Why Doug DeMuro is DEAD WRONG about the LS400! 

Doug should look in the mirror and give himself a Doug score.

Rob's the only guy in history who found quirks and features that Doug didn't

The fact this guy keeps qouting Doug with pictures is great 😂😂

Having worked for Lexus in the early 2000s I remember 1990-1993 LS400s coming in for service and I was always amazed at how nice they were despite being over 12yrs old at the time. Many had over 300k miles and the engines were still buttery smooth. Amazing cars! Doug scoring system is garbage!

I agree with you Rob!. Doug shouldn't be scoring old cars like today's standards.

I saw "Why Doug DeMuro is DEAD...", and I instantly clicked.

"like driving a Camry" well - the day that Toyota offers a 4-cam butter-smooth V8 as a Camry engine option Im buying two of them

As a person who worked at a Cadillac dealer in 1990 I can tell you that when the dealership started to branch out and sell the Lexus that the car was light years ahead of the Cadillac and the stodgy Mercedes. And that instrument panel display was the first of it's kind, anywhere in the world and totally blew me away.

you saw a LS400 in a junkyard? I think thats more rare than one with a red interior

THE ENGINE... Why does no one cover the fact that it is one of the few automotive engines in history to be FAA rated to power an aircraft! Yes they are THAT RELIABLE. With regular routine maintenance the powertrain in these cars is well documented to last over 500,000 miles. I challenge Doug to take $4,000 USD and buy a used modern car from 2008+ and compare it to a $4,000 used LS400 from 1991-1992, and or also another car from 1991-1992 and compare them. The LS400 is a revolutionary car that changed not only the luxury market, but the automotive market in general, it agitated BMW and Mercedes so much they called it a "loss leader" just to save face.

Ok, the antenna adjusting to the wavelength of the frequency is really cool!

Love when Rob relives 5-year old self as a passenger in the back... then LOL when he sits on the middle console, strapped in by both seat belts. Coolest feeling in the world DOUG

You nailed it! It just shows how this car was 20 years ahead of its time. He was comparing it to almost new cars. You wouldn’t see someone compare a 1983 mustang to a 2010 Ford Mustang. In 1989 this car was literally the space shuttle showing up in 1930. All cars today copied and reverse engineered ls400 technology and incorporated them into their vehicles.

This is exactly how I felt when I saw Doug's review. He missed the whole point of the LS400. I owned a 91 and currently own a 98 LS. Yeah, his scoring system is laughable.

I had a 92 LS400. It remains to this day the best car I've ever owned or driven. In 2012 I had friends with brand new cars who admitted my Lexus was a nicer car all round than theirs. It's a quiet, sedate, refined and comfortable car with a bit of a wild side. The thing is, it rides so well you think you're going slow. Put an LS400 on a mountain road and hit up some bends and twists. You think you're doing 60, you look at the speedo, you're doing 75. The day I brought mine I was driving home and a fire engine was approaching from the opposite direction with its lights flashing. It was only when it was about 5 or so car lengths from me that I realised that the sirens were on too, not just the lights - that's how well insulated the early Lexus is, I couldn't hear a siren on a fire engine driving towards me. Mine was stolen four times. Three times I managed to recover it, the last time it was written off. One day I'd really like to buy another one. Best car ever made, haters can suck it.

Doug has shown time after time that he's not exactly what you'd call smart, rather the opposite. His "reviews" are so biased it's laughable, if it's a car he likes every wrong doing is forgotten, if it's a car he doesn't particularly care for everything "wrong" with it is pointed out ad nauseum, despite it being at the peak of car technology of the time. He could review what was the fastest car at the time of it being built and call it painfully slow, because he's so used to supercars of today, makes his opinion totally useless.

Oh man. As someone who grew up in this car, I so whole-heartedly agree with you Rob. This car kicks so much ass, ESPECIALLY for the age it came in. Like seriously, the competition was ass in comparison, even the luxury brands. Not to mention that the LS400 was the "halo" car and launch car for the Lexus brand. There is so much more meaning to this car that Doug missed entirely. Plus, that's possibly STILL the smoothest engine I've ever driven. Always roars up, and never has any trouble. I can't wait 'til my parents give it up.

