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I’ve owned my 07 LS460L for exactly a year now. When I bought it, it had around 133,000 miles, and the car now has a little over a 142,000 miles on it today. So I only put about 10,000 miles in a year and so far everything seems ok and works well.
My car is pretty much fully loaded with the 4 zone climate control package, air suspension, sunshades all around, rear seat cooler. It just doesn’t have the entertainment package with the DVD screens.
I think I lucked out on not having to experience the typical failures that these cars have because I purchased the car at a higher mileage when all the really more expensive repairs have been made. All my control arms were replaced, including the front air springs, the brake actuator, water pump, the Mark Levinson Amp and other maintenance items were replaced before I bought the car.
Fortunately my LS is a one owner car and it’s my assumption that he or she got rid of out because of all the repairs. It’s been very well kept for, with mostly all dealer service records.
The only real issue I have with the car is that it does burn some oil, so I have been using 5W30 full syn oil and it has helped cut down on the oil burning. I know some people are against putting a heavier weight oil in these engines, but in my experience it hasn’t caused any problems whatsoever. I think the engine sounds a bit quieter with the 5W-30 vs 5W-20 oil.
The 5W-20 that’s recommended for our engines IMO is strictly for fuel economy but I haven’t noticed a decrease in fuel economy with using the 5W-30 motor oil. I only use Mobil 1 extended performance or Castrol Edge Extended performance motor oil.
I always change the oil myself at around 3,000-3,500 miles. So far so good, the car runs awesome and is still extremely smooth to drive.
I wish however that we could install larger tires on our LS’s because I feel like the 18 inch wheels with the 50 series tires are too short of a sidewall to cushion larger road impacts and or rougher street conditions especially where I live in CA where our infrastructure is absolutely terrible with atrocious street and freeway conditions. My mother used to own a ES330 plenty of times and felt like that car absorbed road impacts better at times than my LS460 because it had such large tires on it being a 16 inch wheel with 60 series sidewall. It was plenty of protection to cushion potholes and deep cracks in the road better. I definitely noticed the difference driving her car and mine. Some of the sharper impacts would enter the cabin in my LS, while in her ES, it dampened the impact where it wasn’t felt inside the cabin much at all.
I purchased brand new tires last year too, which made a difference at first, but these Pirelli Centuro P7 tires are already starting to wear down fast. I’ll probably need new tires by the end of the year. I’m going for a more softer compound tire like Continentals that I know ride very smooth and are geared towards comfort.
Is anyone impressed like I am……regarding the interior replacement ZLZ campaign..?…!
I’ve never heard of any manufacturer, producing cars at any price, in any country, which 10 years after purchase has stood behind its brand reputation for quality by electing to pay ($8K/car?) to replace faulty interiors.
Truly astounding….where other manufacturers routinely stop hard dollar support upon warranty expiration
Bought our 08 with 54k miles 4 years ago. Had bad front suspension arms. Sticky interior. Idled rough. Factory replaced interior. Switched to costco gas. Replaced plugs. Back flushed trans. Idles perfectly. Has 124k on it now. Still has bad control arms. Slight wander at 100 mph. Tires wear slightly funny. Fantastic car. If wrecked would find another one.
2007 with 161k miles on it now. Purchased in 08. Issues to date?
2 alternators
3 radiators (1 of which was 2 weeks ago) All started leaking at the very top between the plastic top and clamping of actual radiator
1 fuel pressure sensor (very recent)
2x front control arms (all 8)
1 front left air shock (my fault. Drove 1200 miles with a bent rim).
1 starter
All in all, I think its a very very reliable car. All jobs listed, I did myself so they were cheaper than trying to get dealer or shop to do them. Learned a lot in doing the jobs and I'll be keeping her for quite a few more years.
2007 with 161k miles on it now. Purchased in 08. Issues to date?
2 alternators
3 radiators (1 of which was 2 weeks ago) All started leaking at the very top between the plastic top and clamping of actual radiator
1 fuel pressure sensor (very recent)
2x front control arms (all 8)
1 front left air shock (my fault. Drove 1200 miles with a bent rim).
1 starter
All in all, I think its a very very reliable car. All jobs listed, I did myself so they were cheaper than trying to get dealer or shop to do them. Learned a lot in doing the jobs and I'll be keeping her for quite a few more years.
That’s not too bad to be honest. I think the complexities and advancements of this generation which truly finally competed with the S-Class far outweigh the high repair cost. And the repair cost are still far lower than any Benz and or Beemer. Complexity adds some way of sophistication and advancements which the LS460 was when it first came out. It’s far more sophisticated than the LS430 ever was. Although the LS430 is a fine car, but it never truly competed with the S-Class because of how short they were in length with the relatively short wheelbase. So you don’t have that living room size legroom of an S-Class in the LS430.
Having the LWB version staring in 07 completely transforms these cars into being in a league of their own and again, competes very well against the S-Class especially when they are fully optioned out. But only the LWB version.
