irishbrahm

I'm a two-car guy. Earlier this year I bought a '11 LS460 CPO to serve as a stablemate for my '06 LS430. I'd always been intrigued by the LS460 and I tried to like it. But I didn't. The LS430 is much quieter, smoother, and stately. The 430's seats are much more comfortable. Also, the Mark Levinson system in the '06 is much better than the '11 system. So a few days ago I said, "Enough is enough." So I sold the LS460.

The LS460 is a good enough car, but it's no match for the LS430. True, the LS460 has more tech gadgets, a bigger engine, etc., etc. But as we all know, newer isn't always better.

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

Straight from the horses mouth.

You made the right decision keeping the 06. Best of Lexus.

INTMD8

I agree. Went from an 02 430UL to an ISF but drove several ls460's and didn't like a single one of them better than the 430.

Duck05

Wife replaced her '01 430 with a '14 460 and the good news is I will get the "hand me down" 430....

Have not driven the 460 too much yet so comparing the two is in progress. The 460 is intimidating with all the gadgets for sure but I think it is a great car. The 430 is real nice but this is whole generation spread and not knowing anything about the '06 models not sure how the '14 will compare...

We will enjoy them both.... Now, if I can just sell the '07 Honda Civic......

Kira X

iTrader: (24)

I traded my 05 LS430 UL for an 08 LS460 for a day and really enjoyed the LS460. It's a very nice car. I was pretty impressed by it and I think it's an excellent car, but I prefer my LS430 over it. I would like to own an LS460L/LS600hL alongside my LS430 though.

empringham

i would like a 460 too, but it really seems that the 430 is the winner in terms of longevity.

Bob04

Been there, done that. I trade a white 2004 LS430 with 150K miles in for a 2010 LS460L that I ended up hating with a passion. But all is well. I ended up dumping it 8 months later for a silver 2004 LS430 with half the miles and had nav and the levinson system, things my old one didn't have.

BMW7_LS430

What is there to hate about 460? I test drove 460 and really liked it inside out but I spent only few minutes instead of you spending months with it. I am just asking, not questioning your decision, because I don't want to repeat your experience.

irishbrahm

Thanks for the question.

First, the LS430 is a much quieter car. The LS460's direct injection makes its engine much louder. So I guess there's a tradeoff between serenity (LS430) and a car that's a bit quicker off the line (LS460). For me, serenity is more important.

Second, I think the LS430 rides better. Road imperfections are almost imperceptible. Don't get me wrong -- the LS460 is a smooth riding car, but not like the LS430.

Third, the LS460's sound system is not as good. As I understand it from the LS460 forum, the '07-'09 cars have a system that's more powerful than the one in the more recent cars. The bass response is subpar. The overall amplification is also weaker and uneven across music sources. I have to crank the volume up to 65% to get decent sound. And the XM amplification is very, very weak. I took the car in to have this investigated; the techs said that it's normal for the newer LS460s. To confirm this, they checked new LS460s on the lot and found the same behavior. By contrast, the LS430s ML system sounds great across the board. Why does this matter? I take a lot of road trips so music means a lot to me.

Finally -- and I know that this will sound a bit wacky -- the LS430 is an elegant car. It's a beauty. It still turns heads and invites comments.

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

The 430 has also proven to be more reliable and it is much less expensive to repair. But I digress... Don't need anymore 430 vs 460 threads.

MikeFoxx

iTrader: (8)

When I talk cars with my clients in the office I always ask what their favorite car is... it's usually some hefty hp sports car or an exotic which is far fetched for most. Every now and then I get the old school muscle car or chopped custom build. I swear when I tell them my dream car is a 2006 LS430 90% of them start to float away from the conversation lol. The 10% that stay with me are usually toyota/lexus fans like myself. Point being is the 2004-2006 is a hidden gem and still doesn't get the recognition it is worthy of. The ladies in my office call it an old man car... and I'm like pppphhhhfffffffpppppp that ****s dope lol. But I know why they say that... it looks plain jane to someone who doesn't see its inner soul ^_^

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

Also, once someone rides in the back of a UL its all over. Funny how coworkers ask me to dive when we head out to lunch together.

