2006 LS460 SE-L --things to look for when buying

[Iain G]

I'm looking at the above model Lexus for sale,140k on the clock,full Lexus service history,looks a real beauty,its a choice between buying that,or a low mileage 2001 LS430 Celsior,decisions decisions.. I'd really appreciate anyone on the Forum here who owns the 460, give their views on this model of Lexus,just looking for a bit of helpful feedback before taking the plunge,thanks.

[nickd]

should there be a link?

[jonthetourist]

There is a huge thread somewhere on here where Haylands bought a 460 and decided after a few months to go back to a 430. He described them as very different cars in personality, like comparing a middle-aged dog and a puppy, if I remember right.

On that basis, I would say don't buy either without a lengthy test drive.

Good luck

Jon

[GrahamG]

On the USA club site there have been a couple of owners who have gone back to the LS430 after experiencing a LS460 but that by no means represents a universal opinion.

If you decide on a LS430 then you might want to hold out for a facelift version, '04 to '06.

[cruisermark]

At that mileage I would be thoroughly checking the underside: brakes, suspension, shocks, brakelines, exhaust etc.

[Tulpen]

I've owned a 460 for 6 years.  It's a 2007 model and has done 85,000 miles, it is my daily drive and I came to it after owning a 400 for 15 years.

I love it and wouldn't go back. It is NOT a 400...….that wonderful machine was seriously over-engineered and deathly quiet...….but time moves on.  I have had two problems; one was a computer glitch which was relatively easily fixed, the other was a shattered front wheel bearing caused by a Scottish pothole during one of my 'back home' visits.

I have my car serviced at my local Lexus dealer, here, in Holland. Their prices are reasonable - unlike those reported by other forum members in the UK.

If you read the US Lexus Forum, you would think twice about buying ANY LS.  The 400, 430, 460 and 600 pages are full of tales of woe.

Another member, Haylands, didn't like the car at all. So far, his has been a lone anti-460 voice on this forum.

Jon has given good advice...….have a really long test drive and check the work already done. The state of the roads in the UK is taking its toll on all cars. 

If you any specific questions, just ask.

 

[moriwaki]

Sorry to all the 460 owners on here ho have had good experiences....but this is my Story.....and nothing has changed....I am looking for another 400 mk3......

Apologies also to those who remember reading this before.

I had my 400 MK3 for 6 years and it had 120,000 on when I bought it....I did another 90,000 of the happiest motoring I had ever experienced in 30 odd years of driving...

The main reason I ended up going for a 460 was a bit of rust on the 400....around the arches and the windscreen....I panicked a bit over nothing....if I had the chance again....and know what I know now...I would have spent as much as it cost treat the 400 to a full Top Notch respray....and still own the best car I have ever owned.

Fact is..... a friend of mine has always admired the car....and when I was set on a 460 I gave it to him as a gift.

the 460...was a one owner car with 9,000 miles on....I did not even test drive it....went on the train from Cumberland to Turiff....near Aberdeen....and drove it back through the night...

I knew in the first mile I had made a mistake....but I thought wait a minute....this is a 460...ten years younger than my old 400....with only 9000 miles on....it MUST be Me.

We set off for Venice a few days later....drove there non stop...took 26 hours from Cumberland....and every mile was full of thoughts of what a pleasure this would be in the old 400....and what a poor experience it was in this 460....BUT I still ...over the next year or so....tried to convince myself I was mistaken.

What I didnt like about the 460 : Brakes are almost impossible to judge....like you have no real connection to them....terrible.

Steering was a mystery....some days it was OK ish...other days it had a a mind of its own....over one bridge I regularly crossed ...it would dart around as if the Mysterons were driving it !

The steering also felt like an old car with worn out Track Control arms ....worn ball joints etc....wandered around over road irregularities....awful sensation through the steering wheel.

Cruise control was so bad I gave up using it...and oh boy did I try to master it....but it mastered ME in the end....far too complicated for its own good.....slightest bit of dirt on the Radar in the badge and it would tell you on the dash that it was not available to use anyway.....is someone washed their windscreen if front of you it would say Not Available to use.

When washing the windscreen with a hose.....water would pour out of the side winkers on the wings...Lexus Carlisle said it was normal. ?

Wind noise around mirrors.....better if you put the window DOWN a few mm ?....

I did the JMc Raney fix that is on the Net.....and took a Caulking gun to the mirror mounting plates......I remember thinking....what am I doing....this car was nearly £70.000 New......it didn't really help...but tried to "believe" it did.....for my own peace of mind.

Tyre noise is a given....and was expected with the quite frankly "Stupid" on a car like this ....low profiles rubber....

Engine lacked low down torque....needed to get it revving to make progress...again....in a car like this...Stupid IMO.

