tallcaguy

Have an 01 Base. Agree the bells and whistles are fun. Also expensive to fix. I've disabled the mirrors and tilt/telescope. I use a phone for nav. Stock stereo works fine. No work needed when I bought (well tires). Zero repairs in 3 years (other than TB and lower control arm bushings). Love my recently purchased 04 ML but NAV and ML audio. Upside is one owner, perfect dealer service history (and recently replaced ML amp). More fun, more expenses.

toddmorr

why do people persist with the idea that the air struts on the UL are so horribly expensive? I guess they are pricey if you insist on new OEM only, but that is by no means the only choice. To begin with the air struts aren't any less reliable than regular shocks. And secondly, you can find perfectly good used air struts for $100 or so without too much trouble. Most of of these used struts can be reasonably expected to last at least 40k miles. And if they don't, no big deal, find another. Have your friendly non dealer mechanic put them in, or DIY, its easy. so yeah i guess there is some minor additional hassle but the reward is a much smoother, quieter riding LS.

lextout

i whole heartedly agree 200% with tom57, gotta love the leather dash and suede headliner. Ahhhhhhh the smell of leather.

campisi

Useful features of the UL, for me, are in order of usefulness: door closers, dual laminated glass, sunshades, headlight washers, air sus, exta leather. Useless features to me include the massagers, rear audio and ac controls, coolbox (I've owned my car for 13 years and have NEVER used that stupid thing). Oh yearh dynamic laser cruise control - never use it. Still glad I bought a UL, all of these features still work just fine on my UL.

tallcaguy

Much as I like 430's, just can't see spending 4k for air suspension replacement. Uber potential on the UL.....

warminwisc

Too bad they do not make a Custom Luxury Sport suspension model, go figure.

jayclapp

People that complain about the UL are mostly those that don't have one. For instance, a lot of complaints in this posting about the cooler box. Why? Don't they realize that the cooler box is merely a simple addition to the independent and addition A/C system for the rear passengers. This additional A/C system allows more rapid cool down of the entire car in hot area. Included in the additional A/C is a UV filter that runs continuously and cleans the air of dust and odor. The additional A/C and filter are the real value of the UL rear "cooler box". Yet, nobody even mentioned the additional A/C, which allowed the cooler box to be included. Point made.

warminwisc

That was good thanks. All the extras have value some more than others. For me in Wisconsin the pass thru for skis and the extra cooling would be nice but can't have it all

wnyjazz

Good info in this thread for potential buyers.

StanVanDam

I like and use all of the UL features, including:
* Adjustable air suspension - the extra height on HIGH means I don't have to jack the car to do oil, transmission, or differential fluid changes. It is also incredibly smooth to drive in town and on the highway, plus the suspension self-lowers at 100km/h or higher, reducing drag coefficient from 0.26 to 0.25.
* Adjustable shock absorber damping force - you can change the stiffness of the shocks. It also auto-adjusts within each of the 2 ranges (Sport and Normal) depending on driving inputs. Normal for low speed or bumpy roads, Sport for high speed or smooth roads.
* Double-paned extra thick glass all around means quieter interior and extra break-resistance
* Rear AC unit combined with a front AC unit means faster cooling of the entire interior during hot summer days. The rear air filter is gigantic and runs through an ultraviolet light which destroys spores/pollen/etc, cleans the air much faster than the tiny front filter alone. My rear fans usually don't run in Auto mode unless it's hot out, so I always leave it on Manual-Low or Manual-High to keep the air moving and cleansed.
* Rear coolbox holds 8 cans (6 355mL cans + 2 Red Bull sized cans laying across the top). Setting rear AC to Manual-HIGH cools the drinks quickly. I don't ski so I would rather a coolbox than a trunk passthrough.
* Rear side window and rear window sunshades keeps the car cool and enhances window tint
* I use laser cruise control often while on the highway, automatically keeps distance from other cars and you can use it to match speeds of other cars to maintain good highway traffic flow
* Semi-aniline leather is extremely soft and luxurious
* Reclining rear seats, rear audio and temperature control, and the massage/vibrator function is great for inducing sleep on long drives.
* I use the GPS touchscreen often, and even wired up a switch to enable typing while the car is in motion. I find it gives directions better and faster than most smartphones and standalone units, and the voice guidance is much more pleasant and natural than all the other smartphone and standalone units my friends have.
* The Mark Levinson audio system is tuned perfectly - left channel hits my ear at the exact same time the right channel hits my right ear. From the Canadian brochure: "To compensate for the fact that the driver sits closer to the left door speaker than the right one, an almost infinitesimal adjustment enables the Mark Levinson 24-bit floating point DSP processor to transmit signals so that both in-door speakers deliver sound to the driver’s ear at exactly the same time. Nobody can match this level of precision." Music sounds perfectly centred, perfectly clear, and low/mid/high ranges are perfectly balanced and are reproduced exactly as the music was recorded and mixed. Songs that are poorly mixed or not encoded losslessly easily stand out.
* Electric door closers are a nice touch, allows for gentle closing of the doors. I use these all the time and none of them have failed yet.
* Power latching trunk is useful when you pack the trunk so full it barely closes, but if you can get it to latch, the power closer will close it the rest of the way.

