Ls 400 What Are They Like To Own And Run ?

[Motor Man]

Hi

I have the opportunity to buy a LS400 ,2000 V reg , Its done 166000 miles has 11 months MOT

I am considering purchasing this car but want to know what they are like to own and run

Any advice on around town mpg ? driven normally , also mpg at 70 mph ?

Cost of tyres

exhaust system

Brakes , pads and discs etc and normal service items ?

No point in buying this if its cost prohibitive

Thanks in advance

PS , I have had a test drive and loved it

[ambermarine]

There are tons of threads on the forum from owners over the years that will answer all your questions but the real pleasure is finding out for yourself ,so buy it and discover a whole new experience.

[Bluesman]

Hello Allen and welcome to The LOC.

I have owned my Mk4 for 6 years now and she has never broken down nor has she ever failed her MOT. The exhaust on Mk 4 are Stainless but are prone to split on a v section which can easily be repaired for around £40.

Mine has done 142,000 and I just get her serviced once a year by my local garage that has serviced the family cars for the last 27 years. I had a number plate bulb go on me and I also replaced the Battery which was done by Lexus for about £90 and had a 5 year guarantee with it. that was about 3 years ago now. The one they took out was the original Battery she was delivered with. Apart from tyres, I use Falkens I have never had to worry about anything else. Oh yes I had an LPG system fitted when I first bought for for £1400 and its never missed a beat. There is a 85litre tank in the boot where the spare sits and there is still plenty of room.

This car is the best car I have ever owned I still get a kick out of getting into her and starting her up. All the eulogy's about carpet rides, comfort and the fantastic stereos is all true and more.Make sure the Cam belt has been changed as this is quite a costly item to get done. Good luck with your hunting. Mike.

[Malc]

............. compared to almost any other car on this planet the Ls400 is incredibly reliable and inexpensive to maintain ........... petrol costs, well it is a 4ltr limo but you should get 30mpg on a good run and early 20's normal sensible driving.................... as has been said, cambelts should be changed every 100k miles / 10 years and upper control arms maybe about now at 160 / 175 k miles ... but if it has 11 months MOT then it's ok for another year probably ( at least ) .......... and will last another 175k miles.

..................all other parts are keenly priced provided you don't buy from Lexus ( except the batteries which seem to be good value )

Just buy it and enjoy the best drive of your life ....... I've just returned from an amazing 5343 mile round trip from Kent to Italy over 4 weeks ( last year 6060 miles to Spain and Portugal ) and only lifted the bonnet to refill the windscreen wash bottle !

Best car ever.

Malc

[Nick W858]

Hi Allen - owned mine around 12 years averaging around 15k miles per annum. Much of my service history is main dealer and even the stuff that wasn't involved genuine lexus parts etc. My detailed records show my spend has been £18k so £1500 per annum for all service related items inc tyres (I run winter tyres too). If it needed doing I have had it done so I am not sure ou would manage to spend any more than I have. The big bits for me have been cambelt (twice) - new part for the exhaust (£500) and a new starter motor which was around £700 - again you could get these done cheaper o/s of the dealer franchise. They are great cars and to me it is worh paying for the upkeep, unless ou are really unlucky much of the stuff is consumables that would need replacing on any vehicle.

Nick

[The-Acre]

Don't buy it, you'll become addicted! Nothing else will be able to take its place....... If its in decent condition with good history, grab it while its still available, they're becoming harder to find and you'll be smitten.

[Mybikes a cx500]

The LS400 Mk4 is arguably the most reliable and best engineered car on the planet.

Heavy on fuel if used for short runs about town, but if you do some motorway driving- at which it excels- it evens out a bit. I have always held out for LPG converted ones but the cars are getting a bit rarer now so bit of a long shot these days. If you have found a good one (Cam belt done recently?) I'd get it and maybe take the hit for an LPG conversion after you fall in love with it.

[keybasher2]

Love mine (99 mk4) High teens round town but seen 32 mpg on a run. Paid about £100 for pagid discs and pads. If you can live with the fuel consumption,go for it !!

