Hi all,

I've been a member here for a couple of years mainly for research and pictures. This is my first post.

As unpractical as this may seem I'll be garaging my sti and going with the ls for the DD/winter car. A buddy of mine needed to find a car for his gf because he was sick of driving her to work and just about everywhere else so I told him I'll let him pay me $100/mo to use my good ol' sentra(previous winter beater) until he pays it off.

My GF recently got herself a 96ES and I loved how it drove despite a couple small problems that were taken later taken care of. I knew I had to get a Lexus... There was a 98ls4 with 90k that looked pretty nice for $11k at a dealer by me. A couple others between $2-14k ranging between 75k and 290k in mileage.

I found this LS for $6.5k on CL, a 1998 with 160k miles. I know these things run forever if treated well so I decided to drive out a good 45 minutes to check it out.

I had about 10-15 minutes to look at the car before the guy got there so I looked around as much as I could without crawling under the car.

The Good: No visible rust (checked wheel wells, suspension, exhaust, bottoms of doors), decent acceleration, great sound for a stock system from 98, all panels and leather are in very good condition and require a small buff, excellent drive. Timing belt changed 50k miles ago. Clean CarFax, clean door panels, roof/trunk/hood. New all season tires put on two months ago, just passed emission test in November. All windows, sunroof look good! All electronics work well and the dash and needles are lit perfectly! Oil changed 800 miles ago, checked it looked clean. Absolutely no leaks of any kind as far as I could see.

Seller: Older guy with really thick accent showed me the car, it was his daughters who went back to Taiwan for school something or other. He was very honest about everything and was trying to sell me the car for all the wrong reasons (V8 POWER/FAST).

The Bad: Has a small bump that offset the bumper to the right and knocked out a reflector(I think, could be a bulb... anyone?). Over-steers a little but that could be because I'm used to a sportier setup. Cheap wood grain stickers that have come off in some places and were reattached poorly. The lower glove box is a little flimsy as is the door for the upper compartment (cd-changer). The steering wheel assembly makes a louder then typical noise as it's adjusting when the key is inserted (hopefully I can set it and stop it from moving to prevent a unnecessary repair). Missing spare tire, and the interior smelled a little stale.




I shook on $5250 with him and gave him $100 until Wed.

I don't think this was an AMAZING deal but I've always wanted one and now I'll have to decide on which car to concentrate on. I've always wanted a bippu setup but I really want to finish the subie...

Anyway this ended up being longer then I wanted it to but what can I say, I'm exited!

 

well bought car, needs some work but even then its a good buy. lookin forward to see what you're going to do with it.

-needs a new side marker light, the harness is probably in the bumper somewhere.
-LS' in stock form should understeer a good bit, get the alignment checked.

 

The alignment is on a list of firsts. A good friend of mine used to work for Lexus as a mechanic so he'll be with me to pick up the car and give it another look around. I'm probably going to check plugs, filters, battery, compression test, pick up a set of winter tires/wheels, brakes/rotors, brake fluid, trans fluid depending on it's condition and other misc items over the next month or two.

Thank you for your .02!

 

Welcome to CL and nice pickup! Can't wait to see this beast fixed up.

 

Thank you! I can't wait either - only thing stopping me from doing all this now is that I'm moving into a new condo in less then a week. Screams impulse buy..

 

Congrats! You did good. All used cars have some little fixups to do. At least the major (timing belt) stuff has ben done.
I see wheels & suspension in your future.

Anyone know what kind of lubricant and where to spray it?

 

Thanks Schnitz, air ride and wheels are definatly on my radar so it's a matter of time. Also going to try to source some curtains for cheap.

What's the recommended timing belt change interval? 60k right?

I've heard "rumors" they're good for 100k.

 

Get your stance right before you add any curtains etc... Just doesn't work without the stance being on point.

Timing belt service interval is 90k.

 

TY & FOR SURE - wouldn't have it any other way.

 

Nice pickup. I prefer this late model LS400 over LS430's. They're built better IMO.

 

Thank you.

I agree with you and I think that it goes for a lot of cars now days, the predecessors were that much better... Look at the 7 series BMW - a 2001 costs more then a 2004 because it's far more reliable. It was another car that I really wanted for a LONG time. Maybe soon.

As cars get newer we are separated further from the true driving experience...

 

I sold my 5 Series and stepped into a Lexus LS400 with my eyes open.

Lexus: relaxed, quiet, dignified, silent, high quality interior fitment, superb sound system, a very serious V8 engine with surprisingly good economy


BMW: agile reflexes, superb driving ergonomics, beautiful to look at, sensible trip computer, shoddy interior quality (even though mine was perfect aesthetically), absolutely flawlessly reliable engine and rugged Getrag 5 speed transmission, but gutless, cheaped out suspension parts like those loathsome stabilizer bar links.


Lexus, clearly the plagiarizer, BMW clearly the breeding, Lexus clearly showing effort, BMW resting on reputation, both cars are superb representatives of automobiles for people who care.

After I sold my first '90 LS, I purchased a '93 BMW. I remember well that drive home, wondering if the Lexus had spoiled me for quality interior fitment and stereo sound forever, because the BMW seemed cheesy in comparison, the stereo particularly. But the BMW seduced me with ten years of glorious country road driving and fun sliding sideways in the snow and stunning braking power and stamina. Then, when I sold my BMW and got back into another Lexus last summer, it was like a glad homecoming to the world of solid interior fitment and beautiful accoustics, and smart acceleration, but indeed, I outdrive the brakes in the twisties, so sad. I have promised myself to throw the Lexus around mercilessly in the snow however.

Test drive the 7 Series before you actually sell your Lexus. You may find, as I have, that as I matured (aged, whatever), I came to appreciate the subtler attributes of the Lexus, and need less of the BMW's on-point dynamics.
Colin

 

Great post Amskeptic - if anything it'll be an additional vehicle!


Schnitz - with some searching i found a great post about the steering wheel issue.

"Then you will see the motor(round in shape) and some kind of worm gear, may be the gear need to be lubricated. The part# for Lexus is 08887-02007( Body Grease W). DO NOT USE ANYTHING ELSE. This is the special grease for all of the steering column and if you use 4WD or wheel bearing grease it will make it worse.
The best way is go to Lexus dealer and ask one of the tech. to spare one of the steering column grease. Tell them the yellow grease they used when they rebuild the steering column on the LS and LX. They probably have about 100 of them around the shop. Try this first before buy the motor."

 

Nice! Thanks. I tried searching as well but I must have missed that thread.

 

I'm probably going to do this ASAP to see if it takes care of the mechanical whine that comes from the movement.