No luxury entrant before or since the first LS has made the Germans nervous enough to up their game, that should be recognized

Toyota is the best,GM handed over all of their customers to them due to style and poor build quality horrendous reliabilityl we won't mention resale value because there wasn't any!

back in 97 a classmate took me for a ride in a 95 LS400 and it was impressive. the car was super smooth and really quiet inside. Lexus has always been great cars...

I had a 92 LS i don't think it drives like a modern day camry, definitely more smooth.

Doug doesn't appreciate old cars and is easily impressed by touch screen crap, your Lexus would be good to drive but looking back Bmw and Mercedes had better interiors

I have a 2000 ls400 - last of the breed - 5 speed - vvt - platinum edition - which had special color, mats, and came with a platinum american express card. I bought mine used. There are some issues that can arise - you do have to do a timing belt, but if you amortize that cost over the years it takes to get there (and don't do the job yourself) the cost is minimal. Think of it as how they price the cost of your smart phone into your monthly bill. My gauges read wrong too - that's a capacitor issue you can fix or ignore (i ignore). You can also hook up a blue tooth device and watch the gauges on that device, and they are dead on - so it is the gauge set in the car. Car is now 19 years old at time of posting - so it can vote. ;) Repairs - I had the alternator out 2 times, and not for the power steering pump which can leak on to it and ruin it (mine does not leak - and put a deflector under it just in case when I did the alternator) - 1st time out the regulator went bad and local shop rebuilt it with new bearings. 2 years later the stator went out. This shop which has been in business for 40 years, had never seen a stator go out. Had to order the part. The starter did die, and that was under the intake manifold, so I had that done. Too much trouble. I also put my hand wrong and broke off the filler nipple on the radiator - so this is a caution to everyone - years of heat cycles will make that bit go brittle especially in hot Texas. But....radiator was $150 at auto parts store - was on the shelf - and it took maybe 30 minutes to swap it. Old cars need a few repairs. This one has needed the fewest. On the plus side, put it in 'power' mode and its kind of a 4 door relaxed GT. Now I have some money to buy something else, and frankly, its hard to find something for the amount of money you'd spend - even with years/miles on it - to really say - well that's a big enough improvement to justify the outlay. I bought mine used for $7K in excellent condition. And that charging issue only showed up after the regulator got hot - so the old people who had it - didn't drive it enough to discharge the battery enough to find the problem. Could have been bad from day one. It also had cheap walmart good year tires on it and was noisy and didn't handle all that well. For a car of this quality, spend a bit and get conti (continental) ultra tour tires. Huge difference in quiet, handling, and they are wearing quite well. Car not worth much these days, so if you were looking for a decent sized nice car for 3-4K - I would buy one of these things. I had a 97 town car that was a lot more maintenance than this car, and that was a pretty decent car too. Now I am thinking of keeping this car for whatever, and just getting a play pretty car. I knew a lawyer who had one, could buy anything, and still had his LS400 with 300K on it. Nothing he liked better - it 'fit'. I drove a LS460 - very nice car - but was it that much better than this one - not really. Had a touch screen thingy - but I have that in my 2014 ram sport work truck - so if I feel the need - I can play with that. I also find the doug scores quite arbitrary. What he likes in styling versus what I like? He gives a car a 5, and I give it an 8. Whatever. I do enjoy his videos but I do also get annoyed with him too. I disagree with him on this car too. I am looking at older mercedes, and aside from parts costs, they are very nice - but just need more money and more work. The Lexus is just a better deal.

the overdrive button is to make the transmission shift up through the gears and keep the engine revs low to improve fuel economy, when turned off the transmission will hold gears like in sports driving/ racing for acceleration, this comes with a warning light on the gauge.

I have a 90 ls400 an it's not the prettiest car on the block but its DEFINITELY THE FASTEST!! ITS GOT ALMOST 400 THOUSAND ON IT AN STARTS UP EVERY TIME!!!

Yeah I was a little upset with Doug’s review if the LS400 as well. He completely missed the point of the car. And like you said, you have to look at what America and German were doing with cars in 1989 to truly appreciate the spaceship that was the LS400. Cars wouldn’t be as dependable and robust as they are today if not for Lexus and Honda.

