hmm hard question. I've had my LS for 9 years now and I'm pretty attached. I guess I'm getting older, I don't feel a huge upgrade itch with the new cars. My LS does everything I need pretty much without worry about where to park it or the occasional ding or rock chip which are easily corrected. It flys low on the radar now but still looks stately, I am biased though.

I do think about when my LS does eventually die a natural (or god forbid unnatural, accidental) death, what I would get. I love the Mercedes S450/S560 but worry about keeping them long term - It would be a 4-5 year max car. Maybe a 2016 LS460L. or 2019 LS500 with Carplay, or even 2019 ES300h when they come down a bit more.

 

I too, love MB S-classes that you mentioned. I really REALLY love the LOOK of them, from the OUTSIDE, and that's where my love for them ends. Personally, I hate the interior of typical German design and find them not user friendly and not intuitive to use/understand. It would be extremely difficult going from a superbly designed luxury Japanese car to German.

I have a MB Metris as a work van, (MB & Sprinter & Freightliner conflagration) and it took me over 40 minutes to link my phone to the bluetooth, 30 mins to set the clock, and weeks to figure out what all the lights and icons on the dashboard represent.

Have you ever ridden in one or tried to use the buttons or nav, or front windshield defrost (lol) etc, on a MB while driving one? If you say yes, and still like their interiors/dash/switches/buttons/layout, I guess that's why God makes vanilla, chocolate, and fat/sugar/gluten free rocky road! lol Remember, you'd be on the INSIDE each time you're driving it. I don't think I could ever switch to a German interior.

Is it possible to cross breed and have the exterior of a Benz with the interior of an LS?

 

I desire a car with no cost cutting, meaning when you buy a used car, you get everything it came with when it was new...like a 2006 A8 back in 2016, $12k, you get all the stuff that comprised a $78k car. So if you look at a BMW M2, it has it all--10" rims, fixed piston brakes all 4, blah blah blah. I always wondered how come a S550 or A8 has floating calipers in the rears, and fixed in fronts, did they cheap out?

Well a S550 was right next to me yesterday and pulled too far up in the intersection, so I saw its rear brakes up close. Even though they are floating calipers, the discs were large and cross drilled. Will I ever get one, I kinda doubt it. But imho it's a logical choice. Today, 2014...so wait a little so that 2015-2016 would be more reasonably priced...

one thing that we don't mention a lot in this forum is total cost of ownership. How many here buy flagship cars new? Probably not many. We drive flagships i.e. the LS430, because the total cost of ownership really isn't that high except for fuel...some of these replacement cars, the cost is high...

 

I'm forced to park outside (my wife has the garage full of racecar and racecar stuff) so I'll continue to be somewhat economical with a replacement... Since I'm over 210K I have started to think about replacements, likely will be another Lexus - either 2013+ LS460L, 2019 ES350 Ultra or potentially a 2016 GS-F. I'll probably go drive a couple of competitors just to make sure nothing 'fits' better - new Genesis G80/90, CPO Audi 6&8 and will also look at a CPO Porsche Cayenne and Panamera if I find one priced right.

do also sometimes think from an 'easy button' answer to find another lower-mileage LS but think it's time for something newer - age starts making things wear out regardless of miles.

 

My O4 LS430 and I seem to be aging and wearing out together. Nothing wrong with that.

 

We can thank science for the fact we are all driving reliable 15 YO cars. The polymers are just so much better in
say post 2000 or so cars. Age related failures and the polymers that make up the bulk of our cars really go hand in hand.
Whether that be the T belt, tubing and hoses, or other various bits. There are a LOT of various bits... Superior polymers have not always
been available.
I relocated to SoCal in 1994, spent many many an hour on those freeways. In the 90's I would routinely see cars fully engulfed
in flames. Later there were warnings on the fuel pumps, the additive package used for the gas there caused fuel lines in the older 80's cars to rapidly
deteriorate, would literally turn a rubber fuel line in to a foam like material. Saw a lot of burned cars back then.

 

I was in this situation recently when I hit a deer and the insurance company totaled the car. I went right back out and bought another LS 430.

