Lexus LS 400/LS 430

ckennedy

New York. I believe he is going for the convertible but I was under the impression the bank owns it so wouldn't I be dealing with them?

ljflx

Yes - then it'll be up to what the bank has in the lease. I had assumed it was a Lexus Finance lease. But if it says immediate family and that usually means child, brother/sister and parent. I'm sure the bank will not give you any problem. They are in the business of lending money, not selling or auctioning cars. They will be happy to have one less car to worry about.

ckennedy

Oh thanks I am hoping they will knock a little off being they will have to dispose off the car to a auction. I am sure I don't have much leverage given the car and low miles but it's worth a shot. i am going to wait to the very end to negotiate

sv7887

CKennedy,
  You can be sure that you are investing your money in a solid car. I've had every LS model so far and they hold up well. My '92 Ls has 91K on it now and maintenance has been reasonable. I've recently had to replace a few suspension bushings, but what do you expect from a 12 yr old car that has been driven in Boston weather? I haven't had any mechanical problems whatsoever. In 12 yrs I've spent a total of $3600 in assorted services and repair...I replaced a faded LCD display and a power steering pump. The pump was my fault as I bought into the Lexus marketing pitch that it was for "lifetime" Maybe for the life of the warranty! I usually change the fluids on a 15K interval. The manual says 30K, but for small change I'm not going risk a major component failure.

The only worry is the life of all the electric gadgetry that my LS430 is full of. The first thing that comes to mind is the Navigation system screen. I had the auto steering retract shut off, and keep the auto mirror retract off as well. While these gimmicks are fun to play with, it's easy to forget they have a given lifecycle. I've already had some of these problems with my car. I'll either trade the car next year or buy the extended warranty.

Be prepared to shell out several hundred dollars every 30K for services. That does sound like significant amount of money, but Lexus does take a preventative approach. It's very unlikely you'll have to bring the car in for anything other than scheduled maintenance. Also call around and compare the prices for the services. I routinely save myself $200-300 off the list price by simply doing this.

For simple things such as brakes I just order them from Irontoad.com and get an independent mechanic to replace them. I also bought myself the repair manual for the LS400 off Ebay. It makes doing very basic maintenance much easier.

Hope this helps,
SV

ckennedy

Thanks, getting the manual sounds like a good idea. Then you can pretty much take control of things that go wrong. I am comfortable in that it is a quality car. We are stretching the bank account as it is I am just concerened that when things go wrong it could get expensive. I never owned a foreign car nor a luxury car of this magntitue. I have a local guy that could do brakes and things but probably would not tackle the bigger ticket items.

ljflx

absolutely give it a shot but my guess is the bank will not discount the car at all - too much paper work for them. Let us know how everything turns out.

paulchiu

Got call from my Lexus rep saying that the body work was finished. I ask him how it turned out, and he has no idea. So I left a message to the service manager and requested that he checked out the work.

The rep called back some time later and said that the manager did not want me to pick the LS430 up as the job was not done well.

Later we talked and the problem was from the "lumpiness" in certain areas of the new bumper cover. He did say the color matching wasn't the issue. The scratch (3/4 inch) on the car body near the bumper cover was simply touched up with paint. I am not sure if that is a good thing, as the scratch had remove all the paint, down to the white (maybe primer, maybe bare metal)

Well, the manager is honest indeed! But I am not too happy tonight!

rgsw

Try posting this on the forum
"Lexus LS: Prices Paid & Buying Experience", perhaps you are posting both places? Good Luck.

rgsw

I understand you can buy Lexus Extended Warranty from the dealer if the car has less than 3 years and 36000 miles on it. Might inquire?

rgsw

I had my LS430 15.000 mile service today. Lexus HQ Customer Service advised me not to service the transmission (local dealer suggested maintenance) as Lexus was going to change it out anyway. Saved me a few bucks.

hpowders

Hey Michael. How did you negotiate with a dealer 1500 miles away-by phone, email? How much was the delivery charge? Did you go to the dealership at all? Did you ever consider Lexus of Kendall in Miami, Fl? I have found their prices fair. Did you ever consider Autospies car negotiating service and if so did you find you could probably do as well or better yourself?
Thank you.
Howard Powders

billsoter

I own a 2003 LS430 and anticipate buying the next generation LS in 2006 or whenever available. I'd really want an audio system in that vehicle that plays MP3 CD's and/or has an auxiliary jack for an Ipod or other MP3 player. Does anyone know if Lexus plans such a system? How can I contact Lexus to encourage them to provide such a system?

