Hi,

I'm a long time lurker and Lexus aspirer.

I've always been a fan of Toyota and Japanese engineering. My parents always drove Toyotas and Hondas, and my first car was a Hyundai. I do my own maintenance and quickly began to appreciate the smoothness and thoughtfulness that hallmark Japanese engineering.

Later, I had a chance to trade in my Hyundai and get my brother's Honda Element, I jumped on it and it was a good car for me when I was a college student. However, I'm now a college congratulate and decided that if I was going to live with the gas consumption and size of an SUV, I'd be a million times happier spending the money on a luxury sedan. I had thought about Acura RLs mostly, since I'm familiar with Honda cars moreso than Toyotas and I like AWD and can't afford an LS460 with AWD.

There 2001 Ls430 for a really good price with low milage (69k) and it was near the airport that I was headed to already, so I decided to drop by and give it a spin just to see what it was all about...

And wow!
I've seent the light!

I'm familiar with Toyotas. I kinda know what they're about. I learned to drive on a first gen Highlander, my pops had a Tundra earlier, and I really wanted something supremely comfortable and smooth. I thought that Avalons were about as good as it gets. But I turned on the car, noticed that I didn't notice the engine, and felt like I was piloting a slab of granite across a cloud or something equally stiff and quiet.

I traded in my Element and a few thousand dollars (like I said, the price was incredibly low) and got an LS430! It's a base model but it's still incredibly nice. You guys with 2004-2006 Ultra Luxury packages must have incredible cars! But I'm enamored with how quiet and nice my car is.

I went on Amazon and got all the new fluids (diff, transmission, power steering) and the timing belt kit from Aisin (With the tensioner and water pump) and I talked the Lexus dealer into doing the differential fluid and timing belt with my parts for 700. I'm going to drive it for a bit before changing the transmission fluid, and I'll probably add snow tires.

Now I finally have a car that will last a few hundred thousand miles AND I'll want to drive it for every minute of the rest of its (hopefully long) life.

Looking forward to learning more about the car from you guys and super excited to own such a fine machine.

 

Congratulations my friend.
Indeed, the LS430 is a piece of Japanese engineering art. In my opinion your far off better getting the LS430, instead of the LS460. That's just my opinion. The LS430 drives like a dream, and has more reliability than its successor.

You need to post a photo.

All luck.

 

Congrats on your car and yes post a pic.

 

Congratulations! They are fantastic automobiles. The UL's are a bit more quiet and have more options but you are not loosing out. If anything, it will cost you less to maintain.

Since you have the 5 speed with a dipstick it is easier to the drain and refill. The world standard transmission that has no dipstick is much more difficult to do.

 

You have a great car! Also, base models are rather rare in the US, most are at least Premium.

 

airchomper,

Enjoy it!! Got almost 400K miles out of my '91 LS400 that I just sold and recently purchased an '04 LS430
w/61K miles, the car is super nice. Like the way you described how the LS 430 drives "...felt like I was piloting a slab of granite across a cloud or something equally stiff and quiet."

 

I bought mine 2 months ago and im still as thrilled to drive it and even just look at it, as the day I bought it .

it is such an AMAZING vehicle, and yea tell me about it , the quietness and the smoothness, you can barely tell the engine is on, you cant even feel or hear the tranny shifting gears.

Enjoy your car man , it really is a special one.