there’s really not a lot of point basking in the glory of the statistical reliability of cars that aren’t on your driveway.

The only thing that matters is how your specific cars hold up. And as an owner of cars at both extremes of the statistical reliability spectrum, our statistically unreliable Land Rover has been flawless (as have our Jags/Range Rovers for that matter) whereas the only car that’s ever left us stranded in recent years has been one of our statistically reliable Lexuses…

 

Thats the truth, the reality is most people who own any brand of car have a reliable experience, its the minority who don't. All you can do is use the data to tell you how likely you may be to get a problematic unit with one brand or the other. Manufacturers (including Lexus and Toyota) also have more reliable models and less reliable models. The generation S Class I have (W222) is very reliable, the previous car (W221) and the succeeding car (W223) less so. Other models less so. LS460 is widely accepted to not be as reliable as the LS430 or LS400, as another example. An ES or RX is more reliable than an LS...less complex and less to go wrong.

Another example, I have had 4 Chrysler products, of those 4 two were the least reliable cars I ever owned, and two have been completely reliable. 2011 Grand Cherokee, terrible. 2014 Grand Cherokee, great. 2017 Pacifica, terrible. 2020 Pacifica, great.

 

I've been pretty fortunate. I've never had a warranty repair on a Lexus (I've had 5). The last time I had a warranty repair on a Toyota was in 2012, when my 2011 Tacoma needed a squeaky HVAC fan replaced. My 2006 Scion tC, however, had 16 warranty repairs in 30 months. Our Acura TSX (2005) was solid until it hit 100k miles.

 

Lexus cars all got the same baseline services and they had more of a change from it, the LS460 actually got it shift smoothness and speed back unlike the Audis that had no felt change.

I always reset all my cars to zero for everything, all fluids, filters, brakes, tires, and suspension up front and anything that is out of spec/worn so it's very fair for me to say the Lexus cars needed more and took me more time to work on and cost more in parts with the exception of the W12s brakes.

Jeep is the 2000 Grand Cherokee in my signature and you are correct, even vs a loaded same year version it doesn't really have anything. Even so it has never flatlined a battery ever even after 8 months sitting, never lost a wheel bearing (all still original), never blew a radiator (both LSs did), and never had a tie rod inner develop play. Those are all issues I had on the LSs that resulted in no drive conditions while the Jeep has objectively never had anything like that happen.

The total I spent in parts alone has the W12 tied with the LS460 and 14 more hours spent on the 460 so far. The LS430 has about $1000 more than both of them and 30 more hours. The 4.0 beats all of them easily and is my cheapest car to run since it gets 30+ MPG as well.

All that said that's only because I drive flagships, if I drove a more normal car it would be an ES/GS350 all day and nothing can touch those for reliability or cost effectiveness. I mathed it out since my friend drives an 09 ES as his daily and lord I can't touch it for cost.

 

I’ve had a few warranty repairs with my Lexus’ over the years but the main one that affected drivability was in my 2012 GX460 when the secondary air injection problem occurred which put me in limp mode and had to get it towed to the dealer which was a known problem that almost all had. My LS had the brake actuator and valve springs replaced and my IS350 had to have the a/c system serviced when nearly new.

 

i don't see a sig in your posts (which i don't think gets added on mobile?) but ok!

there's nothing to drain it.

about the LSs blowing radiators... sounds crazy. could it be somehow to do with how you drove them vs. the jeep?

a good friend of mine drives an es350 and loves it because he has NO interest in cars. he is a clear lexus target customer.

 

While I won't pass judgment on your friend's motives or try to read his mind, one cannot definitively say that to drive an ES means no interest in cars. A number of avid CL enthusiasts here on the forum have owned and driven ES models.....including SW17LS, who had a 4th-generation ES, IMO the best ES ever built.

 

I drove an ES because I wanted a Lexus and that’s what I could afford. Nothing against the ES, it is what it is but when I got to where I could afford more it was a good day.

 

The 4th gen ES might've been the best built, but damn that thing was ugly. I was glad when I finally started to see less of them on the road. This front end never made sense to me given the other Lexus offerings of the time:

 

Yup and they look even uglier now that all those plastic headlights are all yellowed and hazy!

I do think the facelift in 2004 with the projector headlights was a big improvement in aesthetics.

 

Yeah it was a really nice car (mine is still in the family) but it won't win any beauty awards. My 2010 ES350 was much better looking.

Yeah mine are almost completely opaque and yellow. It sits outside now at my mom's. I was actually thinking the other day when I saw it I should look into what new aftermarket lamps would cost.

Yeah it was I agree, mine was a 2003 pre-refresh unfortunately.

 

Looks like new headlight housings are about $500 total for both. Not sure if its worth it...

 

I've had very good results restoring and refinishing yellowing/opaque headlights on a couple of our older vehicles. Most of the local carwashes and detailers will do it as well, I've had pretty much the same quality of restoration doing it myself at much lower cost.

 

I think these are way past that, and they were done once already a couple years ago

 

You need a protective coating or film for the lens to prevent UV future damage.