xcsti
Wow thats a real nice ride. How much did it set you back?
Just $5000 + tax, it really was too good to pass up...
PunkRock
2JZ-GTE with a 6 speed swap time!!!!!1!!1
In all fairness, this looks incredibly great for an 11 year old car, and in my own humble opinion, it's the best looking GS out there.
Most 1st-gen GS's I see have 80-200,000 miles on them, and really look and run terrible. This is by far the best example I've found (for a moment, I swear the odometer says 6.2 miles on it...)
Plenty of room for upgrades under that massive hood, but there's a 99% chance I'll leave it dead-stock unless I win the lottery.
VIPFREAK
wow, 36,000... that's crazy. Some owners are just nuts.
Or rich old (and non-smoking!) ladies that garage their cars; usually the very-well-to-do elderly here have two homes, and a car for each one, as they don't actually take road trips to each one.
Some other people have 3-4 year old cars (usually convertibles) with 10,000 miles on them, because they already own several other cars. Unfortnately, even the nicest homes sometimes have rat problems, as evidenced by numerous low-mileage cars that have mysterious electical problems (brown rats just love the taste of Lexus plastics, for some reason).
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Of course, everyone's wondering about my opinons on the car. To be fair, it does have two minor problems: The trunk lid shocks have failed, so lifting it up requires quite a bit of effort, and you don't want it to fall on your head (if you don't hear from me for a month, you'll know what killed me). Good workout, though! The CD changer doesn't work, but I use my iPod anyhow, so it's not that big a deal.
Outside: Wasn't really my cup of tea initially; even working for Lexus for a few years hasn't really dulled it's "strangeness". But it does look unique for a sedan, and it's nice to have something that's not all that common (2nd-gen GS's are nice, but a dime-a-dozen in these parts). Lots of glass means no blind spots. One of the complaints from some customers about the 1st-gen GS was wind noise, but I couldn't hear any at 80 mph.
Interior: Well-kept by the owner, smells like "Old Lexus", but thankfully, not like "old driver". Shifter is just where I like it, funny-looking A/C controls with individual lights, and the simple "light-saber" gauges are all nice little touches. There's a tiny pair of cupholders, not very deep, but can hold two different sizes of beverage (I have to give it the Red Bull test one day). If you use the cupholders, the tiny change dish isn't accessible. However, it's also a perfect place to fit an iPod (10 years ahead of it's time?), but likely it was designed to hold a pack of cigarettes. Lots of leg room in the front and back, and everything lights up at night (like an illuminated glovebox). The trunk is quite deep and large (I get complaints that the trunk on the later-generation models are too small), enough for two bodies...I mean, two peoples' luggage!
Controls: The pedals are kind of "slippery" for some reason. Hmmm...even the '93 Corolla pedals feel like there's more grip. Brake pedal feels kind of soft, but then again, this is a 3800-pound car. The accelerator pedal resonds nicely, no hesitation (I wish I could say the same for many late-model Lexuses). The steering is very light for slow-speed manuvers, kind of like an arcade racing game. But at medium and higher speeds, the steering has another personality, it's much more responsive, and you actaully get a nice bit of road feel.
Dynamics: Cushy, damped ride at slow speeds. But the chassis feels as solid as a rock, and absorbs bumps and curves well, no squeaking or complaining. It just feels as if the shocks need more "sport" (fixed for the 2nd-gen GS) to them, but for the railroad track crossings here, you barely feel a thing. Brakes just need more strength, but again, it's a heavy car. It could probably use a brake job (they were at 40-50% life during inspection), anyhow. The car has very little road feel at slow speeds (say, up to 45 mph), but then it builds up as you go faster. At 75, the steering's a lot better, and the engine and wind noise are damped to a hush. (Some may not like this, but after dealing with four previous cars that had wind and road noise from 65+ up, this is quite impressive.)
Overall, soft for driving around town and the bumper-to-bumper stuff that comprises South Florida traffic, and eats up the miles effortlessly on the highways. I have yet to really wind out the car on some curvy, tight, and bumpy backroads, but as they are a fair distance away from my house, that will be for another day...
(although, contrary to popular belief, Lexus never made a V8 version of the first-generation GS - it was just the 3-liter straight-six until the '98 redesign). He's definitely got one of the nicest '94s, and certainly among the lowest-mileage.
It's the default setting for uploaded images from my digital camera... I just kept it that way.
It's been that way since my mom got the car 8 years ago. I haven't the faintest clue why it won't stay up.It's easy to lift, though.
Hope yours works out well and you get many enjoyable miles from it. 👍
