- So they say life is like a box of chocolates.
Well, we got a box for you today.
It's the ultimate buyer's guide
for the Lexus LS400 aka the grandpa car (laughs).
(chill trap music)
So, this is Steve's 97 Lexus LS400 on airlift suspension,
and we got a pretty dandy wheel
and tire set up, so let's get into that.
We have some Artisa Titans: our very own
in-house wheel brand that we created,
so it's super cool to see them on this LS400.
Steve went with a tucked setup
so he could put this big body on the ground.
That's the triple B of Lexus LS400's by the way.
Anyways, these are some 18x9.5 +35's
with some 265/35-18 Federal 595's,
pretty affordable tire. And then he got
the good ol' Artisa Titans: which are directional.
The silver on the white looks really good.
The one nice thing about LS400's is their 5x114.3,
AKA, you can get pretty much any wheel you want.
Steve's running these, I know down the road,
he's looking at some multi-piece wheels,
which is really common for these cars.
You're going to see him on work on SSR.
A lot of different Japanese wheel brands
go on these cars 'cause on the Japanese car
they just look good and timeless.
So if you didn't realize we're at the retirement community,
'cause we felt like that was most fitting for this car,
but let's take a look under the hood.
What's pushing this big bitch?
So, oh man. Steve, how do I open this?
Oh, right here: nice and easy.
There we go: the 1UZ baby, the V8, that powers this,
so although it kind of has the looks of a grandpa car,
it is powered by a big, gnarly V8,
which is nice because these are known for their reliability.
However, you're not going to see a lot
of engine performance for these cars.
You're not going to see a lot of aftermarket options.
You'll have the few crazy guys
that are dumping money into them,
to supercharge them and all that good stuff.
But overall, more of the cosmetic stuff on these cars,
you're not going to see a lot of the performance stuff.
Just not what the market's for.
So Steve's here is just stock.
You can see the airlift struts here
with the adjustable damping on top,
which is really nice. But overall,
we just got a lot of plastics in the engine bay.
All right, so like we talked about,
Steve is on an airlift three piece suspension
so let's take a look at the trunk setup.
There better not be any wood floors in here, I swear.
Nice. So this is probably one of the biggest trunks
that we've reviewed on the ultimate buyer's guide.
Yeah, definitely can fit a lot of bodies in there.
That's for sure. You're going to do air ride,
plenty of room to do a trunk setup:
I like it. Nice clean install for now,
got the polish tank looks good, also though,
not only is the trunk big, but the antenna is big.
Doesn't look like it, but you wait.
See that's huge! Psych! Psych! It just keeps going.
That's psycho! He got a CB radio on this motherfucker.
Big trucker 10-4, let's take her for a rip.
Alrighty, (grunts) actually not.
This is the most comfortable car I've dri-
(steering wheel whirring into place)
It's like Transformers,
(car engine starts quietly)
Get that Lexus luxury. I'm excited to drive this one.
Like I said, it's big, but it is comfortable.
Not only that, we're gonna dabble
right on this air suspension here,
put a little few extra PSI because me and Sean
are some big boys: so here we go.
We'll talk about a little bit of the mods
you can do, some of the pros and cons.
I'm gonna tell you a pro right now
it's comfortable as hell, and I can't get over that.
Obviously this isn't like a super performance oriented car.
So like your steering kind of feels
like you're driving a yacht because you kind of are,
you know, a little wave to all of our friends
in the retirement community, they enjoyed it.
They stopped and talked to us for awhile.
Is that an IS300? Dang. There's so many people,
(laughs) We need to get out of here,
or we could do a big ol' burnout.
(performs a burnout with a high squeal)
(whooping)
If you're looking to modify one of these cars,
suspension, wheels, tires, obviously a big thing
to do right away. BC racing coil overs are super popular.
A lot of the guys love running these static
and running them crazy low, as low as they can go.
And then a little bit more low.
Otherwise, if you want to save your underbody,
airlift is a super popular choice
and that's what Steve has on here.
He installed himself, went pretty good.
