Suspension ? Re: Purchase Of 02/03 Ls430

[jacsil]

I am new to this forum so your help is appreiciated. I am looking at purchasing a 02 or 03 ls430. I drove two '03s one with the regular suspension and one that had the ultralux package with the air suspenion. Both had 17" wheels. I am comming from an volvo 850R which has very stiff suspension. I also drove an 03 MB E320 and an 03 BMW 530 with sport package.

Since I am comming from a lighter car with a very stiff suspension perhaps my opinion is a bit slanted but here it is. I thought the E320 and the stock ls430 were very similiar in ride with the E320 perhaps being a little sportier. I found that the ls430 w/ultra lux package and suspension set to sport had a ride similiar or closer to the BMW. Of the two lexus' for my taste I preferred the ultralux set to sport the regular was to soft for me.

I am having a tough time finding one to drive that has the sport suspension package. Has anyone driven one? If so how does it compare to the other ls suspension packages? I dont really need all of the options on the ultra lux although I would like nav and mark levinson, perhaps the perforated cooled seats, etc. I don't know if the sport suspension was available with the custom luxary package?

Any feedback. I definately want a sportier ride than the standard suspension. I guess one option is to get one with the base suspension and have it modified but I dont know what this would involve or cost?

Your input is appreciated

[jainla]

Hey jacsil welcome to the forum!

I went through the same dilemma about 6 months ago when I was searching for my car.

Cars with the sport suspension seem to be relatively hard to find, at least here in Southern California- I’ve only seen a couple on the road. I couldn’t find one that had the nav system and other options that I wanted.

From what I have heard the Sport Suspension is as firm or even firmer than the Air suspension on sport mode. Magazines that have reviewed the sport suspension option seem to really like it; but from what I have heard it’s not a night and day difference vis-à-vis the air or normal suspension. I think there are some posts in this forum about upgrading the shocks; if you search this forum you might find some more posts on where people have found upgraded components.

The choice of tire will also affect the ride; the Sport Suspension models came with tires that were grippier and rode a little more firmly than the other cars; they had 17” wheels as well (they became standard for all cars in ’03).

The Sport Suspension option was available on any of the cars except the Ultra Luxury cars. The Custom Luxury package has the Mark Levinson sound system and the navigation system; as well as the parking sensors and the heated/cooled front seats. The Ultra Luxury package adds stuff like the rear window sun shades and the power reclining rear seats, the headlamp washers and rear A/C and fridge; they also have suede-like headliner, more leather covering parts of the dash; which you may or may not think are worth it. The Navigation and ML system were also available as standalone options.

The only caveat is that the Air Suspension is expensive to fix if the air springs start leaking (you can also get kits to convert it to a coil sprung suspension), but you won’t have to worry about that until you hit 90k+ miles (the service manager at Lexus of Riverside told me he’s never seen one go out until about 150k miles, so YMMV). Other than that the gadgets on the UL cars seem to be fairly reliable.

I searched for a couple months for a car in the color and features combination that I wanted with the sport suspension, but ended up going for an Ultra Luxury car because they were (believe it or not) easier to find. I think something like 30-40% of 01-03 cars were sold with the Air Suspension, something like 15% had the sport option.

Good luck!

-J