Genome

I was born the year it came out (1989).

Was there alot of hype at the time? How good of a car was it compared to others, and was it really better than the s-class and 7-series?

demonboy

I was born in 1990, the first model year. My parents said they were popular when they first came out. Theres this video on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N8hiUZL6gk

steveski

Good video. I have a 95 with 216,000 miles and it is actually better than it was new. All I have had to replace/rebuild is the power steering unit. It is the best car I have ever owned. As a stocker it drove like a boat - no doubt about it - but in fairness, that is what the designers were after. The newer LS models were available with "eurotuned" suspensions so it allowed the wide body LS to be bought with a setup that helped it drive like a smaller car.

It depends on what you are looking for. BMW and Mercedes build some great performance sedans but I cannot vouch to their long term stability/reliability like the Lexus. I still have mine and drive it daily to the office. It is awesome, even after 13 years. I cannot bring myself to replace it.

trukn1

When Lexus was introduced here in 1989, it was considered, amongst other luxury car companies, as a big joke. I mean, cmon!!! Toyota making a luxury car, you have got to be kidding. Especially one which will compete with the likes of Mercedes and BMW (who were the big dogs at the time). Once the car dropped over here with it's superior build quality, quiet ride, and technology which was far well and beyond other companies technologies by YEARS,,,the likes of BMW, and Mercedes were forced to stand up and take notice. If you have ever seen the original commercial for the LS in the early 90's, the car was placed on a dyno and had champaigne glasses stacked on it's hood, and then accererated to speeds well above 100 mph to demonstrate that even at highway speeds, it wont disturb a champaigne/wine glass, so it defiknately will not disturb you. Lexus took a big risk with this company b/c they only came here with 2 cars, the flagship LS, which is STILL the most heavily over engineered car in the world today, and a model for the "common man" since the LS had a price of more than $40k, which was the ES250. Due to the overwhelming response to people with the LS, the company was "born" and spawned all of the models that we now have here today. This information can be found in the LEXUS STORY, available at any Lexus dealer.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

They'd been working up to it already with the Crown in their own market. The Cressidas/Chaser which we got were already a trickle down and were well featured. I dunno the history on their VIP car like the President. Considering it is a low prod part handmade car, it's not comparable.

In '90 when they hit stateside, I knew a few who preferred their Cressidas over the LS. The 7 series and S-Class were larger cars but the LS was quite nice so I thought it was a good entry.

Kansas

Although there were lots of jokes from Jay Leno about the LS400 in 1989 due to problems like melting high mounted brake lights, nobody was laughing by the time I bought a new one in March 1990. The one or two serious issues were resolved well before the end of 1989.

My 90 LS400 was surrounded by a crowd of my coworkers in the company parking lot at lunch time every day for the first few weeks after I bought it. I had to give numerous "tours" of the interior, engine compartment and trunk.

In a way the short wheel base 1990 BMW 7-series was not much of a competitor to the LS400 -- the BMW had substantially less rear seat room than the 90 LS400. I'm only 6' tall and I could not begin to sit up strait in the rear seat of the 90 7-series. My head was buried in the headliner and my knees hit the front seats when I sat in the BMW's back seat. I had planned to buy a short wheelbase 7-series instead of the LS400 but the lack of rear seat room was a deal breaker.

Besides, both the BMW 7-series and Mercedes S-class of 1990 cost nearly twice as much as a base LS400. The sticker price of my new 1990 LS400 was only a little over $36,000 and I paid substantially less than that. But $36,000 was still quite a bit of money in 1990. A decently equipted new little Mercedes 190E 2.6 sedan cost more than I paid for my new LS400 in 1990.