UGKkllr

Well my search for a black on black or silver on black 04+ UL is not goin so well after 2 months so far. So Im startin to consider other colors and earlier years (01-03).

I found a white on tan 01 with 71k miles for 20 grand (over priced) at a dealership about 15 miles away. So I went and test drove it . I loved everything bout how it drove and handled except for the fact that the throttle response seemed very weak. By far the slowest v8 I have ever driven or riden in. My 1998 gs400 would walk that car like a 3 legged dog. Not that Im buying an ls430 to go fast but I want power on tap when I need to merge onto the highway or pass someone.

So whats the deal, are they all that slow ? I thought the 0-60 was around 5.9 on these cars, this one felt like a 7.5 0-60 kinda car. Or is just the air suspension and everything else adds so much weight that its way way slower then a non ultra luxury ?

I had someone from supraforums go and test drive a black on black 38k mile '04 UL at Texas Direct Auto this past week. He said it was as slow as his old ls400 and I wasnt so sure bout that. Please tell me he and I just test drove a very slow example. I have to say Im dissapointed with my first UL driving experience. The ride quality was superb, handling was good but I need something that gets up and goes when I need it to. I cant imagine how slow it would have been with 4 people in the car, yikes

sojah

iTrader: (1)

mines pretty torquey (how do you spell this word??? whatever) off the line. i would say disconnect the negative battery terminal for like 30+ minutes to have it reset the ecu or whatever which usually makes it stock quick off the line afterwards. maybe it was just owned by an elderly person for a few years and hasn't been reset in a while.

i had a slightly modded gs400 before, intake + ecu (remapping), full catback exhaust and high flow cc's. so it had some get up and go but not enough back pressure to get it to jump off the line as fast as i wanted and i almost think from 0-25 that my 05ls430UL is faster. but not a chance from 25-100 for my ls430. prolly at least a second slower in the 1/4 mile between my gs400 and my ls430 (stock performance).

check up at autolenders up in NJ via www.autotrader.com by putting in 'ultra' or 'air suspension' in the advanced search options for a ls430 blah blah blah within like 300 or 500 miles distance. they are out there, or at least they were out there last month when i looked.

Nauticalx

I dunno about the 04+ but I do know that the 01-03 trannies are VERY slow to catch-onto a slamming on the pedal. Something about Lexus wanting this car to be a smooth and silky ride caused them to deaden the response to sudden slams...

hoonunya

I don't have a UL but my custom luxury '05 LS430 is MUCH faster than my LS400.

AlexusAnja

I'm blasting warp factor 6.0 and easily past 8.0 merging into traffic effortlessly in my '04. Some times I feel bad for those dogs in the right lane who don't want people to merge so they speed up, but I just blast past them anyway. Never could do that with any other car (except my Integra).

Tee

Put the LS430 in PWR ETC mode and the V8 comes alive!

gs4bkny

well honestly my 04 ls430 ul takes off like a beast! IMO its more powerfull and torquey then my 00gs400. When i put it in manual mode (which i don't suggest) its like a raving monster out of first to second to third. The handling is not as good as my gs4 which prompts me to take it easier but that is to be expected. I would test drive an 04 and up. I think you would get a far better reaction than you did with that 01. Also take into consideration that, that particular car is 8 years old and you do not know how it was previously maintained!

UGKkllr

well it was a near immaculate 1 owner car that was obviously very well cared for. And like I said it was like a sloth on 4 wheels. I wonder if resetting the ecu would actually have any affect on it. As far as 04+ being any faster, I highly doubt that sin ce they have the same engine specs. Plus as far as I know for 01-06, they were rated the same for 0-60 and 0-100 times. Seems like Im gettin mixed feedback here tho. Some of you agree yours is slow and others claim its qwik. I guess I need to test drive more and see how they compare. What would really suck is finding "the car" and havin it be one of the "slow ones". Hopefully I'll get lucky when I find my car and get one that hauls azz.

jeffreyma

eh man just tough it out, wait and you'll get what you want, thats what i did and i got my black/black.

sojah

iTrader: (1)

i have read lots of stuff that the 01-03 had transmission issues and the 04-06 has an extra gear so maybe it geared a little lower which would possibly help out?? try an 04-06 and then you can compare the 2 that way to see if that was the problem.

El Toro

I know the 04 - 06 models have an extra gear, but the engine specs are the same as the 01-03 models. With that being said, I have not read anything that gives faster 0-60 times for the 01-03. The fastest I have seen for the 01-03 is 6.3 and the fastest I have seen for the 04-06 is 5.9. I would guess that there are other factors at play outside of the engine specs that would make one car faster than another.

UGKkllr

Ya well if I could even find an 04+ UL to test drive anywhere within 100 miles of me which I cant . Im right by washington DC and they never ever become available around here . They are always in texas, cali, NY, florida, Georgia, Michigan, etc...And the DC metropolitan area is one of the wealthiest in the country, you would think I would see more for sale locally. Im gonna go and drive a non UL 04 either today or tommorow just for comparison sake. If I dont find one by the end of july then Im gonna end up buying an e55 or something along those lines instead. Im sharing a gs400 right now with my live-in female friend and I need my own car, this is gettin old fast. Im sittin on 27k cash set aside for a car yet have no car to call all my own.

debian

My 04 CL LS430 definitely is hitting 60 at 5.9...are you leaving it in automatic mode or were you using the manual shifter?
There is absolutely nothing slow about this car. Torque is great...my wife is always saying to me ,"you didn't have to pass that guy like that"...when I am jetting around people on the DC beltway.
I am glad someone stated that I should switch to ECT mode, I forgot about that and haven't tried it yet.
Frankly I am a cruiser not a speeder...though it is nice to know it is there when desired.
Cheers,
Ian
PS "you are kinda right about not seeing many UL in the DC area. I was looking for one and only saw them out of state and like 300 miles away...don't settle if that is what you want and once found if at a lexus dealership you can have them ship it from there to one in your area. I was about to get one shipped from texas and that triggered the salesman at Lexus of silver spring to immediately drop the price on one in there lot. I was not going to buy an UL unless it was a CPO...but am exstatic about my 04 CL that is low mileage and immaculate."

AlexusAnja

The 5-speed '01-'03 spec. from Lexus claims 6.3s, while the '04-'06 6-speed is 5.9s. That .4s may not seem like much, but that's probably the different between taking off when you step on the gas, to lagging behind a little before taking off.

Drive them back to back and you'll notice quite a bit of difference. I test drove several cars in a single day when I was shopping and the double pane glass to regular is noticeable, and the transmission response is noticeable.

I6turbo

iTrader: (1)

OP,

This is one of the main reasons I sold my '03 and bought an '05 ('04+). The extra gear helps of course, but I think the shift program in the '01-'03 is in fact much more laid back and luxury-cruiser oriented than the '04+. Consequently you have to roll into the throttle significantly more aggressively to make it get up and go. Even in PWR mode the '01-'03 upshifts very early under moderate throttle. I think if you drive an '04+, and especially if you try it in the PWR mode, you'll be happy.

All that said, your experience almost sounds a little extreme as if there was something unusually sluggish about the '01-'03 you drove -- the difference is clearly noticable, but I definitely wouldn't call the '03 that I had a dog -- it just took more throttle input to spur it.