What did you get after your LS?

[donkmeister]

Firstly, I'm in no hurry to replace my LS460. The old bus has been good to me and my family love it too. But, I was idly musing at what I would get now if I had to replace it (and another LS wasn't an option). I'd be interested to hear what other LS owners replaced their cars with, or are considering replacing their cars with. Here are my 5.

Mercedes S-Class. Probably the closest in terms of luxury and build quality, but from experience of an E-Class it would be less reliable (the core car was fine, but the accoutrements like brake-by-wire and air suspension were less so)

Mercedes E-Class estate. I had an E500 saloon before the LS and loved it. V8 grunt, surprisingly light, and due to some minor fettling mine was a genuine 170+mph car. A bigger boot would have been the cherry on top. But, it didn't feel as well built as the Lexus, I spent enough on repair and maintenance to end up on first name terms with a specialist, and I'd have to wait a long time to find a particular spec.

BMW 7-series. BMW casts their V8s from cheddar and Wensleydale, so I'd have to get a straight-6. And whilst looks are subjective I'd say the BMW has even less exciting styling than the Lexus.

Toyota Alphard. I grew up watching the A-Team so a luxury van with sliding doors appeals. Available with a 3.5 V6, so still a decent amount of engine and Toyota, so properly built. Really I'd want the Lexus LM but they're still north of £100k.

Nissan Elgrand. Similar vein to the Alphard, albeit it's a Nissan 350Z in a grown-up suit (don't tell Fairlady Fanboys, they hate that!)

[BigBoomer]

It'll be another LS, probably another LS430. Hopefully that day is years away.
Additionally, the chances of me ever buying anything built after 2022 are zero.
So much bloody Nagware fitted to modern cars. 🤬that!

Most of the cars that I can fit my fat arse into comfortably are fat-arsed SUVs and I hate them.
The Range Rover is comfy but rolls too much in corners and isn't reliable.
The Mercs (E & S) are OK I guess but my W220 experience put me off the brand.
The Audi A8 & BMW 7 Series just don't float my boat. 
The Alphard/Elgrand are good (a work colleague has a nice Elgrand) but I don't want/need a van.
I tried a Genesis G80 a couple of years ago and whilst they are nice the engines are too small and they are still quite pricey used.

If I won the lottery probably a Bentley Flying Spur or a Porsche Panamera.

[donkmeister]

What was the W220 S-Class experience? I dodged a bullet after passing a W221 S600 by which turned out to be a money pit (bought by someone else on another forum I use).

[BigBoomer]

22 hours ago, donkmeister said:

What was the W220 S-Class experience? I dodged a bullet after passing a W221 S600 by which turned out to be a money pit (bought by someone else on another forum I use).

I bought a 2001 S320CDI for about £4k with 100k miles on the clock. It drove well most of the time and returned an average of 45Mpg (Diesel) which with a fuel tank that held 88 litres meant that 800+ miles on a tankful was easy and I once managed to get just over 1000 miles before the fuel light came on. It had the most comfy drivers seat I have ever sat in and is the ONLY car I have ever owned where I didn't have to have the seat all the way back. With it all the way back I couldn't reach the steering wheel. 🤣

However, over the 18 months/30k miles that I owned it, it blew an air-suspension strut, and had a never ending stream of niggly little electrical faults such that there was almost always a warning message on the screen for some fault or another. Mostly problems with sensors and wiring. When you started the engine it would open the sunroof and/or turn the radio on/off and/or open the passengers window which LED to a soggy seat/floor on a couple of occasions.
However it developed a habit of switching the engine off at 70Mph for no obvious reason, but never at any other speed. I could restart it by putting the gearbox into Neutral and then turning the ignition off and on again and then starting the engine, but it was scary. In the end the turbo oil seals went and it was smoking badly and I finally had enough. Between the endless faults and the ATROCIOUS throttle lag I'd had enough, so I got shot of it to We Buy Any Car for £650.
My better half called it "Christine" and never really liked the car.

[Alan305]

I replaced my LS400 with a new Chevrolet Camaro Z28.

Similar whoosh forward from the right pedal, but a lot more noise.

Back in an LS430 a few years later.

[Spacewagon52]

LS400 1998 Mk4 for an Electric MG5

[GMB]

22 hours ago, Alan305 said:

I replaced my LS400 with a new Chevrolet Camaro Z28.

Similar whoosh forward from the right pedal, but a lot more noise.

Back in an LS430 a few years later.

Lovely!

9 hours ago, Spacewagon52 said:

LS400 1998 Mk4 for an Electric MG5

Daddy or Chips?

