im currently in the market of buying a new car. i could either get an 04 or 05 and was wondering what the major differences were. im not too familiar with the packages but i def need to have navigation in it so was wondering what to look out for and if there was any changes between the 04 and 05 models. i have $21,500 to spend before taxes and that seems to be the years i can find a low milage year at. please let me know and thank you so much.

 

2004-2006 are identical.

 

wow that was a very fast reply lol.. i used to have 2 gs400 before and i def love this forum.. very helpful in every way. is there anything i should be looking out for when get this model? i dont need the air suspension model

 

Well, besides the year and the availability of the sport option with the 18inch wheels... in 04 this was rare or not found at all (I could be wrong)...atleast in NE when I was looking for a car last year, I never found one in 04 with those wheels.

 

Could be since it is the first year for the new facelift.

Otherwise, like what seraslibre said, it's identical.

 

how can i tell what package the car has, lets say i call a dealer thats not lexus will they be able to tell me what package the car has? what other way can i find out which package the car has? i seen them with different types of rims. i know what the sports rims look like but what about the rest? can u tell by the vin number?

 

Smart Key? Don't know when they start to have the card style key.

 

The only differences from '04-'06 were only color availabilites and such. No mechanical, goodies, or cosmetic differences. The SmartAccess was available in '04 already. The only difference in terms of anything I can think of, is that there were two recalls for early '04 production vehicles with transmission and a pump. Check VIN of vehicle with Lexus and they'll be able to tell you if the vehicle was part of recall. In both cases, I heard the whole transmission and pump were replaced, not repaired.

Here is link to model library in Lexus site.

http://www.lexus.com/cpo/model_library/LS/2004.html

 

Check out Post #4 in this thread: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...ml-cl-etc.html

 

My 04 came with the OEM 18', the DOB is 07/04 and when I was looking the 17' wheels were few in between on 04's. One thing that was evident to me was the colors Black, White & Silver all day long is what I saw. All other colors were a needle in a haystack.

 

I have been driving our new 04 CL for a little over a week now, and enjoying it a great deal. I have to agree with a number of posts I have read that the nav system is a big disappointment. It is vastly inferior to my 2 year old Garmin 370 in route selection, clarity of directions, and even how easy to read the screen, in spite of the fact that the built-in has a much larger screen. The built in does not speak street names and the ambiguity of the turn directions on confusing N. VA roads is not helpful. If I didn't need it for other functions, I would just stick the garmin on top of the lexus gps screen.

On the other hand, and perhaps disagreeing with some comments I have read, I love the radar cruise control. It was great on my cross country drive from KC to DC, although admittedly less useful around town.

 

i think 04- and 05 are different and have some updates, if you check out a 2004 ls430 for technical bulletins there are about 20, when you check an 05 there are about 10 and if you check an 06 there are about 5, so i would assume they have updated parts here and there. can anyone verify this? first model year always has some bugs so my guess is they have updated parts

 

Dude, get the CL version...and then talk the seller down as much as you can...this way you get the Navigation, the Mark Levinson(ML) stereo, and smart key. Some come with PCS which is the cruise control laser package that keeps you a certain distance from cars ahead of you. Try to find the car that has all of these features and get as low a mileage as you can. I also recommend getting it Certified PreOwned from Lexus because then it is practically a new car as they will fix everything on the car and repair anything that goes wrong for 3 years or up to 100,000 miles.
Do your research and try to find a car well below 70,000 miles. They are out there...I see people talking about 18" rims and what not but that is the least important aspect you can change that yourself get the best package, with low miles and preferably one previous owner. Custom Luxury (CL) is the way to go....
Cheers
Ian
PS the reason the CPO is a good thing is that if you get this car with the navigation option and something goes wrong it will cost you alot to get it fixed. Frankly I do not think the navigation is worth it..though it is nice to have....if you are buying one without nav then make sure you get a really low price. Don't be afraid of buying one in another state and having it delivered by truck to your lexus dealership close to you, if you are buying a CPO.

 

http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail...eadExists=true


what about this car? i think i can get a good deal with this one?

 

No need to get the Custom Luxury for those features -- all except Smart Access come on Moderen Luxury and Smart Access is a very common standalone option that's likely to be on most ML's you find.