Welcome to California where Kyle buys @TheDrivenDave's Lexus LS400. Check out Dave's channel for great car reviews and now Tesla content! / @thedrivendave For further inquiries please reach out to info@outofspecstudios.com
I bought my LS400 for $5,000 in Pheonix Arizona. Then proceeded to the grand canyon, Las Vegas, San Diego, L.A. , up the coastal highway to Big Sur, then back down the coast. Roadtrip king. So smooth and reliable enough to go across country. Easy to forget, that it is a $5,000 & a 24 year old vehicle with 175k miles... Try that with any other vehicle.
Just picked up a 1 owner, only dealer serviced 140k mile, 1990 ls400. Absolutely mint inside and out. 33 years of receipts for oil changes every 3750 miles lol.
I worked on these vehicles at Santa Monica Lexus and Bob Smith Toyota near here back in the 90’s. Even back then, I’d see a 1990 LS400 with 300k. When Toyota came out with the 2UZ FE in the Tundra and Sequoia, I knew they’d be reliable long lasting. I also worked with George back then at the dealer. Shortly after he opened his independent shop. George is a hard worker and very honest. I’m sure that’s why his business has thrived 25 years later.
I’m a subscriber of Daves and I also have a 98 LS400. Mine cosmetically isn’t as good as his but it’s mechanically sound. Good car and I’m glad it’s found a good home.
I came across my 99 LS400 on accident I was originally looking for a first gen 300c then my buddy sent me a 99 LS400 with 158k for 4500 I talked the guy down to 4000 I’ve had it for a month I love it lol when I first walked up to it I knew I was gonna wanna buy it before the test drive
I was in a 99 LS400 when it was new when friend's dad had it. I was blown away by how smooth it was. Definitely a buy if it's in good condition. Starter motor replacement isnt fun though
I remember this Car being released in a Museum I worked in in Sydney Australia in the late 80's. One thing they had on display was a sheet of Metal from the Lexus and one from a Jaguar. And you hit them with a hammer. The Jag made the usual loud clang and the Lexus one was a very Dull sound like hitting Lead but without the Weight.
Fantastic car.. the engine is SO quiet and smooth in LS. Change the timing belt , and do the maint.. and it will run FOREVER.. considering its a 30 year old design.. they are amazing, decent power, decent efficiency for a 5 speed automatic.
I'm still thinking of getting an LS400 or an LS430. I have the coupe, a SC400 with a little over 200,000 miles. That's my weekend car when I'm not driving my Mach-e. These cars are tanks. Do check out "Million Mile Lexus". That car is still going, having changed ownership a few times. The 1UZ will last forever. You can get a nice LS430 steering wheel for like $500.
The alternator can be removed with the power steering pump still on. You can remove the pulley too. It's not a engineering flaw. He just didn't know what he was doing
This is so depressing. They do not make cars like they used to and they will never make another one like this. Simple understated elegance, no gimmicks, and every feature that it does have is flawlessly executed and designed to last forever. That interior... clean simple lines with nice contrasting light colors, and tactile controls for absolutely everything. It's definitely a keeper!
Congrats on purchasing a true engineering marvel! Don't knock the LS with bad comments if you've never experienced it. Yes.... It's a grandpa car, but it's so awesome. Lexus wouldn't be the company it is today without the LS. It must be judged with context and perspective of the time. You wouldn't believe how much engineering talent Lexus threw at this car. They had to create something special in order to compete with the Germans and that's exactly what they did. It's soooo smooth and get greats gas mileage for a V8! These cars were built with quality materials and age extremely well. Enjoy it!
So glad you get it! Not necessarily an exciting car, but it has enough power to be fun and smooth enough to be boring when you want to forget you’re driving. Such a fantastic car and drove better than when I bought it 95,000 miles ago. Not many cars are capable of that. Can’t wait to see what Kyle does with it.
100% agreed. It may not be the most exciting, but it's the absolute comfiest daily driver you can get with the reliability to boot. Close second would be the panther body Town Car, but it doesn't have oscillating vents so LS430 wins.
That Lexus is a good copy of the w124 Mercedes, which in my opinion is much better engineered. I find that the Volvo 240 and the Mercedes w124 and w126 are in a class of their own… Great video👍
The LS400 is the most reliable luxury sedan EVER made. Toyota spent a billion dollars to develop it in the 80's. Your opinion regarding the engineering is invalid when this model was specifically designed to improve upon and be superior to the exact W124 you are comparing it to.
@@gavinr9107 You are right. I am a Mechanical Engineer. CMM inspection programmer/designer, and Metrologist specializing in QMS (Quality Management Systems) and Lean manufacturing. My first car was a 1992 Camry. I got it handed down to me at age 17. If you've ever seen what a 92-94 camry looks like, you know where I am going. The famously overengineered 3rd gen camry is legendary in build quality for one reason- it's shape is a hint that it was heavily influenced by the engineering pionered by the UCF10 LS400. This trickled down Toyota's lineup, the Camry and Corolla in the next gens intentionally mimicked the bubble design language, and such advancements in stamping, metrology, powertrain refinement, completely baffled the competitors. Mercedes Benz ate their words when the LS400 released, overreacted by ultra over-engineering the W140, thus the LS400 pushed the W140 to also being a world landmark, and so on. Even though the LS400 itself drew styling inspiration from the W126, There were astonishing levels of refinement, which was not easy. Infact some of them were fringe theoretically impossible to scientists and engineers, but they innovated past the limits. There is a book called "Car." Talks about Ford-Lincoln and their sheer terror in competing against Lexus when launched, the Taurus development engineers bought out 30 XV10 Camrys and ES300s and some LS400s prior probably, to come to the conclusion that Toyota's engineering, in the analysis component by component, that Toyota's engineering capablities were "Almost disturbing that they can make cars this good". MIT documented all this in "Machine that Changed the World", coined Lean Manufacturing, and today the entire aerospace, automotive and industrial engineering production systems emulate the Toyota way and Lean-kaizen. Even global supply chains. The car literally revolutionized the world. CMM Engineering is very niche, I got into metrology and CMM programming to inspect CNC machining runs specifically because I was hungry to learn more about the secrets that set the LS400 apart from competitors. All that engineering from Yamaha consulting, Toyota uses critical surface finishes on nearly all surfaces, Yamaha spun off it's own deburring brand, Xebec. Xebec now makes deburring tools for all industries, spun off one of countless mechanical engineering innovations from Toyota's famous quality and respect systems. And the LS400 is the pinnacle of that short of the century. the LS400 is the flagship representation of what MIT spent 5 years and 5 millions dollars establishing the International Motor Vehicle Program-Japan research department to understand.
I had trouble following along because I couldn't find where you said what the year and model of the car is. Went to his channel and he said what it is with in the first 21 seconds.
Love your videos but audio in this one - makes it unwatchable for me. Please use wireless mics outside. I hate to stop watching but can’t hear anything as you’re meeting with the owner of the Lexus on the street.
I had the pleasure of driving one for about 6 years. The most comfortable and solidly built car I have ever owned in 23+ years of driving and countless amount of cars I have owned. Desirable is subjective, for the price that they are worth to purchase now, NOTHING can compete with it in reliability and build quality if you buy a well looked after example.
