daryll40

I have noticed that while the LS460 is a great evolutionary step forward for luxury cars, it has not made the same splash as the 1990 LS400 did. It was claimed to make a similar splash.

Anyway, I think that the reason was that the 1990 LS was such a huge leap forward in QUALITY FOR THE MONEY. At $70,000+, the new LS is great but not a value. Yeah, it might be a value compared to the big Merc or Bimmer, but not a value for the upper middle class as the $38,000 LS400 was. Also I think that the others (Bimmer, Merc, Audi) have products with similar "gee whiz" stuff now, even though we Lexus owners know that quality still takes a backseat to our cars. In 1990 Lexus had "gee whiz" stuff that the other guys had not even thought about. Including CUSTOMER SERVICE. Today they all give great (at least compared to 1990) customer service.

Anyway, I am not trashing the LS460, but am pointing out that it has not created the splash that was claimed. And, frankly, I won't buy one because about $60,000 is the limit to my comfort zone. And I want my next car to have AWD (I am currently driving a 2004 LS430 with 36K miles). It appears that the AWD LS460 is going to cost close to 80 grand. Similar to the competition, I know, but out of my comfort zone.

LS400lvr

I agree....looks like a used one for me...let someone else take the $20k hit!

encore888

I think it depends on which angle you look at it. From the value perspective for sure, there is probably no way that anyone can top the splash of 1989, as you said value for the money, service, quality, product etc.

But I should note that the LS 400 went from $38,000 to the $50,000+ range pretty quick as the buyers flocked to the car and the company knew what a huge hit it had.

Today the LS 460 is a big deal, it just got Car of the Year at the ICOTY awards, which is something that even the 1989 LS 400 couldn't achieve. So I would say that from other angles, the LS 460 is a very formidable achievement--technology, the availablility of 2 wheelbases, new design philosophy, etc.

Gojirra99

That's true for ANY car, so it's a financially astute way for car ownership. However, I like brand new cars & prefer to buy new but keep it over a longer period of time to spread out the first 2 years of big depreciation over at least 6 or 7 years
I don't think they give out the ICOTY award back in 1989

encore888

True, the ICOTY award was begun in 1997. The LS 400 did get named Wheel magazine's Car of the Year...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexus_LS#Awards

It also did win C&D Ten Best, Best Import Car of the Year, etc.

OK, OK, I bow before the LS 400's greatness!

But look at Car of the Year Japan. The UCF10 LS 400/Celsior won for 1989, and the USF40 LS 460 won for 2007.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_of_the_Year_Japan

Both cars were recognized for being the best in their debut years.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

the way i see it, back in 1989 ls400 was lexus' only car, they wanted to enter the market to go with bmw and mb, they had NO reputation, only backed by toyota name, etc... so pricing the car they were was a stretegy, a way to help them grow

as of now, given the status of lexus, the whole lineup, the class, and the audience, to be honest i think it will be stupid for them to sell the LS for say 60k. first of all they won't be able to price the IS and GS accordingly, and since lexus has already established the brand name and the class/league, they don't need the extra price break to get points from customers.

and for the record, the lexus is still more car for the money. the LS is still quite a bit cheaper than competitors similarly loaded.

Helmar

I don't believe that the price of the LS has risen all that much.

If you only account for inflation, the price would rise from $35,000 in 1989 to around $58,000 in todays dollars.

Now add in all of the many new standard features, i.e. much larger and much improved engine and transmission, vastly improved sound system, several more (expensive!) air bags, and many, many more features.

The current base price of around $71,000 is probably close to what the addition of all of the features and improvements would cost.

I wouldn't be all that surprised if the actual price may have declined a bit.........

HBH

ghmundt

Everyone talks about the LS460 being a $70000+ car, but if you can live without the ML sound and navigation, you can get into the car for a little over $60000. The sticker on the base car is $63xxx and the dealers are discounting the base models because most buyers want the car loaded. The $63K base price on the 460 is only $4000 more than the price on the 06 430 base.

daryll40

One difference between 1989 and today is that most "average" cars....including a base Camry and/or Accord, which can be had for under $20,000.....are excellent cars too. I am not comparing an LS460 to a Camry, but the truth is that both will probably run for 300,000 miles if maintained. In 1989 that was NOT the case. The average car then was the Ford Taurus which, I know from my involvement with a few of them, lasted about 120,000 miles.