aufenscuht

Still believe that this is one of the greatest cars I have owned. This is my 153rd vehicle, and the 44 miles commute each day cannot get any better. It is saving my mileage on the lease and honestly it at 187k it is a much nicer car than my 17 Jetta. I knwo we are comparing apples to oranges, but still....

I went crazy on getting the car up to date after purchase, and so far-tremendous

2KHarrier

Well, good to hear! I too became a believer shortly after purchasing my first LS. The second one was a no brainer... I still think back 2 years ago to the salesman commenting on how nice an 11 year old car could be.

I thoroughly believe it's nicer than a 2 year old VW. I know my 2005 is way nicer than my sister's 2016 Malibu. She even says the same thing. I think they paid something like 27K for it, IIR...
I paid 19K for the LS and got more car, and more reliability.

Enjoy the heck out of the LS, it will repay you ten fold...

Johnhav430

Congrats!

How did you end up owning 153 cars? I decided to count, and I came up with 9 myself, 4 of which are still in the driveway. Do you buy/sell them?

Legender

153 is a lot... that's for sure. Even If you are 50 and started driving at 16 that's over 4 cars a year... that's a lot.

It's obvious you're dreading the next few months with your Lexus... any of us, would be glad to take if off your hands.
At your rate, you can only keep it for about 3 months and it's going to have to go.

aufenscuht

28, have been doing it since 14. I think the LS is in for the long haul, getting out of the wheelin and dealing on the personal end for a while. Need to buy a house

BCT

We love ours (took her home ~3 wks ago). No car is perfect obviously but this one come pretty close. I like the simplicity of the LS. The newer cars comes with so much technology, I am not sure I will enjoy them. I had a GS as loaner for a few days last year, and we both did not like it.

aufenscuht

Being obsessive, young and stupid, with lots of knee jerk decisions hahaha

Johnhav430

When I was a kid my friend's dad used to come home with a nice "used" and new to him German car, my buddy and I loved it. BMWs, Mercedes, Volvo, Subaru, Toyota, Honda, VW. Just 3 years ago he said too bad he can't undo all the money he spent when he was < 50. I mean he's well off so I suppose the only difference is he'd pass more on to his family, that's about it. One time he came home with a new S class (again when I say new I mean probably 3 y.o.), and asks me if I want to drive it. Being a stupid dumb *** 16 y.o., I take it 2/10 mile down to another friend's house, and go inside for 3 hours. Stupid. He was worried and everybody didn't have a cell phone back then (he did of course lol he always had everything new that was tech)...

aufenscuht

Amen brotha. x2 on all of the BS in new cars. I was happy to see that the Jetta was minimalist with buttons, *****, and a real cluster w/ stepper motors. Another reason why I love Euro cars. Not much can touch the LS as a used car. I would never imagine spending the money the LS cost new on a car. Have to love depreciation.

Johnhav430

Funny, over the years, the friend's dad went from all BMW and Mercedes, to suddenly Volvo, then Subaru, some Toyotas, settling upon Honda. But he did recently buy a '65 Mustang convertible just because he always wanted one (is the bug back?). A person I work with drives something different and usually interesting every few weeks, but he is dealing them. Said it's not easy, especially with the web and eBay. But he has to deal so many per year to maintain his license...

BCT

Yeah it is crazy how much new car cost. My neighbor has a new Corolla (like ~1 yr old). I can buy two LS for the price of that Corolla. Corolla is a nice car, but not in the same class as LS, even comparing to this 14 yr old LS.

The owner that we bought the LS from, it was grandma's car, but she had health problem, so she stop driving her. They garage her for 3 years thinking that the grand daughter will want to drive her once she has her license. Well, the kid end up wanting a Corolla, so the LS was for sale. I was really lucky finding our LS. I was told the kid thinks "LS is old people car". I guess I am old haha

aufenscuht

That was pretty much me for a while. Now that I run an automotive shop, the bug can creep in at any time. The fact that we have excellent tech's and great prices on parts does not help either. World Pac keeps most things factory in stock for our vehicles. There is always something that pops up on Craigslist that tempts me, but the fact that a house is needed pretty much keeps me disciplined. Now when I move to the state where my shop is located, this tendency may get much worse since a wholesale license is very easily attained. I doubt I will ever get over the bug of buying and selling. If the LS ever goes I will give the forum first dibs. At this point though, it is such a pleasure to own and drive.

bloomwcjkl

I had to write them all down. 18 cars over 31 years. 2 were designated as "fun cars". When I had 2 at the same time. Only 2 brand new cars.

A couple were real lemons and didn't last long. Far too many probably. Many were poor decisions or changes as we went from 1 to 2 to 3 kids.

Car list:

1972 Dodge Manaco (inherited when grandpa passed, 400 4 barrel carb)
1984 Buick Sklark (5 speed stick, real junk)
1985 Ford Ranger (2wd, bad engine)
1986 Cheverolet Celebrity (great mpg, rusted out bad)
1994 Saturn SL2 (stupid lease, 1st new car)
1978 Ford F-150 (should have never sold)
1994 Ford Explorer (rust bucket but drove nice)
1999 Ford Expedition (had the underpowered 4.6L v8)
2005 Mazda MPV (2nd new car, drove for 7 years, stiff ride)
1996 Ford F-150 (fun car, only owned for 6 months and sold)
1973 VW 412 Wagon (fun car, restored from a rust heap, only car restoration project)
2005 Ford Explorer Sport Trac (nice truck, but not enough space for 5 people and stuff)
2005 Ford Expedition (tried camping for 3 years, we aren't campers)
2007 Honda Odyssey (lemon, worst car I've owned)
2007 Ford Edge (was wife's car and I drove for 6 months when she got a new Explorer)
2004 Ford Taurus SES (the start of my, "drive less car" years)
2001 Toyota Echo (economy, but went down too far, terrible ride but low maintenance, I liked it, family hated the Echo)
2001 Lexus LS 430 (Easily the best of all the cars I've driven, bought with 100k, now 135k)

riknchar

My insurance company that I've been with for the past 31 years (USAA) sequentially numbers autos insured through them to identify them on the insurance policy. I just looked and noted that I am on number 71. Yep, I've owned 71 different cars in the past 31 years. So I can definitely relate to this thread! And that doesn't include the roughly 30 motorcycles I've owned over that period...

In my own defense, this number includes a bunch of cars that I bought/leased for my wife and 5 kids through the years, not just ones for me personally. It still does seem a bit excessive now that I think about it... Oh well, I really do LOVE cars, and there are probably worse hobbies to have. I'm fortunate to make a great living (and to collect a nice military retirement check each month), so I can afford my "hobby..."

I do plan to keep my current car lineup for longer than normal, though. I have a 2006 SC430 w/21k miles and a new-to-me 2010 LS600hL w/66k miles. I lease a Ram 1500 truck, and use this when the roads are sloppy or I need to haul things. Hoping to keep this configuration for at least a couple of years... Who knows when the urge will strike again, though ;-)

BCT

Toyota Echo - l like that little car, and almost bought one! But then realize it is not for me or the family. I thought it would be a nice simple economy car with cheap insurance, but then realize we like (and need) some bells and whistles like smooth quiet ride at 75 mph on comfy seats. Life is too short haha..

SC430 - sold and I missed her.