Ezgoin

Hello!

I've actually been around this forum for a while, but I finally decided to register because I'm planning to get a sc300/400 in the next month.

I was pretty much settled on the 400 for stock power w/o any intense mods, but I've started to think otherwise due to gas mileage. So far, I've been pretty much happy with my '04 solara, but there just isn't any potential for any kind of mods (big or small) nor the power.

That's just the short background on where I am, but on another note, I just wanted to kindly ask everyone what your preferences are. Is it worth losing the extra gas for more horsepower? This goes to both sc300 and 400 owners. Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

I own a 99 300, and drive about 70 highway miles a day to and from work, along with running around town. I average between 25-26 mpg, with easy driving. I'm not quite sure about the break down in years, but I know that, at least for a couple years, the 300's with the auto trans had only 4 speeds, while the 400's had 5 speed trannys. Given this, I think the highway mileage was pretty close.

I've never owned an SC-400, but I have driven them, and to be honest, have never been very impressed by the power/performance. I would love to have more power out of my 300, since I am a bit of a piston head, but I did'nt buy this car for it's output or performance. It seems odd to me, but I really think my wife's LS-430 feels much stronger than any SC-400 I've ever driven.

I too was struggling between a 400 and a 300 before I bought my 300, and had actually decided on the 400 until I talked to a dealership service rep. who explained the differences in repair costs for various parts. Food for thought!

Im contemplating not having the free Lexus Link removal done on my 02 LS-430. What are the pros and cons involved with this?

My wife dosn't want to lose the message record option, and from what I've heard, this feature will go away with the Lexus Link system if you have it removed. I don't mind the inital Lexus Link recording that comes on at start up, even though it has always stated that my "Lexus Link Is Active", even though it has never been activated. Any comments?

I have a 99 SC300 that I bought about 18 months ago with 57K miles. I drive about 75 miles round trip to work every day, and the car now has 80K on it. 99% of my driving is highway miles.

As soon as I bought the car I replaced the old tires with a set of BF Goodrich g-force TA KDWS all season tires from Costco. I had them rotated and the pressure checked religiously. I really disliked them from the start because the car tuged and pulled at every line in the road, and the first bit of snow made the car almost undrivable. The road manners were so bad that it took a lot of the enjoyment away from driving the car. I had a 4-wheel alignment done on the car, and that helped a little, but not enough. Those tires lasted only 20K miles before they were completely gone, especially on the inside 1.5 inches of each tire. I could not believe that 20K of highway driving could eat a $600 set of tires.

Since Costco does'nt sell a V rated tire with any kind of milage warrenty, I signed a release and had them install a set of Michelin® Pilot® Exalto® A/S, with an H speed rating, since I rarely see over 130 mph in the car. The difference was immediate and dramatic!

The first thing I notice was that the few inches of snow on the ground was now a non-issue. A little weight in the trunk and I could now easily go places I could not have imagined with the KDWS's. The next thing was the road manners. The car was now relaxed and a pleasure to drive again. I could not believe the difference! I may have given up a little in turn-in response, or maybe a little in ultimate dry grip, but for my driving, any sacrafice was well worth what I gained. I love these Michelins and would recommend them to anyone.

see if this helps Cut and paste this link into your browser

Thank you so much! The instruction was perfect and allowed me to fix the problem in 5 minutes! Sweet!!

I take it that the snow traction issue has been fully covered here! LOL :-)

Guess I should get on the forum more often! It just seemed to me that a big heavy rear driver like the LS with siped tires and and actual "Snow" setting on the tranny programing should roll a little better on a half inch of snow than it does! Guess the wife will just have to drive the truck on these rare days! As for the SC 300, 150 lbs of sand in the trunk makes her handle crappy, but at least I can get forward motion!

I love both my 02 LS-430 and my 99 SC-300, but I have to say that they are probably the worst cars I've ever driven in the snow and ice. My gosh! Dangerous!!

My wife went to press the ETC swith on her 02 LS430 to "Snow" mode the other day and it pushed right through the hole. Does anyone know how to remove the trim panel where the switch resides? I think that if I could even remove the ash tray I might be able to get behind the trim panel and get to the ETC switch, but I'm not sure, and the ash tray sure doesn't come out like a Chevy!

