1998 Lexus LX470 | Retro Review 

That’s awesome! I love to hear those stories of this vehicle going over 250K!

300k miles for this car is rookie numbers. i bet it can make it to million miles

@@zhila5958 if I’m mistaken, these share the same engine as the tundra, which are known for 1 Million mile engines

@@TheRealHungryJoe Toyota knows their stuff! in our country 75% of the cars on the roads are toyotas for a good reason. only the best of the best survive in the rough conditions of our country

These things were NOT cheap, so you better get your money's worth

Bottom line made in JAPAN

@@jesseserrano6520 - even for MADE IN NIPPON...

I see these on the road and they’re very well kept. Only show of age is the yellowed headlights.

Love my 03 LX470!

It is a little thirsty in MPG but bulletproof

yea because all the engineering still works lol

Yes indeed. High tech too for its time, that BMW-owned Land Rover benchmarked the LX 470 for development of the 2002 L322 Range Rover in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Sat at the top with the Range Rover, until LX fell behind in mid 2000s and other SUVs entered the marketplace. Navigator and Escalade were not as polished. 100 Series was state of the art in 1998, with a color in dash touchscreen navigation and infotainment system, before anyone else had it. Multizone climate control, AHC, and etc. Prestige was owning one of these or a Range Rover 4.6 back in the day. An ML320 or ML430 wasn’t that special. Nor was a 5 seater X5.

Under-engineered you mean, nothing amazing there.

@@Porsche996driver - OVER engineered in a '70s or '80s Mercedes way... Not over styled, everything works for the long run (even after 20+ years), but still confortable and luxurious. Things a BMW wished back then or today (just ask The Car Wizard over there in Kansas).

@@Porsche996driver Owning countless BMW M vehicles, as well as myself and my extended family often using fleet X5s and X7s internationally, alongside Land Cruiser 200s and LX 570s to date, I can confidently say you're full of it and another sad example of the typical BMW fanatic, who knows nothing of being objective and only looking for the next snarky comment to pass. My maternal grandfather imported, sold, and serviced BMWs in much of the latter Cold War era. It's almost in my blood. In fact, he did that just up until the Quandt family and BMW board of management, authorized advanced internal studies of sport utility development, prior to the Rover purchase in 1994. BMW board voted to spend the capital on a modified unibody E39 basis for the E53 X5, because to replicate a vehicle like the larger 80-Series Land Cruiser VX or similar Gelandewagen, was prohibitively expensive into the higher billions. The fact that then head of BMW Group R&D Dr. Wolfgang Reitzle had Land Rover benchmark the UZJ100 and not Navigator nor Escalade, is a testament to how well regarded it was, to the Teutonic perfectionist in him, as someone who also guided development of the E53 X5. I make it my business as an automotive product planner professionally and as an automotive historian personally, to learn about every automobile past, present, and future objectively. Often are many of you other BMW enthusiasts ever so arrogant to proclaim empty declarations, as if you know relatively how well this compared to vehicles of its day. I am able to use vehicles like these Toyota and Lexus body on frame utilities in both the city and rural regions of the world, at the same levels of comfort I can expect in a BMW utility or Land Rover. I never dare use the latter from semi-rural or rural runs, because on many occasions they encounter issues and the nearest capital city or major metro with a certified service centre, is rarely guaranteed. Toyota did a fine job with this vehicle and only later lost their competitive edge from resting on their laurels.

I guess it depends where you live cause I see way more old BMWs on the road than these. Not speaking for reliability but I hardly see any of these 470s

nd the air suspension still works lol unlike the others

Absolute facts. This is the model that made me appreciate Lexus/Toyota quality. We bought a 99’ from auction a few years ago with 250k. Drove like a hot knife going through butter. One of the smoothest driving experiences. Guzzled gas, but it was amazingly smooth.

Lol only if you washed this pos daily. Nothing rusts faster than Toyota junk

@@Welcometofacsistube says the guy with FCA garbage. the fact we have Land Cruisers running from 70s and 80s more than i see an FCA trash from a decade ago explains which is the superior brand

I've been looking for that and the GS430 and/or SC400.

Right!!!

I get about 15 mpg with mine and I don’t complain. It’s made of steel not plastic so it’s worth it.

You still see a lot of these on the road today because this generation of Lexus lx and Toyota Land Cruiser literally existed between 1998-2007

It is the weight and shape that kills the MPG, not the transmission. My LS400 will do 30 on the highway, 5pd.

These were loss leaders, like the LS sedan. Cost more to make than they sold them for. Those newer cars are put together cheaply, they look good and are impressive on paper, but they are empty underneath the good looks, and short-lived.

@@kftc1980 I don’t know if I believe that without seeing the numbers but then again you might know more about the subject matter than I do. I do know that this generation LX feels really solid and “heavy”. Just the way the doors shut and how the chassis and suspension feel when going over bumps. It feels SOLID. New cars feel empty and “echoey”

Wow, he must have been a hedge fund manager or something.

@@Commentleaver-c6x slum lord

Yup. The first thing I thought when I saw those figures was that a Mazda 3 could beat this car. Crazy how far cars have gone.

But now they are not build to last. Squeezing more and more power out of a smaller package comes at a price. So does cramming more and more tech and required safety items while keeping the weight and price down, they have to cut costs somewhere, and use more plastic parts in places where they shouldn’t. This era was peak quality.

Do they drive smooth on the expressway?

