I think you would like a GS, great cars! Or a Ls430

 

All things being equal....yes, but otherwise it is cheaper than owning many other non-luxury cars which are far less reliable. My wife's former Jeep for example, cost far more to own than my LS. That's just one example. A Ford Focus or Fiesta will likewise be less reliable and potentially more expensive other than, (obviously), the purchase cost. But buy used, and all bets are off.

So true. This is one train of thought I just don't comprehend. My water pump was 50 bucks. My radiator was sixty bucks. My shocks were a couple of hundred for all four corners. Brakes were about 150 for all four corners and that included quality rotors.

 

Not particulalrly relevant to this thread but I recall the famous statement from an anonymous Rolls-Royce salesman:

"Sir, if you have to ask, you can't afford it..................."

 

you gotta pay the cost to be the boss

 

I did the same thing, used to buy Pirreli's and spent all that money on a tire that barely lasted me 25,000 miles. So I went with something dirt cheap, with harder rubber (and more of it). I bought a set of Milestars - had great reviews - I forget what I payed for them...maybe less than $400 and they've been fantastic. The only difference I've noticed is in hard cornering, they don't grip as well, but they're quieter and I now have 20,000 miles on them and they're holding up great...probably get another 20k out of them. I'll never go back to an expensive tire with this car, it just eats them up and I don't need them.

 

I’m surprised people say the LS460 eats tires. My LS460is easier on tires than any other Lexus I’ve ever had.

 

Frankly all of the things you mentioned would be an expense on even the smallest and least expensive models of any car maker. The only thing you could save a little money on is the tires and maybe the rotors if you bought a car that used a smaller size.

 

Doublebase, just keep in mind, that lack of cornering grip translates to lack of straight-line grip, so braking distance, when taxed, will be longer.

People think brakes are the determining factor when comparing vehicles, but all brake systems will lock all four wheels (without ABS switched 'on'). It comes down to tires. Wheels (tires) stop spinning under braking when you exceed the ability of the tire to grip pavement and the brake locks the wheel as there's more friction when the tire is rolling, not sliding.

Brake systems come into play when they get hot, like after repeated high speed stops or track days. That's different.

It may be minor, but I've had a few unpleasant experiences with Chinesium tires, so pass.

My five Continental DWS06s in a 255/45/19 will go on the car, Tuesday.

 

True, I can't say the differences in the tires i bought are noticeable enough, but I agree. If I was ok with buying new Michelins every year and dropping $800 plus, I'd prefer the better tire. But when you're putting 30k a year on your car and it's basically a commuting car, I just grew tired of it. So I put a harder rubber tire on there that was cheaper, so far they've been great...wear evenly, quiet, durable, performing well. But yeah I'd prefer a higher end tire for performance.

 

As the owner, previously, of an S-class Mercedes and an E-class Mercedes, it's usually not parts which kill you on cost of ownership...it's paying someone to repair things.

The only item I won't really dig into, even if, at almost 50 years old, I haven't previously, is automatic transmissions.

I know how they work, but there's so many places to go wrong.

I mentioned the above Mercedes machines because cars (adjusted for inflation to today's dollars) still require maintenance/repairs as if they are worth what they were, new. I mean, they cost that much for a reason, right? It's usually comfort, luxury, performance, build quality, quality engineering, etc.

Therefore, even though my '95 E320 was about $80K, new, in today's dollars, if something happened, because I'm a rather adventurous DIY-guy, it was never a problem to find quality, non-dealer parts, and fix it myself.

Same goes for the '89 420SEL. That's a $138K car, today, and honestly, yeah...it's worth that were it new with minor updates.

I'm likely one of the youngest people to ever buy a 40' diesel motorcoach, I was 33, or so. The coach was a '99, it was '01, and new it was $165K in '99 money. I paid $73K in 2001, and I've never had anyone work on it, save for Freightliner, to fix a problem with the rear axle welds from the factory. If you have a portable, diesel-powered apartment, you get very good at understanding how every single thing works, both chassis and the "house", because you're likely in a new place and not able to leave it for a week to be fixed. A fix which may take an hour, if you knew about it and were willing to do it without prompting.

Those who own a motorcoach either have a lot of money and have it fixed, or is regular ol' middle class and a gearhead.

Back to tires...anyone here think LS460 tires are expensive? Ha! Six tires for my wife and I's coach is going to run me close to $3K.

I'm likely one of the very few motorcoach owners who travels with a full compliment of tools, a garage creeper, and a floor jack & stands for the towed car, just in case.

And, yes, I've been on the side of the road, on the creeper, fixing stuff just enough so we can get to a stopping point and I can do it correctly.

Doublebase, I'm fortunate in that my commute is only 60 miles/RT, so about 15K miles per year, because it's the roadtrip car, too, if we don't take the coach. I'll get about 2 1/2 years out of the Contis...I hope.

 

It's a flagship luxury sedan, and despite it being used no matter how you go about owning it, it's going to cost more in operating costs than a car which sold for a cheaper MSRP.

 

I absolutely think the LS is worth owning. Very few cars come close to the ride quality and level of comfort of this car. It is not the fastest or most agile, but those areas are not its strengths, and it still does fine in the power/performance category. As reliable as the LS is, I went in expecting moderately higher maintenance costs, such as V8 needing more sparkplugs and more quarts of oil, more engine filters, more cabin filters, bigger wheels needing bigger and more expensive tires (although my current set of 245/45/R19 Pirelli P7+ "only" cost $900 after a Memorial Day sale) -- you can go with Goodyear RS-A 2 for half the price (they're actually OEM tires on the Tesla Model S) and the Goodyears were surprisingly good overall. There is more gadgetry, sensors, and electronics in a car of this caliber and so more things can potentially go wrong. Overall though, the LS is as reliable as you're gonna get in the big sedan category. I imagine going to a GS isn't going to save you much, if anything, on tires if you want to maintain the performance of that car.

A coworker was able to replace all four of his tires on his Camry for less than the cost of one Pirelli P7+ on the LS. That is pretty awesome but I'd still prefer the LS over the Camry so long as I can comfortably afford normal wear and tear items.