So I'm looking fro my first car and I'm looking for an older Lexus. I came across a1996 Lexus Ls400 in my local area it has 123K miles and they're asking $2700. I know it won't get great gas mileage since it has a V8, but what are some things I should look for? Also I heard the starter is hard to replace as in you have to take part of the engine apart to replace it how bad is that? Any advice is appreciated.

 

honestly, being 22 years old anything could happen... might want to ask in the LS forum.

 

The start is a pain, mine was starting to die but I never got around to replacing it as my timing belt finally gave up and I dumped the car on craigslist.

The main thing you'll want to determine at that mileage is whether the timing belt and water pump were replaced when they should have been(90k IIRC). That's a costly procedure on this car and could cause a serious headache if it fails. I don't recall what year the 1UZ became an interference engine, but a 96 MIGHT be.

If it is equipped with air suspension, it's probably not in great shape at 20 years of age. I think most people converted to traditional suspension to save money. Mine had been converted before I bought it.

Not sure if they fixed the power steering pumps by 96, but my 92 went through a handful of them according to the service history. I had to replace mine right after buying it and it was on its way out again 3 years later when I dumped it.

 

Gas mileage is actually not a concern - the original LS 400's were the most fuel efficient V8's ever produced at the time. Timing belt & water pump recommended at 90k miles will run you about $1,000 to $1,200 at an indy shop (double that at Lexus dealer). I owned a 96. Loved it - there was a strange issue with certain ECU's that needed a software upgrade or the car would randomly turn off when you were on the highway for long periods of time and slowed down. Ex: Driving 70mph for an hour straight, then hit traffic and slow to 35mph. The car would turn off - you'd have to put in neutral (while still going roughly 35mph in this example), turn ignition off, turn ignition on, and restart it. Happened to my 1996 when I hit about 190k miles. And I was living in Atlanta racking up 50k miles/year in lots of highway driving combined with Atlanta traffic- so I became an expert at dealing with this insanely unsafe and strange phenomenon before getting the ECU replaced... It's actually how I stumbled on this great forum- other people had experienced exact same thing.

Otherwise, bullet proof car and loved every minute of owning it.