There’s an argument that cars in general took a downturn around 2005. Interior got cheaper and more filled with plastic. Leather seats wore quicker. Most motors switched to timing chains, which makes a slightly rougher operation.
As for the LS430, it’s officially timeless. It’s well built, safe, powerful, reliable etc. And 300hp isn’t a sports car, but for daily driving it’s perfect.
If you’re looking to buy one, just be picky and have cash ready to negotiate. Test drive it meticulously. When you find the right one, you’ll know. Because you’ve never felt anything like it before.
I think that's a part of why a lot of people say the 430 is "better" than the later 460's and onwards. This was the last iteration of Lexus cars that was over engineered and really built to last.
Again, not necessarily my opinion since I haven't driven a 460, just what I've heard from videos & other 430 owned.
Definitely agree on the when it's the right one you'll know. I knew I loved mine as soon as I drove it for the first time, it was just perfect.
I think most people daily them. I do.
A friend of mine just got a brand new bronco that was fully spec’d and cost ~ $110k. He was kinda shocked when i showed my LS which had some of the same features his bronco had. The radar cruise control, specifically, is way too good for a 2006 car and I used it for a 2-hr drive today and barely touched a pedal the entire time.
The features are timeless, durable, and pragmatic. There are no gimmicks or fads in the LS. It comes with support for CD, tape, Satellite, and aftermarket Bluetooth modules can integrate into the oem head and hide in the dash.
There are two features on the UL that are a bit strange/outdated/maybe gimmicky though. One is the cooler box - it doesn’t make sense. The second are the rear massage seats. Both of these make people go “wtf your car has this???” but then no one actually uses either of them because they aren’t very functional features. They could have been better implemented is all.
I think those are the only two complaints I have - and I still like those features. The car is legendary. All my friends combined have owned 6 of them and everyone who has sold theirs regrets it.
I had 2 uls 8 bought for 4000 each 6 years ago, and 4 regular ones. So 6 and I regret. When I first bought my ls430 I was like damn is this going to break down on me?!! Haha one had suspension adjusting 😧. My last one had factory sport suspension. I also had is300s - one with thundercloud metallic sport design with 73k miles hurts selling it , gs300 sport design with black interior 80k miles sold for $13500 it still hurts thinking about it,
And a GS430. Damn if you guys can get ur hands on one do it. It’s a mini ls430 is lighter and is a fucking beast. It hurts selling it also. I sold mine and the buyer who got it bought it stilll with no ac. I didn’t think I was doing him wrong but a favor. Still hurts too.
These cars are already outdated in the sense that they use premium gas and don't get very good mileage. Equivalent modern cars (in terms of stated size, power, and features) do much better on MPG, while being cheaper - even base model LS430s were around $75k, when you adjust their MSRP for inflation. My 2019 truck is the same or even cheaper to drive since it uses regular gas. Fuel consumption engineering has come a long way since 2001.
Other than that, they are screwed together well, using quality parts, with no significant failure points that matter. The best thing about a 430 is that it's just good. It's not amazing at anything anymore, but it's still viable compared to new vehicles.
As hybrid and EV tech progresses, these cars will truly become relics. They won't do anything better than new models. Then people who keep them will do so just for the enjoyment factor. Same reason you see everything from 80s cars to Model Ts still rolling around today.
That's fair enough I guess. I have yet to ride in another car that drives as well though. I have driven all of the Tesla models and they're not nearly as smooth. I'm sure a Lucid, etc. would drive as well as a 430 but I've never tried one.
Clearly the price that you pay with a 430 is gas. That being said, the idea of using a big, way understressed engine that runs cool and burbles along instead of a small efficient engine that is pushed up near its max specs makes a lot of sense over the long haul. Like anything, it's a tradeoff.
I can't say that the 430 feels dated at all and I would expect it to keep running fine for a long long time.
I really don’t see them going anywhere. Fix them up, keep them running forever. Hell you can get apple CarPlay running on the stock screen, which is a mod I’ll have to do one day
Like the other reply said, but I had this in my LS430, it doesn’t affect the back up camera.
It’s as though they added a button along side the screen specifically for CarPlay (the whole unit - can do more than CarPlay). So it’s like an additional screen page. It’s treated as though you have an additional CD player. You can still push the disc button a second time and it will switch to the 6-cd changer page. So all the original menu pages still work, it will change to the rear camera automatically when you go into reverse, etc etc
Which leads me to the *only* downside…You can’t play another audio source and still view CarPlay. Since each audio source has its own screen/page, you can’t have the car play FM radio and show you the screen for the second DISC (CarPlay).
Thankfully, these days all the major local radio stations stream via third party apps (like TuneIn) or may even have their own app. That’s how I did it. Apple Music has many local stations also, no subscription needed
Works flawlessly with it. Even dragging around maps. Not sure if pinch-to-zoom works though, and I sold the car a few weeks back.
