Salsaman06

I am in my early 50's. Learned to drive in the late 70's driving my moms 1978 Mercury Grand Marquis. (Last of the "big ones"). So I've been spoiled with smooth, quiet rides from the beginning. That car had awful handling characteristics going around corners - you had to take it really slow or you could easily plow thru the turn. But there was nothing on the road then OR NOW that rode as smooth as that car did. You literally could cut diamonds in the back seat over a cobblestone road. (Remember that commercial ?) When I hear those on here lament the bad handling of the LS430, I have to chuckle. The LS430 rides on rails compared to that Marquis. But even so, I love the LS430. I bought a 2003 UL new. Regretted ever getting rid of it. Fell in love with the LS430 - it has no contemporaries to equally compare. I never liked the LS460 styling. Even over time, I never could get used to it. There is something subtly majestic and elegant about the LS430. And judging by the comments on this forum - apparently is also better built. As soon as I sell back my TDI to Volkswagen, I am replacing it with a LS430 and not ever looking back.

Johnhav430

there is something to our 3rd gens! Not everyone likes them, and definitely not the masses when 2006 rolled around. Even my wife said, "old man's car" when I started pointing them out. But after driving it? She says it has a lot of torque and jokes why don't I take her car to work?

i can't remember when I first became interested, maybe 6 mos ago. I remember for a short time I specifically wanted an '05 since it is290/320 as opposed to 278/312. Then I found out the standards changed, not the motors..

my my sis in law wants to get a '17 A4 2.0T after the buyback...maybe one day I'll drive a 4 cyl again (last did it in the 90's), but not if I can help it!

Salsaman06

I always find it curious when one associates a particular group of people with a particular car - like, "thats a womans car" or "thats an old mans car". I buy a car because there is something about it I like regardless of what others think - I couldn't care less. As for being an "old man" owning a LS430, if someone wants to think I am an old man so be it. I'll own that - but has no bearing on anything really. To a 25 year old, I am an old man. To a 70 year old, I am a young pup. It's all good.

Johnhav430

. That's just how it goes, sometimes. Are there men who drive Jettas and Beetles? Sure. Do they care what anybody thinks about the flower in the built in vase? No. The average age is 37-42. So 43+ is technically old. I'm sure a typical 43 yo considers life to be less than half over.

Salsaman06

As a matter of fact, I owned a '06 Beetle Convertible. Bright red with beige top. A "Malibu Barbie" car if there ever was one. LOL And I had the fake flower too. Not my first choice of color but I couldn't pass up the deal. 3100 miles and 12K off list (!!). I had a blast with that car and got some looks. (I'm 6'1", big burly hairy bear.) And that thing was such a crazy magnet for the ladies.

OsideTurbo

Good advice. Shopping in the right market can make all the difference and make your search much quicker. Also, a market that is flooded with used luxury cars drives down the price. Since cars are "major purchases" (for those of us who can't afford yachts and jets), it makes sense to shop in a good market and then fly to the car's location and drive it home. For the price of a one-way ticket and a weekend drive, you can get the car you really want, instead of settling for what is available in your local market.

For those who are shopping on the Left Coast and don't want to go as far as Florida, Southern California is also a goldmine for LS430s. On any given day, there are over a hundred LS430s for sale in the SoCal area (L.A./San Diego/Inland Empire) between dealers and private sales. When I bought mine this summer, I'd shop online throughout the week and make phone calls and by the weekend, I'd have more cars to look at than I had time for. Bought mine on the second day of test-drives and got exactly what I wanted.

Like others have said, there are a lot of single-owner LS430s on the used market now because the original owners are turning them over now that they are out of warranty or perceived to be "too old" by the owner. I limited my search to 1-owner cars with less than 100,000 miles, with maintenance history and a changed timing belt and was finding plenty of cars. Most of them were owned by elderly well-to-do people who had all maintenance done at the dealership and garage-parked the cars full-time. It helps that there is a lot of wealth in SoCal. Some of these people bought their LS for use at their 2nd or 3rd home for a few months a year - I was amazed at how many low-mileage cars are out there.

I also think that we are in the middle of the "sweet spot" for the LS430 model. The prices have pretty much bottomed-out - mostly because the depreciation that comes with buying a "luxury" car is dragging older Lexus models down even though Lexus doesn't suffer from the pitfalls of "luxury" ownership that the other brands in the segment do (primarily out-of-warranty maintenance costs). You can still find tons of cars with approx. 100,000 miles on them (which used to be the end of useful life of cars - and a lot of older owners still have that perception), yet an LS430 should be good for 250K no problem. At 10-15 years old, the well-cared for LS430s still look amazing and have very little age-related deterioration (save for speaker foam). The "sweet spot" window will start closing in 8-12 years from now, when it will be impossible to find low-mileage cars that have been exclusively dealer-serviced. This is when the age will start to kick in. So much plastic and rubber materials in these cars and there is no way to stop things like rubber seals from drying out. Also many, many computers and electronics onboard, which will reach the end of their useful life simply due to age, regardless of how well it is cared for. (Kinda makes me wonder what great used car I'll be looking for in 2027)

While I'm here, I'll add my demographic: I am one of the new owners (and new CL member), bought my first Lexus (2004 LS430) in June. Not planning to do any modifications outside of the Yatour I bought to add digital media capability (since my cassettes are long-gone ). In my early 40's, lawyer, white male. Came from blue-collar family and can't justify spending over $100K for a new luxury car - especially when these amazingly good LS430s can be had for $10K. Hell, add in an additional $15K for insurance and maintenance, and you have a good chance of obtaining a very nice ride for the next 10 years for less than $25,000 total expense. Paying less than $3,000 per year for a car this nice is pretty good, imho. (gas costs omitted from this guesstimate because it is too much of a wildcard over 10 years.) I'd guess that is half of what a new base Toyota Corolla would cost! (And I know I'd rather be in my 12 year-old LS430 . . .)

