader which looks good. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201801012372756?model=GS 430&make=LEXUS&sort=sponsored&radius=1501&advertising-location=at_cars&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=New&postcode=ls211dg&page=1

I had a GS450h briefly last year, the performance is absolutely phenomenal and with the CVT transmission acceleration is relentless and seamless never failing to make me grin from ear to ear. I averaged about 30mpg day to day and around 40mpg on a run, it was a short lived experience however as the hybrid system went kaput after 2 months, fortunately the dealer took the car back and gave me a full refund. I’d say if I was looking to buy another hybrid and if it’s getting on for 100k miles or more I’d want the system fully health checked by Lexus and the certificate to prove it, that seems to be when they start to get problems according to what I’ve read on various forums and my own experience. Ultimately it’s a rechargeable battery pack and all rechargeable batteries have a finite life and will lose capacity over time and will eventually fail. The power inverter can also be troublesome and is expensive. The engine is chain driven and the chain can sometimes rattle. Watch out for leaky shock absorbers too, these are incredibly expensive and a dealer only part AFAIK. There does seem to be an above average amount of reliability problems with the hybrids when compared with other Lexus models so be careful!!! I’ll see you on Wednesday Phil when I buy your LS430!!!

I don’t think I will be needing the appointment Phil!!! I have a very good feeling about this car, Wednesday can’t come soon enough.

My nephew bought the Cadillac STS last Saturday, really nice car and he’s really pleased with it, no sign of any head gasket issues but we’ll keep an eye on everything. The best bit is the engine and the sound it makes, you’ll never get tired of that sound!!! I’m going on a 5 hour train ride to Phils on Wednesday to see his LS430 which I’m 99.9% certain I’ll be buying. It looks like an absolutely superb example and I can’t wait until Wednesday and to get back into Lexus ownership.

Mike is right, avoid lexuschap or whatever name he goes by these days like the plague. Very dodgy!!!

I just love how effortless and smooth these cars are to drive, it’s so good knowing how much muscle you have under your right foot, it’s great fun teaching the boy racers a lesson sometimes!!!

On my mk4 LS400 I used to have it cost me £450 for belt, waterpump, tensioner and coolant change at the local Indy I use.

I’m hoping to go and look at Phil’s LS430 very soon, it looks really good!!! I am still open to mk4 LS400s though. Ive heard about the North Star head gasket issues, my nephew really likes it but he prefers me to give cars the once over, it’s a well looked after example and according to the garage who’ve serviced it since 1998 there’s been no head gasket or other major issues, I’ll see when I get there anyway!!! Wish us luck!!!

It’s gone slightly off what I started it with lol!!! I’m going to look at a 1998 Cadillac Seville STS for my nephew today, it’s got the North Star 4.6 V8.

At £6,995 it is massively overpriced, no LS400 is worth that these days even as nice as this one seemingly is. £2,500-£3,000 at the very top end.

Merry Christmas to everybody and a happy new year. I’d like to thank all members for their help, advice and banter over the last year, it is appreciated. I will hopefully be back in an LS very soon!!! Have a good one guys!!!

I could be wrong with this but give it a try. If you go into the climate touch screen display and set the rear climate to manual instead of auto you might be able to adjust the temperatures independent of each other, in the front you can have it set so the driver has control of both sides by pressing the dual button. It should be possible to operate all 3 zones independently of each other.

The main issue to me is even if you change the radiator, how do you know the damage isn’t already done? If it’s already been done how easy is it to tell? Are there any telltale signs by looking at the fluids?

Hugely overpriced but nice otherwise.

This is the problem, the LS400 does seem that bit better made and less problem prone but I do prefer the more modern feel of the LS430 and I’m a bit of a sucker for the extra gadgets!!! How expensive is it to have a new radiator fitted? How do you know the damage isn’t already done, in other words you haven’t closed the barn door after the horse has bolted? There is one I was looking at that the seller claimed that the radiator had been done but no proof of it, Is it easy to tell if it’s already been done by just looking at it? How do you check for contaminated coolant/gearbox oil? If the worst did happen and lightning did strike twice and the gearbox failed again, how much roughly would it cost to replace with either a new or reconditioned box? Thanks again to you all for your continued help and advice, it is appreciated!!!

It suffered complete gearbox failure which effectively wrote the car off, I think it was caused by water from the radiator getting into the gearbox hence I’ve been asking so much if there is a way to check for this problem. I’m glad I didn’t put a deposit on it now or go and view it urgently. I would never buy a car like an LS430 without at least good or full service history, also with the faults you mentioned and complete lack of any service history the asking price is too high despite the relatively low mileage although I’d rather have a higher mileage car with proof of proper maintenance than a low mileage one without.

Been in touch with the dealer, the electric steering adjust works!!! Had same owner for 10 years who did about 4,000 miles per year, cambelt done at 63,000 miles BUT all the service records have been lost, apparently the previous owner had his local garage do all servicing etc but even they have no record because they don’t keep a computerised database so the dealer said it’s difficult to find any record of service history for the car. That has cast a new light on things as I don’t think I’d be happy taking one of these on without any service history especially at the asking price. What are your thoughts?

I’ll give the dealer a ring as it doesn’t state what service history etc the car has and I want to know everything works before I view it or leave a deposit as they are usually none refundable, I’ve got to stay in today waiting for a parcel delivery for Christmas!!! I was ideally looking for a facelift one but would have an absolutely cracking prefacelift one!!! I’m just being ultra careful after my last LS430 went disastrously wrong!!!

It looks like that mk4 LS400 has sold, I have found another prefacelift LS430 however, 75,000 miles, says it’s immaculate. It’s about 100 miles away so I don’t think I’ll get to it this side of Christmas now, here’s the link. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201712152075341?onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=New&sort=sponsored&model=LS 430&postcode=ls211dg&advertising-location=at_cars&make=LEXUS&radius=1501&page=1

It’s still a bit pricey for an LS400 even though it does look in very good condition. It might come down further yet or the dealer maybe open to an offer. It’s not far away so might go and have a look at it this week. Id still really like an LS430 but I am still concerned about the potential problems with them!!! There is far less to go wrong with the LS400. Hmmm, decisions, decisions.

No I didn’t, is that an easy job to do? Just spotted this nice looking mk4 LS400 on autotrader, is £3,000 too much for it though? https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201710240600566?model=LS 400&sort=sponsored&advertising-location=at_cars&radius=1501&make=LEXUS&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=New&postcode=ls211dg&page=1

On my last LS430 which was a 2002 model the heated and cooled seats were virtually useless!!! They may have just not been good on that particular car.