caddyowner

Sorry to hear about the hail damage. Good advice not to get too attached to our "things".

warminwisc

Good advice Cad! I have to stand through a funeral service for a beloved family member today.
Only thing I want is my brother back. I know we all keep our presciouse cruisers in perspective as we look for the primo car and deal.
Living for/helping others will help one find the greatest thing, a content heart and soul. Not to be too heavy have a nice weekend touch every person with a warm smile.

jtpaajan

LS430 President Line owner from Finland reporting in with some experiences.

There are some differences between the President line and the American Ultra Luxury trims, I believe the President Line is not quite as fully appointed as the UL, but it's the best Europe gets.

The major differences are:

- On U.S Ultra Luxury, laser guided cruise is included. I'm not sure if this option was ever available in Europe.

- President Line does not include the interior material upgrades, which are available in the U.S. These include a stitched leather center console, wood trim on doors and around shifter and some other minor things.

- You won't get voice control in the navigation. Not sure if this was available in U.K, but it's not there for other European markets.

On the other hand, there are some upgrades in the pre-facelift Euro LS430 that are missing in the U.S model:

- Keyless smart key entry and exit. On U.S cars this feature was only available after the 2005 facelift.

- Heated windshield wiper park area. I can attest that this is a great feature during typical Finnish winters. I believe this feature was available to the Canadian market.

In my experience, the air suspension is pretty solid, I have not had any problems with it during my 2 year / 40 000 kilometer ownership. The only suspension-related replacement that I have had to do was a stuck rear height adjustment sensor arm, which was about 70 euros at the dealer.

IMO if you plan on buy a big luxury sedan on this budget, you simply can't go wrong with the LS430! The parts and service are about as expensive as for equivalent BMW and Mercedes cars, but you'll spend a lot less time at the dealer. Also, at least here in Finland the dealer service is outstanding, far ahead of the competition.

ippo

Thanks for the info!

I know what you mean with the wood trim around shifter and door because the one I am looking at, doesn't have it too. But I never tested if it has keyless entry. That would be very nice to have.

What is that heated windshield thing?

jtpaajan

On European and Canadian export models, the bottom part of the windshield where the wipers rest is heated to prevent ice buildup. On most vehicles that have this feature, the heating is done by separate electric heating elements, e.g brown thin wires similar to those in the rear window defroster.

The LS430 is different, however. There is actually a water block heater beneath the bottom part of the windshield, powered by hot engine coolant, just like the standard interior heater.

On my car this is particularly great in the winter, because I have a Webasto parking heating unit installed in my car. The windshield bottom part actually also defrosts by using the Webasto heater, so the wipers are readily de-iced during the winter before starting the car. Maybe this feature isn't that important down there in the Netherlands, but I absolutely love it!

A couple of more words about the extra wood/leather trim... The interior materials upgrade was available in Europe after the 2005 facelift. Actually, most if not all post-2005 LS430 vehicles that I've seen have had both the wood around the shifter and the stitched leather center console.

ippo

Finally! Today I am the new owner of the LS430 President (almost the same as UL)! Very happy with it, even with the color after all

C8V6C

The nav screens sometimes have issues where they short out, and say connection error.

Good thing I got mine changed on the dealer's dime.

toantran99

Air suspension tend to go out, door lock actuator, power mirror switch, power folding mirror, driver windows will not closed something. Those are the issue I'm running into with my 2004 ML except the air suspension.

