Buying Celsior/LS400 After some info

[CoronaC]

Hey, First post on these forums and just after a bit of info because I'm looking into getting a Celsior or LS400 and I'm after a bit of info on them, So here we go...

Whats the economy like in them, km/tank?
Whats the main problems they have?
Should I be worried about rust, if so where? (are getting to the 15 year age now, so better to ask)
I've noticed some ads say they have LSD (forgot if they were LS400 or Celsior models) but is LSD a standard option or would they be after market part? (this is for upto around 94 models)
Are there many models of LS400 that dont have two-tone paint?
Do the any model LS400's come with Adjustable Air Suspension (TEMS, I think it is)?
Do they come with towbars or is it possible to get a towbar for them?
Where Can I find/buy VIP style bodykits for them?

Things i want the car to have are leather and woodgrain interior, Power options: windows, seats, rear seat controls, Climate control and all the other fancy little gadgets, dark colour ie black, dark blue/green prefer no two-tone if possible. Would this be the equivalent of the C-F Celsior or a lower model one?

So far Ive found this one on carsales Linkage

Apparently 94 model LS400, but i has Toyota symbol on grill, boot and steering wheel and its cloth interior, I'm guessing that the 1994 was a mistake by the person that put it up for sale and it is actually 89-91 Celsior?

Also when looking at the cars whats the best and most reliable way to check if its actually a Celsior or LS400? Would the build plates be the same or would they differ between the two ie. one has Toyota other has Lexus written on them?

Well thats my bombardment of questions....for now anyway most likely think of other things

Cheers
Chris

 

[Peewee]

Anything that was sold new in Australia is a Lexus LS400.
Anything that was imported from Japan is a Toyota Celsior.

Many many people will try and sell Celsior's as LS400's as they 'can' command a higher price.

UCF10's have springs/shocks
UCF11's have air suspension.
I'm not sure about numbers of each though.


I can't speak for the whole car, but as far as the engine/drivetrain goes its a tough as nuts. Anything that breaks can cheaply be replaced with a 2nd hand item.
New items how ever are quite expensive (as is everything new from Toyota).

For instance a whole motor 2nd hand will be about $1000, but replacing all the stuff on the motor (belts, waterpump, plugs, leads etc etc etc) will cost about $1200+.

They tend to use about the 14L/100km on the city, and 12L/100km on the highway.
But this figure varies from car to car.

 

[Kiwi.in.aus]

I have just shopped for a Celsior for a mate that liked mine so much he wanted one !!
He was driving a 116 280 SEL merc so it's no wonder .
All the Celsiors that come in are 89 or 90 models .
Celsiors don't rust , if you see rust it's from a bad repair .
Yes you can buy towbars for them but they are not cheap , bout $580.00 I believe .
If you really want a VIP kit or suchlike buy one with it already on it , but be careful as thats usually a sign that it's been owned by a boy racer !!
Buying a stock standard one does not necessarily mean it's a good one , Jim and I looked at about 36 Celsiors raging in price from $7995.00 to $17995.00 and we settled on a privatly owned car .
A lot of these cars have been sitting in dealers yards for a while now as they rushed and bought so many in before the cut off date in April or may last year .
Better to try and buy one thats driven daily .
So right now is a great time to be buying one because of the glut on the market , some of the dealers had 8 or so in the yard and even before we got serious we had knocked a couple of grand off the price , so deal hard .
It's a good thing to get one with a height suspension controller on it , especially if you want to fit 18 " wheels or such , you can get the controllers after and fit them but it's easier if it's already on the car , around 40 % of the cars we looked at had them fitted , there's a few guys around who have them for sale .
As far as I'm aware no Celsiors have LSD's .
If you look closely you will find most have some kind of repair some more obvious than others , check the panel gapping very very closely , if it's not right it's sign of a big repair..... walk away , there's enough of them around that you don't have to settle for a crashed one .
Panel gapping should be perfect .
Be aware that there are no more Celsiors coming in to Australia , I'm not saying prices will go up but they won't be cheaper than they are right now for quite a while .
Leather is the way to go , also my advice is not to buy one that has the chocolate brown interior , horrible !!
Will affect resale as well .
Good shopping !!