Far too many gears....always hunting around...

And Mark Levinson my arse....the 400 Stereo was better too.

 

 

But I remember there was someone on here who was a disappointed as me....and it was a relief....I thought I had imagined the whole thing.

Things I didn't like about the 400 MK3.....can't open the boot with the engine running.....that was annoying....but that's IT.

Again..... just my opinion.....but that 400... is one of.....if not The Best Car ever made.....and to think you can waft around in one... for less than the price of one years depreciation on any new car on the market....well....quite frankly.....if you don't have one....your Crackers.....

err...hang on....I have not got one right now.....excuse ?...need a Jeep for the muddy Hounds to jump in the back of. 

At this point I must again apologise to anyone who is enjoying their 460....I am not here to upset anyone...

Things I liked on the 460....the looks....it is a Great looking car....with a great looking interior.....and the rear view camera was a Godsend.

Sorry for long post lads....but hey lads......who else would listen ? ? 

[Tulpen]

Malc will be grinning from ear to ear   :)  

 

[The-Acre]

12 minutes ago, moriwaki said:

Sorry to all the 460 owners on here ho have had good experiences....but this is my Story.....and nothing has changed....I am looking for another 400 mk3......

Apologies also to those who remember reading this before.

I had my 400 MK3 for 6 years and it had 120,000 on when I bought it....I did another 90,000 of the happiest motoring I had ever experienced in 30 odd years of driving...

The main reason I ended up going for a 460 was a bit of rust on the 400....around the arches and the windscreen....I panicked a bit over nothing....if I had the chance again....and know what I know now...I would have spent as much as it cost treat the 400 to a full Top Notch respray....and still own the best car I have ever owned.

Fact is..... a friend of mine has always admired the car....and when I was set on a 460 I gave it to him as a gift.

the 460...was a one owner car with 9,000 miles on....I did not even test drive it....went on the train from Cumberland to Turiff....near Aberdeen....and drove it back through the night...

I knew in the first mile I had made a mistake....but I thought wait a minute....this is a 460...ten years younger than my old 400....with only 9000 miles on....it MUST be Me.

We set off for Venice a few days later....drove there non stop...took 26 hours from Cumberland....and every mile was full of thoughts of what a pleasure this would be in the old 400....and what a poor experience it was in this 460....BUT I still ...over the next year or so....tried to convince myself I was mistaken.

What I didnt like about the 460 : Brakes are almost impossible to judge....like you have no real connection to them....terrible.

Steering was a mystery....some days it was OK ish...other days it had a a mind of its own....over one bridge I regularly crossed ...it would dart around as if the Mysterons were driving it !

The steering also felt like an old car with worn out Track Control arms ....worn ball joints etc....wandered around over road irregularities....awful sensation through the steering wheel.

Cruise control was so bad I gave up using it...and oh boy did I try to master it....but it mastered ME in the end....far too complicated for its own good.....slightest bit of dirt on the Radar in the badge and it would tell you on the dash that it was not available to use anyway.....is someone washed their windscreen if front of you it would say Not Available to use.

When washing the windscreen with a hose.....water would pour out of the side winkers on the wings...Lexus Carlisle said it was normal. ?

Wind noise around mirrors.....better if you put the window DOWN a few mm ?....

I did the JMc Raney fix that is on the Net.....and took a Caulking gun to the mirror mounting plates......I remember thinking....what am I doing....this car was nearly £70.000 New......it didn't really help...but tried to "believe" it did.....for my own peace of mind.

Tyre noise is a given....and was expected with the quite frankly "Stupid" on a car like this ....low profiles rubber....

Engine lacked low down torque....needed to get it revving to make progress...again....in a car like this...Stupid IMO.

Far too many gears....always hunting around...

And Mark Levinson my arse....the 400 Stereo was better too.

 

 

But I remember there was someone on here who was a disappointed as me....and it was a relief....I thought I had imagined the whole thing.

Things I didn't like about the 400 MK3.....can't open the boot with the engine running.....that was annoying....but that's IT.

Again..... just my opinion.....but that 400... is one of.....if not The Best Car ever made.....and to think you can waft around in one... for less than the price of one years depreciation on any new car on the market....well....quite frankly.....if you don't have one....your Crackers.....

err...hang on....I have not got one right now.....excuse ?...need a Jeep for the muddy Hounds to jump in the back of. 

At this point I must again apologise to anyone who is enjoying their 460....I am not here to upset anyone...

Things I liked on the 460....the looks....it is a Great looking car....with a great looking interior.....and the rear view camera was a Godsend.

Sorry for long post lads....but hey lads......who else would listen ? ? 