Simon

[Motor Man]

Thanks for the info

My work commuter is 17 miles each way and on a Saturday I do a each way drive of 27 miles so total of no more than 250 a week

Its the fuel consumption that concerns me , I was a mechanic for 25 years so most maintenance is doable by myself

The car is very clean and cheap , I think the current owner is put off by the fuel cost , I also know the previous owned ( Club member )

I will ask about the cam belt and top suspension arms , discs and pads etc

Allen

[steve2006]

The increased fuel costs will easily be offset and more by the reliability so saving on parts. If you can do all your own servicing and maintainance I wouldn't worry,if you want OEM parts you can always get them from Amayama.com which in general work out at around half UK Lexus dealer prices including the delivery and import duty/VAT.

[Malc]

........... hmmmm ............. only 250 miles a week ............. . you'll feel a lot better doing 500 miles a week, the joy of such wonderful driving will soon make the fuel costs seem insignificant ............

unless you're going for one of these new fandangled " bluemotion " type cars that does 70 mpg and cost you maybe £25k or more to buy then just absorb the fuel costs and drive the best car you will have ever owned or wish to own.

Malc

do you get the feeling that we LOC guys here are mabye just a little passionate about our Ls400s !!

[harrylime]

It's all down to your mileage really IMO. Getting less than 20mpg locally sometimes bothers me a little, but mid 20s to 30 on a longish run is better. I've been looking at changing mine for a large BMW, Merc or Jag diesel but having been on all their forums some of the expensive, and frequent issue they get puts me off. Just one example, some owners with two year old XJ jags have serious corrosion on the sunroof pods of their cars. There seem to be many recurring design faults with some cars for which the owners get no help from the manufacturers. The LS forum is often very quiet, particularly when it comes to problems. The later 400s seem to be incredibly reliable. My 1999 car is ready for a pair of bonnet struts (easy and pretty cheap to fix)and the washer fluid light stays on due to a sticking switch ( a forum member has described an easy fix for that). Mine is a 16 year old car I would jump in tomorrow and drive to the south of France without any worries. It is a sublime car to drive, more relaxing than any I have ever had

[Colin M]

I'd endorse everything said above. The LS400 in my view is a great car - the best I have owned - and you will not be disappointed.

Fuel cost is only part of the running costs. If you pay a bit more for fuel but the car (hopefully) does not run up expensive repair bills, the bit extra you pay for fuel will seem well worth it.

Go for it!!

[LexusCT200H]

I get 20-25 MPG in my 1.8 Mercedes 2012 :( You guys getting 30 MPG in a 4.0 car and your still unhappy?! :whistling:

[alien1974]

i get around 16-17 mpg round town and about 27 mpg on a longish run, things like suspension arms may need attention but hopefully they have been done on your car allen

[Titch LS]

Allen, The LS 400 is the sort of car that you never tire of owning and driving. At it's inception, Toyota wanted to build a car to take on Mercedes Benz, Jaguar and BMW and beat them at their own game. They succeeded with this car. It is extremely well engineered, very smooth, very quiet, very fast (155), very comfortable and very reliable. When converted to multi point LPG, it's also very reasonable to run (at 57p a litre). Road tax is £230 a year (not bad for a V8). So, go for it, you won't regret it. I didn't.

[Motor Man]

Any recommendations for a LPG fitter and a price

I once fitted a kit myself to a VW camper van

[Cotswold Pete]

Agree with all the comments.

My Mk4 is now on 157K miles, and just spent £1200 at last MOT getting a whole bunch of work done on broken spring and read suspension arms. I do not appear to have any issues with front upper control arms, as these can be a fair old cost.

It seems to me that around the 140,000 to 180,000 range is when the running gear needs work on, though have heard of some done 250,00 with no issues.

However the car is so solid once it has money spent on it, then no reason why it should not go for another 15 years.

With my other cars I always felt any money spent on them was merely delaying the inevitable trip to scrap heap, but never felt that with the LS, because it should outlast me if looked after.

