amcdonal86

It sounds like you're trying to combine the two cars into one. Unfortunately, I think what you will end up with is only the luxury of the BMW 7 series, with none of the fun of the 911.

Personally, I'm more of a two car kind of guy. Having a car that compromises and tries to be too many things can only lead to mediocrity!

stever500

I could understand your point, if my maintenance wasn't killing our family budget so much when it occurs. I'm realizing that my fun in the sun with the 911 will be gone when I get the Lexus. I'll eventually have to be ok with that. This behemoth of a car (the LS) will only replace the 740i of course, not the 911 and the 740i. It'll have to be a harsh fact of life when it happens. Things could be worse - I might be told that I have to sell both cars and drive a Honda Civic instead.

Luckily, she's cool with me getting a very nice luxury car as long as maintenance won't be an issue.

Getting back to my original post though, where would I find these 5 spoke Lexus Wheels for sale at a discount, if anywhere? I've searched the net but can't find them, the OEM ones, not aftermarkets.

Also, is silver a boring color for this LS 460 body style or would black on black be nicer? I know it's totally subjective, but any thoughts on that? I want to get the nicest color combo of an LS 460 if I end up going this Lexus route. It would have to have a blk interior though. So much easier to keep clean.

These are the wheels in question...





Thanks,
Steve R

Johnny

Ebay has those wheels either silver painted or chromed here. They are the 19" OEM wheels that are usually supplied with the long wheelbase 460 or the 600 hybrid. Prices are all over the place. A more trusted source would be Sewell Lexus out of Dallas. They have take-offs for $1200 here.

As for silver, it is a very popular color, but I find it looks quite dull if it isn't clean all the time. Obsidian Black or Smoky Granite Mica are my preferred choices, but they do reveal swirls easy. However, with regular and careful upkeep, they are outstanding. Of course, it always depends what they have on the lot, unless you're buying new. Good Luck!

Johnny

This was my '07 LS460 SWB with 18" 9-spoke wheels in Obsidian Black:




My '08 LS600 LWB with 19" 7-spoke wheels in Smoky Granite Mica:

syzygy

My father made the switch from Mercedes/BMW to Lexus with an LS 460.

He purchased a Mercedes E class for roughly $40,000, and it required literally $20,000 worth of maintenance and repairs over the course of 12 years.

I'm personally 22 and I tend to go for the sportier cars, but the LS 460 is a lot better than what I expected as far as road feel goes. It's a far cry from my IS350, but it's not bad.

The LS460 definitely has terrific road presence, comparable to the BMW 7 series (surprise surprise, they look very much alike). I think the front end looks more elegant for the new Lexus LS.

My father is not a "car guy," though, so he couldn't care less about "road feel" and the like, but he's enjoyed the car for the 3 years he's had it so far.

In 3 years, there have been 0 issues with the car, save wind noise. However, the wind noise does not bother him.

I've come to discover that the wind noise issue in this car is very relative. If you came from a noisy vehicle before the LS 460, the wind noise in the LS 460 probably won't bother you.

If you came from the ultra quiet LS 430 or something comparable, I figure you'd be more prone to being irritated by the wind noise.

The times I've driven the LS 460, the wind noise has not bothered me one bit. It's still about 10000 times quieter than what I came from.

syzygy

What I love about the LS 460 is that it just has a phenomenal "executive"-look. Around these parts, the 3 "big daddy's" on the road are the LS 460, BMW 750, and Mercedes S 550 (very few Audi A8s, surprisingly). All typically driven by wealthy executives, businessman, lawyers, doctors, the list goes on.

There's definitely a certain panache to driving a car like this. I definitely get odd looks as a 22 year old when I'm driving my father's LS 460. "What the hell is that toddler doing driving a car of that magnitude" kind of looks

wsteiner

1. most people in this positon consider something like a bmw 5xx or 6xx series. They have a good compromise between luxury, sportiness, and practicality.
2. An LS460 is more of a cushier riding car than the 740i at the expense of agility, vs the 740i with a stiffer ride but better handling. You may not like that after driving these cars.
3. If you want to really have fun driving, get a motorcyle.

stever500

Can't thank you enough for this info. You guys are great! I'm assuming there's very few if any women here? Car webforums... you rarely find women on them. In any case, $1200 from a Lexus dealer for the 5 spoke 19" wheels is A LOT better than the $650+ or so my local dealer said they'd cost me. It's good to know as I wouldn't want the standard 18" wheels.

