roguenode

Well, the car's not new, it's a 98 GS400, but it's new to me. I had an LS400 years ago, then an audi, now back with Lexus and glad to be here! I went with my father to Chicago, gave the car a thorough inspection, including asking for it to go on a lift so I could check cv joints, etc. Everything checked out well. I posted abou this car in a earlier thread Advice plz --> looking at 98 gs400, and got some great advice.

Here's a quick rundown on the car: (there are pics in my advice thread above)
69,308 miles
Black with tan interior
Nav, HID, heated seats, moonroof cd changer

The car drives strong, has good idle, has great lexus records --early for checks, no major or repeating problems, and is in excellent shape. The black exterior has no rock chips, dings, or noticable scratches.

After a bit of work, I was able to get the car for $19,600.

Near future changes:
RIMS
Suspension (coilovers or L-tuned if can find)
Tint
Spoiler (didn't have factory one -- need to check what my options are here)

Only disappointments - Nav has very limited coverage of my home city (Champaign, Illinois) -- NAV was updated in '00 and 01. Somehow, I need to find out if the latest update will provide better coverage for my area. Coverage while I was in Chicago was good. The NAV stereo needs some help.

Biggest surprise - This big ole boat pulls pretty strong. J/K -- Coming from a modified a4 1.8t I expected to take a big hit in sportiness -- the car is quicker in straight line but corners slower. It doesn't help that this poor baby sits on stock 16" rims and stock suspension.

Anyway, I look forward to finding all sorts of good information by searching the archives and staying active with CL!

D2-AUTOSPORT

Hey man welcome aboard, sounds like you got a good deal!!

Enjoy the car man, and trust me CL will help with ALL of your modding needs!

Pearlpower

iTrader: (2)

Welcome back to the Lexus arena and enjoy your new buy. They are such "sweet"cars. Not a day goes buy that I am not reminded from others-either by comments or glares-of how fortunate I am to be in such fine machinery.
Lee

roguenode

Thanks. Right now I have two grand to spend on mods. I'm hoping to find a decent set of rims (w/out tires) and or coilovers "slightly used" and do both of those together now, but that's a tall order on my current budget. Might be better to wait 2 or 3 months and have more green to drop.

I love a good car board. It's great searching through some of the past posts, reading some of the experiences, and getting ideas.

D2-AUTOSPORT

Watch the classifieds, there are a couple sets of Tein Coilovers floating around for pretty good prices!

roguenode

Yeah, I saw them. Kind of hard to tell if they are sold or not. I sent off a msg re" some flex's, they would be a good start I think.

Thanks for the heads-up.

Neo

iTrader: (3)

Welcome aboard. PMed you on the Flex.

With the spoiler, you'll have to decide whether or not you want to deal with the third brake light issue. Since you don't have a spoiler, that means you already have a third brake light. Legally you need one. If you get a spoiler with a light, then you need to decide to disable the one inside the car (2nd choice), have them both go on, or to replace the inside lid with one that does not have a light (1st choice but more $ involved). There are also ones that sit higher and they do not have a light. These may obscure the inside brake light since the GS light sits at the bottom instead of the top of the rear window.

Lastly, there are those that sits flat on the trunk which means they are low enough not to get in the way of the light. Not trying to rub anything in but you missed out on a GB a few months ago on the SportDesign spoiler. If I did not have a roof spoiler, I would have been all over that one.

Anyway, just some food for thought.

Richie

Welcome to the club man!!

roguenode

Neo, thanks for the spoiler info, and for putting me in the queue on the flex's. I was hoping to put the stock spoiler on the car. Sounds like I'll need to drop the interior 3rd brake light in that case as I won't want the double light. I'll search the forums for info on replacing/covering the interior 3rd brake light. I have a while as I want that done for summer. It's coilovers and rims I am hoping to do first.

Thanks for the welcom Richie!

Letsride

Welcome !!

bluelex

welcome and congrats on the new whip....

lexforlife

iTrader: (7)

welcome aboard and hide the wallet and plastic , we are bad influences here

D2-AUTOSPORT

TOO LATE!! He's already looking at Tein Flex coilovers!!! LOL.

There is NO escaping the mod bug

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

Welcome to ClubLexus!

The Chicago Lexus guys are pretty active - check out both the Great Lakes regional forums and the Chicago Lexus Club local chapter forum.

roguenode

Thanks guys, those look like some pretty nice rides in your sig's. I hope to have my gs sigworthy by summer. I gently modded my ls400, increased the modding with my a4, now it just seems natural to start making the car mine, so to speak, by making some changes. Besides, I really need to tighten up the cornering ability and body roll in this car.

I checked the Chicago club forum's posts from the last week or so. I get to Chicago about once every 5-6 weeks. I'll check to see when they're meeting and try plan a trip. I imagine there's some great gs's up there. Down in C-U gs's are fairly rare. With the closest dealer over an hour away, I only see a handful of 300's, and the occasional 400/430, almost never see modded gs's.

Each time I drive the car I'm reminded of why I came back to Lexus.