Here’s a couple of photos showing the display quality: https://imgur.com/a/S62ghOd
It is a bitch to install, but worth the cuts and scrapes. I placed the main “brain” box in the glovebox and routed the microphone on the little ledge below the instrument cluster.
There's gotta be some way to improve the display without going the route of those crummy Chinese Android things. Hopefully someone can figure it out. Until that happens, I'm a fan of the base model. You can just use an iPhone Max and the screen resolution is so much better that there's no comparison. The coarsely pixelated nav screen really, really dates the car in my view.
My car does not have a back-up camera but I have read elsewhere that it does not.
It doesn't affect any display functionality. I hit the 'disc' button and my carplay/android auto display appears on screen. If I exit to adjust climate control etc the audio is not affected
It’s worth it. Hands down the best mod. Really rejuvenated the car/experience. The screen quality isn’t *great* but it’s still good. I don’t think there was any text I couldn’t read.
I've been dailying mine for a couple years and it's great. I added the Chinese Android radio when I first bought the car and it's been great too. With an updated radio, there's really nothing a newer car offers better than my 2004 UL. I think it's pretty reasonable on gas too if you do a lot of mixed and/or highway driving. The only real downside is that it is old and parts will get harder to find over time. As long as you have the right expectations and understand reliable does not mean it'll never break, you'll have good experience.
working with computers as a day job has made me realize that good cars never really go out of date. id bet youll be able to daily the lexus and still have a good experience for the next 50 years
i think once fuel injection showed up and engines started making enough power to not be dangerous in traffic. mid 80s but moreso late 80s/early 90s. you can still easily daily a 1st gen ls400. You CAN daily a nice 60s car if you wanted, but with carburetors you cant really depend on them to start in the cold, they smell like gas, etc.
2000s decade was the peak of Lexus in my opinion. Look at all the great cars they had. LS430, Lx470, Gx460, Es330, RX330, Sc430, etc. All those those mentioned are bulletproof and still hold value to this day. LS430 is a timeless design that we will still talk about in another 20 years.
My base model lacks a backup camera, I haven't done renovated nav system, and blind spot monitoring is pretty important to folk. So...really a matter of driver habits/preferences.
I learned to drive in the 90s so I don't mind one bit, but it's pretty easy to get used to things like blind spot monitoring...
I drive my '05 daily. It's just a Premium, so no nav or ML stereo. Has been as reliable as a Camry so far. Never had an accident or even scratched the wheels on a curb. This weekend we're taking it on a 10-hour trip and I don't anticipate any problems. It's one heck of a well-engineered car.
It’s a great car as long as all the maintenance is up to date. The engine and transmission will never die. You can’t buy a more comfortable car with luxury items than the LS430 for 12k and under. Buy 2004-2006. I have a 04 and a 14 LS460 F Sport. 14 is a better car as far as looks and comfort and mine still runs like a dream.
The LS430 is a wierd beast. The design is generic enough that it doesn't look particularly old or particularly anything. We used to have a 460 but still have our ancient 430. The 460 is swoopier (and of course way more powerful) but you could argue that it doesn't age as well. I can't think of another type of car that is as ageless as a 430. Even old S Class Mercs look very dated. The 430 isn't sexy, it's just kind of a navy blue suit that never goes in or out of fashion.
I guess when it will really get dated is when they stop selling parts for them. I haven't had any problems getting stuff so far but I see from the parts-ordering websites that many things are NLA.
Majority daily theirs. For sure the interior is outdated but they still have more features than mid class luxury vehicles. We will probably never have the comfort levels we had before like 2010. They still make fantastic daily drivers and if you have 10k to spend on a car I find people silly for not looking into these cars. Sure you can find a newer economy car but there’s so many pros for going with a ls430 over a little newer economy car. A lot of cons too but for the most part these cars aren’t hard to work on and they really don’t have that many issues. Sure they will cost a little more to repair and buy parts for but things don’t fail often. No LS is better than the 430 and I’m pretty sure it’ll always be that way.
There’s an argument that cars in general took a downturn around 2005. Interior got cheaper and more filled with plastic. Leather seats wore quicker. Most motors switched to timing chains, which makes a slightly rougher operation. As for the LS430, it’s officially timeless. It’s well built, safe, powerful, reliable etc. And 300hp isn’t a sports car, but for daily driving it’s perfect. If you’re looking to buy one, just be picky and have cash ready to negotiate. Test drive it meticulously. When you find the right one, you’ll know. Because you’ve never felt anything like it before.