 

[CoronaC]

Thanks for that info

I had a look at one yesterday, very nice, had all the electrics as far as i know, new dvd player installed replacing the stock head unit, had a few small dents in the rear right passenger door nothing seriors though and a scrap along the left door/guard (seams like it would be fairly easily fixed), all in all seamed like a nice example but i still have to look at others

Also whats my chances of finding a black celsior with pretty much full options, electric front/rear seats, leather, air susp, tcs, abs and all those other useless but cool things? (sunroof or not doesnt matter about that, same with bodykit can be stock or vip or other)

With the height controllers, do they have the same basic things as the stock ones, like the height (duh ) and stiffness settings and how much can you change the height using the aftermarket units?

Thats about all i can think of right now, but thanks for info guys, much appreciated

cheers
chris

 

[mylittlepony]

I was just talking to a Lexus mechanic about issues in earlier (90-95ish) LS400s. He said that while the drivetrains tend to be bulletproof, the power steering system tends may have problems on older/high-mileage cars. He said that just a hose can cost $400+!!! (A very high-pressure hose, mind you).

He also advised avoiding models with air suspension, as it is actually cheaper to convert it to a conventional spring setup than to fix the air suspension if it has problems.

 

[Kiwi.in.aus]

It's not your fault as you are just going on info from someone who should know , but I always take exception to those who state that the air suspension is dearer than a shock/spring set up !!
Yes if you buy new air units from lexus they are about $1000.00 each , but you can get remanufactured units from Abotts with a lifetime warranty on the bags for about $400.00 a corner , if you consider that they are going to last at least 15 years [ which is at least what you get out of the originals ] AND they will be as good as the day they were new till the bags go [ at least 15 years !! ] , that is very cheap , if you consider that to convert to springs is going to cost about the same as recon units from Abotts and then fitting new shocks or rebuilding them every 2 years to keep them good then the air units are incredibly cheap .
They don't seem to give problems [ I have just looked at about 36 second hand Celsiors and not one of them had a leaking bag !! ] so why would you go for something less ?
I'm not a boy racer who's trying to get a 1900 KG car to handle like a rex , but with my TEMS on it handles very well and stays quite flat , I like my air suspension and when I've got 4 people in the car and we are going out for dinner I can switch my TEMS off and have a softer ride , not to mention that my car ALWAYS sits at the same level regardless of the load I have in it not to mention [ although I'm going too !! ] that I have a suspension height controller so I can slam it to the ground at a minute's notice !!
Oh I'm going through town I'll lower it to look even cooler... no worries takes about 2 mins for it to lower , try that with coilovers !!
The air suspension is very good and worth every cent .

 

[CoronaC]

This question is for aus, where would i be able to get comprehensive insurance from? So far i've only tried 3.... AAMI, Alianz neither of them would even give me 3rd party (grey import rule or similar bullshit) and NRMA could only offer 3rd party. Just cant think of any other places off the top of my head.

Anyone out there want to tell me what they pay for insurance on their celsior? wouldnt mind hearing from a few people around my age (19) just to get a better idea of full comp insurance costs.

So would anyone know where to ring, that would give comprehensive insurance for celsior? 19yo on green p's

cheers
chris

 

[Kiwi.in.aus]

I'm pretty sure there's only 3 that will do it in Aus , Unique Insurance 1800651014 , Just Car insurance 131326 and one more that I can't remember .

I have gone with Unique and haven't had any prob's , mind you I haven't had a claim yet so who knows ?
I don't know how you will go being young , probably just cost more !!

 

[Lextreme II]

PM Zuffen about insurance in Australia.

 

[CoronaC]

Just bought a celsior today...well tonight but same thing, anyway only thing that i have to do to it is get oil change and give it a good wash might get mate to detail it

So just wanna find out what others pay for insurance, i got a quote of $3300 from just car, kinda exxy, would it be cheaper if i put my mum as a secondary driver? or wouldnt it matter?

gota work something out for tomorrow when get the car put into my name.

Mmm now for some mods....still cant decide on what to do... N/A or S/C?

cheers
chris