Back to history: The Lexus LS400
When it was first released back in 1989 the Lexus LS400 was an audacious and unashamed two-finger salute to both Mercedes and BMW and we’ll tell you why.
You see the chaps at Toyota weren’t too happy about Germany’s long standing stranglehold on the luxury saloon car market. So, the purpose of this all new car, launched under the all new Lexus brand, was to blow the established competition out of the water. It worked too because in the US back in 1990 the L400 became the bestselling car of its type.
The LS400 wasn’t simply a bunch of existing Toyota parts stitched together and crammed inside a rather derivatively styled three-box body. All of it was completely new and for its day amazingly advanced. The car was packed with world-first technology and the attention to detail employed in its design, development and production bordered on the obsessive.
Even today, when you sit in one and take it for a spin you can really feel the quality and solidity of the cabin all the way through to the 3D effect you get from the awesome and brilliantly named “OptiTron” dials. Then there’s the way the LS400 drives, it’s just so smooth, comfortable, relaxing and quiet. In fact, there are very few modern day cars that are this soothing on the road.
The stats:
Name: Lexus LS400
Years on sale: 19
Price on DesperateSeller: £800 - £2500
Owner rating: 4.8 out of 5
Most impressively, you’ll be able to find examples that well over twenty years old yet still seem modern, solid and well rounded. OK, you can buy an old Mercedes limo at about the same age and for the same money but crucially, it will be from that dark period of Merc’s history where it inexplicably stopped engineering its car properly and will probably turn out to be an absolute glitch-fest. Whereas the LS400 simply feels that it’s going to outlast both you and I.
So, what we’ve got here is a massive V8 engined luxury car that will last forever that you can buy for less than £2k - we think it’s still worth a punt! You can find some great examples of the Lexus LS400 with DesperateSeller.co.uk.