ljflx

See if you can e-mail them through Lexus.com or the Lexus magazine online. They just sent me a satiisfaction survey and asked for recomendations. I put in DVD audio for entertainment as well as a usb port for portables. They are usually at the forefront of stereo equipment, along with Acura (they already has dvd audio) so I'll bet they will bring some of these things into play with the new car.

michael_mattox

hPOWDERS:

I dealt with them by phone...Prior to contacting them I had been looking for LS430s for several months had test driven them etc. My local dealers were just too expensive. I wanted an Ultra and they were very hard to find. I knew the prices and what they were going for from my research.

I believe shipping was about $1000 from LA to Seattle. From the East coast it was about $1500 or so...

I had contacted Sales people at about 6 different dealerships around the country and told them what I wanted and asked that they call when they got something in....I got a call from LONGO Lexus in delmonte California...The price was right. I sent a deposit $15,000 I think, subject to my inspection of the car...I then Flew down with my wife they picked us up at the Airport we went through the car (normal delivery stuff) filled out the paper work and that was it...A great deliver experience, I Highly recommend the dealer. ...

We had free miles on a credit card and we wanted to take a trip to that area to visit friends. My savings on the car and shipping, more then paid for a 3 week trip and we got to put some serious miles on the car and get accustom to it. It was great to have a Nav. System. It was a really nice trip. I would do it again for sure.

ron36330

I own the following:
03 LS 430 Ultra
03 Lexus SC 430
98 Toyota 4-Runner Limited
Wouldn't own anything but a Lexus or Toyota.
To own em is to love em!!!!
Ron

michael_mattox

Ron:

I couldn't agree more.

hpowders

Michael:
Thanks for your comprehensive reply.
HPowders

ckennedy

Do you know if I would get the remainder of the original warranty as the 2nd owner?

1stavy

Within 2 months I will be purchasing either a 99 or a 2000 LS 400 as my 95' Avalon now has 276,000 miles and I'm trading up. I'm leaning toward the 2000 because it's the newer model year however I realize that with comparable mileage a 99 could be had for less. I'm aware of the Brake Assist as a new feature with the 2000. Is it such a great addition as to be a major selling point? Can those of you who have driven both, feel the difference in brake performance? I do major highway driving (42k yrly) and I'd like to know if safety is greatly enhanced with the new feature. Thanks in advance for your attention and input.

stevestein

I've never heard brake assist used as a selling point on any of the Lexus or MB I've gotten that had it.

pepe11

Just visited the local Lexus dealer to test drive the GS. I found it a bit small but really like the LS. They have a 2002 LS430 with 24,500 miles. It did not have nav. Dealer wants a little over $42k before any negotiation. Can anyone provide guidance on whether that is a decent price?
Thanks in advance.

paulchiu

To give your an idea how wacko dealer prices are, my 2003 ultra lux LS430 was damaged at a Lexus dealership with 2700 miles on it. The only imperfection was the damage done by the dealership. In passing, I asked what the dealer senior manager would pay me for the "damaged" LS430 so I may buy the 2005 version. They offered, under these situations, $46,000 for my LS430 with practically no mileage. List on my car was $70,450.

The $42,000 your dealer wants can be compared with the price they offered me. Mind you, other dealers offered me in the low $40K when I phoned them. Surely, they didn't crashed my car, as mine did.

Hope this helps you. You're better off buying on Ebay.

1stavy

Can those of you who have driven both, feel the difference in brake performance? I do major highway driving (42k yrly) and I'd like to know if safety is greatly enhanced with the new feature. Thanks in advance for your attention and input.

chasfj

Brake Assist isn't something you would "feel" under normal circumstances. It measures how fast and how hard you step on the brake, and in a panic stop situation it works with ABS to apply max brakes. It is designed to ensure that even a small driver can apply maximum braking force. To me, it's like air bags. I don't think about it, but I'm glad it's one more safety feature there if I need it.

1stavy

Thanks chasfj. I think I'll feel more secure that my family is safer with the Assist function.

wwest

chasfj is mostly correct...

Apparently many of us, in a panic braking situation, QUICKLY, rapidly and firmly apply the brakes initially but then our mind drops out of automatic reaction mode and we tend to lift the pedal to a more moderate level.