Doug is 30 years old.. about to turn 15..

One cool thing about the LS400 steering column is that it can be adjusted electronically for both telescope and height (while its competition can only telescope), also the steering wheel position can be stored in 2 sets of memories with seat and seatbelt positions. Truly ahead of its time.

Well, Doug De Muro is wrong about a lot of things, like for instance when he reviewed the Mercedes 560SEL and he said that it had only 240 hp, when in reality it had 275 hp ad it was actually fast for its day. When he reviewed the Lexus LS 400 he said that it was slow, but back in the day, the LS 400 smoked the 420 SEL, 735i and XJ6.

my god my 2007 XLE toyota Camry fully loaded with Nav system are not as smart as that 1990's Lexus .. for real !!!

You open my eyes about Doug poor reviews. Great video man!!! Keep doing this please!!!

My mom bought a car for my brother who was working overseas, and I got to borrow it for a while. It was a 1993 Lexus SC400, and it's probably the nicest car I've ever driven. It had that powerful V-8, a Nakamichi sound system, and you could save seat/wheel tilt settings. This car was 25 years old, but still felt like the future. It's too bad my brother ended up not fixing it later on, there was a problem with the torque converter.

Rob the type of guy to look up Doug's old girlfriend from High School and mention all the "cool things" Doug forgot to say about her.......... "She knows how to play the recorder...DOUG!"

Excellent video. I like Doug's reviews but I have to agree that for dramas sake, he tends to be overly critical of cars that their whole intent in being manufacturered was NOT what he thinks they should be today. This is because he didn't live and purchase these cars back when they were being made. He was like 12 years old. Lol. I have to say that your Lexus LS400 is awesome because it's a base model with zero options. I know a ton about cars and I wasn't aware that you could get cloth interiors on the 1990 Lexus LS 400. I would cherish the hell out of that car. It's awesome for being different!

Rob, great correction. When I drove this vehicle for the very first time, I fell in love. This was in Y2000. My previous car was S Class Merc and this Lex was something else. Smooth as hell. Alreay 150.000 miles. But at traffic lights you would have to check the tach to see if the engine was still running.

This was my very first car. Tramission and engine are bulletproof. I didn't take car of mine for shit. At one point it had no breaks and I would throw it in park to stop it. I did that probably for 1-2k miles and the transmission was fine. No oil change for 30k miles. I was 18 homeless and had a bad drug addictiom the car was beat to death. The rack and pinion was a problem though. I had got it from a old guy and the cars work was done at dealership and at 150k miles it had gone through 6 rack and pinions and it went out the 40k miles I had it too.

Great video. My dad still has his LS400 1990. And for back then, we as children, thought it was the greatest car ever! I loved taking it for a ride when I got my license. My friends parents at that time had a 1995 Camry, and let me tell you, it was no comparison! The LS400 was in its own class.

Damn he roasted Doug, make more and I’ll watch y’all both 😂

Oh my god, I saw that old Lexus commercial on a VHS tape my family recorded Star Wars on lmao, young me was convinced it was fake, my dad didn't even believe the car could really do that. It's so cool that it really can/could at one point.

I used to own an Alpine Silver metallic 1994 LS400 with a black leather interior. It was one of the greatest most reliable vehicles I ever owned. I bought it for a steal at 1k$ and did all kinds of work to it. Replaced the timing belt, all fluids replaced, PS pump leak fixed, dropped the rear subframe and repainted it, replaced all the rear suspension bushing, fixed the radio LCD, ECU capacitors, and instrument panel speedometer needle was fixed. I also added an Aux cable port while I was at it. All OEM original parts from Sewell Lexus. I ended up selling it before the prices went through the roof. Great synopsis and good review of the car you posted! They are real land yachts and awesome highway cruisers!

I owned a 1997 LS400 and it was BULLETPROOF!!!! One of the best cars EVER!!!

still a beautiful car

Thank you for sharing your great LS! I love them and enjoyed your detailed perspective.

