JellyBean

It's all personal and subjective, I know. And things go in fashions, which is why most new cars look like either the BMW 1 series (which if any other manufacturer had launched would have been laughed at) or the Megane/Astra/Leon/new Focus. I've always thought that when Toyota were developing the LS they should have paid a bit more attention to its looks, because it's not a pretty car, but at least it isn't pig-ugly.

Absolutely agree with all of this! Whilst bearing in mind that one man's meat is another man's poisson, I reckon a BMW X1 is of such laughable ugliness that it should be forced to drive around behind a veil. On the other hand I love the current 6-series. It's all so subjective, init?

I never thought my MkIII Ls 400 was beautiful from the front, being more dated than ugly; but the side view of the rear pillar is a visual treat. If only I could upload a piccy I took a while ago...

I want an ...ls430 as they are stunning inside...?

I absolutely agree - far nicer than a 400, particularly the Mks 1,2 & 3. Am I alone if I say I also prefer the interior of the LS430 to that of the 460?

Mind, the exterior of the Mk1 LS430 is another matter. Ahem.

No one has ever been able to identify the source of the problem or cure it and it still does it.

My wife's former car was a Golf, bought new. And she ran it to over 100,000 miles. Throughout this time it pulled to the left - despite all manner of attempts to find cause and cure it. Very strange.

I do not believe tracking maladjustment will make a car pull one way or the other, BTW.

The saga continues. I'll update you tomorrow night when hopefully I will have 12 1/2 months MOT.

Mike

I do hope you get your 12½ month Peace Of Mind ticket.

Funny thing occurred to me reading these recent posts for MOTs on our LS400s. It is in some ways more of a worry now that these cars are worth so little, for if a large sum of money were needed to pass, it may be more than the car is worth and so one has the dilemma of whether to scrap or carry on. This is not a debate if you run a 430 or even a 460!

Slow down? Only if you're NOT in a Citroen DS/CX.....whose suspension sails over them quite perfectly! I'm often tempted to go back to them. (wonder how an XM does.......)

Could it be a coincidence that "Chris Skelton" contains the word "Citroen"?

My 400 slid around like a looney and coming too fast into a roundabout or corner in the wet would always put you into a rear wheel slide and if you wern't quick it could be very unforgiving. This happened to me and it finally got the better of me...

I think there's a interesting clue in the word 'finally'.

If front wheel drive is so marvellous, how come all racing cars and all the premium high-performance sports cars are either rear or four-wheel drive? When the Sierra Cosworth kept walking away with the Touring Car Championship, being RWD versus all the FWDs, they had to make them carry ballast to make them slower.

Rear wheel drive is for Real Men!

Yea, yea, on the track it's all good. We're not on the track. Right? Get it? Good!

Well I think I am on the right track about RWD !

If Macleans doesn't work, the normal procedure is to degrease the relevant surfaces and then force the tapers together with a lever - and then tighten. You may need an extra pair of hands, of course.

When one of mine went, the gasket was £5 and I was charged an hour's labour at a Lexus specialist (but not Lexus themselves). Thus bill was c.£50, I think.

If front wheel drive is so marvellous, how come all racing cars and all the premium high-performance sports cars are either rear or four-wheel drive? When the Sierra Cosworth kept walking away with the Touring Car Championship, being RWD versus all the FWDs, they had to make them carry ballast to make them slower.

Rear wheel drive is for Real Men!

... the car is 2.5 tons ...

Steady now: more like 1.8 tonnes.

I used to be a mechanic (Jaguar, mainly) and I am certain that the cambelt on your new car @ 50k miles will be as good as new.

Postpone its replacement for another two years' motoring and save your money, Squire.

Meanwhile, enjoy your new toy and I bet you smiled a lot on the journey home.

Before you buy it, here is a dire warning:

You will love it to bits, find that in the long term it is no more expensive to run than a many a new and smaller car, and will more likely than not find you won't want to run anything else.

I bought mine just to run for a twelvemonth, so I could get the feel of owning a luxury car out of my system before I rejoined the tin box brigade. That was over six years ago...

Look, I love it so much that I am currently in the process of widening my garage at vast cost in time and dosh (anyone want a dirt cheap r/c roller door, 4.8m wide?). This is so it will fit in again without a squeeze now that Her Ladyship has a large estate car.

Does one get that reg no. as well?

Although not a fan of personalised plates, it is a good one and would have been even better if it had started with a 'K'.

