jac430

Hi girls and guys,

Since a week I am a member of the Lexus-driving community myself
It is a 2004 LS430 "executive" with 115,000 km = 71,500 mi.
Colour is Navy Blue (8P8) and the leather is Ivory.
At the time (2004) the sales price was a whopping € 108,000 (about US$ 147,000 at the current exchange rate) due to exorbitant taxing in this country.

Over here there were only 2 versions available: "executive" (like my car) and "president".
The "president" version has it all, and might very well be similar as the UL in America.
The "executive" basically is the same but lacks the adjustable back seats and separate back air-conditioning unit.
Both versions have the air suspension, 18" alloy wheels and the ML audio with navigation.

Please keep your fingers crossed for me that hopefully there will be very little repairs and trouble.
I most certainly will be asking several trivial and stupid questions in the (near) future, but please have patience with me...

Jac

votru

iTrader: (7)

Welcome to the club and be sure to check out the the FAQs, a lot of good info.

caddyowner

Congrats. So it sounds like the Executive is a CL with air suspension? I see the headlamp washers and it appears that the leather is ecru. Does the car have power door closers and leather on the bottom of the dash and sides of the center console?

jac430

Thank you.

Yes, the car has power door closers. Ans perforated seats with heating and cooling.
I am not sure about the leather on the sides of the center console. I don't think so. It looks like plastic to me.

Just made 2 pictures of the interior (it's dark and raining over here).
Hope it helps to identify.

Jac

jimbosr1

was it really $147k outch!

Infamous 1

iTrader: (20)

Congrats and welcome!

2004TOYO

Welcome, nice color combo. I dont see to many in that hue, but I like it

jac430

Thanks.

I will see if tomorrow the weather permits me to make some photos without flash. "Reality" is a bit different from the colours I see in the flash-photos.

I preferred a light interior. This is a relative dark country and, although beautiful, the dark leather and dash is a bit somber to my taste.
On the other hand, the light interior gets dirty very easily I suppose.

Due to the cramped parking spaces and high taxes over here, there are not that many Lexi too choose from.

Jac

caddyowner

Hmm, it looks like it's a cashmere interior. (All pics of ecru cars I've seen depict a strong color difference between the seat color and the carpet color. With cashmere cars, the seats and carpet look to be the same color.) That also looks like the pebbled plastic on the lower dash instead of leather.

So, the Executive edition would be a Modern Luxury plus all the UL upgrades except the interior ones. (Which is basically what you said in your original post.) Does the car have laminated side glass? I can imagine that may be something certain countries allow / disallow in their homologation rules.

jac430

According to the previous owner it has laminated side glass, which is confirmed by the Dutch brochure of 2004.
Should I be able to see that when I wind down the window a bit and look on top of the glass, or is there a better way to determine this?

Does that also mean that carrying a life hammer on board (to smash a window in case of emergency) is of little use (or only perhaps to cut a safety belt)?

Jac

GLIDESUL

Just roll the window down so you can see the top where its lamanated together. Its crazy how many different trim levels on the ls from all over the world. Welcome to he club and enjoy your ride.

brio_ls

Congratulations on the new baby! Very nice colour and also I'm sure you will enjoy the "magnetic ride" thanks to air suspension.

BTW, the additional leather on all armrests, glovebox and center console was available in North America only.

jac430

Just checked: the glass indeed is laminated.
It is clearly visible: layers of glass on the outside with a thin layer of something else between them.

Jac

Marklouis

Very nice combination - Im a big fan of the light colored interiors, and it does seem more Cashmere - but can't judge by pics. My interior ended up lighter when seen in person compared to the Pics. Enjoy your ride and read up on everything - get to know it well. did your car come with an owners manual? and have you signed up on http://drivers.lexus.com/lexusdrivers/home

jac430

Thanks for your remarks.
According to the maintenance booklet, the leather colour is ivory.
Although I fully agree with you that it does not really looks like it in the pictures.
The owners manual and manual for the navigation system both came with the car, as well as the booklets of the alarm and maintenance.

I tried to register at drivers.lexus, but it appears only to be possible for residents of the US (and maybe Canada?).
I cannot fill in a valid address, zip-code and phone number.
And I think that the VIN of my car is not known in the States as well.
Over here the VIN-info is not ready available, but I am trying to get a list of all recorded maintenance and repair from the importer/dealer.
Let's see how good there service is.
So far it took them 4 days to reply to my questions with an answer that they have transferred them to the dealer who will contact me...
Not very impressive so far, right?

Jac