![]() ![]() According to, management tasked the quality control team that worked on the LS400 even with forming an anti-aging team that disassembled Toyotas that were five and six years old in order to detect signs of wear and tear, paying particular attention to corrosion, paint fade, the retention of moldings, and long-term NVH performance. Before work started on the LS400, Toyota president Eiji Toyoda sent out a brief to 4,000 of the company’s employees asking them to build the best car in the world. In fact, Carpages.ca points out that Farah’s Lexus “ hit the million mark without ever requiring significant repairs on the engine or transmission.”įor those who are wondering what made the LS400 so durable, the answer is research and development. At this age, most modern cars end up in junkyards, but not this behemoth. On the contrary, it already had 18 years of existence. But the 1996 Lexus LS400 that Farah bought in 2014 wasn’t a brand-new model that had just rolled off the assembly line. It wasn't a big surprise to anyone when auto journalist Matt Farah announced that his LS400 reached one million miles because everyone in the industry knows how reliable these vehicles are. Even this time, the negative was that the car “is a bore to drive.” Most consumers writing on Edmunds agree that this is the most reliable vehicle that they ever owned, and even minor mechanical issues are unheard of. And 94 percent of respondents gave the Lexus LS400 a 5.00 score, while 6 percent gave it a 4.0 score. The lowest rating on the website is a 4.4, but the owner’s only remotely negative comment is that the Lexus LS400 is “not exciting to drive and does not handle like a BMW,” but he points out that mechanic and dealership visits won’t come by “very often” because this is “a great car.”Įven the reviews on Edmunds present the same positive picture, with consumers rating the 1999 Lexus LS400 with a 4.9 out of 5.0. Even more outstanding is the score for reliability, which is a perfect 5.0. On, for example, the 1999 Lexus LS400 has an overall score of 4.9 out of 5.0. In fact, it is difficult to come across such positive evaluations as the Lexus LS400 has on multiple websites. Clean examples can still be had for under ten grand.”Īs a general observation, you'll see that there is an overwhelming agreement among owners that this is a fantastic vehicle. “Nowadays, low-mileage LSs (like, under 50,000 miles) have seen $25,000 sale prices –not quite where they were when new, but not far off. “ The sports and high-performance cars have largely been spoken for, and attention is now filtering down through the less-sporting models,” says Hemmings. In fact, Hemmings argues that this might become a collector car in the near future. Those who are considering buying a Lexus LS400 should know that this might be an excellent investment. ![]() Meanwhile, the control arm replacement is another $538 to $1,119 and replacing the knock sensor can cost between $696 and $805. The most expensive repair listed by Repair Pal is the exhaust muffler replacement, which will set you back $1,227 to $1,249. The annual maintenance cost is not at all excessive, considering that this is a car that debuted in 1989 and has more years of life than some Millennials. The first wave of the Japanese luxury invasion proved that frugality and forgiveness-mechanical in this case-were more important than history.According to Repair Pal, the annual maintenance cost of a Lexus LS400 is $435. Rampant downsizing chased the V-8 from the specifications sheet. ![]() Since the 400 represented a 4.0-liter V-8 on the original LS, you could reasonably assume 500 denotes a 5.0-liter engine you’d be wrong. They didn’t require much care and feeding. Lexus still builds its flagship with top-notch materials, but I’d argue the LS 500 feels more luxurious in 2019 than the LS400 did in 1989. The first Acuras, Infinitis, and Lexuses-especially Lexuses-had great and accommodating dealers, and the cars were not finicky or pricey like their German counterparts. And they exposed some important things about the people who buy luxury cars: By and large, they care a lot about their money, they care a lot about their time, and they care a lot about how they’re treated. There were differences of dynamic tonality among the three, but none had any real backstory, no significant competition trophies in their cases. JESSICA LYNN WALKERĪnd so set a pattern: Honda as Acura, Nissan as Infiniti, and Toyota as Lexus built reliable, refined, high-value cars to reshuffle the luxury-car deck. The first LS400 did what all watershed products do: force consumers to recalibrate their expectations and assumptions of an entire industry.
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