Well, I've been looking for an LS460 (2011-2012) for close to 5 years in Vancouver. There has been none even now after I bought a 2013,and don't like the facelift and the air ride. But, the price was right even though it cost more than my budget. You must be in Quebec.

 

Now you have my attention. I have a 2010. What’s the cutoff month for it to qualify?

 

Its the Ontario cars that are that cheap. "best" priced I have seen had 650k kilometers (about 350k miles), It was shown at like 5k cad

 

I have seen several claims that late 2010s incorporated desirable change(s), but no specifics have been provided. Mine was built in 8/10 very near the end of 2010 MY production.

 

I owned a 2007 LS SWB RWD for almost 2 years (sold it to buy an IS350, needed something sportier) and the car was very reliable. This entire generation is quite reliable as far as I know but I would have to agree that later model years in the generation are probably slightly more reliable due to slight tweaks/issue fixes.

I would stay away from a LWB with air suspension as they seem to have more issues and also would get a RWD instead of AWD because they would likely have less issues as well. Don't really need AWD as car drives great in snow even with all season tires (thanks to the hefty weight and helpful snow mode).

And yes the price of the LS460 in Canada hold their value very well. I put over 20000 km on the car in 1.5 years and sold it for only 1,500 less then what I paid (and was trying to sell it quick) after only doing oil changes and replacing from brake pads to get it safetied.

 

cochiseg and Leximum, the Canadian market often sees cars sell before they make the internet. I found a 2015 with tech package in 2017 in Winnipeg at the dealer getting the wife's GX in for service. It had just come in that day and I noticed it tucked behind the building with no plates. I called the sales manager that night and I arranged a test drive (the next day) but it had already gone out on an overnight and sold, never even made it online.

I paid full list for my 2015 in summer 2018 in Regina. I was not the first to look at it even though it wasn't there long. The cars that stay for sale a long time are private sale, overpriced, "high" mileage, or there is something wrong with them. I found a beautiful 2015 in Calgary for a reasonable price in 2017, it had a $22k "wildlife" collision when it had 3000 kilometres. That car sat there for sale FOREVER, couldn't tell it'd been hit but who's gonna buy a $65000 used sedan that might have problems.

The Canadian market is unique, in the best years (facelifts ones like 2013) Lexus barely sold over 200 a year. In 2017 they only sold 40...40! It seems Canadian LS owners that buy new own their cars for 2-3 years or for like 10. High mileage is rare, there are lots of cars 3-5 years old with under 50k, anything over that is relatively high, mine had 29k. The price is often more based on mileage than year when in the same body style. There is seasons when they show up, generally when new model years go out, for example the 2018's sold in fall 2017 returned to the market in bulk this year so once they sell it will be odd ones here and there from now on. There are hardly any out there, they sell quick, sometimes without even hitting a showroom/website.

 

I see some good priced private sales, as you say those dont stay available very long... under 200k kilometers and under 10k cad is usually a very fast sell :P ... others are price good, but stay forever for sale, like one members Ls-L thats for sale at 15k, I think the price is enticing, but for an 08 not many are ready to shed that kind of money I guess

 

Good thread. I'll add my $0.02 worth. It could be worth $0.03 since I actually worked in design for the same company that produced the LS 460. So I know how they think and work (and it is all good).

Avoid the first year of a model. While Toyota does a bang-up job of releasing them as problem free as possible, the 2nd model year is ALWAYS (every single time) better than the first model year. Because the engineers are sort of on "stand-by" waiting for manufacturing, quality and customer issues to arise. Our goal was to have every problem that arose, addressed and an engineering change released by a given cut-off day so that all the improvements are implemented into the 2nd year model.

Maybe most of the changes are things a customer would never see. But, the 2nd model year is ALWAYS better.

With that said, generally the last 2 years of a production model are all about cost cutting. Maybe a customer could notice it, but usually not. And until you work in that environment, you can't even imagine the effort and creativity. The factory workers are intimate with the vehicle, they suggest changes. Every vendor is incentivized to be creative. And if it means more money in a vendor's pockets, you can bet your sweet *** they'll find ways to cheapen their parts up. Lots and lots and lots of cost cutting. Not necessarily bad, but lots of it.