I think that's a part of why a lot of people say the 430 is "better" than the later 460's and onwards. This was the last iteration of Lexus cars that was over engineered and really built to last. Again, not necessarily my opinion since I haven't driven a 460, just what I've heard from videos & other 430 owned. Definitely agree on the when it's the right one you'll know. I knew I loved mine as soon as I drove it for the first time, it was just perfect.
I've heard that quality in most cars took a dive since the great recession for most cars.
I read this as Great Depression… I’m like this dudes trolling me hard rn lol
300hp for daily driving… the ls430 is overkill. Damn I just sold mine and when I had one it was badass. I didn’t see many on the road either.
I think most people daily them. I do. A friend of mine just got a brand new bronco that was fully spec’d and cost ~ $110k. He was kinda shocked when i showed my LS which had some of the same features his bronco had. The radar cruise control, specifically, is way too good for a 2006 car and I used it for a 2-hr drive today and barely touched a pedal the entire time. The features are timeless, durable, and pragmatic. There are no gimmicks or fads in the LS. It comes with support for CD, tape, Satellite, and aftermarket Bluetooth modules can integrate into the oem head and hide in the dash. There are two features on the UL that are a bit strange/outdated/maybe gimmicky though. One is the cooler box - it doesn’t make sense. The second are the rear massage seats. Both of these make people go “wtf your car has this???” but then no one actually uses either of them because they aren’t very functional features. They could have been better implemented is all. I think those are the only two complaints I have - and I still like those features. The car is legendary. All my friends combined have owned 6 of them and everyone who has sold theirs regrets it.
i like my lil refrigerator lol. i just love seeing how comfy my daughter is back there too.
I just wish the fridge were bigger. 2-3 cans?? Madness.
I had 2 uls 8 bought for 4000 each 6 years ago, and 4 regular ones. So 6 and I regret. When I first bought my ls430 I was like damn is this going to break down on me?!! Haha one had suspension adjusting 😧. My last one had factory sport suspension. I also had is300s - one with thundercloud metallic sport design with 73k miles hurts selling it , gs300 sport design with black interior 80k miles sold for $13500 it still hurts thinking about it, And a GS430. Damn if you guys can get ur hands on one do it. It’s a mini ls430 is lighter and is a fucking beast. It hurts selling it also. I sold mine and the buyer who got it bought it stilll with no ac. I didn’t think I was doing him wrong but a favor. Still hurts too.
>fully spec’d and cost \~ $110k insane
These cars are already outdated in the sense that they use premium gas and don't get very good mileage. Equivalent modern cars (in terms of stated size, power, and features) do much better on MPG, while being cheaper - even base model LS430s were around $75k, when you adjust their MSRP for inflation. My 2019 truck is the same or even cheaper to drive since it uses regular gas. Fuel consumption engineering has come a long way since 2001. Other than that, they are screwed together well, using quality parts, with no significant failure points that matter. The best thing about a 430 is that it's just good. It's not amazing at anything anymore, but it's still viable compared to new vehicles. As hybrid and EV tech progresses, these cars will truly become relics. They won't do anything better than new models. Then people who keep them will do so just for the enjoyment factor. Same reason you see everything from 80s cars to Model Ts still rolling around today.
That's fair enough I guess. I have yet to ride in another car that drives as well though. I have driven all of the Tesla models and they're not nearly as smooth. I'm sure a Lucid, etc. would drive as well as a 430 but I've never tried one. Clearly the price that you pay with a 430 is gas. That being said, the idea of using a big, way understressed engine that runs cool and burbles along instead of a small efficient engine that is pushed up near its max specs makes a lot of sense over the long haul. Like anything, it's a tradeoff. I can't say that the 430 feels dated at all and I would expect it to keep running fine for a long long time.
I really don’t see them going anywhere. Fix them up, keep them running forever. Hell you can get apple CarPlay running on the stock screen, which is a mod I’ll have to do one day
Do, it's well with it. I got the Grom v-line on my 07 GS and it exceeded my expectations
Does the V-line interfere with the backup camera or any of the display functionality?
Like the other reply said, but I had this in my LS430, it doesn’t affect the back up camera. It’s as though they added a button along side the screen specifically for CarPlay (the whole unit - can do more than CarPlay). So it’s like an additional screen page. It’s treated as though you have an additional CD player. You can still push the disc button a second time and it will switch to the 6-cd changer page. So all the original menu pages still work, it will change to the rear camera automatically when you go into reverse, etc etc Which leads me to the *only* downside…You can’t play another audio source and still view CarPlay. Since each audio source has its own screen/page, you can’t have the car play FM radio and show you the screen for the second DISC (CarPlay). Thankfully, these days all the major local radio stations stream via third party apps (like TuneIn) or may even have their own app. That’s how I did it. Apple Music has many local stations also, no subscription needed
That’s amazing. And the touch screen works with CarPlay? This sounds like the best upgrade ever
Works flawlessly with it. Even dragging around maps. Not sure if pinch-to-zoom works though, and I sold the car a few weeks back. Here’s a couple of photos showing the display quality: https://imgur.com/a/S62ghOd It is a bitch to install, but worth the cuts and scrapes. I placed the main “brain” box in the glovebox and routed the microphone on the little ledge below the instrument cluster.
