Stroock639

thanks for sharing!! i love bits of LS history like this

Yamae

In the article, the editor is referring to the Mercedes S-class as below.
The 1990 Lexus LS400 looked almost like an S-class, drove almost like an S-class, and was quieter than an S-class.
I must agree it since I drive both a S500 and a Celsior and I can compare them myself. As I posted my experience to the BenzWorld forum below, my S500 requires me big maintenance cost. On the other hand, my Celsior is quite trouble free.
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/5917390-post4.html

CELSI0R

You're welcome. I'm glad timmy0tool brought this to our attention

I think you are right in your forum post when you stated that your W140 looks like it must be a 1995 with the biodegradable wiring harness problem. It's a shame that Mercedes-Benz did that to their cars.. It's almost as if they planned for their cars to become obsolete.

I find it funny that you used Yazaki's wires for Toyota cars to fix the problem.

Amskeptic

I have a 1978 W116 450SEL with a chain drive dual overhead cam V8. It actually is my favorite driver's car by a margin. It was the last of the hand-built Mercedes, In the 23 years that I have owned it, the only repair has been one ignition resistor. It feels sacrilegious the way I have neglected that lion of a car. The brilliance of the engineering is second to none. Steering feedback is informative, brake application has perfect modulation, the fully hydraulic transmission is spookily prescient, and the Becker Mexico radio is pure garbage. The rate of cornering force was matched to steering inputs, the rate of deceleration was matched to a rising effort in the brake pedal, even the accelerator linkage was designed to offer a variable rate of opening to match the torque/hp curve. I love driving that car. I will never buy another Mercedes.
Colin

creilly

Hahaha I had a good laugh at that one. These old Mercedes of that era surely seem to have earned their reputation as the world standard of the time, though I've never owned or driven one. I have to say they've pretty much always nailed the look on the S-classes too. That said I think even the most hardened S-class buffs would have to admit the S-class would not have been able to continue its dominance today without the challenge that came from the first LS400s. We could debate which 90s luxury flagship was better for ages but I think it'd be hard to argue the LS wasn't significant to the S-class history as well.

Amskeptic

Hands down, I have to give it to Toyota for one overarching reason.
***** To The Wall Effort To Be The Best and they failed in so many ways but quality and craftsmanship.
I owned a madeira/saddle 500SEL out in LA briefly, and it was *nothing* like my W116. I sold it after a few months. It had gone stupid and arrogant. And I have not looked back. Same with BMW. Same with EVERYTHING. Everything evolves past its point of competence and just endlessly suffers more and more bloat and idiocy. Even Lexus expanded right out of the envelope and now is plagued with quality issues across an overly broad model line-up, and the dash on the latest LS is just all frou-frou swoopie, nobody even asks for simple effective any more. Yeah, it accelerates quicker! Oh wow! Where are we going? To the store? Just like last century, on the same roads as last century? The LS400 is plain ol' totally Good Enough, thank-you.
Colin