A very interesting read.  I'm sure you won't upset any 460 owners, I think we all know the LS400 is the best car ever made.  Progress eh? Hmmm.  When I sold my GS300 to buy my Celsior a friend said "why have you gone back?" He meant to an older car.  He obviously just doesn't know Lexus!  To me it was a step forward.

[ambermarine]

Just to add a reinforcement of the Ls400  favourable comparison with the 460, When I was looking to replace my then 20 year old Mark 1 400 because of rust in the usual places I seriously considered a 460 and  430 but I could'nt pull myself away from the perfection of the 400 and at the time I bought the mark4 (six years ago) there was little or no feedback on the 460 on the forum.

I did a extensive research over a two month period and eventually came down on the 400 and being very lucky picked up the best example of the mark 4 at the time and probably still is.

That is now history and if anyone had told me when I started my driving career fifty three years ago and had thirty different cars in that time and driven over a million miles I would end up keeping the same model of car for 25 years I would have laughed at them.

But that is testimony to how near to perfect the Ls400 is ,you cannot find better.

[Malc]

17 hours ago, Tulpen said:

Malc will be grinning from ear to ear   :)  

just thinking what a relief I still have my Mk3 .............  she's sure a brilliant car

Just covered 4250 miles across to and around Ireland in a month ..............  effortless calm considered armchair motoring .............

and the new Maxxis All Seasons tyres do certainly seem to make a big big difference to her

Malc

[Cotswold Pete]

Here is an idea!!

How about an owners swap club.

I have just done the Cotswold to Wirral run two weekends in a row, using a variety of roads to avoid the M5/M6 car park on  fridays.

Wide variety of roads from 'Smooth as a baby's bottom' to 'more ridges than a ploughed field', along 'top dressed a few years back and now looking like the road has measles', and up and down like a roller-coaster'.

Most of the time my 400 handles it well, but some surfaces seem to be as noisy as you like.  I would love to have done one weekend in my 400 and the next weekend in a 460 just to compare notes.  I wonder what I would choose, as I love the shape of the 460 (just) over the 400

But mainly I love my 400 as it has all I need, and most people are shocked to see a 18 year old car (in  not too bad a shape) and able to pull away like a rocket when needed.

[BigBoomer]

The 400 is a superb drive, and most report it as reliable as a brick, but when I was looking for my current car the best ones I could find seemed a little rough around the edges.
I test drove three 400s, three 430s and two 460s and of the 3 the 430 was the best compromise for me and I opted for an early face lift (2004 on an 03 plate).
The 430 has the most useful gadgets of the 460 without the irritations of most. The non-radar cruise control works, although I would prefer the Honda Legend style of control buttons on the steering wheel rather than the stubby stalk. The Nav is OK, but I rarely use it as I prefer my TomTom or even Google Maps/Waze on my phone. The hi-fi is OK, but not as good as I expected it to be with the Mark Levinson logo on it (it does need a speaker fixing/replacing).
As for drive-ability, the motor is awesome, the gearbox mostly good (gets confused occasionally), the suspension awesome, the ride sublime, and the seat comfort only slightly worse than my old S-Class. I could care less about the rear seat massagers/recliners and the fridge is mostly useless for me.
Where it really surprised me was hustling through the twisties. For a big old barge, boy can she move. Fast, precise, controllable, less roll than my Legend or the S-Class, and endless power to blast you out of the corners, and all that whilst remaining quiet and refined.
I liked the 400s (felt like a better quality version of the Legend) but I love the 430.
I disliked the 460, felt vague and unconnected. Might make a great limo, but not a drivers car.

[cruisermark]

Despite owning the 430 for 6 years I still love the Mark 4  - I saw one drive past today and boy did it look good ( I stopped to admire) - The paint was gleaming ( R reg) and it just floated past silently - If i could afford to run 2 cars I would buy one because one thing is for sure and save a piece of history

The 430 is a great improvement on the 400 in my opinion. After 6 years I still look forward to a drive and admire the quality of materials and workmanship and I have immense respect for her - I cant think of ANY other car I would feel the same with.

[The-Acre]

1 hour ago, cruisermark said:

Despite owning the 430 for 6 years I still love the Mark 4  - I saw one drive past today and boy did it look good ( I stopped to admire) - The paint was gleaming ( R reg) and it just floated past silently - If i could afford to run 2 cars I would buy one because one thing is for sure and save a piece of history

The 430 is a great improvement on the 400 in my opinion. After 6 years I still look forward to a drive and admire the quality of materials and workmanship and I have immense respect for her - I cant think of ANY other car I would feel the same with.

I'm with you on this.  I've had three LS400's which were great, but in my opinion the 430 trumps them.  After owning two LS430's I tried briefly to go back to an LS400 mk4 but it only lasted two weeks.  Having said that I still have a very soft spot for the LS400, I see a late X reg one here sometimes and it looks great.