LS430Onyx

Putting 7,000 miles on a year, I just turned 70,000. Seems I will have this car for another eighteen years before I see 200k. But, what a way to pass the years!

Johnhav430

got you beat with my BMW, 1,400 miles in 2016 (my cousins say you're insane, get rid of the car, why would you bother insuring something that you drive that little).....but, it doesn't have documented cases of 200k+ all day long like with the LS! (there are a few actually, but we wonder how much they may have spent to maintain to get there)....roll on forever!!

2KHarrier

I think my 2005 is probably on par with you. We bought it last May with 49K and last weekend it turned 53K. 4,000 miles in 9 months. Yeah, it should last a while...

LS430Onyx

Bought it with 54k two years ago. I suppose I am closer to 8k a year. The Mercedes SL absorbs another 4,500 during the dry months. They both should last forever.

Johnhav430

The more I hang on this forum, the more I am really confident we're likely to reach 300k with proper maintenance! This is my first Toyota product (my parents had Corollas, a Celica, and Camry), and I'm proud to own one! Never quite had that feeling with my Maxima, although it deserved a lot of credit to go 244k....

Bjamin75

Damn my other car is a 2014 and I've put 119000 kilometres on it. I hope to be a bit nicer to the Celsior.

Lap7

My first LS was a 90. Bought in 2000 with 204k on it. Came with full documentation of all service work (performed by Lexus ). At 297k car was sideswiped at 70 mph and written off. Still got 26 mpg at 75 on the hwy with the a/c on and on cruise. I was going for 400k. Great car. Now on my 3rd. 2003 pearl white with oyster interior. Love 'em.

Johnhav430

My LS430 is seeing use....about 6,300 now since Oct. 1. Sometimes I ask myself, realistically, I say I can cruise through 200k with ease. But if I'm at 87,000, how long will this take? And to get to 240-300? I'm on track for 20k/yr, that's steep, but again 3 trips to and from the dealer, well 2.5, @ 150 miles each way, maybe those should be removed, those were for post-purchase repairs. That gets it down to 18k, say what???!! Looks like I would need 6 1/2 yrs. to reach 200k. The car should be able to do it.

My buddy's wife has a '13 Audi Q5 under the Takata recall, so they requested a loaner car, which Audi does not provide, the way BMW and Honda did. Anyway, they got loaners, both of which had 0 miles when they were received. On the first one, she put 15k, so they asked for it back, and she put 9k on the 2nd one. This is in 6 mos. Ah, the life of a salesperson. The beauty of it is getting mileage expense reimubursement, not to mention avoiding the miles on your own car!! I had a BMW for 4 1/2 mos, but I only put 4k on it. And as luck would have it, I only went on one business trip. As a matter of fact, having to give that loaner back, that was the push to get the LS430. My Maxima had emissions issues which that loaner allowed me to forget about for 4 1/2 mos....

edit: my mileage today

LS430Onyx

I get very tempted to get a 12-14 A8L. I get very close. Love the idea of awd, Bang & Olufsen, pano roof, newer nav and the toys. Then I think of dead batteries, or warning lights, endless warning chimes. May never happen, but on an LS, esp the 01-06, we become so used to extreme reliability.

Johnhav430

I have a buddy who is wealthy, I don't mean a 2%'er, maybe a 0.005 percenter lol He has never purchased a new car, ever. But his daily driver is a 2008 A8L. Of course he has Porsches as well. He came from the same place that you and I did, so when BMW told him his X5 needed a new motor at 53k out of warranty, he told me he argued with them as if his life depended on it, it just didn't sit well with him (purchased used but non CPO from a new BMW dealership). They tried to do the even if you had a CPO, the motor overheated, and that wouldn't be covered anyway cr**. You put something in the coolant that caused the system to fail. He said, he wouldn't have a clue where the coolant even goes in, showing that it's a bunch of BS.

I think the A8 is so understated it's a beautiful car. Look at the engine bay, it's so tiny, no wonder the bumper comes off for work to be done. My other buddy said good luck if you need body work, I don't care, daddy like!! lol

My buddy with the Q5 is not driving the car, but he said the headliner for the panoramic roof fell off and he can't wait to see what it's gonna cost to fix....I told him the Lexus' rear sunshade is $1k part only, he thinks his problem will be a multiple of that...

10-4 on the reliability.....from yesterday, my calculations show in 6.5 yrs. I should hit 200k, which should be totally doable. So I went in at $14,700, and avoided $40k+, and have a car to drive...should work out as long as my calculations are correct...