One thing about the install though, with the airlift
was the main wiring harness actually
runs right above your front tires.
So Steve had to take the fenders off
and reroute that to run higher up
because if you're a bottoming out
or anything like that, when you're lowered,
you don't want your tires rubbing through.
Like we talked about earlier too:
engine performance, not a lot of mods
out there for that. And you're probably
not going to be doing that, if you pick one of these up.
(tires squealing)
The pro though of the engine is these
are known for their reliability,
the transmissions are tanks, and the engine's a tank.
And as long as you do your general maintenance on it,
you're going to have a good time.
Another thing I love about these cars
is it's just a timeless design.
I feel like as they get older they get better looking,
like they're aging like fine wine.
Not only that, but I mean: it's a Lexus.
So everything's super nice, and it feels really quality.
And these cars had a MSRP that was over $50,000.
And now you can get them for like 5, 6, 7K all day long.
And this car has treated Steve really well.
He's driven it across the country.
I mean, he picked us up in Vegas
and drove it back to Wisconsin.
Got it here, bayed it, then drove it
to Florida and drove it back. No questions.
Wasn't worried about it. Really phenomenal cars.
It just depends what you want to do with it.
This is more of the low and slow gang.
Like it does have the V8, but by no means,
are you going to be beating people in every race.
The one thing to think about if you're going to pick
one of these up is the 90 to 94's,
don't have an interference engine.
You're still going to want to replace
your water pump and timing belt.
But if it goes early and you didn't replace it,
it's not going to lock up your engine.
However, the 95 up cars are interference engines.
So if your timing belt snaps, there goes your engine.
So if you're picking one of these up
and you're in those ranges, I mean,
regardless if it's interference or not,
I would check and make sure that the previous owner
did a timing belt, water pump,
because you're going to have to do one of those.
You just do it. Don't avoid it. Do not put it off.
That's how catastrophic failure happens.
Now, some of the pros and cons
from Steve as the owner of this car is:
it gets complimented by everyone.
It doesn't matter if they're 90 or they're 19,
everyone in between likes this car.
And like I was talking about it.
It's just one of those timeless designs. You lower it,
you put it on wheels and they just look fantastic.
He also said rear wheel drive V8:
bitch, I can agree with that.
So some of the cons he said are,
it's a little bit slow for a V8.
You know, it's a big car, so it is what it is.
Gas mileage. Again, you're running a V8.
It's not going to be the best
it's not really an economy car.
(truck honking)
And then parts can be expensive for this.
It's kind of a niche market. A lot of times
you're either waiting on parts to be made,
because they're back ordered because you just have
one guy producing parts for the community
or just everyone's out of stock.
So that's something to be mindful of.
You're not going to just mob this thing to holy hell.
It's going to take some time to put it together.
Oh, and one other con, con, con, is the cup holders.
Apparently they only fit like a soda can
and that's about it, Lexus, what are you doing?
You gotta be fitting Champagne bottles,
don't drink and drive though there's-
(beeping transition)
(chill trap music continues)
Man, this was a big ol' girl, hopefully
I park this not like a dingus,
kind of feels like I'm driving a semi,
Jesus, I can't even see out the back window.
Like this, maybe a little bit of this,
are you ready for this? Yeah, here, I don't know.
Make sure your steering wheel straight.
(suspension drops with a rush of air)
Oh yeah. Yeah, that's my favorite!
The steering wheel moves up all nice
and stuff for you, it's so courteous.
All right guys, so what do you think?
It's the Lexus LS400, it's timeless.
I love these things. They look so damn good.
They're boxy, they got little knickknacks about them,
like the antenna and the steering wheel moves for yourself.
But there is some modifications that are tough to do.
So let me know what you think down in the comments below.
Would you own one, would you not own one?
And don't forget wheels, tires, and suspension,
especially the stuff mentioned in this episode,
down in the description available at fitmentindustries.com.
I don't know what we should review next.
Grab a comment about that too.
I'm going to, I'm going to read
all of them, I'm reading all the comments.
(chill trap beats continue)