Unless your own personal car is a heap of junk and you rent a nicer car - otherwise why would you want to make an exciting trip across USA in a rental?

 

It was well-built and had high quality plastics. Beautiful? Absolutely not, in my opinion, but very nice for when it debuted nonetheless.

 

I absolutely would. I like taking well-optioned rentals on long trips, no wear and tear on my personal car and I have no care about rock chips and such.

 

I suppose it's all relative. Sitting in an old E46 M3 and you won't find much luxurious about it, there was plastic abound. But it was better than the competition and no "regular" car at the time was even close.

 

Btw I've seen a couple Continentals recently. It's certainly a decent looking car, but it won't catch your eye unless you're looking for it.

Only seen the interior of one....was impressed for a Lincoln but still it was pretty meh as far as material quality went. It had the usual tacky looking plastic chrome and lower-grade black plastics around (such as surrounding the screen, your hands will touch that cheap stuff every time you use it). I'm sure getting the Black Label trim helps a lot overall but you've have to folk out like $70K, for a Lincoln, something nobody with a functioning brain would ever do.

 

The same was true of the LS400 back in the day. I think the interior was much improved in 1995, and especially in 1998 with the wood leather wheel/shift ****. What was special about the LS400 was the incredible quality of EVERYTHING inside. No it wasn't flashy, but every material was thick, soft and incredibly high quality. Everything felt solid like it was made from one solid piece of material. My favorite things were the incredibly soft padded leather behind the door pulls which you didnt feel until you put your hand in to close the door, and the pillow soft headrests that didn't look soft, until you laid your head on them. Even compared to my LS460 some of these areas are steps down (no super soft leather behind the door pulls, headrests feel like ordinary headrests, it you press your leg hard into the console, it gives and creaks a little, LS400 not so).

The thing I miss the most? The crotch vent lol.

If you look at old LS400s now, you see how the really high end materials have aged really well.

 

If you look at the interiors of 7er or S-class of that time, they weren't really anymore luxurious. When 1LS was launched in 1989, S class was still W126 chassis with horrendously antiquated interior and 7 Series was E32 and it's interior was very spartan as well. Lexus had those cool luminescent gauges with depth effect, which were very striking in that era, soft touch precise buttons, and just overall more modern look. The only thing it really lacked, up until the launch of LS460, is a LWB version.

But the most important thing about LS400 interior is that it as durable and long lasting compared to other cars of its era. Back in those times it was common for dashboard plastics to crack under the sun, for leather to start peeling and cracking, panels getting loose, buttons becoming flimsy, etc. The big Lexus laster better than most.

 

Yeah I used to be like that but not anymore. I buy my cars to enjoy them, and what better way to enjoy your car than to take it on a nice trip?

 

My comments are usually made around the idea of the average person. Those who have loads of money it really makes no difference to. But for the average person, why blow 20% of your new car warranty on one trip. I get your idea of enjoy the car, but driving accross the US from NY to LA just makes no sense for the average consumer. . Now as for an old car or one that is approaching 15 years of 20 years, what a dumb choice for those individuals.

Saving on wear and tear is what I'm looking at not just overall enjoyment of a car. I wonder if the leasees would want to waste a ton of miles for just one big trip?

 

When I said as good as new I meant mechanically. Obviously a vehicle of any mileage will have wear and tear. Nobody is arguing that.

Even my arguable POS 2001 ES300 with 188k miles that is fully maintained still drives like a brand new vehicle. All we ever did was the typical service (1 timing belt/water pump service), new brake calipers (seized due to midwest winters) and new suspension all around (new OEM shocks, mounts, various bushings, sway bars and mounts (old ones rotted out due to all teh salt they lay down here and car was never undercoated).