LS430Onyx

That is a great reply John. I could get lucky with the A8, but coming from an LS, any simple issue would give me a panic attack. Prior to my LS, years ago, I had a 2000 E320 4Matic. Was really a great car and should have kept it. I have a great indie mechanic/owner who's a family friend for 26 years who lets me bring my own parts and is 100% honest, ao that is a total win. The car was great in the snow. Did many trips from Maine to New Jersey in it with hardly any issues. Then in June of 2013, I saw a 2012 Genesis, with the Tech and Premium package. Had 22k on it and they wanted $25,000. Traded for it and it was a cash deal. The stereo is phenominal. To me, blows away the Mark Levinson in the LS460's, even. Got 28 on the highway, the v6 accelerated like a bat out of hell. Had great lines. But then......drivers seat leather stretched, had to be fixed twice. Navigation would not start up 8 out of every ten tries. Car would die while turning into oncoming traffic (not fun). Fake chrome chipped off grille just sitting outside. Most horrific unstable riding suspension that was so jittery in straight lines as well as when cornering and hitting breaks in the pavement. Car started not starting. I would try to start it at gas stations and was so embarassing sitting there for five minutes with a non starting car. Dealer found no codes or issues. Winter traction with studded tires was barely average. Then finally, after so many people kept up the brainwashing of, "you need an suv", I gave in. I bought a 2008 BMW X5 for $18,000 from a wealthy person outside of Boston. The car had every maintenance record and was a highly optioned X5. I got $16,800 for the Genesis, so I took a loss after not keeping the car long, but seeing how it was depreciating fast and I was starting to have reliability issues, AND I was a few miles away from the end of it's audio video warrenty, it was time to dump it. The BMW never grew on me. It was loud, slow. The $2,000 premium stereo gave me a headache. After two months, while in a Lexus dealership parking lot, Winter day, on a Sunday, coolant tank exploded under the hood. Coolant everywhere. Luckily, I ran to the car and got it shut down. BMW wanted $800. Had it towed to my mechanic who bought the part for two hundred and change. Coolant and labor. All came in around three something. Next thing to go, the stability control warnings flashing and sounding, 4wd warnings. What now. Dealer thought it could be the battery which would be $900. Of that, there is a $199 fee to hook the car up to the "special" BMW computer to tell the car a new battery has been introduced to the vehicle. Also, lets not forget that $189 BMW hourly labor. At this point, I owned this German crap for ten weeks and decided that I would never again drive a vehicle that would strand my dog and I. I wanted the best best built luxury car that was incredible cheap to maintain, one that had bottomed out depreciation wise. Was quiet, got good mileage, had power, room and a lot of options. Fo years I always knew the 01-06 LS was really in it's own class as my mother had one back then. Thus, I started my search. I found one 300 miles away that was owned by an italian immigrant who came to the country with barely a dime and grew it to owning spas and resteraunts on Cape Cod and actually had three LS430's under the corporation. His had 53,000. He had lexus service records going back to day one. Every five thousand miles it was serviced and he actually over serviced the car. At the 37,000 mile mark, seeing how he sid not put a lot of miles on it, he had the 90,000 service down with water pump, thermo, belts and timing belt. I picked it up for 19,000 two years ago and know I would be a fool to ever let it go. Sitting at just now turning 70,000 miles, in two years, I have not had one issue on this 13 year old car. The new cars capture my eyes a lot, every day, but I always turn to reading this forum to reel me back in that we truly have a vehicle that will outlast so many.

Gronemus

I'll have to admit that I also lust after the A8. They are beautiful machines. Was very disappointed that the only A8 at the Chicago auto show had locked doors. Maybe a good thing in the long run. You know what they say: "Lead us not into temptation", LOL. I was also surprised by the low number of models of BMW's present on the show floor. The LS500 up on the podium looks gorgeous in person. Unfortunately, wasn't able to get inside of it since it was a pre-production version and roped off.

Thanks for your anecdotes LS430Onyx. I know John has mentioned it before, but $900 for a battery is just insane. It's stories like this that keep me away from the brand for better or for worse...

Johnhav430

It was rather refreshing to stroll into Costco and pickup a 24F battery for the LS, and put it in....I think it was $83...the one already in it was Autocraft Gold and from the fall of 2012, so I figured what the hey...

The BMW does need "registration," in order to tell the car the battery is new. They say that the car is charging a 6 y.o. battery less than it would a brand new one, and that's the reason. If the registration is not performed, then the car will treat a brand new battery as 6 y.o. or what have you, and that's a waste of the potential. I have not done this myself, but supposedly my software does handle this. Now, if you change the battery type or capacity, that requires coding, that is yet another step. I don't have the software to code (this is the stuff like disabling DRL's, you know, all the stuff like how many secs lights stay on on the Lexus, if the wheel tilts when key removed, etc.). I guess the high cost of BMW or Audi is that the dealer is doing it....and the prices vary...

ah but that A8L.....so elusive......

edit: on another note, it's interesting to see that many here have had many different kinds of cars, some even quite premium and German as well, and we all gravitate towards the LS430....what would happen if the secret got out....suddenly on cars.com, instead of 94 or so 2006's being for sale, there are just 3 or 4, and the prices are 40% higher than we're used to seeing!

takimanpgt

I just turned 70,000 this year as well. Mostly winter driven so annual mileage is low. I have no foreseeable want to get rid of this car - it's one of the best most random purchases I've ever done.

Back a few years ago - was randomly looking on CL for various intriguing cars and just happened to see this low mileage car. Called and spoke to the owner who was an older lady - this had been her only car since new but she had never driven more than a few miles between home, stores and kitty parties. Wonderful lady - had upgraded to a MBZ. Having no idea if this would be an interesting car or not and without any further research, headed out to check out the car. And fell in love. Compared to the previous daily driver Jetta. this was a serious upgrade. I knew I probably shouldn't let go of the too good a deal so came back home, quickly researched the LS model and made up my mind. Within a day, the car was home with me. And the Jetta had sold in that same day on CL so timing was perfect!

Back on topic - at >70k miles now - I have no uneasiness that something major is going to break! It's proven to be quite the gem of a find. I do hope that residuals start going back up because it becomes popular as an used car. Nothing but good can come of it.

2KHarrier

Great story here. I love hearing the stories about how great our cars are. It sure makes me feel good to know that we have a hidden gem!