7th Jul 2009, 10:57

I agree with you, German cars are good, but not reliable. I bought one 740il 2000, imagine my ownership is not more than five months and everything went bad with the car. When I bought my current Lexus 1997 coach edition, I did not spend one single penny since the first year.

So I will let you judge...

29th Jul 2011, 06:58

Totally agree with all the comments, but not with the original reviewer! I own a LS430, and this is my 4th Lexus that I bought over the past 10 years. None of them gave me any trouble. I am so happy with my current Lexus also. It offers a great pleasure to drive such a smooth, elegant, reasonably priced vehicle.

25th Jun 2013, 04:41

Seems like you got a lemon! Almost all the Lexus owners I know (and I know a lot of them) are really happy with their cars. I own a LS460L as well, and before this, I had a pleasure owning 1990 LS400, 1996 LS400, 2000 LS400 and LS430. I usually keep my cars for about 3 years and then get a new one. In between I do take test drives of other premium brands to check my taste, if it's still the same or I wanna switch, and guess what, each time I end up buying a newer Lexus :)

27th Jun 2013, 22:48

"The transmission failed at 3000 miles."

I also own a Lexus LS, and these transmissions are built like a tank. To say that it "FAILED" at 3000 miles makes me not believe the reviewer. How did it exactly "FAIL"? As in - all the gears and/or torque converter were gone completely to the point of having to be replaced? That's pretty much impossible, or if it really happened, I would be more curious about how the car was abused by the owner than how it was made by Lexus.

30th Jun 2013, 01:45

I have an LS with 170k, and very true to the previous comment, the transmissions are bulletproof. Most luxury cars have some kind of issue at higher mileage; I have yet to hear of an LS transmission prematurely dying. Great cars.

27th May 2014, 04:09

I am in the United Arab Emirates. I have a recently imported LS 430 model 2004 from the USA. The car had done 70,000 miles. I have added another 20,000 miles to it.

I have never driven such a rock solid car in my life, although I keep on changing different makes and models, but after buying and driving this LS 430, I have no intention to change in the near future. Considering the age of the car, it still drives like a tank. No rattling or engine sounds inside the cabin, which is a unique thing in this car. No matter how long a distance you cover, there is no element of fatigue; that is mainly on account of the suspension and extra sound proofing, which the car manufacturer had taken care of.

The car is very quiet and the tranny is smooth like silk. The air conditioner in the merciless heat of the United Arab Emirates is chilling.

I highly recommend this car to those who are travelling a lot. A very safe, quiet and trouble free car.

I might change the car with an LS 460, as it appears to have more bells and rings.

Cheers.

11th Jul 2022, 18:33

As I was driving my 19 year old LS430 last night, feeling the thick, solid steering wheel, feeling so safe and so comfortable, I felt like I am driving a very expensive car that I should be making payments on, yet it was only 6k for an elderly woman owned car with 120k. I suspect a new one wouldn't feel as good. When I see the newer LS460s, I feel they look cheap.

5th Aug 2023, 00:35

I had a 2004 LS 430 that I bought in from the original owner in 2012 with only 66,000 miles on it. I drove it until I wrecked it in an accident on Lincoln and Rose in Venice Beach three years later. I was clipping along at about 40 mph when some idiot in a black W210 E320 pulled out of the Whole Foods parking lot, right in front of me, and I swerved to avoid killing him, thereby rear-ending a silver Nissan Pathfinder. The LS was totaled. Coolant was everywhere. The front end demolished.

Anyway, by then it was approaching 99,000 miles but still ran flawlessly. I'd always serviced it and had just put brand new brake pads and rotors on the front about a month or two before the accident. I never had any plans of getting rid of that car. I loved it. And wanted another one. So when I recently dumped my GS 350 my plan was to replace it with another 2005 or 2006 LS 430. Then I started hearing all about the transmission ECU problems and the hassle and cost of sending the units out to be rebuilt and waiting for them to come back and paying to have them reinstalled, with sometimes them working fine and other times they have to be sent back again and... uhhhhh. No way. Besides, everyone thinks their 177,000 mile LS 430 is worth $15,900. Ha! Ha! Ha! What a joke. They're nice cars that hold their value, but even a 1-2 owner car with 85,000 miles is a $12-$13,000 car at best. Those things should not be selling for $18K on Bring-A-Trailer. That's just absurd.

I ended up buying another E-class instead and couldn't be happier. Best value for the money on the used car market today is a W211 or W212 chassis. If I was a believer in front wheel drive, I'd probably say the same about the ES350, but Lexus quality is not what it used to be. Unfortunately, the LS 430 was probably the last of the great Toyota luxury V8 cars. That era certainly didn't last very long, did it?

9th Dec 2023, 03:47

WOW! Here I am MANY years after this ridiculous "review" having owned several LS400's, an LS460 and three LS430's. I've owned many Mercedes as well. I've had no real issues out of either brand. It is difficult to see any credibility in the review seeing each of my LS430's have had ZERO issues other than a few gadgets here and there that may not work after many years. Change the timing belt every 80K and they just keep going. Smooth ride, plenty of power, sufficient interior space, etc. I gave my son the one I love the most when he went to college with well over 200k miles on it and it runs great! I kept the one that I bought when it had 43K on it and now has 80K. No problems from either, not even a starter, alternator, window regulator, nothing. I'll keep buying used LS430's as long as they're available.