Right now and for the last 20k miles since the suspension work, it still drives like a brand new vehicle. I've had it for close to 10 years original one owner car purchased with 79k miles. Every single person that's ever driven in it or drove it (including several certified Lexus technicians) will tell you that and they are all knowledgeable car people who work in the industry and are unbiased (many of them own much more expensive German cars, etc.). You have to give credit where it's due. Toyota builds cars to last. Manufacturers like Lincoln do not. That is why their depreciation is so horrible and nobody wants to touch them with a 10 ft stick after they hit 5 years old unless you live in the hood and want to throw 22" rims on it.

I almost pulled the trigger on an 05 LS430 several years ago that was a clean, full maintenance history original owner car with 115k miles. Nothing needed to be done to that car that was not planned or ridiculously expensive. I still to this day believe that is the best driving vehicle I've ever been in. My ES felt like an 80's Honda after driving the LS. I ended up not buying that car since it had a reported accident and the owner was not being straight forward about the extent of the damage and what was repaired, etc. (I have a bad history with these things and try to buy something that's as original as possible).

Who in their right mind would buy a high mileage Lincoln? I'm pretty sure I'd never buy an American car, but if forced to, I would consider anything over 60k miles high and of questionable reliability (unless we are talking diesel trucks or anything with an LS/T56 powertrain).

On the other hand, I would buy an LS with 200k miles and not think for a second provided that the car was not abused and treated properly.

And Jill, why would I take my own car across country? Why not? Why did you buy a car? To go to work and to the store and back home? Good for you. I bought a separate car to take on road trips to places where most rental cars will never make it through and the few that can make it probably have a really horrible ride and an interior that was designed by a 10 year old. Your LX450 is a prime example of a vehicle that was over-engineered and built to last. Not much else out there that has the space, F&R solid axles, OEM optional triple lockers, Toyota reliability, and GOBS of aftermarket support. Show me one new vehicle that has these specs (aside from a G Wagon that rides like a complete POS, costs as much as a house, and has the interior cabin and cargo space/configuration of a mini suv.)

Yeah it's a 1997 so it's 20 years old now, big deal you might have to change a thing here and there. If you can't understand that maybe you should sell it to someone who does understand these things.

 

Your picture shows exactly what was my biggest disappointment when I bought the 460. The armrest. The armrest in the 98 was soft, comfy and thick. The 460 was flimsy, and hardly had any padding.

 

Mine doesn't stand out to me that strongly, they might have improved it as the different refreshes of the 460 wore on

 

These particular years 98-2005 were when Lexus vehicles were really built to last. Maybe they weren't the fanciest and didn't have too many features but they were solid.

 

Yes, it was a beautiful, well-made car. My dad had '91 and '99 LS400's. I remember the first one we test drove and we were all blown away because we couldn't tell whether the engine was running, even when it was. The QUIET of the car, along with the build quality, was what sold him. He said he paid more for his '91 LS than he paid for his first house, but once he bought it he was hooked! He was a Cadillac man prior to that, but the 80's Cadillacs were downsized crap, which totally turned him off to American cars.

IMO, the interiors in the LS's still stand the test of time today. Beautifully crafted, functional and understated.

 

My dad came from Lincolns and Cadillacs also. He had a 1990 Lincoln Continental, then a 95 Cadillac STS and then the 98 LS400. He had wanted an LS400 since they were new, but wound up getting the 90 Continental instead. He was in the commercial printing paper business and they did a lot of union business, he was worried about the visual of driving a foreign car which is why he resisted. Once he got the LS he could never go back either, even when they wanted to buy him a company car, he convinced them to buy his LS400 out of the lease instead of something cheaper new.

Bringing it back to this Continental, I think thats why it frustrates me so much...this is the same basic concept as that 1990 Continental he had LOL, built on a Taurus platform...except today thats even more of an issue than it was back then when the US still had a good grip on the luxury business with FWD cars like the Continental, Cadillac Seville, Deville, the Oldsmobile Aurora...Lincolns didn't have the stigma back then, and the Country Club we belonged to was full of Continentals and Town Cars and Mark VIIs and VIIIs...they come this crossroads and the best they can do is....a Taurus platformed FWD car like it had been since the 80s lol