SkipABeat

I do my research (that's why I drive a 04 LS430 ) when I shop for a car, new or used. There are tons of info out there, but I lean most heavily on how many older cars of a particular make and model are still on the road. I live in heavily salted Southern Ontario, and I see a handful of first gen LS400s still on the road today. Hardly any visible surface rust. For comparison, I have looked for same year BMW, Mercedes, Audis, Volvos. They are very very hard to find. Why?

I know someone will say how many were sold? I do not have official figures, but I am sure there were more s-class Mercs running around when the first LS was introduced. I am sure if an equal number were sold there will be many more LS400s running around.

Kansas

I think the answer is complicated.

For one, the first gen LS400 had a relatively high level of equipment at a relatively low price. When I switched from Mercedes to a new LS400 in 1990, a Mercedes 560SEL listed at $72,000 and, if I remember correctly, a BMW 735i was above $60,000. My 90 LS400 listed at a bit over $36,000, including options, and I paid considerably less than that.

According to the U.S. Lexus website, 41,901 LS400's were sold just in 1990 and I think that means just in the U.S. I don't have production figures for the Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7-series but I'm fair certainly that their sales numbers in the U.S. (and Canada) were far, far lower. Just on numbers alone, you would be seeing far more gen 1 LS400's than Mercedes S-class and BMS 7-series of the same era.

To further complicate the issue, there seems to be a price floor below which an older car in nice usable condition does not fall much below. The current price floor for a really nice 1990 LS400 or 560SEL might be in the $2,000 to $4,000 range; I can't comment on the BMW since I've never seen many around. I suspect I could get about the same price for my then like new 90 LS400 today as when I sold it in 2003.

The really big issue is that it costs far more to repair and maintain that 20 year old 500SEL than a 20 year old LS400 based on parts prices alone. The typical buyer or long term owner of a 20 year old 560SEL is less likely to want to spend that much. On the other hand, a gen 1 LS400 is damned cheap to run - I drove mine for 13 1/2 years and sold it only due to its headlights that weren't good enough for my aging eyes.

On the other end of the spectrum, Volvos and Audis of 20+ years ago did not age particularly well. I've owned three Volvos - only one of them purchased new - and none of them were cars I wanted to live with very long. I kept the one I purchased new - a 240DL - just one year due to it being such a complete POS. My sister was a "four time loser" with Audis throughout the 1980's and apparently never realized that transmissions shouldn't have to be rebuilt on a regular basis.

The gen 1 LS400 hit some sort of "sweet" spot in value for money and total cost of ownership. And they aged pretty well stylistically with a gen 1 LS400 looking fairly modern today.

"My" 1990 LS400 is still on the road at something like 300,000 miles. The person who bought it from me in 2003 towed a U-haul trailer 2,000 miles with it earlier this year. Not that I woudn't mind having an old late 80's / early 90's 560SEL. My favorite of all cars I've ever owned is still the 450SEL I had back in the 70's.

Edit: It's quite a coincidence that the person who bought my 90 LS in 2003 just sent me a message that he has listed it on Craigslist: http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/cto/2684409142.html Damn, I enjoyed that car.

AlexusAnja

Another very human explanation for seeing more of something is because your mind is consciously looking for it, because you either had or you're looking for it. Before I got my MDX, I knew there were a lot of MDX on the road, but I never really thought much of them or really "saw" them. Then when we got our MDX, it seems like every time I went out, I was seeing three or four of them on the road. I'm sure it's not because more are moving into where I live, but it's just that I'm more conscious of them around.

There no disputing that you're going to see more late 80's/early 90's LS than S classes because who wants to maintain a 25+ year old car that's constantly having issues? My wife had a 10-year old 1985 735i for about three years and then it just started falling apart piece by piece. She spent easily over $4000 on a vehicle she bought for $8000 and it ended up sitting around it's last four years becoming a rust bucket and hornets nest. Finally donated it away to Karz4Kidz with four flat tires and they had to haul it away.

Mike_1GO

iTrader: (2)

^ thats very true, when you have an eye for a car you want to purchase, you see more and more of them on the road

sojah

iTrader: (1)

Wow kansass that car still looks pretty fresh for a '90. Other than that 9' antenna the car doesn't even look that dated but if u look at a mid 2000's jaguar u will notice the same size antenna . I still think the LS430 is the end of the LS line sadly and for this reason don't want to give up me best in class version and would rather just get something additional to accompany it.

U know how u always ahppen to see that old *** MB flying down the highway at like 90 mph w/ dark tint so u really can't see who is driving it? Well I always envision some african dude with like 500K on the odo. Well I want that to be my LS430, even if I'm not the one to own it at that time