This LS 460 idea is really starting to become more appealing to me, especially when you're saying that in 3 years, the car's rarely been into the shop but for standard services. That would be a dream compared to what I'm dealing with now. If I wrote a list of what these 2 cars have needed over the last 4 years you'd be laughing... or crying for me.

Since I've had great handling cars for so long at the expense of high maintenance $'s, it might be nice to simply have 1 rock solid car that is great on the highway and handles decently at least in the city and the rare mountain jaunts.

As for a motorcycle, no thanks. I've never been on one and never will. Not a 2 wheeler kind of guy unless it's my bicycle.

Now... for a color. I thought silver would be best because it hides the dirt the best and stay's clean looking the longest. Pollen would be hidden best in the spring and summer, too. Black or the dark grey color would get dirty quickly and swirl marks aren't that great. We already have one black car, her Acura RL.

I'll have to see that dark grey one in person again. Finding used examples of these isn't so easy. They sell kind of fast if they're nice ones in this area. I like white in your pictures but in person I prefer silver I think. I'd love to get that cool "L" model with the executive seating in the rear with the 9" screen but that would be overkill, I'm sure, for what we'd use it for. It's just fun to blow away the friends though when you take them out to dinner.

Cheers,
Steve R

LexFather

Any updates Steve?

One other thing about the current LS wheels, they have a different offset to other Lexus so only LS wheels fit the LS 460/600.

stever500

Thanks for asking. I've been obsessing about this a bit (OK, more than a bit) for the last 2 weeks. Ok, more than 2 weeks. Pretty much since the LS 460 came out in 07. I just fixed my 911 and am about to fix a bunch of stuff on the 740i. I just don't feel ready to make the move yet. I have various Porsche events set up in town to go to and BMW events as well this summer. I think the catalyst will be a catastrophic (super expensive) repair. That's what will push me over the edge (and my wife over the edge, more importantly) to sell them both to get the one reliable, under warranty, LS instead.

I've pretty much settled on bland silver with the black interior. I did so many searches on your great forum about LS 460 color threads. I love the dark red color and the dark greys and black colored cars, but for me, I need to go totally toned down, blend in the crowd, non-shouting Silver with black interior. It's so ME!

And I must have the 19" 5 spoke LS wheels. That $1200 price from the Lexus dealer in Shreveport is fantastic. I think the LS600 wheels that someone posted above are even nicer. Do they fit on a regular LS 460? I don't think I've seen a pic of anyone having them yet. It seems like I can get a 07 car with around 40k miles for around $34-35k, so that's my eventual plan. I even have a friend that buys cars at the Pennsylvania Manheim auction so I may go that route.

I love this forum and am lurking (ok, and posting occasionally) on it every day.

Johnny

Yes, the 19" wheels fit the 460. The OD with tire mounted is almost the same. I was using the 18" 9-spoke wheel for winter, and these also appear on the 600 occasionally, especially in foreign markets.

stever500

UPDATE: Thanks for this info. I've read back months and month of posts on this forum now and the search feature to find even more information and learned as much as I can. I'm confident I know enough to sell these cars, now. Having a good web forum is a BIG part of my ownership experience and I'm really digging the group of folks that are on here. It's not juvenile or combative in any way. By the way, I finally drove a LS 460 with a salesman today.

I was REALLY impressed with many aspects of the car in person, but not with 2 of the 3 sales people I talked to at this dealership. The one salesman never even called me back about a test drive or if the car we looked at had been cleaned up yet from a month ago. Don't they want to sell preowned cars? I talked w/#2 salesman today. He didn't know the Noble Spinel Mica name for the red. Said he never heard that phrase used for LS 460 red, that they just call it red, and he's been there 6 years. I don't begrudge him this, but for him not to know the Lexus color by it's name after working there for so long I thought was weak. Hmmm, I guess I do begrudge him for this then. He was a nice guy though, but not that knowledgeable about the car as I was in some ways. He didn't know anything about the wind noise issue so he claimed (and I heard it on the drive) and was saying some wrong things at the wrong times on our test drive.

Whatever... the car was the bomb. Wish it had the all leather wheel like the new sport has. To exchange the wheel for the new wheel from the "sport", it would cost an extra $973 but they can't guarantee me it's compatible with the paddle shifters. I wish the "Sport" had been out for 3 years now so I could THIS car!



It handled great, wasn't that huge feeling (compared to my 01 740i Sport), wasn't "floaty feeling" at all to me, and didn't handle weakly compared to the BMW (like on my BMW forum and others have said). It didn't feel disconnected to the road at all. It felt dialed in, though maybe I was high on new (2007) car smell.

