Title goes here.

[azekeil]

I appear to have bought - in all but deed - a car that I haven't seen or driven any version of, from someone I only know through reputation and chatting to twice. It's a Lexus LS400 with LPG conversion. I haven't even worked out exactly how or when I'm going to pick it up.

I think I'll just go and have a little lie-down now.

Comments

[gerald_duck]

What?

My Series III has done 244,000 miles and is still on its original suspension. Um. Actually, it needed a couple of new track control arm bushes 100,000 miles ago now I think about it so that's not quite true, but it really wasn't the end of the world.

Brake pads last 25,000 miles or so; discs twice that.

Tyres last about 20,000 miles for me. I don't drive everywhere sideways, but nor am I exactly sedate on twisty-turny roads.

Yes, it's a big car with a big engine and yes, this means it needs slightly more expensive tyres and brakes, more oil and a larger number of spark plugs, etc. It costs more to run than a Mondeo, but it's certainly not a frightening money sink.


I thought about the LPG conversion, but I wussed out. I'll leave that until I have the Phaeton W12 I'm semi-intending to buy next. (-8

[edwards.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's a big car with a big engine and yes, this means it needs slightly more expensive tyres and brakes, more oil and a larger number of spark plugs, etc. It costs more to run than a Mondeo, but it's certainly not a frightening money sink.

These are all terms that are relative; IMO a Mondeo worth £400 with repairs costing £600 is a "frightening money sink".

Series III is post '95, no? Suspension components wear differently on different cars, but IME a: anyone who has been driving a car long enough to remember that it's had something done 100,000 miles ago will not necessarily notice the gradual aging of a suspension system until it's leaking or utterly shagged (including myself - I've had a few cars where I thought "that's just fine" and then driven a new one and gone "Oh! It's broken!"), and b: larger car suspension tends to fail with age as much as mileage covered - use, location, climate are all variables.

I'm not saying the suspension on this one will be shagged, either. I'm saying that when it goes, the shock absorbers are somewhat expensive. Since I personally tend to go for genuine parts, I notice the difference.

20,000 miles is about right for tyres; brand makes such a difference IME that I don't trust anyone's experiences unless they're fitting the same brand I want.

Calling him insane was a: partly a joke, and b: partly because he's talking about buying a big car unseen. Hell, any car unseen is always going to be amusing - I once travelled to Plymouth to collect a Visa Cabriolet that was mostly held together with tape...

[gerald_duck]

A friend has a Series IV on about 70,000 miles and we get to compare suspension once in a while. Yes, mine does ride the bumps a little less well, and yes if I keep the car I might think about changing the suspension in another 20,000 or 30,000 miles merely from a comfort perspective — though I suspect the suspension would keep passing MOTs until kingdom come.

Yes, if and when I do need new coils and dampers all round I expect it to cost two grand fitted. Yes, that would be very painful if it came as a nasty surprise. One of the things I like about the LS400, however, is that nasty surprises are extremely rare. It has a reputation for impeccable reliability, for several years the overall most satisfactory car in JD Power's surveys, and my experience agrees with that.

I use Pirelli P6000s and agree about the choice of brand making a difference. On a car as quiet as an LS400, surface noise is a surprisingly big issue and Dunlop are the only other brand who seem to take that sufficiently seriously. P6000s are well known for being a good compromise in most other respects too, so I'm not sacrificing anything much for quietness.

Overall, my car's running costs have averaged 25p a mile over the last 6½ years and 160,000 miles. That's now creeping up closer to 30p a mile because of rises in fuel prices, of course, but that's not a problem azekeil will have.

[edwards.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about Pirelli; I always favoured Michelin (due to "growing up" with big Citroens when I started driving), but I wasn't impressed with the Pilots in the wet when I had some on a Porsche.

I can't get decent tyres for the MR2 and have them matched all the way, annoyingly - otherwise PZeros would be on it.

Is that 25p including depreciation? Either way it's pretty impressive. Excluding fuel my RX8 cost over 30p per mile (including depreciation), and it was one of the cheaper "ownership" experiences I've had.