Jabberwock

01-06 LS430s are hidden gems. At current valuations as a used car, considering overall luxury, reliability and safety the LS430 is almost certainly the best luxury car value available in last 30 years. Folks that understand this are going to be snatching up good examples and keeping them forever. Especially with low gas prices the LS430 makes for an unbeatable town and road car.

Bob04

Ride not as smooth or as quiet. Direct injection ticking drove me crazy. Sounded like an older engine running on bad gas or like an 80's MB Diesel. Very noticeable inside the car at stop lights. Nowhere near as reliable. In the shop several times, once for more than a month while someone flew in to extract the entire engine to repair. Even though it was CPO and cost me nothing, that was the final straw. Got rid of it 2 days after getting it back. Leather felt cheaper. Interior build quality was not as good as the LS430. Fake aluminum was wearing off near the nav and it only had 35K miles on it. Damn glove compartment door never fit right. Seats nowhere near as comfortable. 430 got better gas mileage too. Almost 2 mpg. And I couldn't tell any performance gain from the extra hp. Might be because of the added weight because of the long wheelbase, but it certainly didn't feel any faster. Don't care about .5 seconds 0-60 anyway unless it's judging performance cars.

Lexus techs will flat out tell you the 430 is a better car. I've had one tell me he would never even own a 460. Very few redeeming characteristics to that car. Biggest automotive mistake of my life. The happiness I felt driving on the lot in my current 430 after dumping that POS on the dealer makes me smile to this day. Never even a hint of regret getting rid of it.

That enough?

SW17LS

Okay guys...I've held off but I'm going to comment. Don't jump in my craw! We're all friends here. All Lexus fans...

I'm surprised to see that this occurred, especially after how effusive your praise was for the 460 in the 460 forum after you got it. Especially specifically how much quieter it was than your 430, and how the DI engine noise wasn't an issue. I've had my 460 for about 7 months now, for me the difference is its been a long time since we had the 430 to compare. I've driven them since then, but I haven't driven the 430 and 460 back to back to compare...I'd be interested in doing that.

There's truth to this. The DI does make the 460's engine louder at idle, and feel a little less refined up in the rev bands. In the 430 you can sit there and rev the engine and you never feel or hear anything, in the 460 you can feel it somewhat. Part of this is also the timing chain vs the timing belt, this is why Lexus resisted timing chains for as long as they did also.

I don't find it problematic, but then again I don't have an LS430 and I'm not comparing them all the time. I could see how if I were constantly faced with that difference I might be annoyed by that.

Outside of that difference the 460 is very quiet.

I think a lot of this might be the 19" wheels on your 460. I specifically avoided the 19s when I got mine, even though they look much better I chose ride over looks.

Another issue is tire pressure. The newer cars have higher pressures on the door jamb (fuel economy), when I aired them to 33 as per the spec on the door I was a little surprised by how sharp some of the expansion joints and all were. When I air them down to 30, which is what I used to run my LS430 at it rides great. The OEM Bridgestones get replaced today or tomorrow and I'm sure it will ride even better.

This is definitely true. Mine does not have ML, I'm not a huge audio guy and I'm happy with the base audio in the LS (the 400 had Nakamichi and the 430 had ML, which were great but I don't miss that). Especially if you were comparing them all the time I could see the issue.

Thats valid also, the styling is a very different approach. The 460 is sleek and sporty, the 430 us upright and formal.

Glad you did what made you happy. Like I said, I loved my 430 and I loved my 400, love my 460 too. I still see examples of both on the road and admire them. I just drive too much to drive something as old as a 430 is now, and the lack of newer tech would bug me.