1999 Lexus GS 400 4.0 V8 from North America

Summary:

One awesome high performance sedan!

Faults:

I have had no problems with the car so far.

General Comments:

I did quite a bit of research before buying this car. I started out looking at the BMW 3 and 5-series. I then began looking at the Mercedes Benz C-class and Lincoln LS. After test driving each one, and reading all the reviews I could find, I decided on the GS400. I have not been disappointed. A friend of mine just bought an Acura TL Type-S. He drove my car, and decided that the next time he is in the market, he will look at Lexus first. He said the ride was much nicer, and that the power is awesome. I would have to agree with him on the power statement. This is one terrific car! If you are interested in one, give the certified pre-owned cars a try.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 22nd April, 2003

18th Jul 2004, 21:49

I must agree with you on everything. The ride is terrific, Power speaks for itself and unbeatable reliability. This is definitely one car that will not disappoint you.

10th Oct 2007, 22:22

I agree with you guys. I have friends who own m-s550 and doesn't even drive as smooth. The transmission shift is not smooth like the GS400. Great car for the buck hands down. I paid 15k for my GS400 which is way better then my friend s550 at 60k+.

1999 Lexus GS 300 from North America

Summary:

I traded in a BMW M3 for this pig???

Faults:

This vehicle was purchased as a certified pre-owned Lexus with 9,800 miles.

Within 7 days of owning this car, it was returned to the service dept. to address a front wheel shake at approx. 55 MPH and up.

After 5 visits, the car has had the wheels balanced twice, two alignments, had the steering mechanism re-calibrated, had the front brakes disks resurfaced, had the front brake disks replaced, and 4 new tires installed.

Another quirk has just reared its ugly head in which the throttle sticks in the full-open position causing two very frightening experiences. The vehicle continued to accelerate at full rate for 2-3 seconds until the fly-by-wire throttle reset itself.

Not much of an issue on the freeway, but, both times this happened was in city driving conditions and one nearly resulted in an accident.

General Comments:

I love the body style, but, I have reservations about the overall intergrity of the vehicle.

After a lack of response from Lexus Corporate, I decided to file two formal complaints on the NHTSA web site as there are other consumers with identical problems listed there.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 16th April, 2002

5th Jul 2003, 16:20

This happened to me today. The car accelerated in spite of foot on the break. the car screeched forwards and hit the wall my garage. It is scary let me tell you. I hope no body gets hurt because of this type of problem. I hope Lexus company will address this problem promptly.

Ken satya.

26th Dec 2009, 01:38

You traded in the M3??? I would have totally stuck with the BMW haha.

10th Oct 2010, 10:09

Yeah, never mind that an M3 is going to be ten times as much trouble as a Lexus, because BMW is a piece of badly put together plastic junk. All the electronics break down, and they have terrible rust problems, a lot worse than Lexus, that's for sure. Nice to drive, but crap to own. It just doesn't help that the engine is reliable, when the rest of the car isn't. This goes for a lot of cars from BMW.

As for the Lexus, the problem with the wheels you are talking about really isn't something that has to do with the quality of the car. It's not uncommon. I had the same problem on my previous BMW. But even though that car was flawed, I'm not going to blame that on the car itself, as that would be stupid.

However, the throttle problem is a legitimate complaint, but I wouldn't call it a bad car just because of that one problem, still. There are other cars out there with far worse problems.

5th Sep 2011, 22:26

I agree, the front suspension is awful on these cars. I hate to say it, but I would tell someone who wanted one to get a different Lexus model.