The Million-Mile Lexus Finally Lives Up to Its Name
Over two decades and several drivers later, Matt Farah’s legendary 1996 LS400 hits the million-mile mark on the odometer.
Toyota and reliability go hand-in-hand like peanut butter and jelly. From the lowliest hatchbacks to the unkillable Hilux, the fine people at Toyota City deliver durability in spades. Thus, it should come as no surprise that Lexus boosts that reputation to the stratosphere.
And what better way to celebrate durable luxury than popping the cork in honor of the iconic Million-Mile Lexus living up to its name at last. Jalopnik says the 1996 LS400, owned by Matt Farah, hit 1 million miles this week.
“And on the twentieth day, of the second month, of the fourth year, the #millionmilelexus officially clocked a million miles,” wrote Farah on his Instagram February 20. Farah bought the LS400 back in 2014, which already collected over 897.000 miles on its digital odometer (now forever stuck on 999,999 miles; the trip odometer holds the one-millionth mile, per Farah). On a whim, Farah decided to see if he could get it to the 1-million-mile milestone.
“Driving a car from showroom new to 1 million miles in a (relatively) short period of time is a feat of driving,” wrote Farah in a reply to a comment about how he only drove the last 100,000 miles of his Million-Mile Lexus. “Starting with a car that has had 5 owners and 900k miles already on it is a different challenge entirely. As you pointed out, ‘I just drove a car 100k miles,’ is not that impressive. I, personally, didn’t even do most of the driving, because you know how long it would take to put 100k miles on my sixth car?”
Farah adds that the LS400 started off as “a car in a massive state of disrepair” when he bought it, which led to him spending nearly $17,000 to get the $1,500 Lexus in running order, plus $4,500 per year for a commercial insurance policy so others can help the car achieve its goal.
“I don’t need the kudos, but in this case, you should absolutely celebrate the car,” Farah says in the same reply, “because doing what it has done is way more impressive, mechanically speaking, than one person driving one car to a million. That’s the story here. Not that one guy put 100k miles on an old car.”
Here’s to the Million-Mile Lexus. May it see a million more.