It is my understanding that just as chasfj said the system "watches" the rate at which we initially apply the brakes and then will prevent them from being moderated when we then start to lift our brake foot.

I would guess that it also helps to prevent brake moderation due to pedal lift as a reaction to the ABS pedal vibratory "feel".

The latter instance has proved to be a really big problem for ABS equipped vehicles.

diesel11

Hi, I just recently went through the process of buying a LS430 CPO at a dealer. This was not a pleasant experience for me at all. The price actually is in line with what I paid for my 2001. I paid 40K for 2001 with 41000 miles. I have sport suspension, nav, Mark-Levinson etc. Just be careful to check out the car very carefully, as the car they sold me had some paint damage which they are just now fixing...there was superficial rust on some of the sites!

I love the car and have no regrets, just be careful....dealers can't be trusted!

Fred

agent0986

i just had my navigation system harddrive replaced for my 2001 LS430. i had the upgrade (cy 03') but somehow i am back to version 1 now.
is this somehow a mistake, or did the dealer pull a swap on me, hoping i wouldnt notice(my ls430 experience has been terrible) what is going on? service department is closed till tomororw morning, then i will get this thing straightened out.

michael_mattox

It's possible they did not install it properly..I installed my own and I think the only possible screw up is if they didn't leave the car on long enough for a proper download.

It takes about 5 min. after the disk is inserted for the down load to finish. The Car doesn't need to be running but it does need the aux power on.

agent0986

i had the entire navigation system in the back replaced. i opened it up and my cy 03' disk was gone and they and replaced it with a 2000 version 1. they took my disk ! i better have this straightened out by tomorrow. i am sorry to say but this will most likely be my last lexus.

diesel11

Was this done at a Lexus dealership????!!!
If it was, then this was a disgrace. There is no bigger fan of Lexus cars than myself, but the dealerships are becoming a nightmare. Above is my post about my CPO 2001 LS430 I just bought with rust on it! The dealership was completely unhelpful until I informed them of all the Lexus sites, like Club Lexus that I was telling everybody about their dealership. They changed their tune at that stage.

IMO Lexus vehicles are the best, but there sales people are terrible....it's like teenagers selling luxury cars! (Based on experience at 3 dealerships), and their service is falling too. I think the cars sell themselves and the dealerships aren't having to put in any customer effort at all.

Still love my midnight pine 2001 LS430 though lol.

Fred

michael_mattox

I would call the Management of the dealership and report what happened and if I didn't get a lot of apology and explination I would then call Lexus USA (Go to their web site)

Is your dealer a Lexus Elite Dealer? If so they would have a lot to lose and it is unlikely this is anything other then a dishonest employee or what is more likely a horrible mistake that should not have happened. Below is a Link to a listing of the Lexus Elite Dealers.

http://www.lexus.com/dealers/eol.html

diesel11

While this is a good idea, the dealership that certified my CPO 2001 LS430 was the one in Silver Spring Maryland which is a Lexus Elite Dealer. The non-elite dealership that evaluated this car said it should never have been sold as a certified pre-owned because of the body damage. The "Elite dealership" in Silver Spring was not helpful at all until the end. If you check out Club Lexus, you will find other people who wrote in with similar horror stories from the same dealership.

Lexus USA needs to deal with this problem with their dealerships, but all they really want is to continue to sell cars to the dealerships, so they are not going to come down very hard on them. This was certainly my experience and others.

Time will tell if this problem improves, but the 'elite' status is not very meaningful IMO.

Fred

wwest

Lexus agreeing to "grade" their dealers should be a strong indication that something has gone wrong, VERY wrong.

Lexus should mean "elite" regardless...

michael_mattox

diesel:

It is Lexus USA that is providing the Warrenty..CALL THEM ..and discuss this issue with them in full....

It is the responsibility of ALL LEXUS DEALERS to provide Service under that warrenty...The Certification Applies TO ALL DEALERS...IE they owe you the service.....NO QUESTIONS ASKED and should not even be questioning the other dealer and should keep their internal problems to themselves...THIS IS NOT YOUR PROBLEM IT IS THEIR PROBLEM...

paulchiu

Michael,

It was an "Elite of Lexus" dealer that crashed the back of my 2003 LS430. It is now 2 weeks and 1 day, and it is still not repaired. In addition, the new 2004 RX330 loaner car they gave me, broke down in the middle of the road with a dead alternator. This vehicle had 600 miles at the time of its demise.

