BlaXXXima

Going for $35K (Canadian) - with the Certified Pre-Owned status. LOW LOW KMs.

It's Goldish-Brown with black interior. Loaded to the gills.

It's a 98. What do I have to worry about?

Help me out here fellas (and ladies). I just sold my baby (98 Max SE) last night, and have done all the paperwork on a 2004 Accord (no signature on anything, yet). Then I came across a bunch of nasty info on the 2003-2004 transmissions. Made me worry about whether I was buying the 'right' car.

What would you think about that LS400?

Thanks,

Mike

Kansas

A comparable $26,200 US dollars for a 98 would probably be seen as quite high here in the States but the incredible low "mileage" (kilometerage?) is tempting. We've had several each of Honda Accords and Lexus LS's and the LS is a whole lot more confortable, quite, reliable, roomy, etc. But the LS gets much worse gas mileage and when things go wrong can be far more expensive to repair. After owning a bunch of Hondas (4) and Toyota products including Camry's, I found the Toyota products to be substantially more reliable and even to look better over the long term than the Honda products. I've always wondered why rental agencies in the U.S. rent Toyotas but not Hondas - have they found out the same thing?

Is this LS really "loaded to the gills"? Air suspension, navigation or Nakamichi, heated seats, sun roof, HID, CD player, premium wheels, wood/leather steering wheel/gear shift, etc. In the U.S. about $10,000 in options could be added to a 98-00 LS. Mainly I'm recommending that you verify what was available in the 98 model year to see if this 98 has it all.

Good luck!

BlaXXXima

Hey Jim,
Admittedly, loaded to the gills may not be the right description, but it's got some nice standard features (Nakamichi, no Nav).

The reason I'm considering it is that I was going to purchase a 2004 Accord V6, until I started doing some digging and finding out that it's got serious issues with transmission reliability as well.

To be honest, I'm more tempted by a GS400 but it's slightly outside the price range I can afford right now (new house / dental practice for wifey, me no job - yet). So basically I want a 'problem-free' car.

Having spent some time on here chatting with people over the past few weeks, it appears that the Lexus is one solid and reliable automobile. That's what really turned me on to it, even though I'd already been impressed with it. The kinds of problems experienced seem nothing like what I'm finding for other cars, and dont seem like the 'life-threatening' type.


Anyways, just soliciting a little input on whether this LS400 sounded like a good deal. The mileage is what's throwing the equation off.

Thanks Jim,

Mike

749009

I'm in Canada as well and I've been tracking prices on '95 - '98 LS 400 models over the past month.
By the description of the car, I'm assuming that is the car advertised by Oregan's Lexus in Halifax. Very low mileage, but, that is a very high price for a '98 and you have to add GST and provincial sales tax to whatever price you're able to do the deal at. As well, unless the dealer is giving you a free warranty, you have no warranty left.
Just to give you a comparable, get onto the Canadian Auto Trader website
www.canadatrader.com
and checkout '98 LS 400's in Vancouver, BC. There is one advertised at Tran's Auto Sales, 69,000 km for an asking price of $25,900.
I'm in Calgary so I have no idea of the car's background or whether it is a decent car or not, just that that is a very good price. Show your Lexus dealer in Halifax that car and you can probably knock something off of their price. By the way, the colour combination on the Lexus you're looking at is a tricky one; in other words it may cost you money when you go to resell the car, because not everyone will like those colours.
Here in Calgary, there is a 2000 LS 400 advertised for $45,000 with 75,000 km just to give you another price comparison.
In Ontario, there are 2 '98 LS 400's you can use as price comparisons:
1- silver green - 96,000 km - $24,000
2- dark green - 82,000 km - $28,900 / offers Private seller
The thing to also watch out for on a very low mileage car is whether it sat for a long period of time because that can cause seals to dry up and give you some problems. As well, check to see if it sat because it was involved in a bad accident and took a long time to repair. I've seen that happen before.
As well, be very careful to check out whether everything on the car is working properly because it will cost a fair amount to get anything fixed over top of an already high price.
By the way, you could not get navigation on Cdn LS 430's until at least 2002 or 2003.
I suspect your car will have the Nakamichi stereo, heated seats, traction control, headlight washers, HID, CD player, and sunroof just because of the normal way they equip Cdn cars. I can see from the pic it just has the regular wheels and check next to the transmission lever to see whether you have the air adjustable suspension. Most Cdn vehicles until recently won't have it. The wood wheel & shifter is a toss up.
Hope this helps you a bit.