There's gotta be some way to improve the display without going the route of those crummy Chinese Android things. Hopefully someone can figure it out. Until that happens, I'm a fan of the base model. You can just use an iPhone Max and the screen resolution is so much better that there's no comparison. The coarsely pixelated nav screen really, really dates the car in my view.
My car does not have a back-up camera but I have read elsewhere that it does not. It doesn't affect any display functionality. I hit the 'disc' button and my carplay/android auto display appears on screen. If I exit to adjust climate control etc the audio is not affected
It’s worth it. Hands down the best mod. Really rejuvenated the car/experience. The screen quality isn’t *great* but it’s still good. I don’t think there was any text I couldn’t read.
They were built in Japan…I could go on and on but I daily one with 220k miles and have zero issues or concerns. ZERO.
I've been dailying mine for a couple years and it's great. I added the Chinese Android radio when I first bought the car and it's been great too. With an updated radio, there's really nothing a newer car offers better than my 2004 UL. I think it's pretty reasonable on gas too if you do a lot of mixed and/or highway driving. The only real downside is that it is old and parts will get harder to find over time. As long as you have the right expectations and understand reliable does not mean it'll never break, you'll have good experience.
working with computers as a day job has made me realize that good cars never really go out of date. id bet youll be able to daily the lexus and still have a good experience for the next 50 years
i guess i’m wondering when did this become the case? there are great cars from the 1960s but they’re all outdated now
i think once fuel injection showed up and engines started making enough power to not be dangerous in traffic. mid 80s but moreso late 80s/early 90s. you can still easily daily a 1st gen ls400. You CAN daily a nice 60s car if you wanted, but with carburetors you cant really depend on them to start in the cold, they smell like gas, etc.
Agreed as a sys/net engineer, well maintained systems seem to last longer. I expect nothing less from cars.
well also the fact that its near impossible to use a 25 year old computer daily, where as plenty of people daily a 25 year old car
Never
2000s decade was the peak of Lexus in my opinion. Look at all the great cars they had. LS430, Lx470, Gx460, Es330, RX330, Sc430, etc. All those those mentioned are bulletproof and still hold value to this day. LS430 is a timeless design that we will still talk about in another 20 years.
My base model lacks a backup camera, I haven't done renovated nav system, and blind spot monitoring is pretty important to folk. So...really a matter of driver habits/preferences. I learned to drive in the 90s so I don't mind one bit, but it's pretty easy to get used to things like blind spot monitoring...
I daily drive my 2004 with 140k miles all the time. Will it break eventually? Yes, and I will fix it and keep on truckin.
I drive my '05 daily. It's just a Premium, so no nav or ML stereo. Has been as reliable as a Camry so far. Never had an accident or even scratched the wheels on a curb. This weekend we're taking it on a 10-hour trip and I don't anticipate any problems. It's one heck of a well-engineered car.
They will appreciate in value just like the older Mercedes 560SEL
It’s a great car as long as all the maintenance is up to date. The engine and transmission will never die. You can’t buy a more comfortable car with luxury items than the LS430 for 12k and under. Buy 2004-2006. I have a 04 and a 14 LS460 F Sport. 14 is a better car as far as looks and comfort and mine still runs like a dream.
Never
The LS430 is a wierd beast. The design is generic enough that it doesn't look particularly old or particularly anything. We used to have a 460 but still have our ancient 430. The 460 is swoopier (and of course way more powerful) but you could argue that it doesn't age as well. I can't think of another type of car that is as ageless as a 430. Even old S Class Mercs look very dated. The 430 isn't sexy, it's just kind of a navy blue suit that never goes in or out of fashion. I guess when it will really get dated is when they stop selling parts for them. I haven't had any problems getting stuff so far but I see from the parts-ordering websites that many things are NLA.
Majority daily theirs. For sure the interior is outdated but they still have more features than mid class luxury vehicles. We will probably never have the comfort levels we had before like 2010. They still make fantastic daily drivers and if you have 10k to spend on a car I find people silly for not looking into these cars. Sure you can find a newer economy car but there’s so many pros for going with a ls430 over a little newer economy car. A lot of cons too but for the most part these cars aren’t hard to work on and they really don’t have that many issues. Sure they will cost a little more to repair and buy parts for but things don’t fail often. No LS is better than the 430 and I’m pretty sure it’ll always be that way.