No problems with air suspension so far, 14 years in service, 145000km (90000mi), driven every winter on salted roads, stored in an unheated garage.

warminwisc

A side from air struts going out and replacements is there maintenance to keep the car level and such? Ride height sensors or is it pretty foolproof? I hear folks talk about one side sitting higher than the other .

hyperopt

I moved from a LS400 to LS430 and purposely looked for and bought an UL and not anything less. I am glad I did. LS430s are old cars and the price differentials are minimal compared to when they were new. ULs cost $12000 more than base models when new, and now, only hundreds of dollar more than the base models. You get the most bangs for your bucks. Some will argue that additional features in the UL will also give you more "bang" when they go out. Well, think of it this way. You have the option not to fix the additional features in the UL when they don't work, and if all additional features in the UL went out and you don't fix, the UL became similar to the base model with a few exceptions most noticeably the air suspension.
The solution for air suspension is cheaper than you might think. All LS430s are now 10-15 years old and most need new struts or will need them shortly if they haven't had them replaced, as a result, we need to compare the cost of replacing struts on the base model to that of the UL. If you have the $$$ to buy new air struts, more power to you, but you have the option to go back to standard struts. For the rest of us, let's focus on changing air struts on UL to standard struts versus changing the struts on the base model. The only additional items UL owners need to have are springs, strut mounts, and stoppers. Strut mounts should be changed anyway when changing struts so the only items left are springs and stoppers. Springs are relatively cheap when new and dirt cheap used and they work as good as the new ones. Stoppers are cheap as well.
Alright, part-wised it doesn't cost much more to change struts on UL when compared to changing struts on the base model. How about labor? I can tell you from first hand experience is that it's easier to change out the air struts than standard strut, so labor-wised it should be the same or less on the UL If the shop charges more to replace UL struts than standard struts, it's because the shop is opportunistic.
If you bought a used UL, congratulation, you have made a great and smart purchase. Enjoy your car and don't sweat so much.

tallcaguy

Agree the UL's are cool. Power door closers and double laminate glass for instance. However, my impression is that the standard struts last a long time. Haven't seen many posts about having to replace them. Many posts on air suspension issues.

hyperopt

Standard struts don't suddenly fail but they do wear out and become less effective. The degradation is so gradual over time that most don't notice, and it's not a bad idea to change them and the strut mounts at 150K-200K, which on average most LS430s are at. For me, changing them at high miles is part of a regular maintenance.

tallcaguy

Cost to do the replacement? Have the sports suspension (and drive to take advantage of it) so plan to replace sooner than stock struts.