We forget how young doug actually is, and how sheltered he must have been at times. I grew up with 80s toyotas, many many 3rd gen celicas, camrys, trucks, etc. I've loved cars my whole life (i'm an 85 model myself) and i remember not paying much attention to lexus at the time it was launched because, well, that was way out of our league. Here we are in 2022, And i bought a 95 with 121,000 miles on it, and it is now our family car, and we prefer it over the 2007 rav4. The ride is so wonderful! and I love the fact we can drive down the interstate and I can still hear my soft spoken wife. Even the factory stereo still sounds really good (and I don't even have the Nakamichi) but I think people forget that in the mid 90s a fully loaded camry was around 20 grand, while the sticker on my 95 says it was 56,000! This was one hell of a car for it's time. It's funny to see how a lot of the tech in these cars filtered down to the other Toyota models over the years.

DeMuro is an ad-man. He's all about advertising for Autotrader or whatever other company that's paying him to flap his lips.

The beef is real between Doug and Rob I see...

I agree this car was targeted for people born in the 1920 and 1930’s. Me being born in 90’s this car was revolutionary for its time and was amazing for its time. Good points Rob! Doug’s score has no point at times, as the 0-60 for its time was one of the best!

Hey Rob! Thanks for defending such a great car. I have to tell you though, the leather in these cars must be made of something alien because every one I’ve seen is almost perfect compared to other cars it’s age or even newer! I drove my old friends 1999 and I have to say it was more on par to be a new luxury car than my 2008 Town Car.

You should do this for more of Doug’s videos! ...I also agree that the Doug score is arbitrary and stupid😂

i love my ls 400. i especially apreciate it on long highway trip. good on gas. and somehow agile. My last ls had coilover suspension and i could really appreciate the suspension and it was alot more fun to drive. my next project is a manual ls400. i just love the body style and engineering.

The old Lexus ad with the wine glasses did not mention the fact that the dyno it sat on was not anywhere near normal in the slightest but was in fact specifically made on very specially controlled gellite pads that counter acted any flaws in the actual ride of the car by three separate computers set up in a large sound booth used by NASA when experimenting with satellites that were set to be released into geosynchronous orbits.

Your videos are all incredible. Thanks for your excellent work and education

I knew Doug's short sightings would spawn an anti-doug, I'm kind of glad. Doug sounds like Andy Rooney and Julia Child, this guy sounds like Templeton from the Charlotte's Web cartoon. I like Templeton better. Doug makes judgement on cars that existed before he was born.

I've never ever drove, sat or even touched an original celsior /LS400 but i have a lot of respect to them. I have an 86 cressida and considering this was the replacement to my car, i already imagine how good it was. This lexus proves that luxury cars can be reliable and easy to fix

I love your video brother. I'm looking for a used lexus any suggestions

I recently had a 1989 mercedes 190e 2.6 and it's just so interesting to see that even down to the gas cap holder, my 190e and this ls share so many features. i slid on ice and was slammed in the left side of my body by a semi truck and unfortunately lost one of my dream cars but this was nice to watch

We can’t compare vehicles of yesterday to the modern day computers on wheels.

Great video but remember, the Doug score is called that for a reason. It's up to Dougs standard and his likings, so that means it's not objective at all.

What an excellent review Rob! I live in the Tempe area of Phoenix. I drift an LS400 with a 5 speed and nitrous. I would still love to own a stock LS400 like yours any day of the week for daily driving. Sure its mpg is not civic range, but honestly its worth it. I love your video on the Phoenix freeway history by the way. I am a nerd about roadway logic and traffic behaviors and you are digging gold for me with every video. Thank you!

you forgot to mention that these cars did not just hit over 200,000 miles but also can get to a million with no problem (matt farah's car)

Make more videos please! You are a very entertaining car reviewer.

For tall people ..the sunvisor over the mirror is the best feature of all time. My WRX had one and I blessed it every morning.

I've owned three, yes THREE pre-owned ls400's 93,95,97. By far my favorite car. They hug the road, with grace and dignity. I remember being 17 years old on the highway just leaving brand new 2010-14 mustangs and cameros in the rearview. The adjustable petals, the countless possible seat positions, the telescoping steering wheel. It all made the car just feel incredible. Also my favorite compartment was when they moved the first aid kit to under the driver seat in a little hiding slide out box.

I don't live a life of regrets, but I do regret passing on the opportunity to buy one these cars that was a 1 owner for $1000. I told my buddy about it and he bought it the same day and totalled it a month later. Pretty neat car!

