mrdoofa

I’ve found one for sale on autotrader, it’s up at £4k, it’s done 156k miles and has had some considerable suspension work, ecu capacitors, new alternator and tyres amongst some other things. The cambelt was changed in 2010, not sure what mileage, the guy says the only thing that doesn’t work is the electric aerial. He also says if he gets the asking price he’ll MOT and service it too. What do you think?

Hi guys, Been a very long time since I’ve posted on here and I hope everybody is keeping well. I’m thinking about getting back into LS400 ownership, I’d like a nice mk4 example, prices seem to be all over the place, what seems to be the going rate for a decent mk4 these days, what can I expect for around £4K? I don’t want to spend too little and get a money pit but I don’t want to be ripped off either!!! Condition and service history as always is more important than mileage on these. If anybody knows of any decent ones for sale to fit that criteria or has any other advice I’d love to hear from you. TIA.

Thanks for your help and advice, I’ve asked for a more photos of the bonnet to see exactly how bad the scratching is, also I’ve asked if the rust has been properly dealt with as he said he put some rust preventer on then painted it for something to do during the lockdown. Would you say £2,750 is a fair price? It’ll come with the remaining 6 month MOT, he won’t put a new one on it due to being SORNed and no insurance. Thanks again!!!

Hi guys, been a long time since I’ve posted on here, hope everyone is keeping well. This is an enquiry on behalf of my nephew, he’s spotted a nice looking blue 1998 mk4 LS400 on eBay for £2,750. The seller says everything works as it should and he’s had quite a lot of work done to it, the mileage is 114k which is low for one of these and MOT’d until Jan 2021, the only issues I can see is that the paintwork on the bonnet could do with a respray (seller been quoted £150 but not been done) and there is an advisory for rear subframe corrosion on last MOT, seller said he has applied rust proofing to it then painted it. What do you guys think? Cheers!!!

Your attitude and input is neither helpful nor particularly welcome. “Old barge” is simply an term of an endearment and is not intended as a slur. “Barge” simply refers to the car’s size, because it’s big (and you can’t argue that the LS400 isn’t large). Also it refers to the car’s softer nature which again is not a criticism, it’s just an attribute of the car (an attribute that both me and my nephew happen to like). And the “old” part is simply a reference to the fact that the youngest example is now 20 years old. I did not intend to offend or upset with my initial post, however I’m not going to apologise for such an insignificant remark especially since no one else sees unduly bothered by it. I suggest you address your over sensitivity

Great, thanks for the help! 🙂 I’ll make sure he has a browse at Camrys. However he did fancy a V8 (assuming he can afford one). But the Camry’s reliability would be appealing to him.

Thank your for the advice 🙂 I’ll make sure he considers when making his decision. I should add though, that this is certainly not going to be car intended for anything else other than leisure. So if the worst came to the worst and it had to go off the road for a prolonged period, it wouldn’t be the end of world. He doesn’t really need a car, they’re just a hobby to him and he happens to like large luxury cars (unlike most his age, he like to waft and not thrash). The car he just got rid of was in fact a Jaguar! A 1999 S-Type 3.0 manual, surprisingly reliable but he found a bit dull. I think he found the V6 characterless and has even said he’d rather take a more charismatic but less powerful and slower V8. Apologies for the rambling, thanks for the post!

I’ll point him in the direction of those cars, and hopefully this will broaden his horizon and help him find something that he wants. I doubt he’d say no to any of them! Insurance should hopefully not be concern (but with the whims and fancies of the insurance providers one can never be sure). I should clarify that although I said he’s a university student, he’s a mature student and he is currently 23 years old so it’s not like he’s a teenager trying to insure some preposterous prospect of a car. Although having said that, he did own a 4.6 V8 Cadillac STS at 19 haha 😄. He also doesn’t mind ploughing lots of money into a car, they really are his thing. I Really appreciate the input and contributions, and for taking the time to write to us 🙂.

Thanks for your advice & searching for us though 🙂.

Shame that isn’t for sale now, that sounds pretty much perfect 😕 He would have had quite a bit of change from his budget too, at that price. That’s significantly cheaper than he expected them to be. If his last car would have been sold by then (which it is now), he would have had that LS.

Hello, my nephew has the V8 itch and has pondered the possibility of an early LS400. He rather likes the boxy looks of the early cars, and certainly likes the reliability. He does have quite a tight budget as he is a student, and he was wondering if it’s even possible for him to afford one. Could anyone help us out by telling us what we could expect to pay for a decent older LS400. He’s not concerned about it being concourse, just presentable. He’s definitely not bothered about mileage either, he knows these old barges can take withstand a bit of use. If anyone can help us, it would be very greatly appreciated or if you can suggest alternative vehicles for him if an early LS400 is too expensive. He’s thought about a Jaguar XJ8, but is concerned about reliability. Any help would be appreciated.

If in doubt give it a clout!!!

When you have the alignment checked they should set the steering wheel straight and then clamp it in position so it won’t move when they carry out adjustments, they should then find your car on the database on the computer attached to the machine which will then guide them with the adjustments, you might even be able to watch the screen yourself as they adjust it from the red to the green if that makes sense!!!

I used to average around 30mpg from my 2006 GS450H day to day on a 10 mile commute to work and back. The GS450H is more of a performance hybrid than economy and therefore doesn’t really operate in pure EV mode much at all, you can accelerate extremely gently and I mean gently to about 20mph for about 1 mile before the engine kicks in as the battery soon depletes, of course the engine still turns off whilst coasting and braking to save fuel. These cars are also extremely fast with astonishing acceleration available which you will enjoy using thanks to the instant torque of the electric motor and CVT transmission acceleration is constant and seamless like a train!!! There is no real test of the hybrid system you can do other than see if everything seems to operate as it should, you can do this by keeping an eye on the screen on the dash. A recent hybrid healthcheck certificate would be nice to have although it only covers the battery and not the rest of the hybrid components and the warranty only covers you if the car is less than 10 years old and less than 100k as far as I know even with a hybrid healthcheck being done. The shocks are different on the GS450H to normal GS’s and are a known weak spot with replacements being very expensive at around £400 each, the Y join on the exhaust can also blow, rear brakes are prone to seizing due to under use as the car uses regenerative braking from the hybrid system. Check for rust along the leading edge of the bonnet. Also the batteries steal a lot of boot space so something else to be aware of. TPMS sensors can also fail. They are a technologically amazing car offering a virtually unrivalled combination of performance, economy and refinement but can be very costly should anything go wrong. Good luck!!!

I wouldn’t miss the extra toys in the back of the car and also there isn’t any air suspension worries on that particular car, £2,500 is probably a bit steep, perhaps £2,000 is a bit more reasonable? The facelift gives you 6 speeds, revised styling, rear camera, radar cruise control on some models and a few other minor modifications, if I was given the choice between an excellent pre facelift example and an ok facelift example I’d take the pre facelift. As nice as the LS400 is they are now starting to feel and look quite dated to me, the LS430 isn’t any less well made or engineered but it is certainly a more complex car but they feel more modern and are much roomier than the LS400 and also feels more prestigious to me at least.