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Got them ... as wife would say ... who reads instructions ! If you cant break it .... you cant fix it.

Really!....you mean in all those dark evenings you never noticed the illuminated logo. Good job you know now then. Thanks for making me smile today....nice one!

Brakes would be the 1st things to check but it can be caused by suspension issues too, upper control arm balljoint, lower balljoint and other components with rubber bushes.

I had an IS200 Sport and then swapped it for a '07 GS450h SE-L just over a month ago. The GS is back at Lexus for some warranty work, and for the last week or so, I have been driving around in a '14 IS250 Premier and have clocked almost 1000 miles on it. The following is my quick opinion after driving all three Lexuses for relatively extended periods: Interior quality - IS200 feels like it has the most "solid" interior of the three. After 13 years and 130k miles, it is still creak and rattle-free. The GS on the other hand has a mixture of creaks and rattles depending on the ambient temperature and road conditions. The IS250 loaner has 2000 miles on the clock yet it does rattle slightly on certain coarse roads. Ride quality - GS wins hands down. Very smooth ride and excellent seats. I find the IS250 to be rather firm (not uncomfortably so) and the IS200 is somewhere in between. Handling - IS250 stands out here, it does feel like the successor that the IS200 would be proud of :). Very sharp car and I really enjoy driving it at the moment. Audio quality - This baffles me. Both the GS and IS250 are fitted with Mark Levinson systems. Yet, to my ears, the 8-speaker system on the IS200 Sport still sounds the best! With all presets at neutral, the GS sounds bass-heavy whilst the IS250 is treble-heavy. To me, the IS200 has the most "natural" sound of the three. That's my take on how the IS200 stacks up against those cars. :)

However, as has been mentioned in the past, it's mostly only the problems that we read about on forums, but it's not representative of the car. I'm of the mind that if I pay around 3K and I get two years of luxury motoring without any real issues, then it's money well spent, even if it all goes wrong after that, but any longer is a bonus. If I paid many thousands, it would of course be a different story.

I sold my old LS400 last year after 13 years and 225k miles - I had been running a newer and lower mileage Audi A8 W12 (6 litre petrol) and thought best to keep running this for longer instead of the Lex. What a mistake ! The Audi is a beautiful, modern and well built car but it has not been a good or cheap ownership proposition - whenever I have had to buy parts for it, it has cost me a small fortune and because it's the W12 version, parts seem to cost even more compared to the lower model versions. Last year alone I spent over £6k on various jobs - thankfully, I have managed to sell this year and I am now back in the Lexus ownership club with an awesome LS430. Best bit is that whilst this car is 11 years old, it has only done 44k miles and I managed to buy it for close to trade price. Good result and I'm looking forward to a few years of painfree luxury motoring

I will be attempting this on my MK4 very soon (failing at 225k miles) I'm hoping to be able to remove the manifold and TB as one unit, I'm also hoping that I'll be able to use my double bendy ratchet spanners to remove the starter without taking off the rear water bypass. This should mean that the only gaskets I disturb are the 2 intake to cylinder head gaskets...which I will attempt to re-use! Wish me luck

The Mark 4 is renowned as the best car ever produced in the 400 range from an all points considered concensus.The 430 fell out of my wanted list when considering a replacement for my 1990 Mark1 owned by myself for 16 years. I was fortunate in finding a 98 18k miler mark 4 in mint condition and after two years of ownership it is still as good as the day it left the factory.With eighteen years of ls400 experience I can vouch for the Mark 4 credentials. From a price point of view you are likely to pay as much for a car like mine as you would an early ls400 but without the doubts the ls430 might instill . The faults that the ls430 as been guilty of are well broadcast on this forum and my opinion is not a slight against the owners of them ,many of which have found to thier dismay after the purchase of the car.

I think I'd want to know which part of Japan this vehicle was from. Remember, this is a small country where the world's worst nuclear disaster is still raging out of control, largely unreported by the mainstream media and far, far worse than most people realise. It would certainly be prudent to have it checked over with a Gieger counter - particularly the HVAC system and seat fabric. (Yes, I'm deadly serious.)

Wow, that Celsoir has only been driven 12 miles a week! That sounds incredible, so must have spent many months/years laid up somewhere not being used. Either that, or some little old Japanese lady only drove it to the corner shop and back. If I was interested I would offer to pay five grand for it and also get the cambelt replaced due to age. (1996 is an interferance engine). Sorry, but £7,500 is way too much.