Posted on 09/26/2019 6:12:56 PM PDT by grey_whiskers
Brands attempt to move upmarket all the time, but few succeed to the degree Lexus did with its first luxury car. I was 9 years old when my father traded in his 1988 Saab 900 Turbo for a new 1991 LS 400. I would invite my fourth-grade classmates over to the house and ask my dad to start the car—you could not believe it was actually running unless you looked at the eerie “ghost” dials. The Lexus was silent. It seemed so soft, so fast and quiet, that it was all that much more unbelievable when I told my friends the price.
(Excerpt) Read more at roadandtrack.com ...
*PING*
Nice story.
My Lexus is closing in on 200,000.
All I’ve ever replaced is tires, oil, routine maintenance items, and an alternator.
It rides smooth and straight.
Looks barely used.
Ping.
Thanks for pinging me to an article I brought in. :-)
Nice story.....
It's cheaper to keep 'em than it is to buy new every few.
Nice story, although I didn’t read the whole thing; I didn’t read the whole thing because...
A Lexus is a luxury car, with a price that matches.
Anybody buying luxury doesn’t keep the car for too many years, even if the car runs like new. Luxury means status, and status demands having the latest and greatest and most luxurious. An old luxury car, regardless of how greet it still is, is not going to be kept around by those seeking status symbols. Those great old luxury cars would still be good for the used car market, but the older luxury cars, are not going to be bought by the regular folks, since, the repair bills for luxury vehicles is higher than regular vehicles.
Depends on the car. My landlord bought a spotless 1984 Merc 300D for $6,000 CDN. It had under 300,000 km. A week later, he was offered $24K CDN. He turned it down. This was the last year befor M-B started going all high tech and computers in their cars, ie: before they went to shiite.
There’s a whole lot of assumptions in your post that don’t necessarily ring true.
I just got the LC500 and it will be in our family for a long time. One of a very few naturally aspirated big V8 powered sports cars in the (new car) market. Yes, it is cool and it draws a lot of looks. But it is also a fun car to drive and a great car overall (if you don’t mind the annoying track pad for the infotainment system). This is our third Lexus and the long term repair costs aren’t much worse than any other, non-premium brand car. In fact, I’d bet the maintenance is less than on most brands overall.
https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/the-most-and-least-expensive-cars-to-maintain-by-maddy-martin
Just one source but it is late and I’m feeling lazy.
You can stop by in 10 years to see my car if you want. It will still be with us (God willing) and it will still look as good as new.
We had a 1990 Mazda 626 that I was hoping to get to 500,000 miles, but, alas, a young lady pulled out in front of me and the ensuing collision wrinkled the roof, ending my quest at 426,000. (neither of us was hurt, except for seat belt bruises on my part)
Our current vehicle, a 2004 Honda CR-V has 312,000.
Now where did THAT previous tagline come from?
Compare that to the 70-100K mile VW's and Audi's with their 2.0 liter piece of garbage engines that have multiple issues.
I don't personally care for the styling of Lexus' and Toyotas but they make very reliable cars.
No inflated repair bills just the cost of parts. I bought a 03 Acura TL 3 years ago for a thousand dollars with 182,000 for a winter car because it had zero rust being that it was from Texas and Oregon.
As I have my own lift at home I went thru the suspension new struts,end links,wheel hubs and bearings along with new timing belt and pulleys for maybe an additional 1200.00 dollars.
At this point the car has 222,975 miles. two weeks ago I had to make a trip to Chicago and set the cruise at 75 mph and averaged 30.75 miles per gallon and burned zero oil, I don’t see me getting rid of my cheap winter car that’s turned into a daily driver going anywhere soon.
I have an almost-12-year-old Honda Pilot with 211 K miles on it. It is burning a little oil, but the engine seems to be as peppy as it was when it was new. Of course, I’m not as peppy as I was when it was new, so perhaps the Pilot and I have lost pep at the same rate.
Worth noting: It’s never needed muffler work, even though I live in a place where a massive amount of salt is used on the roads in winter.
I used to have a Toyota 4Runner, which was terrific until several major things all went wrong at about the same time, at 198 K miles. Perhaps that will happen with the Honda too.
2004 Tundra, 190K, one water pump. engine peaked at 125K. same engine as the ls400 of the era. drives like the lexus of trucks.
ran into a lady from alaska with the same rig: 300k so far.
You didn’t completely understand my post.
I said that those who like the status symbol represented by the luxury, are not going to keep those status symbols for long. They want the status symbol, but with a brand new sticker every few short years. An older luxury car does not convey ‘status’.
Even so, I bought a Lexus (3 years old at that time), and the few repairs bills ended costing me about 3 times what a standard vehicle would have cost me to repair. To me it was, NEVER again for a ‘luxury’ vehicle.
“An old luxury car, regardless of how greet it still is, is not going to be kept around by those seeking status symbols.”
Well now It depends on the owner. My wife’s 98 LS 400 is my secretary’s daily driver with over 200,000 miles. Her current 2011 LS 460 has over 100,000 miles, and my old 2001 AMG 55 has over 200,000 in my daughter’s hands, and I just bought a 99 BMW 750iL with 167,000 miles, just like the original one I had that I sold to a mechanic who worked for me who kept it in his living room until he died.
Some people, like the owner in this story who put the 700,000 miles on the Lexus LS400, like cars and take care of them.
1997 saturn sw2....309000...needed alternator..radiator fan control...transmission cable replacement..gasket on ac valve...thermostat replacement...tires...oil...wiper blades..radiator overflow lid..runs ok...looks very bad!
2009 cobalt lt......287000...clutch...rear brakes...intake solenoid...rear shocks...fuel pump...all within last year...still with decent pep...looks worn...needs driver seat upholstery repair...runs well...
Getting my moneys worth....
I have owned may be a dozen new cars since 1964. I only buy new and trade them in after 7 years or 150k miles, whichever comes first. All GM cars except 2 Fords.
So what is my point? My TOTAL repair bills for all these cars is still under $1000. That does does not include maintenance such as oil changes, tires, coolant changes, filters. Those are additional. I never needed a brake job on any cars since I anticipate stops and coast.
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