I sat in one today too. The early 1990s Prados were like this. We have a lot of imported 1980 and 1990 Prados where I am. This is exactly how they are offered. So I see why they offer it. The cloth is very 80s.







the only thing that is soft touch is the leather wrapped steering wheel. Full time 4WD with centre and rear locking diffs. Takes premium fuel. A true throwback

 

An LS430 cost more to maintain than three German 12 cylinder vehicles combined?

 

Correct, look up cost for cam seals and upper oil pan in terms of labor hours, and look up how much Lexus control arms and lower front ball joints are vs Lemforder complete front end component kit.

The LS cost me more money and time and needed more repairs than all three of them combined. I still liked it and I still just lived with it but I know have 3/4 the amount of miles I put on it on my D4 W12 and it's literally not had a single thing have an issue this whole time. The LS460 also once I fixed it the first massive go around has given us 30k without anything at all going wrong, the 430 tested me every 10k or so.

The low mile 430 I have is currently requesting a water pump and other issues, keep in mind the pump was done less than 2k miles back at Lexus.

Parts are also WAY more on the Lexus cars and it's near impossible to find the OEMs for common wear items and god help you if you have air suspension. None of my Lexus cars had it because of all the issues and massively expensive cost of parts.

My Germans can be rebagged and compressors rebuilt with kits for $120-200 if something goes, but I've seen many many of these cars exceed 200k on all stock stuff. I can't rebuild a Lexus strut, there is no service I can ship them to to rebuild them, and brand new ones are $250 more a corner. Even my coil spring LS460 cost me more on new struts due to leaks than it would have cost me to buy new air for my 4.0 A8, it just costs more to run an LS for the same issues.

The problem will occur when you get bent by a dealer or shop who knows they can charge insane money because you have a German car. If a shop actually shows you the book times the LSs have higher times than most of their rivals and man let me tell you those numbers are a lie. The brands that always screw me the most on book time are Ford, Toyota, and Lexus.

 

Ha made me laugh when I read this.

 

I mean, they are lol. Over 8 seconds 0-60 which is unacceptable these days.

You can't pass effortlessly, etc. with a vehicle that slow these days either.

 

i heard the ls430 costs more to maintain than rebuilding notre dame cathedral in paris and the bridge in baltimore.

 

I laughed out loud

 

Well, did you not say that the car had all of these problems when you bought it? So it’s the car or may it have something to do with how the previous owner(s) treated it?

 

To be fair, Toyota/Lexus air struts are indeed practically unserviceable without significant modifications. Most euro air struts have separately replaceable airbags - which doesn't help a whole lot when the whole thing needs to be replaced (worn shock + old bag = might as well replace both sides... or all 4). Can't say anything about compressor rebuild kits.
Funnily enough, there is a company around that modifies struts (air or otherwise - both the shock absorber and the air spring) to be rebuildable. Haven't tried them yet, but I do have the original 4 shocks lying around...

As for the LS460 coils & struts being more expensive than euro air stuff, assuming 2009 USF40L-AEZGHA:
48510-80339 - front strut, $230-ish
48540-59055 - rear left strut, $250-ish
48530-80386 - rear right strut, $250-ish
...prices that I looked up at an online US dealer. Six years ago for the fronts and four years ago for the rears, I paid $252 (equiv) per shock, coils were around the same, add some whatever amount for the front top mounts since for whatever reason the bump stops are sold with them - $500-ish per corner. Is this expensive?

Re: lemforder being the same thing - from what I gather, their ball joints' rubber seals are... well... just like the rest of the aftermarket, so it might just be a case of "for VAG they don't just rebadge cr...subpar parts, since they do the actual manufacturing". And yes, having to buy new front upper control arms for the LS every year or two would get annoying quite fast, but if it's the rubber bushing that deteriorates, I'd just swap it for poly (superpro supposedly makes ones for the LS that can still bend off-axis) - shouldn't have much if any effect on comfort in the particular area that it is, and it definitely shouldn't affect dynamic toe. Still annoying given that it's a part which should essentially last forever, but I guess they had to pull one out of the alfa romeo books.

 

I haven't checked out/sate in the new GX but mine looked quite luxurious as I remember. Nothing cheap about it as posted by Toys4RJill. That looks awful. I guess to make it cheaper, they have to cheapen some areas.
Almost like how MB got away with their smaller engines on GLEs. People buy because they are "cheap(er)". I guess it's all about the bottom line numbers.

 

Spent the weekend in KC rockin' a very low trim (LE) RAV4.

I will say that getting 32 mpg and only paying $2.67 a gallon for gas made for some super cheap miles! I spent $12 in gas all weekend!

 

That, and maybe the people who bought and test drove them felt the power was adequate for their needs.

A lot of older people like myself don't care to drive fast anymore

 

It’s not about driving fast, it’s about the feel of the car. The 4cyl in the GLE and the E Class feels awful.

 

Guess those aren't the ones you were talking about that you said were better.

The Lexus 2.0t sounds horrendous. To their credit they have ironed out the NVH (and I'm sure MB has too), but "silky smooth" it will never be like every Lexus should.

Can you be more specific? What do you mean it feels awful? I just hate the lag and sounds and just about everything else.

Unacceptable to have a fkn E-Class Benz with an "awful feeling" engine.

 

ha, you're welcome.

sorry to hear that.

it's amazing something that ugly and space inefficient sells so well.

i disagree. for normal driving they're smooth and quiet. are they s580 smooth and quiet? no. but at half the price and with regulatory pressure, they're decent.