I have a 2005 lx470. It drives smoother than my wife's 2016 450h. Seats are wide and comfortable and the cabin is quiet and spacious. The seating position is very commanding. Something to note these have a hydraulic suspension. It adjust ride height as well as changing the hydraulic dampers from stiff to comfort. Unfortunately the prices have shot up on any lx land cruiser variant. Since Toyota will not bring the land cruiser to the United States anymore. You can't go wrong with buying one. Since prices on these are appreciating instead of depreciating.

The only downside of ‘03 plus is the touchscreen with integrated HVAC controls. Not exactly user friendly, and challenging and expensive to convert, if you can source all of the parts.

@@ozzie3056atleast we still get the new lexus lx600 which is essentially a fancy 300 series Land Cruiser

My 2006 LX has the night vision option; there is a little opaque rectangle embebed in the glass directly in front of the driver on the lower part of the windshield. The night vision system projects the image onto this area.

10 plus is very insulting

10 grand? Man these things are going for almost 30 for a nice example!

We had a customer just pay 30 grand for a one owner with only 100k on it!

@@robertdavis120 to me that seems like a steal mileage wise. Don’t know about the price. How much would a car like that have been pre-pandemic?

@@whizkid235 - those were going in the U$30K range PRE-PANDEMIC (they were already appreciating in price). Now you can probably see copies closer to the MSRP of back then for the nicest copies with < 150K miles on them.

Hoovie is a total goof

The 2003 to 2007 got the upgraded interior and rim changes i believe. Plus the 5speed tranny. 2006 and 2007 got the vvti with the increase in power. Different rims pattern. Upgraded led tail lights. So if you compare prices the 2006 and 2007 are the truly the ones to buy. But expect to pay a hefty price tag

@@ozzie3056 2003-2005 got 235HP, or maybe the way power was rated changed around that time. Because the GX470 and Sequoia with same engine were both rated at 235HP in 2003.

@@damilolaakanni I believe from 98 to 2005 it was the same engine making same power. Except 98 to 2002 it had a 4 speed transmission. 2006 and 2007 was same 4.7 as well but they added the vvti. I have a 2005 lx470 and I feel like it has enough power. Gas well thats its Achilles heel lol.

I think you need to vet your claims, as in different videos I keep seeing wrong info in commentary. LX 470s made from the summer of 2002 to spring 2005, do not have the more powerful V8, but do have the newer interior and updated styling. They were not literally made from 2003 to 2007. Model years are NOT literal and do not describe production periods for vehicles. A 2003 model of any brand could be made anywhere from September 2001 to December 2003, if launched anywhere between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2003. As a Nigerian who has imported and exported many of these 100 Series vehicles, works in the automotive industry as a product planning engineer and junior exec in the Detroit Metro area, it annoys me to see these gaffes.

At the time people had the same impression we got of "mallcrawler crossovers" today. But these are more and more often bought by people who'll use them for what they can accomplish.

It makes sense, if you’re going to take your vehicle to the middle of nowhere you want to know it will get you home. These were cost prohibitive when new for most people who would use them in that way. Not anymore, but still expensive compared to any other 20 year old car. I like them because they are easy to work on, and the split tailgate/hatch is awesome. This is perfect era of just enough technology but not too much, and peak reliability.

Haha, typical. Many vanish from the United States, because most go to Naija. Own fleets of these in FCT, LAG, and ANAB, through all generations. Great vehicles, but of course Americans don't appreciate them in general.

VW to Lexus, you took the shortcut from a really bad decision to a brilliant one.

@@kftc1980 update now is the 470 has an additional 5k miles, still no issues and the VW was mechanically totalled 2 days ago for both engine AND trans rebuilds. Never again haha.

i’m so glad my father didn’t bought the mercedes M-class ,that thing look hideous now unlike the LX470 still look good if not better than new cars today

Simple? This was the first SUV with a backup camera and also Bluetooth 20 years ago.

@@jmin8400 It had Bluetooth?

@@hedgehogthesonic3181 Yes, later.

@@jmin8400 you can fix almost anything that would break on this at home with few special tools needed, trust me. Try that with something brand new. I’ve had an LS400 for 8 years and 100k miles and have had to take it to a mechanic zero times. Surprisingly simple indeed.

The fuel costs will be mostly offset by reduced repair/towing bills. Also it is hard to put a price on the stress of owning a car you can’t depend on. Paying at the pump is a small price to pay for near perfection.

Well… Toyota does have a wastegate problem on the NEW Tundra; GM (Tahoe, Escalade, Yukon) has a rear axle problems; Ford pickups; drive shaft that can fracture. Chrysler hybrid has a fire risk problem. Kia & Hyundai; oil burning engines and catching on fire problem and etc. All new cars are Junk… especially TESLAS.

Agree

That’s a fact

2 years later I hope you found one

Or you could buy a 2004-07 model… This was the first fullsize SUV with bluetooth and a backup camera anyway, in 2003. No one else offered that in this class anywhere globally, outside of the Land Cruiser.

@@jmin8400 the nav in the 04-07 models is basically unusable today. I have an android head unit in my 04

@@wwatts Not everyone needs in dash navigation. My point is, they did Bluetooth first and also the first backup camera for an SUV of this size.

No, you are somewhat wrong. The Tundra did exist in 1998 but it was not in the marketplace for sale yet. In an odd move, Toyota began the slow roll out of the Tundra from February 1998, when it was revealed as the T-150 and renamed Tundra by press introduction in late 1998. It later went on sale June 1, 1999. John is correct about the LS400 engine the UZ V8 being shared with the LX 470 bored out to 4.7 liters.

AKA Land Cruiser Cygnus for the JDM......

@@electrikoptik lol

Lots for its time. In some markets, had GPS Navigation from 1998 as Land Cruiser Cygnus.