97 Ls400 Meter Back Lighting

[lionvp]

Hello, I am a new member looking to join your illustrious ranks as a proud LS400 owner. I am looking at both a 97 and 99 model, but have some concerns about a bad reliability report on Edmunds.com for failure of the Combination meter back lighting, which could cost $1500 to repair. Any thoughts on this probability? Another cost factor for the 97 would probably be the timing belt replacement, since it has 90500 miles and probably has not been done yet. The pluses for the 97 are a lower asking price of $7495 and possibly 1MPG better gas mileage. The 99 is at a Lexus dealer and seems perfect at 105000 miles, plus it has a good Carfax and the dealer claims the timing belt has been replaced, but not sure about the water pump, etc. They want $10995 for that one, but it does drive like silk! Any recommendations, and what type of average MPG's can I expect on either vehicle properly maintained?

Thanks,

Leon

[billydpowell]

You cant go wrong with either of these LS's,

An independent shop can replace TB/WP for under $1000.

and I have never heard or read of backlighting problems on 95-2000.

and I drive 2 97's

[synikal1022]

First of all welcome......My 1998 LS is very well maintained and has over 135K on the clock and I still do 30mpg on the road doing 70-75mph.....more realistically it does combined 24-25mpg!!! Alot better than my other vehicle.

[lionvp]

You cant go wrong with either of these LS's,

An independent shop can replace TB/WP for under $1000.

and I have never heard or read of backlighting problems on 95-2000.

and I drive 2 97's

Thanks for the backlighting info, that darn negative Edmunds report was almost enough to keep me from considering a 97. I plan to test drive it tomorrow and it will be interesting to see how the ride compares with 99 I drove on Sat....that was my first experience in a LS400 and it blew me away!

[1990LS400]

You can read about the improvements generation by generation and year by year at http://www.lexls.com/info/lsgenerations.html

On the following pages, you can read about the options offered on the 97 and 99 LS:

http://www.lexus.com/contact/pdf/1997/1997LSspecs.pdf

http://www.lexus.com/contact/pdf/1999/1999LSspecs.pdf

Make sure you buy an LS with the equipment you want -- it's not feasible to add options later .... e.g. if you want seat heaters, verify the car you are buying has them. By the way, the specs on lexus.com are incorrect in that rear seat heaters were never available on any LS400 sold in North America.

The 98-00 LS400 gets better gas mileage than the 95-97 LS400 for various reasons including better aerodynamics and a 5-speed instead of 4-speed transmission. My 00 LS400 gets as low as 16 mpg in city driving and about 27 mpg in low wind conditions on midwestern highways at 70 mph. I've come close to 30 mph only once in over 80,000 miles of driving my 00 LS and that was with a 40+ mph tailwind on a trip from Tulsa to Kansas City.

[lionvp]

First of all welcome......My 1998 LS is very well maintained and has over 135K on the clock and I still do 30mpg on the road doing 70-75mph.....more realistically it does combined 24-25mpg!!! Alot better than my other vehicle.

Wow, 24-25mpg avg would be much better than the 18mpg I was expecting. What is your secret to the higher MPG?

[lionvp]

You can read about the improvements generation by generation and year by year at http://www.lexls.com/info/lsgenerations.html

On the following pages, you can read about the options offered on the 97 and 99 LS:

http://www.lexus.com/contact/pdf/1997/1997LSspecs.pdf

http://www.lexus.com/contact/pdf/1999/1999LSspecs.pdf

Make sure you buy an LS with the equipment you want -- it's not feasible to add options later .... e.g. if you want seat heaters, verify the car you are buying has them. By the way, the specs on lexus.com are incorrect in that rear seat heaters were never available on any LS400 sold in North America.

The 98-00 LS400 gets better gas mileage than the 95-97 LS400 for various reasons including better aerodynamics and a 5-speed instead of 4-speed transmission. My 00 LS400 gets as low as 16 mpg in city driving and about 27 mpg in low wind conditions on midwestern highways at 70 mph. I've come close to 30 mph only once in over 80,000 miles of driving my 00 LS and that was with a 40+ mph tailwind on a trip from Tulsa to Kansas City.

THat's interesting because the Edmunds MPG ratings are just the opposite: higher by 1MPG city for the 96-98 than the 99-00, but they average them all at 19mpg. The Carpoint(autos.msn) is a slightly different rating at 19/26(96), 19/25(97-98) and 18/25(99-00). Any longevity or reliability difference known between the 4-speed and 5-speed trans?

[billydpowell]

You can read about the improvements generation by generation and year by year at http://www.lexls.com/info/lsgenerations.html

On the following pages, you can read about the options offered on the 97 and 99 LS:

http://www.lexus.com/contact/pdf/1997/1997LSspecs.pdf

http://www.lexus.com/contact/pdf/1999/1999LSspecs.pdf

Make sure you buy an LS with the equipment you want -- it's not feasible to add options later .... e.g. if you want seat heaters, verify the car you are buying has them. By the way, the specs on lexus.com are incorrect in that rear seat heaters were never available on any LS400 sold in North America.

The 98-00 LS400 gets better gas mileage than the 95-97 LS400 for various reasons including better aerodynamics and a 5-speed instead of 4-speed transmission. My 00 LS400 gets as low as 16 mpg in city driving and about 27 mpg in low wind conditions on midwestern highways at 70 mph. I've come close to 30 mph only once in over 80,000 miles of driving my 00 LS and that was with a 40+ mph tailwind on a trip from Tulsa to Kansas City.

THat's interesting because the Edmunds MPG ratings are just the opposite: higher by 1MPG city for the 96-98 than the 99-00, but they average them all at 19mpg. The Carpoint(autos.msn) is a slightly different rating at 19/26(96), 19/25(97-98) and 18/25(99-00). Any longevity or reliability difference known between the 4-speed and 5-speed trans?

your gas mileage depends on your foot and your attitude more than anything else.. a big city like Dallas, I average in the low 20's all the time, but only get 24-25 traveling, at a good solid 80.

.