[malcolmdc]

Hi there, and welcome - As a new owner of an LS400 Mk 1 since only Jan this year, I would say go for it, with the usual caution when buying any used car! Mine has averaged 22 to the gal in the cold frosty Jan-Feb period, including a 6 mile commute, and only moderate longer trips. Now its warmer, the average is 24 with no particular effort to "pussyfoot", haven't done a brim-to-brim test on a long trip but it seems to be several mpg better when cruising. overall ave has been 22.2mpg over 5 months They don't go wrong very often, so non-Maindealer servicing is not going to break the bank, and tyre prices will depend on size as ever! Its a lot of car for the money, and you can sneer at the Nissan Micra drivers who've spent 3 times as much.....ENJOY.

[Spacewagon52]

MPG for a 4 litre, I feel is very good. Others may know more but I believe Toyota use lean-burn technology which gets you more mpg. I ran a 1996 (Mk3?) 400 LS for a year (on the cheap, though NOT recommended!). It was due a service when I bought it. As it was my second car I had a personal rule that I would not use it unless the distance travelled was over 10 miles each way. There are many fishermen's stories about mpg but keeping to my rule I achieved an average of 28 mpg. The best I ever got was 31 mpg on a long motorway run from Kent to Exeter. If you can get that from a Jag or any 4 litre I would be very surprised! I have to agree that even if you get 20 mpg - the driving experience is worth every penny. I am also on the lookout for a 400 LS and from what I have seen the prices are hardening. People who own them tend to hang on to them - I really regret selling mine for £1600 with 110,000 on the clock and a full Lexus service history! Provided the car has a good service history and the cam belt has been done you would only have to sort out the suspension issues if they arise. Go for it, you will not regret it.

[Chris Skelton]

It's been 3+1/2 years since I sold my Ser 4. Have spent countless hours looking at cars, wondering what to get else.

STILL car-less! There's nothing to match it (that doesn't cost lots!)

The only left-field alternative -for me - is to go back to old Citroens! Not anything LIKE the luxury, power or reliability....just style?

[Tulpen]

Hi Allen,

Are you getting the message yet :)

We all love our cars.......Malcolm has a 20 years old LS and, for the last 2 years, he has done 5000+ mile tours around Europe without a problem. How many other cars have that sort of reliability. Couple that with the fact that they are very quiet, luxurious and come with all the goodies - as standard.

In 1997 I bought a 3 year old LS, drove it for 15 years and changed it for another LS, this time a 460. I'm not unique.......we buy them, enjoy them, and keep them.

Do yourself a favour - go for it :)

Oh, and it will probably be the only LS in the car park........amongst dozens of Beemers and Mercs. If you want exclusivity, here it is.

[oldhazey]

Mine was under 500 quid, i have spent approx 250 on it in the last 18 months + fuel.what else could you buy for pocket money with this much quality,its a no brainer B) bloke at work has a 14 plate i40 that does 60mpg but cant see my point of view.so i let him get on with his car devaluing vast amounts everytime he turns the key

[Woods4900]

Bought my ls400 mk4 lpg last June , thought I would find something that wouldn't work on it with all its electrical gizmos and I was right .

The electric arial had stopped working which I fixed with a new insert of eBay 20 quid .everything else worked and I went right through it.

I'm an x mechanic and it is without doubt the smoothest car I've been in , quick when it has to be .

Lpg means it's cheap to run as well .

It's not the type of car I normally go for as my previous was an Alfa gtv v6 , and I own a mk1 and mk2 escort , so for somebody with my tastes shows how versatile the cars are , also my missus loves it from my usual noisy bone shakers , and she gets to spend more time with me now that I'm not under the bonnet of the Alfa all the time . The common bonnet gas struts becoming weak can only be through lack of use .

Get one you will enjoy it .

[joe384]

There are 6 1998 400's on ebay at the moment and they all look pretty reasonable. I like the burgundy coloured one.

That one looks very nice, not trying to diss the car but although the cambelt was done 40k ago, that was back in 07 according to the service book. The 16 stamps is misleading as well, as most of them are 6 months apart.

Looks very tidy though and it's quite hard to hide dents/marks when it's clean like that.