Marklouis

Well our 95' ls400 is going to the great yard in the sky after a minor mishap, but Insurance payed out a cool $5200 for it. so now we have narrowed down
our choices to 2 vehicles:

05 ls430 w/54k miles - CAH! southern florida car all its life - well maintained - most TSB's addressed, clean car fax - 21.6k asking price

06 ls430 w 82k miles - CAH! corporate lease - Alabama/Georgia car - also maintained however doesn't show regular maintanance start till 30k miles, NO TSB's addressed, clean car fax - 22.5k asking price

both cars are the same base package - no nav/air suspension.

what I want to know fellas from the experienced Ls430 drivers, is that are the TSB's the same for both years? or did the 06' model address these issues at the manufacturing stage?

and also, should I throw an 04' ls430 in the search as well?

Thanks for all your inputs. love this club. love these cars!

Infamous 1

iTrader: (20)

The '05 sounds like a good deal. And yes include '04 in your search.

CarGuy89

Definitely the 05, lower miles and full records at a steal! Include the 04s as well b/c the 04-06 are identical. I found an 04 (see sig) with 25k mi and CPO in the summer. As long as there's no indicated accidents and a good service history, it should be a solid car.

Jabberwock

I'd definitely go with 05 with 30k less miles. Even though they are different model years. the manufacture date on the cars (on door plate) might only be a few months apart.

Based on miles, the 06 with 82 K is gonna need the very expensive the timing belt/water pump service pretty soon.

mewhee

Having gone from 2 LS400's to 2 LS430's last Spring, I can tell you first hand you're in for a pleasant upgrade no matter whether its on 04, 05 or 06 - virtually the same car. We have an 02 and an 06 and they're both almost bulletproof.

Please forgive me for using a very un-pc metaphor regarding your question - just as with females, after a certain age, it's the high mileage and lack of care, not necessarily the years which can be problematic

fergo308

^^ Agreed. It's more where they've been and what they've had done to them than how old they are that's important. For both the cars and the women.

I'd go for the '05 based on what you've posted. I drive an '04 myself,and have had no issues thus far. If you're not in a rush,it'd be worth considering an '04 as you get the same car,just for less money. If the mileage and service history are similar,why not?


Justin...

Marklouis

Everyone, thank you so much for your inputs on this subject. This has confirmed my gut feeling about this ride. the paperwork is in proccess, and this weekend or next I will have this baby in my possesion.



Thank you all so much and God Bless!

Marklouis

couple more pics!

Marklouis

i looked at many 04' models as well - I had done a wide area search and had pulled up 60 04'-06' LS430's. started eliminating the high mileage northern cars first, cars that had worse off service records or lack of info on the carfax next, then eliminated the ones with Air suspension/NAV. and slowly dwindled down looking at info and researching VIN numbers (got a friend at my insurance company ) and it came down to just those 2 as the cream at the top - for me anyways.

now I just hope to have this car till our unborn son leaves the coupe! lol

Jabberwock

Nice looking LS - one of my favorite colors. Congrats!

Bocatrip

It can't hurt to include 04s in your search as well but try to avoid early 04s as not to have any Transmission issues.

mewhee

Along w/ your choice in cars, your due diligence is to be admired

Good luck w/ the anticipated purchase and far more important, here's to great travels and adventures w/ your yet to arrive son.

AznRacer

iTrader: (2)

Excellent choice and congrats

sojah

iTrader: (1)

nice,, i'm a little late to the party but that is the choice i would have gone with; i was gonna ask what the colors of the cars were but looks like the answer has already been gotten. color is important to me just like $$ and mileage, for women or cars i figure... i hate silver for some reason, not sure what nationality that rules out but whatever

i'm diggin that color combo as well, i'm thinkin' you will be pretty happy with your choice.

caddyowner

Most briarwood pearl cars I've seen have been premium models like yours. Although, my dealer had a briarwood / ecru UL trade that was sweet. I think the color looks better in person than in pics. It's interesting that flint mica, cypress pearl, and briarwood pearl are variations on the same color: blue gray, green gray, and brown gray.

Is this the car in the Chicago area? You're sly like a cat to buy a southern RWD luxury car in Chicago during the winter when the prices for those cars are usually at their lowest. Congrats.



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