I figure after 2+ years of cleaning my oem air filter every 3k miles, it's probably time to just replace it in general. I noticed K&N sells an airfilter for the car that is washable for life, and just sets in place where the oem one sits, no modifications required. Has anyone ever used one of these in their LS? Any horror stories, or effects it would have on the cars super quiet and smooth engine? Not trying to hotrod or anything, just thought the "washable" aspect was pretty cool, and never have to replace it again.

I've read some of the conflicting discussion here, but all I can say is that in the street performance world, K&N is very highly regarded. Personnaly, I run K&N air and oil filters in everything I own, including my LS 430, except my SC-300 which K&N dosen't make an air filter for. I have used Mobil-1 oil and K&N filters in my 95 Chevy truck since it was new, and so far have 177,000 trouble free miles on her.

I built a highly modified Corvette a few years ago and during the break-in of the 383 Stroker motor, I changed the oil about 6 times in the first few hundred miles. I used several different oil filters during that time, and each time I changed one I would cut the old filter open. You would be amazed at the difference in filter quality! Pensoil filters are absolute garbage. Never use a Pensoil filter! Wix was almost as bad as Pensoil! Fram was middle of the road, with reasonable filter material, and decent construction. NAPA Silver was quite good, and NAPA Gold was very well constructed. However, K&N was far and away the best made filter I've seen.

If you properly maintaine a K&N filter, I don't think you will ever regret your decision!

I have and 02 LS-430 Ultra Luxury. Sometimes when I leave the car running at an idle and open the door to step out, the drivers seat will automatically slide all the way back, and the steering wheel will move up and in. It does this all by itself, and does not return to the preset positions when I get back in and close the door. It only does this once in a while, but I don't know if it's designed to do this, or if it is some kind of malfunction. Anyone have an answer?

I am a newbie and am looking to buy LS430 (2002 or up). I currently own a 2002 Infiniti Q45.

I need help with the following

1. Is Ultra as reliable as others? Or should I stay away from air susp.

2. What should I expect in terms of maintenance cost per year?

3. Does air suspension rides better than regular in terms of ride quality? Or is it nearly the same.

4. At 65k mi, what will be needed to put the car back in top notch condition.

I am more interested in ride quality than handling. For other cars its better to stay away from first year. Is it the same for 2001 LS430?

I bought my wife a 2002 Ultra Luxury about 18 moths ago. She said she wanted a nice luxury car, and the LS-430 UL is about the nicest luxury car you will ever find. It had 34K on it when we bought it, and it now has about 45K. Most of the miles were from a few trips from Washington state to Reno Nevada, and a trip from Wahington to Yosimite National Park. The ride from the air suspension is unmatched as far as I'm concerned, even though there are some old concrete roads that seem to send a bit of a shutter through the car at times. The laser cruise control is the ultimate for long distance road trips. I drove almost all the way to Reno without doing anything except steering. Even when driving through some of the small towns along the way, the laser cruise took care of all the slowing down and speeding up required. It has a couple flaws, in that somtimes on narrower than usual roads, it will pickup a lane divider and think it's a vehicle in front of you, or a truck in the adjacent lane, and think it's in front of you, causing the car to decelerate. The deceleration isn't always as smooth as it should be either, but all in all, I love the laser cruise.

I have had to replace a battery in the car, but in the time I've had it, that's the only thing that It's needed. We don't have any kids at home any more, so all of the frills in the back seat are mostly for bragging rights, and to impress our friends when we go out to dinner :-), but, I absolutely love the car, and still look forward to driving it any chance I get.

I drive a 99 SC-300, and, while it is a nice car, the LS makes the SC feel like a Corolla!

Good Luck, and welcome to the world of Lexus!

Both struts that support the rear trunk lid are shot, does anyone have a good online source or any kind of a recommendation for a source? I found them on eBay but sheesh they're $79.95 for a pair of them which is way more than gas charged lift struts normally cost.

At least I think they are both bad. When I use the remote to open the trunk, it only pops up maybe a half-inch. Is the trunk supposed to open all the way when I open it remotely with the key fob or the release under the dash?

