AleksLZCR

1997 Lexus Ls400 coach edition
97k - 102k miles
$6k and climbing put into it

Purchased this majestic road sofa almost exactly a year ago, and I am equally as sad to let her go as I was happy to bring her home.
I read the stories about the legendary reliability. They are true, engine and transmission shift smoother than new cars I've ridden in, despite being 24 years old.
I heard tales about the unparalleled comfort. They are true, roads that once hurt my spine felt freshly repaved.
The body is beautiful, the V8 eargasmically tuned, the interior of the utmost quality.
But this car is tired.
Seals are wearing dry
Suspension is breaking down
Electronics are fizzling out

When I first got this car, I knew nothing of the workings of an automobile. I had changed oil in my parents highlander once, and that's as far as I ever got.
Within the first month of owning it, I replaced all 4 rotors, brake pads, driver's side caliper, brake master cyl twice, vacuum brake booster and booster check valve.
Within the coming months, new suspension bushings, engine oil seals, spark plugs, filters, rotors, water pump, timing belt all needed to be addressed.
Just when I finally felt like I got a handle on it, no more power steering.
New rack, new pump, new tie rod ends, new alignment.
Another grand, and that'll be all

It was not so.

6 days after fixing the power steering, this car experienced the first heavy rainstorm I'd ever been in. Took a left turn a bit too hot, overcooked the steering angle, sent it sideways into a curb.
Every single passenger side suspension component bent or destroyed. Frame warped. Busted tie rod ends, leaking steering rack.
As I lay under the car contemplating a run to the junkyard to retrieve straight pieces, bumming obscenely long rides from friends, I noticed oil leaks, coolant leaks, transmission leaks, all beginning.
It was at this moment that I knew owning a car of this age, at my age, with no income, and no alternative, is not a plan for success.
In the words of RCR, Your first car is for making you money, not robbing you of it.
Although the nail in the coffin came by my own hands, it saved me from bleeding out over a longer period of time.
This car spent about a third of its time with me incapacitated in a driveway, waiting for parts, or waiting for a mechanic.
Although I enjoyed the time in it greatly, and the engine and transmission will outlast my grandkids for sure, mere metal and rubber cannot keep up with toyota engineering.

So the warning to buyers seeking this as their first and only car:
If you are going to school and rely on yourself for transportation
If you don't have an income or a very small one
If you like driving fast and throwing cars around turns
If you don't want to spend hours underneath your car or top fluids before every other drive
I strongly urge you to consider other options
I did a ton of work myself and still went bankrupt. I can only imagine the starter isn't long for this world either. Nor are my struts.
A $100 control arm is $500 for this car
A $100 power steering pump is the same
A power steering rack is almost impossible to find, and expensive if you can
These cars were not designed to be repaired cheap, and, to do it right, they aren't.

Yes, it is a better choice than an American or German car of this era, but its not the right choice.
Maybe I was just unlucky, but my car was low mileage, 1 grandpa owner, clean title, lived in the desert for its entire life, arguably the best condition LS you can get anymore
And this was my experience with such a car.

To close, I would like to extend my thanks to everyone on ClubLexus that gave me advice, I wouldn't have made it this long without you!
Hopefully one day I may return when I pick one of these up again to restore, but for now, it is goodbye.

Some pictures to send her off!

Second day after purchase, cleaned off the brake dust. It was so bad I didn't actually know the wheels were chrome

A nice looking car

Brakes finally work!

Right after I fixed the power steering, 6 days ago

deanshark

Sorry to see you go but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Ya need to know when to throw in the towel, on any car. I've been saying most of what you said for a while now. Everyone says how reliable these cars are, but, they're old now and need more then just regular maintenance to keep going. It all adds up to a hefty amount out of the wallet. (even doing the work yourself) Not good if it's your first car and in college with low, or no, income. Sure you can find one that's been maintained, or one with low miles, but after a few months of driving it you're gonna start to notice things that are wrong and need fixing. The engine and tranny are reliable but it's everything thing else that fails. Hope ya find yourself something nice and at least now you have more mechanical experience then ya did before.

relentLS

Yup, sounds like you got nailed with that one. $6k into your first car is definitely scary. That's approaching the cost of maintaining the BMW I owned. You know what though, you'll look back on it and be thankful for what you learned from the experience.

