Believe me, these departments operate on a budget and they know when it makes financial sense to replace a vehicle. Its a balance of having dependable vehicles, vehicles that meet their current needs and costs.

 

Right.

In other news we raced LS430 vs LX570 from a roll today.

The first race I had the LS primed in the right gear manually. That’s was a pretty bad walk. But once we did the same thing with LX put it in gear it was much, much closer. LS is still the faster vehicle.

 

Why would they be priced any higher? They look great of course but there's nothing particularly special about them. They're based on the C-class underneath and had some cost cut elements in the interior. They might bounce back mildly in the future but they weren't as special as the E-class convertible that came before.

 

Up near me it's rust you need to watch for, the engines are fantastic and the trans only has minor issues like the connector seal and occasional conductor plate problems.

 

haha awesome... yea the LS wins every time, assuming the LX doesn't jump the start

being in the right gear makes such a difference with these tall highway gears, stepping on it from like 4000rpm the UZ just erupts into life! years ago i did a roll race vs my friend's tuned A4, the LS won largely because i was already in first gear and when i put my foot down i easily gained a car length almost immediately while his turbo was still spooling up

 

Tune the LS, it really sharpens the throttle and trans in only PWR mode so you can still cruise relaxed. Mine was able to consistently best a 06 GS430 and any prior gen GS430 as well from standstill to 120

 

Saw a TX on my commute today, looked great.

 

Lol the 5.7 is no slouch though it really pulls through second and third gears especially. It was a lot closer once we threw it into gear like I had the LS in the prior race. But for sure, it’s not as fast. 1/4 trap speed is massive between the two. You could, however, catch an LS430 off guard and beat it or seriously give it a run for its money with an LX. 2008-2015 trucks were 6.5 seconds to 60 according to Car and Driver. LS430 does the deed in the low 6s. I know what you mean about UZ V8 “exploding” at 4k——it’s very eager.

LX has muccchhh more responsive transmission and gas pedal.

It was fun to hear both V8s roar for sure.

 

never driven the 430 but i've always wondered about the little programming changes here and there... the 400 has a super responsive gas pedal, like way more so than the E-class, but with the 400 the first like 1/3 of the pedal travel pretty much gets you to like 'full throttle' and the remaining 2/3 will just affect the kickdown and how long it holds the gear before upshifting

also that's an advantage of you having an LX that still has the 6-speed, once they 'updated' to the 8-speed all the mapping and programming changed and the great response was gone... but either way the LS was designed to cleanly slice through the air not bash its way through so yea the faster you go the greater the advantage becomes

 

Right, also because of aerodynamics. Remember how slick LS430s are, .26. LX is a brick, though I still am astounded how Lexus got a huge SUV so quiet at high speed. LS430 lead would increase quick after 90-100.....

I don't fault the LS430 for the lazy throttle, it's a luxury car...give it enough gas and oh it will scoot like we say. But yes I would just prefer it raise my pulse just a tad, the LX does lol and it's shytkickin truck. The Mercedes raises my pulse just starting it, hah.

But absolutely, that 8 speed automatic completely took the fun out of the LC/LX powertrain.....for 1 EPA mpg that you know it didn't achieve in the real world. More pointlessness that takes away fun.

The Mercedes also has the classic lazy throttle long pedal travel, that said.... it actually adapts quittttte nicely and senses aggressive driving. I was always a fan of that 'ole trusty 722.5. Hell, it can handle 738 lb/ft of torque.

 

It's been 10 years since I drove an LS400, but it seems to me like it didn't have a lot of low-end grunt for a V8. The 430 should be a bit better with more displacement.

 

That's what the enlarged 4.3 addressed. The torque peak was brought down lower as well.

Magazines noticed it by seat of the pants and made a note of it, though 0-60 times stayed around the same.

I think the 430 has great torque. Interestingly the power delivery is very EV like lmao with the way it constantly upshifts early at around 2k. You feel nothing, just linear acceleration and you just hear it unlike in an EV. But trust me you feel absolutely nothing NVH wise from the engine.

 

yours was a 1992 which is WAY behind the 1998 model in performance, also it only has 4 gears

more than the extra 300cc of displacement is a higher compression ratio, electronic throttle control, VVT-i, and ACIS which is variable length intake manifold... all of which was directly carried over to the 430

i agree the original 1UZ isn't the zippiest

 

You're right, I'd forgotten they made a bunch of changes to the 1UZ over the 90's.

 

I read on another forum how you said you like how your tax dollars extended.... I agree. There are still some CVs I see around. Before we bought our house we lived near the cop in the apartment complex and he was about my age, so not some old geezer.... he had his CV and HATTTTED the Charger he replaced it with, mostly because of (duh) size. Those old BOF CVs have hugggge interiors and trunks. I specifically made it a point to have that conversation with him.

I'm not sure I have as much faith in them dealing with their budget etc as you, lots of wastefulness goes with most entities tax dollars related. I can't believe police have $70k Tahoes with wood (to be fair, I think all Tahoes have it). But, they do need big tough vehicles so I guess there's no choice. Does anyone know what mileage PDs retired the CVs? I mean these went to Manhattan for literally 200k more miles cab duty, which is just about as tough as police duty. I know everyone has been in a CV cab with 350,000 miles on it or something crazy.

I joke watching Live PD saying I want to be a cop just to drive a Tahoe around for 12 hours.