tallcaguy

I drove a '12 460 yesterday. Nice 45k car but no comparison to the 430. Doesn't have the luxury look/feel/drive. Service advisor said that it shouldn't be branded as an LS. Gave me a long list of why a 430 is better. Of course he drives one. So far, every Lex salesperson I've talked has said pretty much the same thing. The sales guy yesterday said the 430 was one of the best cars Lexus has ever built. When you do buy a 460, why get rid of the 430? You'll get very little for it. Can have a reliable back up car when the 460 is in the shop. Agree we are totally spoiled. Look for reasons to drive my car (or even just drive it for fun).

tallcaguy

You're right, the Sport comes w/ 18s. Ride was horrible because of the worn out Michelin Primacies. I had a spare set of 17s w/ new Michelin Premiers. Figured I might as well use them while I figure out the right tire for the 18s. Right now I'm considering Michelin Pilot Super Sports. If they're not comfortable, Michelin will allow a switch to another model and I use Premiers. Soft tire but the narrower sidewalls might tighten things up.

Scootymad

25 Year old car painter from NZ. Complete mongrel :P and bought this because I wanted a turbocharged track day car. Yeah so I ended up with the complete opposite, a low and slow behemoth, but its grown on me though.

Johnhav430

I told this story already I think, when I last (my first time) pulled into the Lexus dealer for service, the valet said, "LS430, 'the' most desirable Lexus." My guess is that he's retired and this is a side job, so he was vocalizing his opinion. Then he joked he was keeping my car, and said take care of it, and it will take care of you.

If our trunk is over 20 cu. ft., wth happened with the LS460, it's a bigger car with ~ 7 cu. ft. less cargo space. Did the passengers gain it?

robish4

I'm 34 & bought my 2003 ls30 UL this Spring after driving my 1996 Es300 for over 10 years. I initially was interested in another ES or possibly an RX because I thought the LS was too far out of my budget for maintenance.

I happen to see my car after test driving a 09 ES. I just wanted to test drive the car because it was a beauty. I fell in love before I hit the first stop light. It was less than $14K, had less than 70k miles, had less than 1 owner, the timing belt had already been changed, all maintenance was done at the Lexus dealership & I could finish pay the loan off on 1 year.

I plan to keep my car for 5 years before I purchase another Lexus. I'm hoping to be able to grab a 2012-2014 model at that time, but time will tell. I planned on getting rid of my ES in 5 years, too, but kept it because I never had any major issues. I hope my new to me a LS will be the same.
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Johnhav430

I don't like to blurt out my age, so put it this way, I was not a true Dead Head, but was referred to as a "Touch of Grey" Head. That is, the folks who jumped on the bandwagon when In the Dark came out.

Anyway, we love our LS430's. But the general population sees it as imho a 70+ y.o. person's car. We could care less--it has so many "sleeper" aspects to it. When I see couples traveling in their 80's, and have the appearance of being wealthy, I wonder to myself, did you buy my LS430 new in Naples, FLA?

I mean the owner of our firm is in his 80's, and he has S550's and Bentleys, but who knows, even he may have had a LS 10+ years ago, because he values a $. His son had a LS460 a few years ago.

Mobius1

Guess I'll add my demographic to the thread.

Currently as of this writing am 25 years old working in an office setting as an IT engineer.

My first car I owned was a hand-me-down that I got for free from my mother when I moved out of state. An Isuzu. As much as I had issue with it, I did love it to pieces.

Fast forward two years and one dead Isuzu later (engine threw a main bearing) I'm out looking for a new car. It was a bit of an emergency since I was straight up car-less. However I wasnt in enough of a hurry as my room mate and I work at the same company, so we were able to carpool while I searched.

Anyway I eventually landed on a white 2003 LS 430 ML-package with 66K on the odo. It's been only four months and 4k miles but it still feels like im in the honeymoon phase. I still look forward to driving the LS to and from work everyday.

Last week my dad asked me why i bought such a large, lumbering car lol. Mind you he's in his 50's but owns a VW Eos 2.0T. Same thing with my mother as well, VW Tiguan 2.0T. No disrespect to those cars at all, they are perfectly fine drivable vehicles. But man are their interiors cheap! NVH is no contest. Dont even get me started on their transmissions. And as much as i see people complain about the Mark Levinson audio quality, I personally find it QUITE nice comparatively.

Johnhav430

Very understandable, let's say your dad is 55, which is older than I am. He's likely 15 yrs. younger today, than the original LS owner was, in 2006. Again, I reiterate, I was at a Lexus event summer 2005, and nobody was interested in driving a LS. It was already out of favor--that's why I'm curious, what was the discount in early 2006 on a LS430, was it huge, like 15k off? What? Only someone who's been around the forum 10 yrs, could say.

We are the odd ***** in the general car population. The local Japanese specialist can't do the LCA bushings as he hasn't done it before.

Ask a teenager what they think about being dropped off in a LS430, they'd likely ask to be let out 2-3 blocks from the destination.

Mobius1

You know its a bit funny, I think I was an outlier in that regard because I adored E38's and S classes when i was in Junior-High. I SO wanted a V12 750il. But as time went on and realizing that reliability too is something that needs to be taken into account when you dont make boat loads of money, the LS 430 in the end was the perfect candidate.