YODAONE

Sent you P.M.

400fanboy

It's very rare to own a car where you don't have to pay for one of three things:

Depreciation
Maintenance
Lease fees (which is just depreciation rolled into a monthly payment)

Generally speaking, the depreciation curve of a car roughly falls in line with the typical expected cost of keeping it maintained and functioning properly. This is why luxury cars depreciate like a pile of bricks thrown off a cliff. And at the end of the day, the typical average monthly cost of a 20 year old Toyota Corolla is gonna be a lot less than the LS400, as reliable as it may be. In the scheme of pure luxury cars and what it offers, it's very far into the cheap end of the spectrum, though when compared to "normal" economy cars it still seems fairly expensive.

I've put more than $6k into my car in the 3 years I've owned it. Cars don't drive forever without components needing be replaced, no matter how nice they are. I'm sorry to hear that the car had a ton of deferred maintenance that finally caught up with it. A lot of the stuff is luck of the draw for when it finally dies and needs replacing.

Hell, you can see the recent thread here about how someone had their motor throw a rod (!) recently.

Losiracer2

I'm sorry you had an unlucky experience for what seems like a gem of a car. But you know what they say, if a car isn't driven and sits, that's when things start breaking down where they might otherwise have been functioning as they should. I bought a 97, same color as yours, also an AZ car, but with 253k that saw regular trips from CA to AZ throughout its life, mostly highway and it didn't cause me much anguish aside from a torque converter lockup solenoid and a bushings in the front LCA, lower balljoints and a crank seal that ruptured very early on of owning it, to which I was going to do a timing belt anyway for maintenance.

Its best to have these cars with regular use and trips at least a couple times a week to keep fluids circulated, bushings and suspension components moving and flexing, and electronic motors and components energized and cycled to ensure that all functions work. The old retired guy I bought my 99' from bought a Tesla Model 3 so he did the right thing and immediately sold the LS instead of letting it sit.

I see it with that few miles, 24 years of age, this car likely sat for long periods of time, not being driven and ultimately what led to all those early failures, when typically you shouldn't see those at all, not until 200-300k of wear typically.

I applaud your respect of this platform at such a young age, when most people would go for Camaros or Mustangs and the undertaking you went through trying to get this car roadworthy, but it looks like you might have been a few years too late in its life in order to enjoy the many trouble free miles that a lot of other members have experienced with these cars.

YODAONE

Am curious what color interior on your Coach edition...

Stroock639

damn i'm sorry your experience with the LS wasn't better, although honestly it sounds like most of the real stuff starting going wrong after you crashed into that curb... you also got the car at that 100,000 mile period when it starts needing a bunch of work done

you seem to have come out of this a wiser person which is good lol... hopefully there can be another LS 400 in your future, maybe even a VVT-i engined model

Losiracer2

That is true, my 99' LS needed quite a lot of work from the 108k (Alternator) to 127k (starter, strut rod bushings, catalytic converters) mark luckily all done by the previous, wealthy owner.

deanshark

That's what ya need to look for at that age and mileage, "done by previous, wealthy owner"

SGallops

I've had my LS for 11 months now, I'm lucky enough that the lady before me had the entire suspension completely replaced 10k miles ago, and only put 180k miles on it in 25 years.
If you're willing to wait you can certainly find well maintained like new examples. That being said I'm 7k into this car for small things here and there.
-Engine/trans mounts
-PITA driver door handle
-2 Wheel bearings
-Impossible to find oil leak
-Chasing a problem in the wiring harness that ****ed up my headlights and fuel ratio
I keep telling myself "If I fix enough stuff it'll be a new car" (I am lying to myself)
The list goes on. My point here being even with a nice example of a car these are very much project dailys.
I'm sorry you didn't have a better experience though. At least you got to experience the beauty for a short time.