Hey everyone,

I'm always nervous when I post these threads for fear of making mistakes in my video. Whenever we reach out to the enthusiast communities for the car we feature we run the risk of learning our mistakes after publishing, but I think we got everything right in this video thanks in part to this community, and other Lexus LS resources online. We took an 800km road trip back to my hometown to film a friend's 1999 Lexus LS 400 for my show TestDrive. We spent some time with the car to go over all the different features and controls on this vehicle, taking it for a drive to see how it performs on the road, being driven in it to see how it feels as a back-seat passenger, and finally go over a quick buyer's guide for potential buyers.

Lexus is only the third manufacture we've featured on the show where we've gone after older models. Unlike the communities around most of the older BMWs and Mercedes', we've found that ClubLexus is the most active and helpful, which is why we've put information about this forum in the video's we've done. I think the best way to keep a community like this active and growing is to get other's excited about it.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this week's episode of TestDrive Spotlight on this 1999 Lexus LS 400 and find it informative and accurate. We're working on another episode for Friday by comparing this with one of it's biggest rivals, so stay tuned for that! Also it gives me time to make any changes to that script should we have made any major errors with this video.

 

Nice review, thanks.

Couple of quick points.
1. This model was introduced with the VVT and exterior body changes in 1998 and continued through 2000.
2. The power steering pump can leak on top of the alternator, not the starter. The starter is another issue and when it goes out is a bear to replace as it's buried under the intake manifold.

Over all not a bad job. Many would have preferred a standard model without any aftermarket upgrades.

Thanks for sharing this. I'm sure others on the forum can share with you their favorite features of the car.

 

I agree with Legender, and this is a great owner daily driver,

 

Hey guys,

Owner checking in, appreciate the comments. The car is a daily driver, and allows me to put away my two summer toys on salty roads. Hence, I've performed a few "modernizing" upgrades to make it a bit more tolerable in the winter months.

-The reason for upgrading the stereo was to get Apple CarPlay/Android Auto connectivity, and I've maintained the Nakamichi amplifier and factory speakers, which still sound exceptional.

-Aftermarket wheels because it's on winter tires right now. The summer set is the 2001-2003 style LS 430 wheels.

-Exhaust has been straight piped from the axle back, but I have the original mufflers to ensure it can be reversed.

Everything else is 100% stock. I'm the editor for the aforementioned magazine in the post and we're trying to get it to 500,000km in a couple of years.

 

I do appreciate that, thanks! I apologize if our brief on the Series IV changes wasn't clear, but we didn't mention the 99 was the first year for the update, but rather the 99 is a facelift model and went over the changes. We didn't end up discussing the difference from a Series III since we didn't have any footage of that car.

We also realize our mistake with the starter motor, we read an thread on this forum that mentioned that and it had a quoted reply to confirm so we went with it. Sometimes the information we get isn't always 100%, but we do our best to make it as accurate as possible. We're looking forward to being able to feature more Lexus models like this as we grow. Thanks again!

 

No ding on the car Vantage007. Looks like it's in great shape and should easily take you to 300k. I'd also like some LS430 type wheels, but just got new tires, so not so much in the market at the moment. Truthfully, mine's not stock as I've done the LED upgrade on all the interior lights. If you've not done that, check it out. Makes a huge difference...well for us old guys it does. Enjoy the ride and keep the videos coming.

I'm pretty sure the facelift model changes were introduced on the 98. At one time I had a 98, 99 and 2000 in the driveway and you could not tell them apart except for the color.
Here's my 98.

 

I have the 430 wheels 17 inch on my 99

 

Another great video, would love to see a video of a W140 if you ever get the opportunity.

 

Interesting it has a top hinged gas pedal...I’ve never seen that on an LS before, all the ones I’ve ever seen are floor hinged pedals...

 

good observation. could be a Canada thing as the cars see a lot of snow and makes for cleaning the mats more easily?

 

This car has been our white whale since launching the show two years ago. No one has them, and the few we've talked to bail on the idea of having it featured. It's the #1 requested car for us and we've placed it at the #1 position on our requested vehicle list on our website. If the show was making 10x the revenue it was right now we could afford to buy one just to film an episode on it.

For now though, we'll have to settle for what we can get our hands on, and my 7 Series is always ready for a Showdown. We weren't able to film the LS 400 and 740iL together for this episode, but we put together a pretty comprehensive comparison between the two cars to see what's similar and different with these.


I think the LS 400 competed very well against the 740i (L in our case) and shows how committed Toyota was to their brand. We're publishing a special episode on a 1992 Acura Vigor on Monday, unfortunately our abilities to film that specific car are over, but we'd really love to find a similar-year ES 300 to film next to a Vigor, I think that would show just how serious Lexus was, because it makes Acura look like a joke.