You can draw significant parallels between what Lexus did to the flagship sedan market and how Mazda decided to build a better Elan in the Miata. Both companies studied the benchmarks in their respective class (in the case of Lexus, they tore apart the Mercedes-Benz S-Class) with the goal of building a better version of cars that were considered the icons of the era. With the LS-series of top-end four doors, Lexus essentially proved to the world that you could own a luxury car loaded with tech and other features and not have it becomes a nightmare of failed gadgetry and maintenance-hungry motors. Find this low mileage 2000 Lexus LS 400 here on eBay with a Buy-It-Now of $24,999.
As someone who loves old European vehicles, there’s a part of me that looks at a car like this and says, “Why can’t I learn to love one of those?” After all, unlike their German counterparts with their weak cooling systems and tendency to shred chain guides, the Lexus LS just goes on and on and on, barely missing a beat well into the hundreds of thousands of miles. To call these cars bulletproof is an understatement, and plenty of “influencer” types have proven that the original LS 400 is capable of reaching almost one million miles on the odometer. With under 60,000 on this example, you can see why the seller is asking all the money.
After all, this would make an outstanding daily driver for just $25,000. You can’t touch a modern luxury sedan for that kind of money, and especially not one with a reputation for reliability like the LS 400. The styling is sedate, yes, and somewhat bland, which is likely one of the bigger reasons these cars haven’t become overwhelmingly popular on the second-hand market. To love a car like the Lexus LS 400, you would also have to find its reliability record particularly compelling, as the driving experience is heavily muted just like the exterior appearance. I’ve always loved the green backlighting in the LS, which helps offset the sea of black plastic across the dash.
Don’t worry about the lack of visible engine parts; you won’t have to replace anything, and even if you do, you can simply drop the LS off at your local Toyota dealer and they’d be happy to help. You could bring it to Lexus, but then you’re paying for that tier of service, and the life hack here is realizing the same shop changing the oil on a Corolla can help with the timing belt job on your Lexus. The LS 400 in the year 2000 was powered by a 4.0L V8 engine generating 290 horsepower and 300 lb-ft of torque, capable of hurtling this big sedan to 60 in under 7 seconds. In terms of a luxury vehicle that remains cheap to maintain even in its retirement years, the LS is still the undisputed champ.
Looks like a car fit for a Japanese 🇯🇵diplomat.
Beautiful car. Hard to believe its 25 years old. It would make for a nice Daily driver, but I’d hate to ruin it after all these years at the same time.
Niiiiiicce. Good feature !
Great find…maybe some fancier/non-pimpish wheels. Interesting that the Mercedes S class was the target….I always thought it was the E class. The Honda RL seemed to take a lot of styling queues from the Mercedes E class of the late 90s early 2000’s.
Can’t say I’ve ever seen one painted black. If I did I don’t remember it. I really dig it.
Man, to have had the foresight to buy one new you’d have saved a lot on car payments in the long-run.
How many clowns can fit in it? I would think Carnival Car Company would include that info.
25k today is not much for cars when the words dependable and classic are used, but still, there is no warranty! Overpriced, imo!
I had one only in dark blue, it was by far the nicest driving car I’ve ever had. At 100 it handled and felt like you were going 50, quiet as a tomb with the windows up. And definitely much much quicker than my prior Town car which was a great car but no where as nice as the Lexus. The Lexus was also heavier than the Lincoln but was still pretty nimble. This black one is very nice the buyer needs to be sure there is a maintenance history.
Nice car and Toyota quality these were great until you had to change the starter motor then you wanted to smack the engineer who came up with the idea to bury the starter under the intake manifold
From 1999 on these LS 400’s came standard with stability control, with front, and side airbags. Head airbags became standard on 2001, and later models.
Almost a million miles? I remember some years ago an article by a guy who inherited his Dads first year 400 when he got his license in the mid-90s. He was reminded of that car when around 2010, he saw an ad for a ‘90 with 900,000+ miles on it for $2000. He bought it and flew cross country to pick it up and drive it back home. He created a journal for the car and informed all his friends that the goal was 1,000,000+ and they good drive it for free if they paid for maintenance and what might break while in their possession. It made a million in about two years if I remember. And still kept on going. He claimed that they engineered it to the level of the famous Toyota Crown made for the Emperor and other stratospheric Japanese leaders.
Nice car but too expensive, would rather have a tidy SC400 instead which is more fun and collectible. Nice ones bring big bucks however and it’s tough to find one with less than 150K miles.
I had a 98 Mercedes E320 sedan, bought off Craigslist for $1,000, that would follow the tire ruts on the interstate, hands free with, cruise control at 80.
Man that tank handled amazing!