So which cars is best? IMHO, the 2nd and 3rd model year of a build.

To answer your question, I have a 2010 I have very few problems from. But if I were you, I'd go with a 2011 or 2012. Find a vehicle that you can be happy with it's color and equipment and don't be concerned so much if it is a 2011 or 2012 (or heck even a 2010).

Would I own the last couple year models of the LS? Yes. No doubt there would be things changed to make it less expensive, but I tend to doubt I could put a finger on something and establish a difference between that and an older LS's same part. The very last model year built, with cost savings and all, will certainly be a better vehicle than the first model year.

 

My 2017 feels just as solid if not more so than my 2015...

I would think changing parts would cost more than just producing and using the same parts they always used

 

We used to have (I forget what they were called), but these "events." All, most or select vendors would come in to the technical center where I worked. And they would do a presentation of the ideas they had to reduce cost. This crap was DEEEEEP. they would go into the gnat's *** details in order to save $0.02 per vehicle, fo' real. Stuff like, changing the 2 microns thick coating on the ***** from a ball bearing, to some other less expensive coating. I did seat design. Their ideas were stuff like this: A seat that was full leather, like the LS seats are likely to be, the vendor would propose to use a matching vinyl or leatherette on no touch areas. Like on the side of the seat where the buckle is. Or on the sides of the headrest. They would reduce the size of the J-Hooks (on the bottom of the seat, used for attaching the seat cover to various seat parts). They would propose to change certain leather areas from A-Zone leather to B-Zone leather. And B-Zone leather to C-Zone leather. These changes could add up to big savings.

Now they might not go so radical on an LS, backing off the leather as they would say, a Corolla. But I did the seats for the Solara at one point (have a patent on the rear seat design). Let's say they could implement changes to the seats that a customer WOULD NEVER NOTICE, and it amounted to $11.32 per seat set (just making that up, but is possible). $11.32 per seat set over 150,000 seat sets is nearly $1.7 million (per year!). What Toyota would do is split that (at some ratio, but in this example would likely be 50-50). This is approximately $850,000 additional profit in Toyota's (and the vendor's) pocket. And this is 1 vehicle, and 1 change. And YOU would never know the difference. You can bet your sweet *** this happens all day every day on probably ever part of a vehicle. And Toyota is smart. Because they give a large portion of cost savings to the vendor. That goes right into the vendor's coffers. What does that do? It incentivizes the vendors to work their butts off for Toyota. To make the best product they can, because they will make GOOD MONEY with Toyota. Don't get me wrong. Toyota will not make such a change *****-nilly. There was decision matrix creation out the ying-yang to determine if it was a worthy, feasible, quality change. There was testing out the ying-yang to verify such a proposal. Being a design engineer for Toyota was no joke. Unlike a design engineer for Hyundai (what a joke).

What would Hyundai do? They would tell the vendor, we want 3% cost reduction across the board and tell the vendors if they don't like it, go pound sand. That works in Korea with Korean vendors. It doesn't work nearly as well in the U.S. Companies like DOW will tell Hyundai where they can go. What does that do? It makes the vendors not appreciate Hyundai, and will cause them to stick it to Hyundai every chance they get. And the customers suffer for it. Saw it all, first hand. The favorite quote of the manufacturing engineers at the Hyundai plant was, "don't be a squealer, ship it to the dealer!" I love Toyota! They are the best for a reason! Gauranteed your LS is less expensive to build than a 2014 was. But did it negatively effect you? No way, Toyota would not allow it. I rejected MOST cost reduction ideas based on the impact to a customer.

 

That’s fascinating...

Like you said, huge savings in volume.

 

mine has melting interior issues such as when I clean the interior door cards and the rubber parts they sometimes disintegrate into smaller pieces and leave a mark which I hate. I have this problem on the rear passenger door cards so my advice is never have anyone clean the inside but yourself so you know how much pressure to use and not **** anything up.