Jonfrodo

I was going to get the wife a Honda Civic, or a Mazda 3. I started to look at the IS 250, but than I ran away as fast as possible when I found out about the carbon build up problem. How on earth did they allow that to happen? I mean they MUST HAVE KNOWN ABOUT IT YEARS AND YEARS AGO. My number one thing for her is reliability, lol, me too.She would kill me if I bought her a dog. Trust me you don't want to make my wife unhappy. Lol.

FlaPhil

Don't worry about the lack of the Satnav in the LS430. I picked my 05 LS430 BECAUSE it didn't have the inbuilt system that, like all 10 year old tech, is now basically hopelessly out of date. Be happy with the base sound system and add a $100 Garmin!

The LS is a better car than the GS in every way, other than the more nimble handling of the GS.

Jks24

I vote ls430 i feel they are a better quality car. I do not know how much of this is true but the gs had transmission problems from what i heard no idea how true this is if other forum members would set the record straight that would be great as i am looking to get a gs due to awd.

Duck05

When my wife needed a car in 2004, we were looking at brand new GSs. She was coming from the '92 SC that was absconded by our son. Went to several dealerships in the SF Bay Area and her only complaint of the GS was it felt "tight" and cramped compared to the SC (in the driver seat).

She was particular to a specific color, too, so even finding a new GS to buy was a huge challenge. We were at about our third dealership when I spotted an LS in the color she liked (Opal green) over in the "Previously Owned" section. So, we went over there to take a look and she bought it on the spot. Eleven years later she got tired of it and we found her the LS460.

"Poor me " got stuck taking now the 15+ year old '01 as my daily driver and I am loving it......

So, I am biased for sure but the LS430 is a much better long term car than a GS any day..... Even when 4 years apart....

toantran99

My vote would be for the 01 LS430. Since it doesn't have the Mark Levinson audio system, it's easy to install an aftermarket radio receiver with NAV if needed.

utah801

iTrader: (1)

Tough choice. I own a 3rd gen GS430 and 04 LS430. Both are amazing cars!! GS feels so much faster. LS has amazing comfort. Like many have said comes down to color combo and features. Best of luck.