The only positive out of this, was the courtesy of the women agents at the elite dealer who helped me get a tow truck. It was a very stormy day in New York and many cars were down due to flooding.

Thankfully, I had a nanny picked my baby up, and I waited 2+ hours for the flat bed.

I was given another loaner, an ES330 this time, as I wait for my LS430.

So, "Elite of Lexus" may not mean perfect. Just another marketing gimmick.

Paul

diesel11

Yes, yes, yes. lol
Of course this is what I and others have done, but very little is usually able to be accomplished for as previously mentioned reasons. One has to be willing to keep calling and calling and using any and all means to get Lexus to do anything.

While the dealer eventually agreed to fix my problem, I had to fight to have this done at an independent body shop, instead of the one they owned, which was 4 hrs from me! No apology ever given, but they did agree to pay for their error....Wow what a dealership!!!!

Hate to rant, because the cars are spectacular, but the dealerships are quite lacking IMO.

Fred

mattgrich

I just chose not to buy an LS430 based on the modifications that have been made to the headlights and their effect on vision down the road. I'm not sure if it is the autoleveling feature coupled with the downward aim and very sharp demarcation line of the projector lights, but the result on dark, hilly roads is that there are times when one is unable to see more than about 25 or 30 feet down the road. Lexus says that they are aware of the problem but have no solution for it at this time. Apparently many have complained, although this site is suprisingly quiet about this shortcoming.

I believe that fearing lawsuits from accidents where an oncoming driver alleges that the car's HID's blinded them (according to Consumer Reports, there are thousands of complaints about the glare from HID's), Lexus has aimed alot of technology at the goal of keeping HID light out of oncoming driver's eyes. A laudable goal, up to the point where downroad vision for the driver of the LS is significantly impaired. And that is exactly what I experienced. The worst case is when you are ascending a hill and the autolevelers point the lights down, cutting short downroad vision even further. No question that the sides of the road are well lit, but far vision is less than half that of regular halogens in certain circumstances.

I suggest that anyone interested in an LS430 test-drive it on a very dark, hilly road first. Any amount of ambient light will mitigate this effect, so if you never plan to travel on a dark road this may not be important. For me, however, it changed my buying decision. It broke my heart too....this is an otherwise great car.

rgsw

My experience with the 2004 Lexus LS430 headlights is much different than yours. Granted I have not done a lot of dark winding road driving. I find the amount of light projected on low beam is more than adequate and superior to the former halogen lights. Your mention the leveling of the lights while going up a hill causes the lights to lower. I was under the impression that the leveling mechanism worked in regard to the plane of the car and not the plane of the earth? I have seen others in this forum praise the new headlight systems when driving on dark winding roads.

rgsw

I complained that my 2004 LS430 floor rug would not stay under the door sill on the drivers side. I would see a gap and then I would push the rug back under the door sill plate. Eventually it would work its way out again. The dealer and Lexus chose to replace the carpet, both sides and front and rear rather than try to stretch it and glue it. So far, in three years, I have found the dealer and Lexus has gone out of the way to correct all discrepancies I have brought to their attention. Now they are recalling two (2004 LS 430) items that I did not bring to their attention; the fuel pump and the automatic transmission. In a previous 2001 LS430, I had a buzz in the ventalation system due to a stuck vane/door. They replaced the entire under dash ventalation system and it worked perfectly after that. I had a driver seat cushion cover replaced due to cracking leather. Recently, I suggested they move the XM Radio antenna from the side of the trunk lid to the middle front edge which they did at the 15,000 mile inspection/service as a courtesy. I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope my elite dealer continues to perform in thier superb way.

wwest

The 90 thru 92 models had the same problem, headlights designed for a too low pattern. I could adjust them upward but then the high beams illuminated the sky. It was fixed by 93 but I wonder if the Lexus engineers have screwed up again with instituting the HID design.

Does the Japanese public accept a lower pattern becuase generally their low beam speeds are lower?

michael_mattox

Paul:

If you would have received better service from one of the other Luxury car dealers...Then yes it is just a marketing gimmick.