There are two things that are good about getting older (but not infirm):

1) Something I cannot mention here

2) Cheaper car insurance

I currently pay £185, of which the optional Motor Legal Protection accounts for £26. I am with Direct Line and this is fully comp for a Mk III LS400, 1996.

The trick is to decline the No Claims Discount Protection which many people now realize is a bit of a fiddle.

I have a mk4 and have fallen in love in a matter of weeks. Don't let some of the worst case scenario stories put you off too much. Some of it is outdated information. Replacement HiD bulbs can be had for under £30 now, I even bought an entire headlight to replace a cracked one, HiD Mk4 unit, £40 delivered.

Mine has 210k miles on the clock, still drives great, out handled a Leon on dual carriageway islands last night, not using the power, just taking the outside line smoothly while he tried to cut up on the inside line, squealing and understeering. Two roundabouts close together, not speeding at all, I came out of the second 8 lengths ahead, he pulled in well behind me and dropped to the legal limit after that. The lads from the club took a look over her last night too, we tried the pound coin balanced on the engine trick, it didnt move at all, even at 4000rpm, took two short sharp rev's to 3k to make it roll off.

The engine is so quiet and refined that you have to lift the bonnet to hear it running. The last MOT emmisions results were so good they beat our 25k mile Rover 25 1.4 all were under 10% of acceptable level, mixture was 0.999 with a target of 1.000

You could say I am rather impressed by these cars.

Interesting. Perhaps a good mantra for us all could be "If you're not seriously wealthy and you like the idea of wafting about in a luxury car, then buy the most reliable one".

For your budget, you can get a very good Mk3. Lexus made a whole raft of improvements to the suspension for the Mk3 and it therefore has rather better handling than the previous two iterations of the LS.

Mister Chris Skel(e)ton has a very good Car/Setright article about this.

Of course, if you had £2500, you could get a very nice MkIV... etc, etc...

Today, over the phone, I was quoted £100 to change the brake fluid (Lexus Newcastle). They use a machine linked to computer and a special tool to bleed ABS pump at my risk in case of seal problems etc. They take a sample from master cylinder and boil it. I may go over and let them see the car before making a decision. They serviced the car for 6yrs for a previous owner before I bought it.

One hundred smackers for Peace Of Mind seems well worth it. Provided, mind, that they don't decide that a further £3bn needs to be spent.

Hi

Like most older cars the front seat belts don't retract fully on the old girl. After her bath time, I got round to doing something I've been threatening to do for a while; I tried a possible solution and it worked! :D

Pulled out the belt and sprayed it and the clasp and mouting with silicon spray. Marvelous. Job done.

Great tip now where is that can of silicone spray.

I cannot be certain that my trouble & strife will welcome silicon spray on her clothing.

Hi All Lexus Lovers

A few days ago I received an email from Steve to say that my name/membership number had been drawn at random to win

a set of car mats for my '98 LS400. I never win anything. I followed Steve's instructions and 'phoned Josh at simplycarmats.co.uk

and placed my order - beige mats with beige trim. They arrived yesterday and they are great - top quality. Many thanks to Steve, the LOC and to

simplycarmats. It shows that it is worth being a member of the LOC.

Tony

You jammy *******! The most expensive replacement item (tyres aside) in over six years on my '98 LS, has been a set of mats.

Well done that man!

This apparent discrepancy in the fuel consumptions has come about because the governmental testing method changed. This topic comes up over & over.

ALL LS MODELS - 400s and 430s (and probably even 460s!) have broadly similar fuel consumptions.

In my Lexus "Official Fuel Economy Information" leaflet, dated March 1996, the figures for the LS400 Mk3 are as follows (mpg):

93/116/EEC

Urban 16.1

Extra-urban 28.2

Combined 22.1

80/1268/EEC

Urban 20.3

Steady 56mph 36.2

Steady 75mph 29.7

Hark at the bean - as Skellington might say.

I once put ludicrously cheap front pads on my Opel Monza and it would brake fade as badly as a drum-braked Jaguar I once owned. It was scary.

I think the pads were made from banana skins.

A 1996 LS400 would have set you back £55000

Actually £46k

There I was, fantasising about my next LS, when I inadvertently clicked Price High to Low on the Lexus website. The most expensive LS came up, for sale in Milton Keynes. What have they done to the LS?!? Does the design team need to go to Specsavers?

Is there a possiblity that if you remove the wood trim above the selector, that might give it a bit more room to move?