Cadillacs from that era.... best not remembered...

Love the review. I have a 2004 Volvo XC90 that also has adaptive power steering that gets stiffer the faster you go. I think there were multiple Volvo models of the early 2000's to have this system. It's cool that Lexus had it over 10 years earlier.

You should just Re-review all cars doug has done and upload it ... loved the video! just subbed!

Dude, you need more subs to be honest, you gave a well made review on one of the most revolutionary cars at the time. It's a shame that Doug dunked on the wrong car, my relatives owned a Black 97' LS400, with all the bells and whistles, it was a pretty nice car when I rode in it. Anyways, you earned a sub!

Road Guy Rob, the type of guy to wear sunglasses at night (seems fitting for a Daddy Doug meme on a rebuttal video)

15:52 He wears his sunglasses at night lol 😂 Am I the only one that noticed?

Doug’s review disappointed me as well. I drive a silver 2000 LS with 158k miles, and my Mother drives a metallic taupe 1993 LS with only 105k miles. No rust on either of them. We LOVE these cars and cherish them for the automotive masterpieces that they truly are.❤ Thanks for the vid. Peace to all the Lexus lovers worldwide.🌎 1UZ for life Y’all!🔥☝️🔥

13:55 Our family car when I was 17 was a 1969 Pontiac Grand Prix and it had windshield wipers that disappeared when you turned them off. Nice of Lexus to bring that feature back.

First time viewer of your channel And while being a long time viewer of Doug’s. I’m making the switch as this is far more informative from a real world perspective.

Yes Doug talks a lot of crap

The overdrive button is a converter lock, it works in all gears, it gives a better milage. If you pull a trailer you dont stress the converter so much.

Ok that antenna thing is really friggin cool. Never seen anything like that.

the LS400 is insanely quite and has no echo in the cabin only noticeable if you actually sing ,2018 4runner ,tundra and camry have very notable voice echo, this thing type of thing usually would never matter but the LS400 i believe is the first car used to record a song or radio event inside the cabin while moving !!

Another LS400 owner here, and all I have to say is thank you for making this video!

Wow, I didn't know that about the antenna. Great review! My personal feature is how the engine warning lights shine down from the top of the speedometer cluster and reflect off the bezel creating a holographic effect.

Just saw Doug’s review before yours. This is definitely a better review! Can I ask, do you have trouble diagnosing issues since this was before OBD2?

A Lexus is like a fine wine. You don't just gulp it down like a glass of cheap plonk, you have to sip it, savour it, roll it around your mouth and really get a taste of it to appreciate it's fine texture and sophisticated quality. Where Doug went wrong is he just devoured it like it was something ordinary, thus missing the finer qualities. To really appreciate a Lexus, you need to spend a considerable amount of quality time with one, get a proper feel of one. A quick flip flop around the block and you won't even begin to understand the true depth of this car's fine qualities. It's all in the subtleties, and once you've owned a Lexus, nothing else even gets close.

Another plus to the foglights being up high is that lower mounted foglights always end up cracking/breaking due to them being so close to the ground. Doug gives good reviews and his scores are based on what a modern person might think of the car. However, this car was so amazing, it set the standard for luxury cars. The Europeans actually had to play catch up because the LS400 started setting the standards for luxury cars from the beginning. As for the wheels, the one Doug reviewed had the same wheels except they were chrome plated. 100K miles was never really much for a Toyota. Toyotas were exceeding 250K miles even back in the 80's. I've seen more than a handful of these original LS models with over 500K miles on the original engine and transmission. By the way, the website is the Toyota 200K Mile Club. They had so many submissions when they started it that they site actually crashed.

my boss had a 93 LS400 and a 91 500SL, i drove both regularly, the lS was amazing and smooth and quiet. The 500SL was fast and rough, it felt the road, the lexus floated quietly, with jet thrust, very magical car back then especially with the floating vivid guage cluster. Now I own a fully loaded 90 with 247k miles today and drive it a lot, it's no longer the smooth quiet ride it was 29 years ago but it's a good car and handles very well. It gets it done, people laugh when i pop the center arm rest and show the old car phone powered up in there, circa thomas magnum.