[GMB]

On 9/27/2024 at 3:01 PM, BigBoomer said:

the chances of me ever buying anything built after 2022 are zero.
So much bloody Nagware fitted to modern cars. 🤬that!

Me too. Although I would go for 2021 as the limit maybe. Don't want the complicated bloatware and useless distractions.

[GMB]

On 9/27/2024 at 3:01 PM, BigBoomer said:

arse

How did you get that past the auto censor?😄

[BigBoomer]

1 hour ago, GMB said:

How did you get that past the auto censor?😄

I presume it only reacts to the American spelling of "*****" rather than the good old English "arse".
We shall see after I post this.
Either that or else it doesn't consider it to be obscene like ****, ****, *********, ***** and of course **** ***** in the **** with a spiked ****** 🤣
(Yes, I added the asterisks myself! 😁)

[BigBoomer]

Yup, it censored the 3 letter word that means donkey 🤣

[GMB]

Bottom?   Just seeing how politically correct it is.

[Cotswold Pete]

I ended up with E350 (W212) - nice and pokey, jumpy auto box (as someone else said makes you behave like a nodding donkey, much more fragile than LS 400, boot right shape to get a bike in (LS 400 was larger but not as deep). Seats as comfortable as a Scottish  Kirk. For sure it needs more repairs, but parts do seem cheaper.  Seems as fast and as quite as LS 400, and not so heavy on tyres (possibly)

I did think of S-class, borrowed a mates, but still seemed like a pretender to a Lexus Limo.

Son just bought a 2013 Mazda 3 impressive little car, pretty quite not too many fancy gadgets so maybe when my time for larger cars expires something like a Mazda will do it.

[plastic orange]

I replaced my Ls400 dhp with a C5 Corvette 3 years ago and it's been great - no rot to watch out for and similar mpg, but with more grunt and great handling.

[Malc1]

1 minute ago, plastic orange said:

but with more grunt and great handling.

my Ls400s have zero " grunt " and great handling ....  might be the Ls400 DHP had too stiff suspension etc that made the handling more challenging 

The Ls400s were never built to have anything other than quiet presence ............ and brute, quiet power !

Malc

[plastic orange]

I'd no complaints about either performance or handling on my lexus, just that the Corvette has more. It is a surprisingly comfy ride too, obviously not like the Lexus, but for a sports car, pretty good.

[donkmeister]

17 hours ago, plastic orange said:

I replaced my Ls400 dhp with a C5 Corvette 3 years ago and it's been great - no rot to watch out for and similar mpg, but with more grunt and great handling.

C5 ditched the earlier "bird cage" construction used in C2-C4s didn't it? A few years back I had a hankering for a "Faceman" C4 and the condition of the birdcage was a gamble from what I read. Made me realise I needed to have a bit more free time for car fettling before I'd take the plunge!

[plastic orange]

On 10/3/2024 at 10:01 AM, donkmeister said:

C5 ditched the earlier "bird cage" construction used in C2-C4s didn't it? A few years back I had a hankering for a "Faceman" C4 and the condition of the birdcage was a gamble from what I read. Made me realise I needed to have a bit more free time for car fettling before I'd take the plunge!

Yes, that's correct. They have a hydro formed chassis which is apparently 5 times stiffer than the C4. I've really had no complaints or issues with it despite it being a lot different to the LS 400. 

As I don't really need a 4 seater car I just fancied a change and the C5 came along, but I really did like my LS as I had it for almost 13years with very little trouble. I wouldn't hesitate getting another if a totally mint one dropped in my lap. Another car I'd like to revisit is a P6b Rover - I had a lovely one for a similar length of ownership as the LS.

[donkmeister]

The V8 always calls to me too. Rover P5B is an itch I'd love to scratch one day - doesn't have the "car of the future" vibe and suspension of the P6B but it really has a presence. Plus that comfy sofa of a bench seat in the front looks inviting! Ideally, a P4 restomod would be on the cards but I don't have the room to do anything like that at home!

[Malc1]

Remember the Rover P5b is merely a 3.5ltr V8

Malc  

[GMB]

13 hours ago, Malc1 said:

Remember the Rover P5b is merely a 3.5ltr V8

It is a 3.5L yes and only about 150 bhp but it's not what you do it's the way that you do it. The car had a lovely V8 burble, would hit 120mph and had that "whoosh" in the auto box version. I had the P6 police spec - 175bhp --( with the awful Dunlop Denovo runflat tyres)  and it was a very nice car. Unfortunately it rotted away to a pile of rust.