1995 Lexus LS400 from UK and Ireland - Comments

Chip on Windscreen. Easily repaired.

Drivers rear view mirror needs replacing. The silver part of the mirrors gone.

Gold paint on the badges. Soon to be put back to silver.

When these cars were launched in the UK in the 90's I fell in love.

15 years on, I have the opportunity of owning one.

Lexus. The luxury version of Toyota. But who cares? This beast from the east, for me at least, seriously beats Merc, Jag & BMW all the way.

I used to work for a local Merc dealer, and only the very, VERY high-end spec cars came as standard with what this does.

Electric seats with memory, air con, cruise, alarm, 6-disc multi changer, hand stitched leather seats. The list is quite long.

'Mags', as we've named her, has 130,000 miles on her, and it does not show one iota. The smell of leather is there when you open the doors, The V8 engine and auto 'box are silky smooth. No dents, dinks, rust or tiredness show.

My only small gripes are the seats. Not all that fantastic to sit in, and on a long journey, you'll probably have to stop for a stretch, but saying that, with the cruise on and the I.C.E. (which is PHENOMENAL) who'd want to get out of the car?

The steering's not a tight as I'd like, but these things are made for silent comfort, not speed. And when I say silent, I mean silent.

Little to no road noise, the engine at tick over has yet to fail to elect a smile from me. You can just about tell it's running.

Even though this is a heavy and long car (it sometimes JUST to say fits in a normal car park space) it still returns a decent 20-25mpg round town and 30+mpg on motorways.

All I need to do now is remove the silly gold paint, which somebody did before I got it, off the badges and return them to their normal, decent looking silver colour!

Make sure you're not removing genuine Lexus badges. Check with a dealer because if they are genuine you'll faint when you find out how much they are worth.

Thanks for the heads up on the badges!

I can safely say though, that the gold on these badges is painted on. You can see the brush strokes! :-O.

I've got a feeling though, I'll have to purchase new ones. Looks like a certain auction site may be getting hammered soon!!!

What are the badges worth. mine has the gold package, but I don't think they could be worth more that $20.

I got all of the badges for Mags. Both the 'L' logos and the Lexus and LS400 badges, cost £40 in total. The logo's had to be dealer order only. £30 for them and a tenner for the other 2 from Ebay!

Also replaced the Air Con pollen filter at a cost of £28. Can be bought either on-line from a 3rd party or genuine Lexus/Toyota part. Got the genuine one when I ordered the badges.

Might as well keep it right eh?

LS400: UK: 1995

A few problems you might find with Lexus of this age are: 1) The remote key fob has simply worn out. Getting replacement is a nightmare (if at all possible). One option is to have the r. c box and electrics removed by an auto-engineer. You have no key-fob security: just opens with an ordinary Lexus ignition key: but no hassle.

2)The support struts for bonnet tend to be too weak to keep it open. (Note: general wear/tear supposedly). Replace.

Mine had been fitted with 3) cheapo 15in tyres when the book recommends larger 16in ones. Ensure correct tyres are on. Ride/grip much better.

4) The front plastic 'skirt' under grille often gets 'curbed' and splits. Can be replaced.

How did somebody put 15 inch tires on 16 inch wheels? That's got me a bit puzzled... no mention of changing the wheels for larger diameter rims!