My father owns a 2012 S-Class 550 and to be honest I was shocked and disappointed on how cheaply made the interior felt with this generation of Mercedes. The door panels was the worst feeling which felt cheap and sounded creaky anytime you put force or lean your arm on it. The quality of materials definitely did not match the price tag, I believe the newer models have better interiors and improved upon this however. My LS460 felt a bit nicer in certain areas of the interior like the door panels and parts of the center console, even the doors on the S-Class felt lightweight in comparison to my Lexus which are fairly heavy and solid upon opening and closing with a nice quiet “thunk”.
I know I’m getting carried away here, but I just love my LS460L and will never sell it because I still haven’t found another big sedan that is just as reliable, rides as smooth, and has a silky smooth V8, is RWD, has full air ride suspension, feels solid+ looks n feels top notch with a massive back seat room with full controls. European luxo marks don’t count.
The only thing I would like to do to add a bit of an upgrade to the car is to install that VLINE adapter that allows for Apple Car play and other infotainment enhancements through the stock screen, and possibly upgrading the stock alloy wheels to the stock chrome ones which I love the looks of.
98,600 miles on my 2010 LS460L and other than 1 set of brakes and tires and regular oil and filter changes I have not spent a dime on this car and it came off of lease with 19,000 miles in June of 2014.
My car is a 2010 AWD, 63K miles, virtually flawless functionally and aesthetically. Everything works after 12 years! Love the quality of the leather used, greatly superior to Porsche or Mercedes’. Magic carpet ride. Quality of engineering, materials, workmanship…just superb
Recently, I have located rust holes located next to the mufflers. There is a gap between heat shields and rear of the vehicle, that is where it rusts through. Visually, I couldn't tell it was there until I washed the car from underneath and then located rusty water in the trunk. A screwdriver went though the metal like though paper. In total I found 4 holes - 2 next to the mufflers and 2 in lower part of the wheel wells on both sides (behind the mud liners). There is a "pocket" created by the lower part of the rear fender causing accumulation of sand and small stones. In causes severe rust damage with time.
Since I purchased a flux core welder and fixed the damage. And the mufflers were rusted too. And the heat shields, I used stainless nuts and washers to fix the issue with heatshields. I fixed mufflers with some sheet metal using the welder. I am planning on removing the wheel liners and treating the body with an anti-corrosion compound.
Recently, I have located rust holes located next to the mufflers. There is a gap between heat shields and rear of the vehicle, that is where it rusts through. Visually, I couldn't tell it was there until I washed the car from underneath and then located rusty water in the trunk. A screwdriver went though the metal like though paper. In total I found 4 holes - 2 next to the mufflers and 2 in lower part of the wheel wells on both sides (behind the mud liners). There is a "pocket" created by the lower part of the rear fender causing accumulation of sand and small stones. In causes severe rust damage with time.
Since I purchased a flux core welder and fixed the damage. And the mufflers were rusted too. And the heat shields, I used stainless nuts and washers to fix the issue with heatshields. I fixed mufflers with some sheet metal using the welder. I am planning on removing the wheel liners and treating the body with an anti-corrosion compound.
im guessing you live up north and drive your car through winter?
I am and I am a 3rd owner with the car being its entire life in north east. However, the body is clean expect the spots around the exhaust and wheel wells. The problem would not occur if the heat shields above mufflers were extended. And the car was pressure washed around wheel well areas.
No problems at all with my 2015 460L Ultra Luxury AWD with 70,000 miles. I bought it in the Fall of 2018 with just short of 50,000 miles from the local dealer who had gotten it from NJ where it had been a three-year leased car with full-service agreement from the dealer at the time of lease. It was Lexus certified with two years of maintenance included when I bought it and the biggest service value was spark plug replacement which was no cost to me. I have only done 5,000 mile oill changes and differential fluid change at my expense since the Lexus service agreement expired in 2020. I replaced the battery with a Lexus battery (extra year warranty) at another local Lexus dealer who had both Lexus batteries in stock, as my car uses a larger capacity battery. New Continental Pure Contact LS tires in November 2019, which are a great improvement over the Goodyear run-flat tires that had been on it since the original tires wore out.
I am and I am a 3rd owner with the car being its entire life in north east. However, the body is clean expect the spots around the exhaust and wheel wells. The problem would not occur if the heat shields above mufflers were extended. And the car was pressure washed around wheel well areas.
Yes, but the damage was already there. There is no way such rust damage can develop in just one or two years. I treat every car I have with rust protection before every winter. And the areas where I treated the body look as good as before treatment. You actually couldn't tell there is something wrong unless there is some water pressure behind it or you poke it with a screw driver.
I bought this car to drive, I am not interested in something that is going to sit in a garage all winter just because it is too precious or whatever reason. Indeed, I insist that the car has a good metal protection but you got to maintain it, clean etc. Obviously, it was not done by previous owners.
05-21-22, 02:31 AM