Carnut

I was not aware the LS-430's had the cooing box etc. in the rear. I thought that started with the LS-460. Regardless, the LS-430 is for the most part, "A trouble-free car". Take care of the breaks, oil/filter changes and you will love the reliability of the car. I've had LS-400's, a GS-430, a LS-430 that got severely damaged by hail so I traded it for a low mileage LS-460. It's a WONDERFUL car. I advised on an earlier post about "Don't let the dealership sell you an "Extended Warranty" but frankly, I bought one for this LS-460. There's a LOT to go wrong, but I found a Lexus Dealership that beat my own dealership by over $1,000 dollars on an extended warranty 4 years past the expiration of the Factory Warranty, or a total of 75,000 total miles from the "In-Serveice Date", whichever comes first. I will probably trade up in 4 years, so I did that one and I paid $1,765 for that warranty. Now, that is cheap peace of mind for the next 4 years, as it's the Lexus Platinum Warranty that covers EVERYTHING except your normal wear and tear items, like breaks, dash pad, etc. Otherwise, it covers ALL electronics, drive train, etc. If by chance I ever have an issue, just one trip to the Dealership would pay for my 4 year warranty. The LS-430 is a great car, and I never had ANY problems with it mentioned above by another post. It is by far a less expensive car to maintain than the LS-460, but I pulled the trigger and got a LS-460 about $10,000 below NADA Clean Retail value and it is very nice and clean with 33,000 miles on it.

Do NOT worry about any issues on a LS-430.

ippo

Congrats with your LS460 then!

I am not worrying at all. The car feels great. The seats are still great after 11 years and 106k miles.

Too bad of the low res nav screen. But AFAIK, I have all the options there is for the pre-facelift (yes, even with fridge and it's own A/C). A radar cruise control would really make it perfect, but I don't know if that's an option for the '01 model.

Anyway, I am pretty sure that I will enjoy it for a long time. Normally I switch cars every 1 or 2 years but for the LS I will make an exception

Carnut

Enjoy your LS-430 ippo........you will love it.

ippo

Thanks, I love to drive it every day. Too bad I just found out that the RESET button on the steering wheel is broken...

Not that I will use it (often) but still...

Carnut

Sorry about that ippo.....If I were you I'd get a price to get it repaired at a Dealership. Might not be as bad as you thnk in $$$$. I re-set mine every time I fill up with gas just to keep a monitor on my gas mileage. It's just a habit I've been into for years. My LS-430 did NOT have any re-set buttons on the steering wheel, I don't think. But, my 2009 LS-460 has it on the dash for the odometer and the "Mode" and "Re-Set" on the steering wheel. Took me a while to stop pushing so hard on the steering wheel buttons because I was blowing the horn every time I did. I'm getting used to it now and I don't need to press so hard. Good luck and see if you can get it repaired and enjoy the car to it's fullest. If you plan on keeping it spread the cost out over a few years and you will be glad you have it to use.

ippo

Well, for the first time in years, I intend to drive it 'till the wheels fall off! That's why I bought an UL so I can't whine about any small feature I don't have LOL.

My LS430 has a reset button for the odometer too but also on the steering wheel for the board computer. But the dash already display current TANK info like Tank Average (never saw that one before) and KM since tank. So the reset is not really necessary. It's just pretty stupid to have a "perfect" car but one broken button. How can you break a button in the first place. It's not a BMW LOOOOL. I had a BMW 530d E39 and almost all button were broken! Totally overrated IMO.

I did reset the odometer just a calculate is the MPG is correct. Yesterday I was getting for the first time a full tank: 77,xx litres and 133,xx EURO (163 dollar); yes, I got a pretty dent in my wallet. The dash was telling me I got 500km left LOOOL. While the tank average is saying 12.5litre/100km. Plus, I already drove 100km and still 460km left. So I am not panicking yet haha.

And still... even the short drive to the gym I am taking the LS instead of the Toyota Yaris. I am spoiled now. The seats are the greatest!!!

Anyway, I will give the Lexus dealer a call.

Carnut

If there is a dealership fairly handy, I'd drive it in and get the quote. There is a chance they might have to order the part, but calling to get quotes has never gotten me much of anything. If you are there "in their face", they are more likely to look the part number up, check the labor rate and give you a hard price to fix it. As long as you say you are going to keep it, I'd fix it. Good luck with it.