1992 Lexus LS400 from Australia and New Zealand - Comments

Power steering pump leaked. Quoted $1800 to fix by Lexus, local BP garage fixed for $540. You MUST fix this quite common fault or else the leaking fluid will eventually take out the alternator.

Sundry niggles like warped bake rotors and regassing bonnet struts so the bonnet would stay up!

Stereo/Temperature display LCD 'bleeding'. Common fault and didn't fix (Queensland sun not kind to it).

At time of sale (and contributing to reason for sale) the following faults had developed:

Steering rack boots leaking;

Rear driveshaft boot leaking;

Engine mounts requiring replacement;

Oil wetness appearing at rear of transmission;

Quoted cost of repairing the above plus miscellaneous items was A$3,000.

I notice many of the other reviews wax lyrical about these cars and I would be the first to agree. Smooth, quiet and you know all the rest, they really are a pleasure to drive (up to 8/10ths anyway, if you want to push harder this is not your car).

I was constantly amazed at the level of refinement, the standard stereo was excellent (especially given it's age) and I never found the seats uncomfortable unlike many magazine road testers did. But there's more to owning one of these I found...

Since 1990 I had always wanted one of these. Priced out of (my) reach back then, as the years went by they dropped into my price range. Did my homework and picked up an immaculate one owner example travelled 130,000kms with full log book history - every service stamped on schedule. The owner was a Heart Surgeon who spared no expense although pretty much only items of expense were new a/c compressor $1800 and front suspension ball joints (he traded it in on a C class Merc)

I spoke to Lexus dealers at length and they said no problems at all occurred until at least 300,000kms. Everything looked rosy. Since then, after the initial excitement and glow of finally owning one has worn off, I hope my experience will be of some help to anyone thinking of buying one.

I'm probably a fusspot, if something doesn't work properly, I want it fixed. After all, you don't buy a car with this level of engineering to thrash about and neglect. While a Lexus may have the legendary Toyota reliability, it doesn't come with Toyota parts prices (just go and price a new gearbox for example). This would be my main advice to any prospective purchaser. Sounds obvious I know, but after talking to people, you really don't expect anything to go wrong when you buy one of these. Everyone you talk to says they can go to the moon and back without a glitch, and they do beat an equivalent age/price Merc or BMW hands down - but even a Lexus can get crashed, thrashed or (god forbid) made on a Monday. Buyer beware I guess, in my search I even saw one that had been in a flood and that's not real good for the electrics...

Shortly after purchase I took it in for scheduled service and the power steering pump issue appeared. Lexus charge top dollar for servicing, but while similarly picky as myself, I used them to identify faults and got them repaired at my local mechanic's for half the cost or less. A lot of parts (brake pads for example) can be obtained much cheaper elsewhere. You do pay a lot for the Lexus stamp in the service booklet. Basic service with just oil and filter plus all the checks leaves no change from $300. I also found the Lexus dealer staff somewhat haughty in attitude with a car as 'old' (9 years) as mine. Or maybe I was just too scruffy to fit their ideal owner demographic, I got a definite impression of snobbiness.

Fuel economy - averaged 20mpg mostly city driving which for it's weight and performance was very good I thought.

I found the headlights surprisingly average, but not a real issue for city driving.

The tyres it came shod with were the same rather expensive V rated tyres as it came with originally. I had driven and ridden in others with cheaper replacements and they all showed some degree of tyre hum or whine not existent in mine so don't cheap out when replacing these tyres. I covered 25,000kms in my 2 years of ownership and still plenty of tread left.

In the end I had to sell as I was moving interstate and not practical to keep it, but all the niggling leaks that had appeared swayed my decision in the end. It was a great car and I miss it, but when absolutely everyone talks about them being perfect, the suprise and expense of ongoing repairs did take the shine off it. This aside, I have no doubt that it would continue until 300,000kms plus without developing rattles or chewing oil.

I hope to buy another one some day, just will be looking for a newer model with less kms, ideally 5 years and 50,000.

I have to agree it is a mighty nice car. My wife got one of these with 130,000 miles on it recently. I can drive it on the road for 10 hours and not feel tired or cramped at all. On the other hand it really is not as comfortable as some of the Cadillac's we have owned in the past.

I also have to say that the touted Lexus reliability, at least on this one, is less than I would expect. First we had a problem with the starter sticking. I was amazed to find that the starter is located under the intake manifold on top of the engine. I have a name for those kind of engineering decisions, but I won't those words here.

It seems to have a few odd engine noises here and there so I hope that it isn't one of those made on Monday cars. We had the Lexus dealer do the starter repair and I can tell you it costs a whole lot more than it cost to do have a Cadillac dealer work on their car. Also the service people at the Cadilliac dealer treated us a whole lot better than the Lexus folks did.

I also noted that the Lexus dealer service folks do sort of look down their nose at a car this old. No problem, I won't take it back there next time. The repair shop down the street is much more reasonable and more pleasant to deal with.

From looking at other reviews here my experience must not be typical. None the less, I am willing to go back to a GM luxury car and do not want another Lexus.

I live in New Zealand and am lucky enough as to know a few car dealers. With their help I managed to source one of the infamous LS 400s and love it to death. As to a new Caddy I would love one of those too, but we don't have a dealer we can just pop into. Oh well I can live with cruise leather and air conditioning in silence, cheers Toyota.

Mate, when I read your post, it could be well be me who wrote it. It looks like any car 10 yo is bound to have problems, even a well engineered one like Lexus. Cheers from Melbourne.

I have had good luck with my LS400s. I am creative with repair strategies.

The instrument panel staying dark until warmed up, was repaired with three capacitors soldered onto the combination meter IC circuit, cost me $1.23 and four hours of my labor.

The power steering pump had two o-rings that needed replacement for cheap, and the timing belt and idlers I did for $200.00.

Parts are available from other sources than the dealers.

The workshop manuals are a godsend of clarity.

Lovely cars, a tad boring, but the engine is worth the price of admission.

Toyota has been slow to upgrade known engineering shortcomings.

Drive gently but with verve, and the car will essentially deliver 300k miles with no problem.