Any Big Reason To Go With One Year Over The Other From 98-00?

UniqueCopy · August 19, 2014

I'm almost certain an LS400 is my next car. I've read what has been written about the model year differences, but I want to make sure. Is there any reason to go with one year over the others, or should I just try to find the cleanest car in my price range?

paulo57509 · August 20, 2014

I have no idea where I found this (maybe it was in the service manual) but here's a run down of the new features introduced for the 1998 model year.

One hundred and forty seven pages of information overload.

new features.pdf

UniqueCopy · August 20, 2014

Thanks for that info, good read! I was actually talking about the differences between a 1998, 1999, and 2000, and whether there is any meaningful reason to look for one over the other. As in, is there any reason I should pass up a clean 1998 to search for a 2000.

sha4000 · August 20, 2014

Other than the 98 being the first year and all the issues which probably are not that many being worked out the next year I would just find the cleanest one in my price range. The differences are not major.

paulo57509 · August 21, 2014

I would try to find the lowest milage car in the model years you're interested in.

LIke sha400 posted, I doubt there were any major changes between 1998 - 2000. I do like the HID headlights and the lack of an antenna mast. I also like the VVT-i as well.

I would avoid the air suspension models based on other members having to deal with aging components.

vassiton · August 21, 2014

I agree with them but there may be something you care about that we don't. So here are the specific changes between all generations and series:

http://www.lexls.com/info/lsgenerations.html

It includes photos of each generation too.

Here are more articles:
http://www.lexls.com/info/

That website also has some very good tutorials for repairs.