@Road Guy Rob I'm a guy living in Japan for 16 years and on, with LS-Love. My first car was the 1990 model of LS400, Type C (air suspension), full-package. My second car was the very last model of LS400, 1998, after a small model change in 1998 with DVD navigation system and 5-gear transmission, a type B European version, (My dream-car). After it was crashed by a 60-year-old granny, I couldn`t fix it within the insurance budget, so I got my 3rd car with the money, a 2001 LS430, B Euro. 1 year later, I found a TOM'S completed SAME model as my third car with 120,000 miles on ODD, so this became my 4th car. With 356 horse power, strengthened body, full aero-parts, metal breaking wires, YES, it can run in some easy races. lol Somehow I feel you like the same spirit in the early LEXUS cars! Let me share some more information that I found out about my first car. 1st, the original shorter windshield wiper had a cute U-shape arch (at least in Japan), for making the wipers completely unseen from the driver's view. 2nd, the windshield had an electric signal blocking function, so that no phone calls or other electric signals from inside the car could be detected by anyone from the front outside. Very cool function for privacy protection. But because of this, I couldn't install the TV antenna or ETC system antenna on the dashboard, `cause they just couldn`t pick up any signals through the windshield. I had to put them on the top of the car, outside. lol I NEVER had this problem with any later models ever since. (which windshield is better made, huh?) 3rd, almost ALL car parts were heavier than in the later models, and the insulation was thicker than in the later models. The base model is the lightest, with just the minimum unnecessary weight for running by all means. I hope your LS400 can survive for many more decades! As my personal experience, the air-conditioning system is a weak point, be careful! It would be nice to talk with someone who has the same passion as I do!

"When are you ever going to work on your Lexus ?" 😂. Agreed Good review!

"The center is dated" No shit it's 30 years old doug, you also look a lot more dated than you did 30 years ago

Watching Rob repeatedly relive the glory days really bought me back- esp removing the ashtray! Stay curious, friend!

Great channel and videos. New sub!!

Man I like this you hit it right on the head Doug was wrong

I like Doug, but he talks about cars like an 18 year old that just started driving last year. I thought he was close to my age? I got my license in ‘96 at age 16, and most of the cars on the road were ones just like this one, and many people I knew drove hand-me-down cars from the ‘80s or very early ‘90s. In other words, his reactions to some vehicles are both surprising and confusing. But like I said, don’t know how old he is exactly.

Scotty Kilmer was wrong about the LS430 as well. Lots of people dishing on the LS models but they’re ingeniously engineered vehicles, they’re actually incredible.

I feel the same way about Doug’s review.Its almost 30 years later and you still see SEVERAL of these cars on the road and they don’t have rebuilt engines. The more of a particular older car you see still on the road that tells you how reliable there were/are.That 93 Camry and that LS400/430 are everywhere

"DOUG!!" Lol this guy cracks me up, also a solid review. I love the ls400 and the 1uz in general.

i really like the start-up of the Lexus LS400/Toyota Celsior

I have a friend who owns this beautiful car. The history is amazing, it got Merc's head engineer Woofgang Peter fired, its electronic architecture was set as the standard for all automobile in the world because of its reliability, the heated seats, the heated view mirrors that would clear all moisture after it rained, the stability of the V8 engine, i remember we once raced against a brand new C250 Merc 3 years ago and it was left behind, the tech in the car is amazing for a car that old. It still drives well and the only maintenance required is changing your air/oil filter and your motor oil. Everything still works in the car, the engine sound is amazing for a car this old. Wish there was a way to add a picture of this beautiful vehicle 's interior. Where i come from its nicknamed "Bhuru" meaning BULL. Its relentless and can bury its Mercedes direct rival 10ft under. All hail Lexus for its reliability coz Merc and BMW are a scam. I choose reliability all day and tomorrow.

This made my day. Love this video bro.

I have one but in a gray color and a 1992

I have a silver 98' UCF20

I had a an LS400 like the one Doug gave a review on, it was 259k miles and was not treated with respect at all until I got my hands on it, it really felt new, I have a 91 Toyota Celsior (The LS400 in Japan sold as a Toyota) with 65k miles, not a single difference between a high mileage one and a new one.

Great video thank you so much!