Total Package, luxury and utility with power!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Unbelievable ride, features, comfort. Practical and sporty. Stable at 130 mph.

Cons: Expensive to service at the dealer.

The Bottom Line: 
If you are in the market for a new or used car around the $30k mark, do yourself a favor and test drive a used LS430.

Author's Review
I am 32 years old and at the point where I am forced to grow out of the kid cars and buy a grown up car. No more sports cars, no more speaker boxes in the trunk with 1500 watts of music. The main issue is we are about a year away from having our first kid. I was told that I needed a 4-door vehicle.

I am a self proclaimed car guy. Read every issue of car and driver for the last 15 years. I return every rental car/truck with 50% less tire tread etc. I started looking at the Camry and Altima as practical 4-door cars. While at the Toyota dealership, I test drove the Prius and Camry Hybrid. Really liked the concept of the Camry hybrid but the increase in price does not justify the marginal increase in gas mileage. So it was between a fully loaded Camry V6 and a loaded Altima 3.5. Both were around $30k out the door. I was making my transition into adulthood.

I called a buddy of mine who is the most knowledgeable car guy I know. He laughed and asked what Nissan was smoking charging $30k for an Altima. He was right! Back to the drawing board. My wife has an Rx330 and I am a big fan of Lexus. So I picked up a 2004 LS430 with Mark Levinson for $27k. I still entered adulthood but with style!

I flew from my home in Cincinnati to Atlanta where the car was being sold by a used car dealer. The plan was to drive the car home. During my trip home, I encountered one of the worst ice/snow storms on record. I was driving through the mountains of Tennessee at 2am and I could here freezing rain slamming into the car. The tires were all about 50% worn and there was about 10" of snow on the ground. The only cars I saw on the road were semi's and 4x4's. I was hoping to see just one other rear wheel drive car to make me feel better. The transmission has a snow setting which prevents the RPM's from rising too fast and avoids abrupt downshifts. This drive was so nerve racking because of the massive hills and turns. I figured I would keep going until I spun out or got stuck (remember, I'm new to adulthood). Then after a couple of hours, it happend. While on a hill, the car lost traction and I was stuck in my tracks. Visibility was just a few feet and the Semi's were flying. I was able to make it off the interstate and climb a steep driveway into a roach motel for the night. The car was absolutely amazing. The traction control worked like a charm in the most unforgiving elements.

The next morning, I had to dig the car out and drive at 30 mph for the next 7 hours. During that time, I must have seen over 50 cars end up in ditches along the side of the highway. The LS made it home in one peice. When I got to my neighborhood, it hadn't been plowed. 16" of snow and ice. I was drained so I just put my foot down and hammered it. I could hear and feel the car doing all sorts of magic to gain traction and keep moving. I made it!

The point of this long winded story is the LS is a capable vehicle, even in areas with harsh winters. You would be wasting your money if you mounted snow tires on it, it doesn't need them. Don't let the rear wheel drive fool you.

OK, now to the review. Going from a $2000 stereo system to the Mark Levinson system, I was expecting to be blown away. Not so much. It is by far the best stock stereo system I have ever heard. It will go loud enough to where it is painful and still clear. The low frequencies could use a bigger/better sub. It is an acceptable sound system for demanding audiophiles. Because the stereo is integrated with the nav screen, the 6-disc changer is in the dash and the controls are mounted on the steering wheel, you would really throw a kink into this system by installing an aftermarket stereo.

With 290hp and 320 lb-ft of torque, the car is a rocket. If you drop the hammer at any speed, you will be pushed back into your seat. Handling is better than expected for a large heavy vehicle with a soft ride. It won't handle like a 5 series but you can comfortably push the LS and know where the limits are. Changing lanes abruptly at 80 mph, you would expect to have to correct the swinging rear. The car seems to correct that on its own.

The traction control can be "disabled" but like most Lexus vehicles, that only means they give you a little bit of wheel spin before pulling in the reigns. This happens to be a really good feature to encourage that whole adulthood thing. This is my first rear wheel drive and first V8. I always find myself disabling the traction control and looking for that controlled fish tail. Then I realize, its probably a good thing that the car scolds you for trying to lose control. After all, it won't be cheap to replace body panels on this thing and the wife will probably come unglued.

As far as the ride, I believe it is unrivaled. Lets put it against a BMW. The allure of a beamer is the car offers a nice ride but can be driven extremely hard and will handle like a sports car. The LS offers an truly amazing ride and can be pushed like an entry level sports car. There are three transmission settings: Power, Normal, Snow. The normal setting keeps you guessing as to wether the car shifted or not. The Power setting will hold the gears longer, will downshift as if the antedote is in the gear below, and will hold gears longer. This is my preferred setting due to increased gas mileage. This may be counter intuitive but in the normal mode it will avoid downshifts unless coerced, that requires more fuel to push at a lower rpm. When I have passengers, its back to NORM.

I've been in plenty of vehicles with HID Xenon lights, but the output of these lights is unbelievable and worth mentioning. Even the illumination to the sides of the LS is remarkable. The seats are ventilated with cold or hot air. This is quite subtle so don't expect to be lifted off of your seat. The parking sensors are invaluable because of the size of the car. Rear view camera comes standard with the Levinson package. Rear sunshade goes up and down with a button. Six large adults can be comfortable in this car even with the front seats all the way back.

As far as service goes, you need to get onto Lexus owners forums and read what other people do. The cost of dealer services rival its German counterparts. Brake job $900, reputable local shop, $300. Coolant flush $200. Oil Change > $100. I can understand some of these charges if the service was difficult, but this car is engineered to be very simple to maintain. You can read forums where people will explain how to change the brakes. They have made it so simple that just about anyone can do it themselves. I was a little dissapointed when the $900 brake job only took the tech one hour! For nine bills, it should have been an overnight job.

Gas mileage can vary greatly depending on how you drive. 18 mpg if you drive like a yout, 25 mpg if you are on a road trip with your in-laws. Like every lexus, the sunroof will never get used. The car is so quiet inside, that when you open the sunroof, its just annoyingly loud. The AC does its job very quickly and will require you to turn it down within a few minutes.

Then there is everything that you expect from a Lexus. One button to defog your front windsheild, automatic wipers, headlights, mirrors that turn in automatically, 3 memory settings for seats/mirros, auto dimming mirros, one of the best nav systems on the market, a trunk that can hold 3 full size bodies etc.

This car almost makes me look forward to going to work everyday. For being 5 years old, it still gets a lot of looks. If you are considering a new fully loaded Accord, Camry, Altima - forget it. Pick up a used LS. If you are jaded by used cars like I was, consider this: Consumer reports stated that a 9 year old Lexus LS is more reliable than a brand new Mercedes.