LS400-HOW MUCH IT'S COST ME IN 9 YEARS?

[AndyCheltenham1]

I am a bit of a nerd in that I have kept a book of ALL the expenses I have had with my Lexus since buying it and have now decided to work out exactly how much I have spent on it over the years ( very sad ) and share it with you.

I bought this 1993 LS400 on 11.12.07 for £2975 from a car dealer working from home with the mileage of 67255. I paid about £500 more than I wanted to pay but he would not reduce the price at all and as it had a full Lexus service history and had been serviced about 3 months previously and had a big file of receipts from Lexus and also a private plate (Irish) so I decided to buy it-I would rather pay more for a well sorted car than buy a cheaper car that needs work doing. The colour is white with the blue interior. The condition was immaculate with no marks inside or outside.

The costs so far are as follows:

Insurance                               £3378 (the most expensive being £421 and current being £236)

Road Tax                                £2095

Servicing and Repairs            £1866

MOT  (10 times)                      £450

Tyres                                      £883

Gearbox Service                     £159

2 Batteries                              £252

Wheel Refurbishment             £400

Tint back windows                   £140

Repair front bumper                £150

Spray front wing                       £180

Air Con top up(5 times)            £180

Misc waxes etc                          £80

AA membership                         £700

Petrol                                     £9442                                TOTAL COST £20355    (mileage now 98417-67255 when bought=31162 miles done)

So I have owned it now for 9.5 years and it has been ultra reliable and never let me down (well, it did on only one occasion when my Battery suddenly failed and I had to get the AA out for that, but the Battery was 7 years old so not unexpected). Apart from normal servicing the only real faults I have had are the blinking dash lights (repaired for £65), front bonnet strut replacement,repair front window that stuck in up position (£60),re hang the exhaust that was vibrating, weld exhaust leak at front and secure heat shields (£40),,respray front wing that was starting to rust (£180).

I have taken it in for 10 MOT's and it failed on 2 occasions-once for a tyre (replaced with spare) and once for headlamp aim( adjusted by MOT station)-so it has never had to go back to an MOT station to have any work done, I have always left with a fresh MOT.

When I bought the car I also bought 1litre of oil for topping up-I threw this away a few weeks ago as it was nearly 10 years old and unopened!!

The car is still in a very tidy condition but now has the odd few marks on the body/bumpers and a tiny piece of rust at the top of one door.The cd player is not working but the radio and cassette player is. The temperature for air con is black (has been for a number of years now) and the sunroof does leak occasionally when it rains very hard (have tried a few times to sort it out but given up now).

The work that probably does need doing now is the cambelt  and replace spark plugs (both done about 12 years ago at 60000 miles) but as the car is still running perfectly I cannot justify spending large amounts of money on a car of this age and value.

I think I have been lucky with the small amount of faults I have had in 31000 mile of motoring and intend keeping it until any major fault arises at which time I couldn't really justify spending large amounts of money on it-I would probably then try and find a mark 4 which everyone seems to rate as a much better car, but hopefully that wont be any time soon!!??

 

 

 

 

[mikeyv]

You'd be hard pushed to beat it for running costs, and they are a lovely place to be, as a bonus, with unbeatable reliability.

What's not to like?

[The-Acre]

So when you consider repair bills are the thing that most of us are afraid of, you've done amazingly well!  Testament to the build quality. Not too many German cars would match that record I would suggest.

[Malc]

then your servicing and repair bills work out at about £3k really and at 10p per mile that ain't bad !  ......  

there's no car in the world apart from an early Ls400 that wouldn't cost more ............. 

The cambelt doesn't need doing at all, not even for your peace of mind ............  if it goes bang, which is incredibly unlikely, it won't damage the non-interference engine, being a Mk2

Keep with it, your kids will inherit a tax free classic with oodles of presence and a good usable car to-boot  .......  even your depreciation only works out at 10p per mile annualised over 10 years if you amortise it down to zero value, which it ain't 

servicing and repairs and depreciation to zero write -down ........ at a total of £6000 = £1.65 per day over the 10 years of ownership and at a total of  20p per mile  

ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT and all in the comfort and luxury and power of one of the best cars on the road 

Malc

 

 

[royoftherovers]

I just love reading MOTOBIOGRAPHIES such as the one Andy has written.

I do not consider him  to be a Nerd or an Anorak or whatever someone is likely to call him. In my book his attention to detail shows that he is interested and cares passionately about his Lexus and it shows to us all that owning and running and maintaining one can be an excellent long term investment.

Regards

John

[mrdoofa]

I'm really happy with my 2006 GS450h but when it comes to absolute build quality and reliability I don't think the LS400 can be beaten!!!

[dinoduderocket]

I'm here years later, and just want to say a massive thank you for writing this up. Such a useful resource