Lexus ls400 lexus jdm cars2/26/2024 Sure enough, the GS300 was added to the range in 1993 and in 1999 the smaller IS200 tackled the 3-Series market. Clearly, the Lexus brand wasn’t going away and if the LS400 was its first attempt then the second try wasn’t going to be laughed off. Publicly, they laughed it off as a floaty big Toyota for the American market but in private there were crisis meetings in Stuttgart and Munich, whereas in Coventry there was outright panic. Progress was slower here, with only 1158 cars sold in the first year but competing car makers cottoned on far faster than the buying public just how much Toyota had achieved. It goes without saying that the axle whine of an old Jag isn’t something you experience in an LS400.ĭeliveries to American customer began in September 1989, who had snapped up 4200 cars by the time the brand was introduced to Europe the following year. Today of course this is commonplace but back in the late ’80s it was clever stuff.Īt the rear end, a bespoke differential was developed using 30% more teeth than conventional, then manufactured using tolerances one third closer than previously. Refinement was further improved by connecting engine and transmission ECUs to momentarily retard the ignition timing during changes, the split-second reduction in torque softening the shift, while hydraulic control also reduced the load on the internal clutches depending on load. Fluid-filled bushes located the control arms, with the wishbones mounted via ‘pillow’ bushes. All this allowed the famous advert showing a pyramid of champagne glasses balanced on a running engine.ĭriving through a specially-designed electronically-controlled four-speed transmission, the power was deployed via fully independent suspension all round, featuring double wishbones and twin-tube dampers with a newly-developed high-mounted upper arm. Machining tolerances were reduced by 50% in the pursuit of refinement and reliability, while hydro-pneumatic engine mounts isolated the cabin from engine noise and vibration. The ‘1UZ-FE’ V8 was a world away from anything the US makers could offer, though: an all-aluminium unit with iron liners, it featured four cams and 32 valves, with lightweight aluminium cam followers to reduce inertia in the valvetrain. Dubbed LS400 to signify Luxury Sedan with 4-litre engine, the car was as firmly traditional as the US market expected: a ‘full-size’ three-box saloon, front-engined and rear-wheel drive. The attention to detail in this process involved analysing the fading characteristics of paint, plastics, rubbers and fabrics as well as the wear, noise and vibration of mechanical components and the prevention of squeaks and rattles.Ī special factory was even constructed to build the car and the first Lexus model was revealed to the public at the 1988 Detroit Motor Show. Interestingly for a nation which turns over new models so frequently, the car was developed around the principle that a car of this type should deliver long-term ownership pleasure and the target was apparently that a Lexus with 50,000 miles showing would not feel any different to drive from a brand new example. Just two years later the first prototypes of what was codenamed ‘Project F1’ were running, the whole project guarded with the utmost secrecy. The Lexus project began as early as 1983 according to official Lexus archives, when Toyota chairman Eiji Toyoda set the challenge for the company to create a luxury car to rival the best the world had to offer. The name itself tells you all you need to know: according to Toyota insiders it’s a contraction of ‘ Luxury EXecutive for the USA” and reveals that the real impetus behind the project was the enormous potential of the North American market. Even more anonymous but far more significant to the evolution of our current streetscape though is the Lexus LS400, the first of a new wave of crushingly competent cars from Toyota with a steely focus on taking a share of the lucrative prestige market. Sadly there aren’t many Jaguars which fit the bill, but plenty of early 90s Mercedes and BMWs fall into this category and rarely raise a glance as they pass in the street. Some cars make it to the status of modern classic rather faster than others and the reason is often that the cars are robust enough to still be in daily use. The original Lexus LS400 gave Jaguar sleepless nights and even had BMW and Mercedes on the run.
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