tallcaguy

Have an 01 LS430 Base. Bought 3 years ago w/ 89,000 and now have 102,000. Perfect paint, excellent interior, lower control bushings done, 90k w/ new plugs, brand new Michelins, tinted windows, etc. Full service history, runs perfectly, no leaks. I've seen a couple of nice 04-06 LS430's but it means starting over w/ possible replace/repair items. Unless the possible replacement is a perfect 04-06 (right exterior/interior colors, dynamic cruise, ML) there's not much reason to change. Plan is to keep this one and keep an eye out for a possible 460 addition to the fleet.

tallcaguy

Buying a single owner, full dealer service is no guarantee there won't be problems! Always have a mechanic checked it out! Last year, I bought an 03 LS430 base w/ 108k miles. 90k was done. The Cypress Pearl looked nice. An intermittent vibration showed up after I bought it (needed motor mounts). My indie looked it over and found valve cover leaks (1,800 to fix). Driver's side mirror failed. Weird gas tank dent. No tinted windows (car gets much hotter inside). It was private sale 1.5 hours out of town and having someone check it out wasn't a practical option. . Sold it for about what I paid and went back to enjoying my 01.

Doublebase

I do think the newer LS430's look a little bit better than the 01 models, but is it really worth spending an additional $5,000-$6,000 to get essentially the car you already have? And like everyone has said...it's still a 10-12 year old car. You know what you already have...you don't know what you'll be getting into with another 12 year old car...bushings wear out, oil leaks, transmission may not have been serviced, you may need a timing belt...who knows? All you need is a wheel bearing and bumper covers painted?? That's probably $1,500 in repairs...you'll spend that in dealer fees, hidden costs and getting the thing registered...then you'll you'll spend $2,000 on surprise repairs. And the car will basically look and drive like the one you already own...probably worse.

If you're that amped up about getting something different, why not buy a LS460? Higher mileage ones are going for $12,000-$14,000 (maybe less).

Bocatrip

Thanks everyone on this great forum for all the helpful feedback!!! I'm leaning towards keeping my 01 which has no surprises and drives like a dream. These cars all need some kind of work and nothing is cheap. Better off staying where I am. Once I pick up the bearing hub I'll be locked into my decision. Seems that almost all the cars I find are crap or need work. As far as the LS460, it was not until 2010 until many the initial problems were worked out. The LS430 was a proven workhorse where by the LS460 is not. Personally, I am not in love with the looks of the LS460 as it is too similar to the ES350 in that dept. Yes, high mileage examples are now a better deal than LS430s.

DavidinCT

I'm the same boat... I have a 2001, very dependable car with minor issues on it, I'm sitting on about 229K on my daily driver.

I have been eyeing a 05/06... As I am happy with my car but, I dream of having blue-tooth and dynamic/laser cruse control (I drive a long way to work and if it works like they say, it would make my commute easier).

Only other feature I might be tempted in, is getting a AWD LS...just to help in the bad winters that we see here. Don't want to blow a big chunk of cash trying to get a 10+ and end up paying $30k+ for it.

Sigh, what to do....

Bocatrip

DavidnCT...Interesting that there are so many 01s on the road today. With the redesigned LS430 in 01 I believe they sold many cars and the first year was a super reliable car. I am pretty much resigned that any of the repairs I have already made on my 01 I will be doing again on any 04-06. I'm not thrilled about that. In addition it is still a very old car. Unless the repairs on your car are extensive, it's always best to drive it to the ground. In addition, the 04-06 have even more items that may require fixing that are more expensive than the first series. I'm curious, as the most expensive item that I worry about is the Nav. Have you ever had any issues with it during your ownership? That one repair would bring me over the edge to dumping my car. So far so good.

DavidinCT

Navi system ? Never a problem. Audio System, the ML, speaker problems but, I seem to be replacing speakers ever so often :-(

The Navi system has been solid, in fact I did the 04+ upgrade on it. Changed out the DVD drive in the trunk to one from a 2006 car. It updated the look. I picked it up on ebay for $150, it came with a 2013 disc in it, took my 2001 drive, dropped it on ebay and got $250 for it.

So yea, I profited $100 off an upgrade

I was hoping the logic would get better but, it's shocking that a $50 cell phone's logic works better than one built into a $60K car... boggles the mind..

Stu

The 05 and 06 LS is somehow more desirable than yours. First find a car in superb condition ( like yours ) and satisfies all your discriminating criteria for repairs, mileage, color, options etc ... and then decide if its worth it to you. Whatever you choose, you'll be right !

PRSUIT460

iTrader: (3)

Nothing wrong with having an older one especially if it is maintained. I prefer the newer 04-06. I've had both. I like the color of the wood in the older ones better.

Bocatrip

Funny thing is that in another 5 years when both cars will be 20 and 15 years old respectively (2001 & 2006) their values for decent examples will probably be between $3500-$8,000. For cars that were over $60,000 new!