Ls400 guy here. not really a fan of the 430 at all. honestly really dont like them, so why am i posting here? no. im not lost or have the itch, i just want to give you guys a warning.

what is this warning? -TIME. now that the early 430s are quickly approaching 20 years old, im seeing somewhat decent ones popping up for sale for $2000-5000, (about as much as a really clean 400 goes for, if you can even find one which is pretty rare these days)

the 430 is old enough to have completely depreciate and prices have leveled off on them, which puts them on the radar with the slam/stance/drift crowd. yes i love a custom car, but slamming them an inch to the ground absolutely wreaks havoc on the suspension and undercarriage and usually ends up being the end of the car. obviously we all know the longterm effects of drifting/hooning/racing which also doesnt result in a happy ending for any car. these cars are also on the radar for the min wage job / McDonald crowd that can buy one cheap to look like a baller in, but cannot maintain them and just drive them into the ground, and im beginning to see some REALLY clapped out 430s floating around the streets, well here in orlando at least.

whats the point of all this? if you want a really nice one, dont wait, NOW is the time to grab one as they start to vanish. once they hit the 15-20 years old mark, it happens and it happens fast. if you really have your heart set on that hard to find black on black UL package car with the burnt orange wood trim inside (the only 430 i actually kinda want), this is the time to get it.

as an Ls400 driver that always had ucf10s and early 20s, i wanted a really nice 99-00 model. unfortunately i waited too long and clean ones are very very scarce and i had to go thru hell to find one. dont wait too long because before you know it, it will be too late and youll be chasing shadows for a long time, driving far away to look at supposedly perfect ones only to be disappointed by seeing a clapped out bomb with ripped seats, burned out gauges, burning oil and leaking every fluid imaginable,

ive been hunting for a very early build black on grey 1990 Ls400 with the nak stereo and factory chrome rims for 5 years now. why? because i waited way too long and DIDNT snag one when it was 15 years old. now at 30, they are extinct. time goes by faster then youll ever imagine when it comes to these cars. youll blink and a 2001 UL package 430 will be 25 years old, chasing a ghost...

 

A lot of 430s have already fallen victim to the ghetto stance crowd. Not just the cartoonish splayed wheels, but quilted interiors, mini chandeliers, and "VIP" trays, run with poor maintenance till they crash it after downing bottles of showoff three digit champagne.

Find one with low miles religiously maintained by an older person and now being sold, grab it and hold onto it, keep a good car out of the hands of the stance car-wreckers.

You're in Florida, though, where I am from but left. There's not many stance cars in the northeast, people would point and laugh and ask if they wanted a tow truck 'cause "yah axles broken, bro."

 

If these are on avg $5,500 cars, I would say anything is fair game. Just that there is never a "get 'em while they're not" scenario imho, they're cars, there is a sophisticated market out there where usually the person buying is the one who has to pay for the transaction.

My cousin just traded in his 2006 530i wagon for $1,000. I said to my wife dang I woulda paid $2,000 for it for real. He just redid his front suspension and water pump. The reality is he got a 2014 Toyota Sienna and drove a ridiculously low cash price for it, so the dealer is compensating with the trade (the car is modded and from Miami so it cannot fetch wholesale and wouldn't you know he discovered unibody damage). He likely got closer to $4,500 for the car, maybe more. But in reality one wants the trade written high for sales tax...

 

just saying that nice ones are going to be hard to find soon.

 

The secret is out on the LS 430. Harder and harder to find nice cars. I am very pleased that I have mine.
I suspect I shall keep it a very long time. The look of the 430 is timeless. The 430 I found was pure luck and the willingness
to look farther away. It had been posted for sale literally a couple hours prior to me purchasing it.

 

 

 

Bocatrip hit the nail on the head. One must jump quickly when the "right one" comes along. I made it a mission to find a great LS 430 and spent a couple months looking before finding my "creampuff" This will be the first car I have purchased sight unseen. Excellent hi resolution pics, and a Lexus PPI is really all I needed. I knew I wanted a 430. If the car is right a test drive is meaningless, they are all the same.
I set myself a list of priorities, it helps to have a priority or two that is flexible. For me that was colors, model year, options, and condition were my top priorities. I may have settled for a CL vs. the UL, but CL cars are really rare. Radar cruise was a priority for me, esp. since learning that the laser cruise is fussy. I doubt if one could find a CL with PCS. I have had the radar cruise in my Prius since 2110, I won't buy a car without it for long highway slogs.

 

I wish I were selling LS430s, I respectfully disagree with having to rush to buy a LS430. It is by no means a sellers market. I mean mine imho is a very good specimen. It has a wholesale of $5200 or so. What would you want to give me, $8k? $10k? My issue is I know my car, have taken care of it, and it's worth to me, what it would cost to get something comparable. If I were in a wholesaler's position, then, maybe I'd sell it for $5k. Probably people here are reasonably well off when it comes to disposable income, so not overly concerned with $10-$20k purchases. Just understand, that's not how economics generally works for the rest of the world, where they cannot have multiple cars, where here we often have 1 driver and 3-4 cars...my .02

 

 

You just have to import them from Japan i just got my 2001 and i only paid $6000 shipped, taxes, duties everything ( this is CND$ ) and the car is mint, with only 90,000km's on it there are so many nice ones in Japan! sucks the US cant get them yet lol i should buy a couple more and hold onto them until US can import them

 

 

Exactly. Every time I consider upgrading, which means getting something newer, I hit the same wall: there is nothing out there that approaches this car for the money. I have an 06 with 105K, and I think it's going to be with me for a while. Every time I drive something that is newer, flashier, quicker - I leave with the same reaction: engine is rough/loud/unrefined, transmission is jerky/unrefined/hunting, interior is: plasticky, overwrought and bedecked in the awful fingerprint magnet piano black trim, etc.

 

I think there is a point at which besides insurance and garage space, a new or used car decision doesn't need to have the LS430 or older car factored in. The value is simply too low, and when you've maintained, it can't be replaced for what it's worth wholesale (the insurance dilemma that exists from about 2 y.o. and older). Like my cousin and his 530i 2006 wagon. It was written as $1k, but he likely got $4500 for it. Considering all that he put into it, why bother, I'd keep it. He says he is planning on getting a E39 M5 now, but again, I would not have accepted what he did for his 530i. I think he feels it's only a matter of time with another major repair, and even though he can DIY anything, it's the time factor with 2 young kids...

it is fascinating how many incl. myself have more cars than drivers in a household. Some people think that's foolish i.e. waste of money (it is but then maybe we are fortunate to afford being foolish)

 

When someone does things like this to an unfortunate LS (460 here) usually with a quilted interior and drink trays as well, and rolls around blasting rap music till they wreck it or it gets caught in a drive-by. Was the fate of many 400s when I still lived in the Miami area.