I know that my 2002 LS-430 does the same thing. I'm not sure, but I don't think the trunk is designed to pop all the way open, but I have wondered about the condition of my struts too, since the trunk lid seems awfully heavy to lift open.

how fast has anyone gone in all kinds

Did 140 (gps certified) in my 99 SC-300 on the flat. Might of had 5 more in her with enough time, but 140 was about it. Handled solid at that speed.

I've had my wife's LS-430 to 135 mph, but not what I'd call solid handling at that speed. Awfully floaty, might be from the Ultra Luxury Air Suspension, but you won't find a better luxury car anywhere!

Had my 87 Vette roadster to 170. (383 stroker)

Hi, I'm 16 and I got a 1998 Lexus sc400 for Christmas! It is in perfect condition, no rips, power steering pump replaced, no tears in seats, everything works. I am a proud owner of it. My good friend who is also 16 got a 1995 BMW 540i. Many people think his car looks and out performs my Lexus. The BMW has the same engine size, 4.0 V8. We even got the same color too, Dark Green, but mine is Metallic with the reflection but his is not. I did research on his car it goes 0-60 in 7 seconds as well as mine but his burns more gas. But I have 260hp and the BMW has 286 and it's a manual 6 speed. What do you guys think? Who goes faster??

I know I'm chimming in on this topic late, but forgive me, I'm new here! I owned a 1995 BMW 540i auto for a couple years. I hate to say it, because I've always been a fan of BMW, but the 95 540i was the worst car I've ever owned. I've never had so many problms with a car in my life! It was a nice solid car, but almost everything went wrong with that car, including the engine, which had to be replaced at 57,000 miles due to the factory flaw in materials used. Most don't know this, but when BMW first brought out the V-8 in the 530i, 540i, and 740i, the engine block cylinders were coated with a material called Nikasil. This material degraded rapidly, resulting in loss of compression. The only fix was to replace the engine block. BMW eventually extended the warranty on these cars to cover the flaw, but they had to replace thousands of these engines to the tune of about $14K each. My car not only had the engine replaced, but so many other things went wrong that there isn't enough room to go into it.

Bottom line! Your buddy will probably end up hateing his 540i after some time. In addition, your friend will likely pull you to 100 mph or so, but I'd put my money on the SC400 on the top end! Just be careful if you decide to find out!

Pearl White with Tan interior, 1999 SC 300. Bought it 14 months ago from a private owner in Portland Oregon with 57,000 miles, for $18,000. It now has 76,000 miles with no problems. I bought this car after buying my wife a 2002 LS430 and was sold on Lexus. I must admit though, that the SC-300 feels awfully Toyota'ish next to the LS430!

The car is in beautiful shape, and for the most part, I love it. It's bone stock, and so far runs perfectly with everything working as designed.

The only complaints I have are:

1. Twitchy and nervous handling on any road surface that isn't glass smooth. Replaced the tires with Goodyear KDW's but no help.

2. The radio (Lexus Premiun, not Nakamichi) won't hold the radio stations very well. Stations often sound like they are 100 miles away.

Other than those two things, the car has been flawless so far!

I've got a 92 SC400. The temperature gauge had risen really high for about a day or two. Then on the second day, while driving, the temperature gauge goes sky high and it cuts off and won't restart for about a half hour. I get it to some crackpot mechanic who puts it on a lift and he shows me that it's leaking antifreeze from the around the waterpump. The drip is almost a constant flow. We fill it with antifreeze and the car starts and I take it home. The next morning, I have a problem getting it to start and puffs of white smoke come out of the exhaust pipe. It also sounds like it coughing from the exhaust pipe. After four or five tries it starts and runs fine. I take it to a mechanic in the Bronx and he tells me that the repairs are too extensive and he can't do them. But, he says all I have to do it continue to check the coolant level and it'll be okay. I let it sit for three or four days. Before I start it, I see that the coolant level is extremely low, I fill it up with coolant and start the car. I attempt to drive about eight miles and the car cuts off on me, sputters and when I idle I have to put it in Neutral and keep a foot on the gas or it'll cut off. The car sits for about 14 hours and afterwards it won't start.

I told this to a mechanic who works on Lexus' and he says he thinks I need a new engine. He quoted me a price of $1200 for the engine (with 50K) and $800 for the labor. I'm interested in opinions.

Sounds like a head gasket to me!