Maybe the Mercedes or BMW or Audi Dealers are a better group, Maybe it is worth it to Get an S class even if it is $20-30 thousand more. (for the stripped down model)

Lexus will go down hill much faster then Mercedes if they let this crap happen very often...their reputation is build on service and reliability and you don't seem to be getting much of either.

paulchiu

Michael,

For a more complete (and fair) history, the Elite of Lexus dealer (in New Jersey) where I bought my 2003 LS430 serviced it 3 times and did a "clean" job each time. Their service facilities was loaded with freebies like fine sandwiches, drinks, and even a golf simulation room. I sent out great reviews for them each time.

The Elite of Lexus dealer which crashed my LS is in New York. I went because I needed a State Inspection and I thought a local gas station would not treat my LS430 with the level of care a Lexus dealer would. I was wrong in this case.

As for Mercedes and other dealers, I don't think they are all that different from Lexus's. Most high end dealers around New York offer all the top brands under one umbrella. For instant, the biggest Lexus dealer in NJ is Ray Catena, they offer Mercedes, Jags, Lexus, Infiniti, and Aston Martins. Another top 5 Lexus dealer in New York is Rallye which offers Mercedes, BMW, Acura, Lexus, and Rolls Royce.

My relationship with a Mercedes S500 for 3 years with Rallye had many small mechanic issues, but they never dinged my Benz. In the years I had with an M class, they never crashed it either.

I never had a bad experience with my first Lexus with Rallye back in the 90's.

I guess I suffer from the law of averages. I am finally getting my "due".

Paul

jsb16

I got the Verizon V710 (finally out this week!!) and got it recognized by the vehicle. When I receive an incoming call, the map screen changes to a phone screen and the music mutes but I get no phone ring tone. Another user on a phone web site reported the same problem. Anyone know what is going on here? Also, it will not upload the phone contacts. Lexus says they have limited experience with these phones. All thoughts are appreciated.

maxhonda99

I don't think the 2000 LS400 had brake assist. I think the current generation LS430 got brake assist.

leza2279

I also just purchased the Verizon V710 and have experienced the exact same problems that you stated in your email, i.e., no phone ring tone for incoming calls and my inability to upload my phone book to the car's bluetooth system.
Let's hope that someone out there can help us out.
Thanks....
Jerry

rgsw

I purchased my new Verizon/Motorola V710 this past Thursday also. I have not received a call in the car, so guess I better check it out. As for uploading the phone book, I had no success either. I used the procedure outlined in the Lexus manual and now success. I could not get the same readout on the screen that the book showed. I remember someone else here talking about loading his phonebook sometime back, maybe he can enlighten us. Guess I'll check at the dealer, but doubt if they will be familiar with the phone. I like the phone, hope we can get the glitches resolved.

agent0986

hey again guys, thanks for all the posts. well
i called them saturday and they couldnt do anything for me because neither my service person or technician were working that day which was a huge huge disappointment because i explained i had to go up near toronto for the weekend. They said theres nothign we can do right now and to call back monday morning, which I will do first thing tomorrow. by the way, the dealer is Rallye lexus here on Long Island, im hoping its some kind of huge mistake because ive really never had many problems with them, but Nav disks just don't swap themselves. I even bought the update from this dealer. i'll let you guys know what their excuse was, hopefully when i go pick up my disk tomorrow. If the disk is not returned to me tomorrow is there anything else i can do? i paid 300 dollars for the damn thing and the new POI's were so helpful, especially here on Long island.
what happened to this car? technically speaking it still runs great and all, but my LS body is showing so much wear, it is rusting in 3 different areas, esp under the hood, and at 40k miles im 2k miles from my 3rd set of brakes. is that possible?

michael_mattox

Isn't rust covered by warrenty...When you Bring it in ask them about it and if it is covered tell them you want it fixed and you want a loaner.

topspin628

I have a Sony Ercsson phone and was able to down load my entire phone book. Once we figured it out it only took about 3 minutes for about 150 numbers. I don't recall the exact steps but we called the Sony customer service number and they quickly guided us through.

My phone also does not ring from the car. I am not sure if it's supposed to but will check in the manual. For now I just keep it on ring when I I'm in the car and I hear it from the phone itself. That and the radio mutes.

I also went for XM and love it. Saw earlier post regarding moving antenna. Mine is on side of trunk too. Did you move only for aesthetic reasons?

I also notice a slight hesitation on initial acceleration from a slow speed. Is this normal for the LS?

I also posted earlier but no response yet as to driving in the different modes; with shift lever to left vs right and all the choices 1-5, 1-4 etc.

What exactly does that do and how does it affect the shift points? ECT vs Power as well?

Thanks