I thought the features on the car were most excellent, the seat was comfortable enough for me though it wasn't as form fitting and sporty as on the BMW but that's just what I'd expect. That I can buy a device that lets me use the Nav while I drive, that's great! I'll search that web site info out when I actually own the car.

The regular, non-ML radio on this 07 sounded incredible compared to what I have now. They let me drive a car that was sold already (not sure why they'd let me do that) but hadn't yet been delivered to the customer. Glad I didn't wreck it. I can't believe how much better the ML system must sound. I just found out for the first time today that if I get the ML it comes automatically with the reclining rear seats and 1 or 2 other cool extra features. This makes me very happy. I like to blow away my rear passengers as much as I can. When I got my "new" 01 740i and it had rear heated seats, it was a big hit with my friends and family. Also found out today that it's the only car that's wet sanded twice by Lexus before selling it and that the paint is perfect. At least, that's what my salesman said.

Everything was laid out beautifully. All the buttons are perfect for me, intuitive to a fault, easier to understand than her complicated 07 Acura RL. Loved that there's no iDrive so my wife could get into it and know where everything is and how to turn it on without a manual! They can justify how great iDrive is till the cows come home on those BMW's but if the average Joe can't get into it and use the car's features without prior lengthy instruction, it's not for me.

The leather on the seats seems pretty nice. Maybe the car isn't as sturdy in some ways (many ways) as the older LS 430's like some of you have said, but I don't like the boxy, slab-sided body style near as much on the 430's so that option is out for me. The trunk isn't that big but it will work. The interior cabin size is amazing in the "non L" version. It's the only newish Lexus I've sat in the back seat and not thought "This is claustrophobic".

The only other options I'm looking at right now are a 07 BMW 750i which I still have yet to drive...





or just keeping the cars I have now for a long time and try to keep up with the maintenance costs.

I never expected to like the LS 460 so much, yet on the other hand, I'm not ready to sell my 911 today either. Quite the quandary. I'll either wait till my next big repair on one of my cars to push me over the edge to a decision, or I'll just fall in love the LS 460 even that much more over the coming weeks or months that it'll be worth selling my 2 babies (other cars) for the Lexus.

In the meantime, back to your regularly scheduled forum activities. Hope I haven't take up too much blab space.

Johnny

Great review. If you wait long enough, even just a year, there will be some pre-owned Sport packages available. While many owners like the lacquered steering wheels, I can go either way between that and full leather. My new RX is the Sport Edition, and it has similar design and performance cues found on the LS Sport. Lexus seems to be nudging some of their options in this direction - probably a result of new blood at the top, the IS-F and the LFA.

On the topic of salesmen, well no surprise there. I've found that the LS tends to be sold by a one or two individuals at most within the dealership who are able to corner the clients well-heeled enough to afford one. The others that try are wannabes who are short on the facts, and will often make wild claims about a car they know little about. They come off sounding quite ignorant when someone such as yourself who's done his research and wanders into to get a closer look at the car. I usually ask the Sales Manager to point me in the direction of the guy who sells the most LSs before I get down and dirty.

Glad you had a good experience in spite of that...

stever500

Thanks for all that info. I just strayed a little bit to see what else was else there that could pry my mind away from a Lexus. I forgot to check out used 2007 MB E63's and 05-06 E55's. I spent 2 hours on the mercedes forums for AMG E type cars this morning and after getting excited about the possibility of owning a 500 HP car for under $36k used, I got deeper into some posts about maintenance expenses and lousy gas mileage and realized I'm buying a money pit potentially in getting one of these out of warranty. It seemed so exciting at first but the reality is we simply can't afford the time and money to fix a car like this. Too bad as I love these E55 AMG's and E63 AMG's.

Oh well - reliability rules! Speaking of which, is it really ok to use a Toyota dealer for most services on an LS to save money? When would someone NOT use a Toyota dealer? Why are Toyota dealers even servicing LS 460's for so much less? In the end, is it worth it to do this (like they might miss something as they're not a Lexus dealer)? Or is it penny wise, pound foolish?

azimali

Dont use the lexus dealers they overprice like crazy. I think its close to 200 dollars for an oil change man. They're not worth it. The only thing that may be worth it is getting the couple thousand mile checkup. But even thats meh. This car is so reliable its crazy. But you can just stroll into any ntb or pep boys for an oil change.