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Hello everyone, as of yesterday I am the proud third owner of a white & silver 1996 LS 400 with a little over 175,000 miles that I got from a reputable family owned dealership at a bargain price of $3300. The previous owner had it for almost 18 years, put around 5,000 miles per year on the car, and kept up with the maintenance and repairs. Outside of normal wear and tear, it still looks and drives amazing and not just amazing for its age. I would say like new but I have no idea what driving a new Lexus is like. After thoroughly inspecting my LS, the only problems are that there's a light telling me one of my rear lights is even though they are all working perfectly and my brake pedal is just a tad bit loose. I found myself pursuing the relentless pursuit of perfection after a nightmare with my Passat W8. After experiencing unreliability at its worst, I needed to have reliability at it's best. When my brother bought his '95 SC 400, I looked up Lexus and came across the "Million Mile Lexus" which just so happened to be the LS that I kept hearing nothing but great things about and told myself that I would get one eventually. So, after much research and searching through thousands of cars, here I am with one that I am very happy to have. I'm looking forward to coming on here as often as I can and learning as much as I can on how to care for my LS and keep it on the road for years to come.
Hello everyone, as of yesterday I am the proud third owner of a white & silver 1996 LS 400 with a little over 175,000 miles that I got from a reputable family owned dealership at a bargain price of $3300. The previous owner had it for almost 18 years, put around 5,000 miles per year on the car, and kept up with the maintenance and repairs. Outside of normal wear and tear, it still looks and drives amazing and not just amazing for its age. I would say like new but I have no idea what driving a new Lexus is like. After thoroughly inspecting my LS, the only problems are that there's a light telling me one of my rear lights is even though they are all working perfectly and my brake pedal is just a tad bit loose. I found myself pursuing the relentless pursuit of perfection after a nightmare with my Passat W8. After experiencing unreliability at its worst, I needed to have reliability at it's best. When my brother bought his '95 SC 400, I looked up Lexus and came across the "Million Mile Lexus" which just so happened to be the LS that I kept hearing nothing but great things about and told myself that I would get one eventually. So, after much research and searching through thousands of cars, here I am with one that I am very happy to have. I'm looking forward to coming on here as often as I can and learning as much as I can on how to care for my LS and keep it on the road for years to come.
Dam that car looks nice. Lether looks like it is in good condition. Congratulations
W8's are awesome! I'm a VW man. What sort of issues did you have?
Awesome! To make a long story short, I loved every second with my W8 but it had a lot of drama that came with it and I had to let it go because the gas tank started leaking ($2800 repair with $1500 in parts) even though it was "fixed" under recall. It sat for a month while I battled VW over re-opening the recall and while it sat the alternator started to go (another $1500) on top of a few other small but costly repairs it needed.
VW refused to fix it and I couldn't find a trustworthy mechanic to work on it (let alone one who had even heard of a W8). So, I sold because I didn't want to spend a ton on getting it fixed only to get a phone call telling me they screwed up and now I need a new engine, which isn't an uncommon occurrence.
I'm glad I sold my W8 because there's no point in having a fun collectible car that you can't drive without worrying you're going to catch on fire or some other mechanical break down out of the blue. Yet, I miss it all the time. Mine was the only U.S. specified version (that I know of) to be brought back to Germany and raced on the Nurburgring.
Moving on to Lexus... welcome to the club and congrats on a very nice find. Looks like your search paid off. I hope it can give your years of trouble free service, as these cars do have that reputation.
Finding on with great maintenance history is a huge bonus.
Enjoy the new ride and the.
From the pics it looks like you're missing the floor mats and it appears they moved the rear mats to the front.
Hello everyone, as of yesterday I am the proud third owner of a white & silver 1996 LS 400 with a little over 175,000 miles that I got from a reputable family owned dealership at a bargain price of $3300. The previous owner had it for almost 18 years, put around 5,000 miles per year on the car, and kept up with the maintenance and repairs. Outside of normal wear and tear, it still looks and drives amazing and not just amazing for its age. I would say like new but I have no idea what driving a new Lexus is like. After thoroughly inspecting my LS, the only problems are that there's a light telling me one of my rear lights is even though they are all working perfectly and my brake pedal is just a tad bit loose. I found myself pursuing the relentless pursuit of perfection after a nightmare with my Passat W8. After experiencing unreliability at its worst, I needed to have reliability at it's best. When my brother bought his '95 SC 400, I looked up Lexus and came across the "Million Mile Lexus" which just so happened to be the LS that I kept hearing nothing but great things about and told myself that I would get one eventually. So, after much research and searching through thousands of cars, here I am with one that I am very happy to have. I'm looking forward to coming on here as often as I can and learning as much as I can on how to care for my LS and keep it on the road for years to come.
Thanks everyone and good luck to you too GrubLife! You're right, I did forget about the missing floor mats.
Today I started studying the owner's manual. I was pleasantly surprised to find the original sales sticker, sales and service consultant cards, etc. Also, I noticed I have a smiley face on my radio. I don't know if the radios typically come this way or but I think it's a nice touch.
Looks good, but not what I call a bargain price for miles.
For a 21 year old car with a lot of miles I don't really consider it a true bargain but in my area one of these typically goes for around $5-$6k with 200 something thousand miles on it.
yea, not a bargain by any means but not a ripoff either. That's a DECENT price from a dealer but pretty high if it were buy-owner. The interior seems to be in pretty good shape though so there is definite value added in that. I see at least one missing seat bolt cover on the right rear bolt on the drivers seat. The drivers seatbelt appears to be weak to retract (very common). Is the carpet pulled away from the floor vent on the side of the center console? The plastic is broken off the trunk release switch (also very common.) Other than that is looks really clean.
What is the integrity of the first aid kit in the drivers seat bottom and the tool kit in the right side of the trunk? Anything missing?
That's a decent price for that shape. Hard to find in the south with clean interiors like that.
That smile face is an after market accessory, but nice touch.
Don't sweat over the small stuff. It won't be perfect due to it's age, but has every opportunity to be perfect for you.
With continued proper care it can give you miles and miles of smiles.
02-12-17 | 09:35 PM
Just bought a 1996 LS 400
