New LS 400 owner sa... Oh, I can't keep doing this

[Spacewagon52]

Just now, Spacewagon52 said:

I remember buying, I believe, the very first auto-reverse cassette player - PYE - BIG green buttons as I remember!

Not having to turn the cassette over .......... well that were real luxury in 1974!

[rich1068]

17 hours ago, Las Palmas said:

You have a cassette player in the beautiful car Richard? Once had a Nakamichi in our Nissan 300ZX. Funny thing: no reverse - to listen to side B the cassette needed to be turned around.

I do. Lexus hung on to cassette players long after many other manufacturers dropped them. Even had one in my '06 RX. Suits me because I like cassettes!

Unfortunately the one in the LS runs a little slow initially. I need to get @steve2006 to have a look at it if he's willing.

[Las Palmas]

2 hours ago, rich1068 said:

I do. Lexus hung on to cassette players long after many other manufacturers dropped them. Even had one in my '06 RX. Suits me because I like cassettes!

Unfortunately the one in the LS runs a little slow initially. I need to get @steve2006 to have a look at it if he's willing.

Cassettes are OK. Still have a lot of them. With good quality cassettes the doubling of magnetic errors is even on 35-year-old cassettes hardly notiseable. Worst was the salad:

[royoftherovers]

28 minutes ago, Las Palmas said:

Cassettes are OK. Still have a lot of them. With good quality cassettes the doubling of magnetic errors is even on 35-year-old cassettes hardly notiseable. Worst was the salad:

Good point John. Reminds me that Planet Earth has a magnetic core which is still performing satisfactorily after 4.6 billion years !😜

[Las Palmas]

23 minutes ago, royoftherovers said:

Good point John. Reminds me that Planet Earth has a magnetic core which is still performing satisfactorily after 4.6 billion years !😜

POh no John. You are not old enough to remember when it was made.

[rich1068]

1 hour ago, Las Palmas said:

Cassettes are OK. Still have a lot of them. With good quality cassettes the doubling of magnetic errors is even on 35-year-old cassettes hardly notiseable. Worst was the salad:

I get very good results with chrome and metal cassettes recorded at home. Analogue music for an analogue car 

29 minutes ago, Las Palmas said:

POh no John. You are not old enough to remember when it was made.

He's got one of the original handbooks and woe betide anyone who hasn't read theirs...

[smallredball]

8 minutes ago, rich1068 said:

I get very good results with chrome and metal cassettes recorded at home. Analogue music for an analogue car 

TDK SA! I've still got the one you kindly did for me when I bought your 2006 RX. 🙂

[rich1068]

25 minutes ago, smallredball said:

TDK SA! I've still got the one you kindly did for me when I bought your 2006 RX. 🙂

Ha! New username Barry?

How is the RX? Never been entirely sure why I sold that. The S-Max that replaced it lasted all of 12 months.

[smallredball]

Yup - hadn't logged in here for ages, and haven't the foggiest what my username/password/etc were. (age, brainfade, etc)

Your RX has been totally flawless (just a low 12V Battery during lockdown). It's taken us all over Europe, too, although we've done fewer miles this last year, obviously. Valeted yesterday and still great for 16 years of age. Just getting a quote now for getting those key-scratches done. (Alas in order to sell it - it's time to change to an all-EV for commuting and daily duties.)

Good to see you got into an LS, too. 🙂 What do you reckon to the LS vs the RX? 

apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol';">I'll be recommissioning my '97 Mk4 LS for long-range and weekend runs.

[rich1068]

Great news! Glad you've enjoyed it. Give me a shout before you sell. You never know 

LS is pretty lush. An entirely different animal to the RX though. And totally uneventful ownership as you can see from the lack of updates to this thread!

[rich1068]

The cassette player is behaving again! Hallelujah! 

[steve2006]

New belts and clean the pinch rollers....it’s when the take up spool fails you end up with magnetic spaghetti 😀

[rich1068]

It's still behaving. Very welcome but most odd. And coincidentally the inventor of the compact cassette, Lou Ottens, passed away yesterday.

Would anyone happen to know how much of an electrical draw a cassette player is? This may be nonsense but the only reason I can think of is that since replacing the alternator the car electrics are in a better state than they were. I'm sure someone who know more about these things will be along...

[rich1068]

I don't really want to post this but my LS may be coming up for sale.

I'm mentioning it here first because many of you will be familiar with it (virtually at least) and know I'm not some eBay chancer. It wasn't cheap to buy, I have lavished my usual level of attention and money on it and I won't be giving it away. I think we can all agree that the market for these cars is extremely strong at the moment and I'd be unwilling to let it go for less than £6500.

Not really in a position right now to sort a proper ad but feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or just throw used £20 notes at me.

[Tinonline]

Looks great.

The market seems to be stiffening for the Lexus and if I follow my usual timing I will have sold or out aged mine just before they get a great return🤭

I think I’ve mentioned before aged, good condition luxury motors tended to be priced by the trade at between 7-8k for many years. Not sure what the thumb rule is now.

[Malc]

Richard, she looks very smart indeed and we all wish you well in achieving " top dollar "

Malc

[Malc1]

so then Richard  .  is there an update on this  ?

Malc

[Stanwithaplan]

On 11/3/2022 at 1:30 PM, Malc1 said:

so then Richard  .  is there an update on this  ?

Malc

Seconded :o) Did you sell it in the end Richard?

[rich1068]

Oh yes. Sold it November last year.

Had one or two vehicles since and now settled on a couple of Saabs.

[Malc1]

36 minutes ago, rich1068 said:

and now settled on a couple of Saabs

always got one running then ?  🤣

Malc

[rich1068]

4 hours ago, Malc1 said:

always got one running then ?  🤣

Malc

Tbh I've always found them to be very reliable. I'm currently on my 6th and 7th! They're not engineered like the Lexus/Toyota/Honda stuff but they are easy to fix and unfortunately since I had Lexus and Toyota everyone else seems to have caught up and the market's gone a bit daft.

Since selling the LS 400 I've had an MR2, BMW E39, an Alfa GTV and now back into Saabs. Very happy with these two so you never know, I might keep them 

 

[Malc1]

18 hours ago, rich1068 said:

I might keep them

never in a million years 🤣 .  I too had a Saab about 30 years ago, brilliant great car ....  then my first Ls400 popped along and the rest is history really 

Malc

[rich1068]

Another LS400 ruined. What on earth possesses people? I know the world would be a boring place if we all liked the same thing but this? Air ride, quad exhaust, that gear shift and mismatched badges. I'm speechless.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202308130736227?advertising-location=at_cars&atmobcid=soc5&exclude-writeoff-categories=on&fromsra&make=Lexus&model=LS 400&price-to=9500&sort=year-dsc&transmission=Automatic

[Malc1]

4 hours ago, rich1068 said:

Another LS400 ruined. What on earth possesses people? I know the world would be a boring place if we all liked the same thing but this? Air ride, quad exhaust, that gear shift and mismatched badges. I'm speechless.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202308130736227?advertising-location=at_cars&atmobcid=soc5&exclude-writeoff-categories=on&fromsra&make=Lexus&model=LS 400&price-to=9500&sort=year-dsc&transmission=Automatic

I first noticed this car at £9800 ? and assumed it was one of those rare “air” from new and having failed over the years has had to be renewed ….. hence the silly price AND no one interested to buy 

Malc