 

The LS430 is in some sort of sweet spot for cost of ownership and DIYability. It's one of those set it and forget it cars, almost as if unintentionally the car goes many miles, even a million like on that 1998 LS400. If the next car has to fill those shoes, then they will be tough. For kicks I priced out rotors for a 2014+ S550 and they came back as what I would have expected for Porsche, not Mercedes. Not even close to BMW, nearly double, and the usual German car parts places don't carry them? Suddenly the "should I get OE rotors for my LS" seems inconsequential lol

 

Well, my situation was a little different I guess. Spending as much time driving as I do, I needed to replace the 2001 with a more fuel efficient car, which ended up being a GM product....
Thankfully it's been great so far...
We still have the 2005 LS in the stable and when this Volt wears out, I'm not sure what I'll replace it with. It has to be fuel efficient AND interesting enough that I want to spend 3 hours a day in it...
We'll see in 4 years....

 

Gas is cheap enough that I went the other direction. My Prius is up for sale. Can't beat the comfort of the LS, and I am all about
comfort. I am also growing more conservative, in addition to about 1000 more Lbs. of steel there is a lot more of it surrounding me.
Closing the door on the LS you know that door will protect you, the Prius?....not so much. In my last months driving Prius for work
I had a couple close calls that prompted the bigger heavier car decision. The truck drivers of today terrify me, fresh 6 week wonders,
full up on meth piloting 80 K Lbs. Apologies to those professional drivers that do still exist, it's getting really bad on the highway, I'm glad
this travelling salesman does not have a lot of years left till retirement.

 

LOL that might be me someday, I have it in the back of my mind that I could get a CDL after a forced retirement if it ever comes down to that. Walmart paying $86k after 30 mos. of experience, and the shortage is projected through 2026. Driving a truck today, is like working in IT, late 90's through early 2000's. People starting at 120k having little experience and a CCIE, which at the time, was more than a lawyer from an Ivy League law school. And no joke, I always wanted to drive a big rig. When I see them backing in to a driveway from a busy state highway, that is a bit daunting. But dropping and hooking at a distribution center, sounds like fun to me....

 

I just entertained the fantasy of getting a Lexus to replace the family car, which is my wife's GM SUV (but we're gonna drive it forever, has 83k today and I started tranny drain/fills at 70k so it's pink now). I don't even like 2015 LX's, only 2016 due to the interior. I even don't like everything about it, it's a pig on fuel, and smaller on the inside to my wife's. My reasoning is it's nice and old enough technology to maybe last forever, just like the LS430.

Here's the real real problem. Trade in value is 63k!! Not retail, wholesale!! Also, my gut is that maybe the depreciation is more like a SC, not a LS. So as they age, still expensive.

 

Probably look for a gx or lx SUV. I'd definitely test drive a ls460 too, maybe look for a v8 5 series. Acura sedan.

I've been kind of hoping I get rear ended lately, rear bumper needs paint lol.

Edit: just saw the cdl job reference, ive had a cdl for 8 years now, you really gotta love over the road and 11 to 13 hr days for that 80k a year. They can keep it as far as I'm concerned. If you like working 60 hours in 7 days and getting 34 hours off (literally 34), then go sign up lol. That's why there's a shortage, getting paid less than minimum wage for your first few months while dealing with traffic and cell phones and weather in an 80k lb vehicle mostly third shift...noone wants to really do that. Unless the industry has drastically changed I dont know anyone getting near that. You have to really commit to life on the road for that money, nothing local pays that much. Dont let me talk you out of it, just dont expect it to be easy money. I've done local hazmat and then local class b, now I'm just a back up driver. I definitely couldn't even recite a pre trip at this point.

Forgive my grammar, I have the dumbest smart phone.

 

 

I love looking at big rigs on YouTube. But just as with cars, I feel total disappointment that the clutch is gone. "Here is the 2019 Peterbilt blah blah blah...." when I see that auto trans, I end the video! lol

I hear all trucks have drive cams nowadays and drivers don't generally like them...but what the hey if you didn't do anything wrong, who cares if the safety dept. watches you pick your nose hahaha

Oh on the LX570? I was thinking how come 2016's go for $70k? Go to kbb.com and trade in is 63k....yikes.