Howzit

I'm in the oil industry, I wish it was $100 again!

I love my 430, regardless of gas prices!

JffGRY706

430 separate threads, search feature that nobody seems to use. don't need more, 5 pages on a car for sale, and still for sale as far as I know. lol

Coulter

Way too many "Should I buy this LS430?" type threads where some new poster wants the forum to be the tire kickers and spoon feed them all the information about issues instead of taking a few minutes to do some research on their own.

OsideTurbo

This sub-forum is bound to change over time and there is no going back to the "good ol' days". Because this sub-forum is limited to cars built between 2001-2006, the forum's demographic will change along with the owners of the cars. It is no longer an exclusive vehicle with a $70,000 entrance fee. $8500 can get you a nice LS430 these days. Current owners aren't under warranty, so the topics will change and there will be a lot more discussion about DIY repair. In 2006, there may have been threads about getting the best price from a dealer - now, those threads are about things to look for when buying a used LS. These cars will never be collectible, so there isn't any chance that their value will go up over time.

I'm actually surprised that this sub is not becoming more active as it ages (at least for a few years). More maintenance and wear issues should be coming up now that these cars are hitting the 100K mileage mark, which means there should be more things to talk about. These cars have proven to be so reliable that I'm surprised there was much to talk about ten years ago - not many DIY repairs needed for an LS430 with 20,000 miles on it and still under warranty! Although, since 430s aren't being made anymore and they are taken off the road due to accident and age at an increasing rate, the sub will eventually become less active because the pool of potential members continues to decrease - most luxury car buyers have moved on to newer models.

Now that LS430s are a great bargain for a used car, the owners are becoming more diverse, The sub will naturally adapt to reflect the ownership, which is a good thing because it keeps the site relevant as topics change over time and cars age. I think this site will become more interesting now that everyone is out of warranty, which means people are increasingly willing to attempt DIY projects and workarounds.

Jabberwock

I actually think the LS430 may become collectable for a certain type of car lover - this may have already started in a small way as it looks like nice minty examples of these cars are getting snapped up pretty quick. Having said that there were so many LS430s made that "collectable value" will likely never take off.

Personally if my 06 was totaled today, I'd work hard to find a low mile mint condition replacement LS430 instead of getting something else that was newer. I am admittedly very biased, but imho there is nothing currently available (that is remotely affordable) that is as bulletproof reliable, safe, comfortable, and satisfying to drive as an LS430.

Johnhav430

I went to a Lexus event at the Belmont race track on Long Island, in the summer of 2005. I clearly remember that when they laid out all their cars, there was a line for all, EXCEPT THE LS430. This means it had already fallen out of favor. They brought along a new 2006 BMW 330i sedan--that was the car I wanted to drive, and there was a super long line, so long, I skipped it (later that fall I drove it with BMW professional drivers at their event).

I ended up taking 2 turns with the LS430, and I remember thinking it was so comfortable, I figured I would enjoy it while stuck in traffic. 11 years later, I own one, and proved what I had thought back then to be true.

Maybe I am different too, but I think the 3rd gen is much better looking than the 4th gen, and I have no interest in the 4th gen. My thing is if you can find a car you truly like, that costs < $15k, and can sensibly last forever or for a long time, how much better off are you, than spending 30-40-50-60k+ on a new car?? Apples and oranges, but I was planning on getting a VW Golf R, until the TDI scandal. That would have been 40k after discount and before tax, I would have put up 20k then borrowed the rest for 36 or 60 mos....now I spent < $15k and was able to just pay cash

tallcaguy

Agree they probably won't be collectables. However there are enough savvy buyers that Nor CA dealers are starting to push the prices up for good ones. Private sales seem to be harder to do. Unless they know the car, people don't have much confidence in 12-15 year old cars. Just sold my 01. Buyers are long time Toyota fans and had obviously done their homework. They couldn't believe how comfortable it was. Is there any good alternative for the same low price range? Even higher price range?

bmore430

Glad some people noticed how boring its been on this forum recently. Every other thread is about gas mileage, steering motors, best oil etc. Hopefully once the stock is best crowd sells these cars, the lower price point will bring some more people to this platform.

OsideTurbo

I would also buy another LS430 if mine was wrecked tomorrow. No hesitation.

One reason I don't think the LS 430 will be collectible is that no production cars of this era will ever be collectible. (Exotics being the only cars left worth saving.) These aren't like muscle cars of the '60s that were made of simple interiors and people can easily take it apart for a restoration and put it back together. With today's materials and construction methods, there is no way to strip a car down for restoration. Most of the parts will be destroyed. The other big reason is electronics. When restoring a muscle car, you replace all the wiring in an entire car by buying a simple little wiring harness. Even so, electrical/wiring is still a major source of frustration when restoring an old muscle car. Imagine how difficult it would be to replace all of the wiring in an LS430! People will be less inclined to restore a car with outdated computers. Many parts will no longer work because they aren't compatible with current software or hardware and nobody will be making old computer parts that only existed for a 3-4 year window before all manufacturers moved on to the newer technologies. In 30 years, who is going to want to try to rebuild an old LS430 navigation and Mark Levinson system?

Johnhav430

My impression is that when the 3rd gen came out, the car mfg. (really Toyota) was striving for perfection period, they wanted to be the best. I don't think any of the car mfgs. do that anymore, they simply cannot.

It's like, look at the spectacle China put on during the Beijing Olympics--the entire world economy was roaring as if nobody can even figure out where to spend their cash. So you can really do something impressive.

Up to about 2008-09, car co's were able to let the engineers run...you saw overdesigned things being cranked out. Today, look at the proliferation of 4 cyl. turbo motors on $50k+ vehicles. All thanks to CAFE standards!

chrisleduc

My experience today exactly....

2KHarrier

Take a look over on the 1st Gen LX forum. They get a new post maybe every other day. Not sure if it's because the LX series has so few problems and rarely ever fails, or because there's just not a lot of discussion surrounding the vehicle. Either way, it's sad, but it's kind of a ghost forum.

Johnhav430

I posted the demise of the Maxima forum, and showed a thread as an example. It was an excellent forum from 2000-2006 when I was active. I was on an American car forum and some of the folks were truly nasty. Don't you dare notice anything or drive an import. Even though the demographics have greatly changed, my BMW forum is extremely active be it any aspect of the car, or off topic.

But I will say this, this forum seems to be generally very respectful and helpful. And it seems there is a diversity of what people own, it isn't drive a Lexus or Toyota or get outta here, like some other forums!

FEBE3000

I think alote has to do with the type of builds that owners of ls430s want to do now because alote want to do the vip look or just normal wheels and coils and not wanting to do more to not destroy the clean oem feel of the car. As for me im a new owner of a 2006 ls430ul im 29 years old and i came from owning only hondas and i can say this car is not like any other car ive ever owned. And Im glad that this forum still exist becuase it has helped me out alote with questions and all the cool options the car brings from factory. I think with time things will pick up with the ls430s.

Daspyda

iTrader: (1)

Also, with mature forums post count always goes down. Partly the reason is because there's such a vast amount of knowledge that a simple search yields several credible and helpful results.

One of the oldest jokes is some noob posting something and everyone posts "SEARCH!"...