Lexus LS400, Yaris GR and Escort Cosworth
Discussion
Rewind 28 years and my Dad brought home his first Lexus LS400 in blue. No one had really heard of a Lexus back then. He was the broker for the local Toyota dealer and whilst looking at a Supra, they convinced him to get a LS400 as it was their new flagship model. At the time I remember the car being very luxurious and having a great sound system and many happy memories of us as a family singing along to Tina Turner. 2 years later he replaced the Lexus with another LS400, this one had gold badges.
I’ve owned my Yaris GR for approaching 3 years and whilst I’ve enjoyed it, it’s just not got under my skin, despite all the praise. I think for me it’s to do with the engine, I love turbo cars and the character they bring but this feels too clinical. Plus I have a growing family and getting my 2 year old daughter in and out of the back of the Yaris is quite simply hard work. So in the new year I considered replacing the Yaris, spending countless evenings on pistonheads and eBay searching the classifieds for some inspiration. Initially I thought E39 M5 as for me it’s a car I want to experience plus it has the practicality of being a four door. However most appeared to need quite a lot of money spending on them as many are plagued with rust issues.. Fast forward 6 weeks and I have a LS400 Mk3 sitting on my drive for relatively little money. She’s at least 30cm longer than my partners Touareg which I consider a fairly large vehicle but at the same time quite a bit lower than my Yaris GR. Covered 82k, totally standard apart from BC coilovers and some BBS replaca wheels which I quite like, and in very good condition. Everything works apart from the telescopic function on the steering wheel which the seller was honest about. I collected it Sunday afternoon after buying it from a young chap off Marketplace. It did 90miles to home effortlessly cruising at 85. I have no immediate plans for it, just to keep on top of the maintenance and clean etc. I think I will sell my Yaris when the summer months approach as I can’t really see myself using it that much, and I would only keep it based on strong future residuals.
I also own another homologation special which I keep in storage - an early escort cosworth large turbo edition. It doesn’t come out much but certainly an event everytime I drive it! It’s running around 340bhp, stage 3 and even by todays standards does well against modern machinery.
Here’s a few pics:
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/uLG36qBY[/url]
Thanks for reading :-)
I’ve owned my Yaris GR for approaching 3 years and whilst I’ve enjoyed it, it’s just not got under my skin, despite all the praise. I think for me it’s to do with the engine, I love turbo cars and the character they bring but this feels too clinical. Plus I have a growing family and getting my 2 year old daughter in and out of the back of the Yaris is quite simply hard work. So in the new year I considered replacing the Yaris, spending countless evenings on pistonheads and eBay searching the classifieds for some inspiration. Initially I thought E39 M5 as for me it’s a car I want to experience plus it has the practicality of being a four door. However most appeared to need quite a lot of money spending on them as many are plagued with rust issues.. Fast forward 6 weeks and I have a LS400 Mk3 sitting on my drive for relatively little money. She’s at least 30cm longer than my partners Touareg which I consider a fairly large vehicle but at the same time quite a bit lower than my Yaris GR. Covered 82k, totally standard apart from BC coilovers and some BBS replaca wheels which I quite like, and in very good condition. Everything works apart from the telescopic function on the steering wheel which the seller was honest about. I collected it Sunday afternoon after buying it from a young chap off Marketplace. It did 90miles to home effortlessly cruising at 85. I have no immediate plans for it, just to keep on top of the maintenance and clean etc. I think I will sell my Yaris when the summer months approach as I can’t really see myself using it that much, and I would only keep it based on strong future residuals.
I also own another homologation special which I keep in storage - an early escort cosworth large turbo edition. It doesn’t come out much but certainly an event everytime I drive it! It’s running around 340bhp, stage 3 and even by todays standards does well against modern machinery.
Here’s a few pics:
[url]|https://thumbsnap.com/uLG36qBY[/url]Thanks for reading :-)
matrignano said:
How does the Yaris compare to the Cossie?
Same philosophy of car, 30 years apart!
I’d say the cossie is quicker than the Yaris in a straight line with a rolling start, it still surprises me sometimes when I haven’t driven it for a while, and there’s loads of drama to go with it. The Yaris picks up quicker but definitely hasn’t got the same top end as the cossie, it just keeps pulling. Corners and braking the Yaris wins everytime! Same philosophy of car, 30 years apart!
Nice collection.
I’ve gone back to a LS400, we had one for the engine, which is in our Scimitar SE6, really liked the car and got another, like yours, the Mrs used it daily and did at least 1K miles a month in it, I put BC Racing coil overs on that (it was a long time ago) which were fine on motorways and smooth roads, but not great on local roads.
Fast forward 10+ years and our current one is standard and will remain that way.
Love the Escort, would love a go in one.
I’ve gone back to a LS400, we had one for the engine, which is in our Scimitar SE6, really liked the car and got another, like yours, the Mrs used it daily and did at least 1K miles a month in it, I put BC Racing coil overs on that (it was a long time ago) which were fine on motorways and smooth roads, but not great on local roads.
Fast forward 10+ years and our current one is standard and will remain that way.
Love the Escort, would love a go in one.
9e25 said:
Nice collection.
I’ve gone back to a LS400, we had one for the engine, which is in our Scimitar SE6, really liked the car and got another, like yours, the Mrs used it daily and did at least 1K miles a month in it, I put BC Racing coil overs on that (it was a long time ago) which were fine on motorways and smooth roads, but not great on local roads.
Fast forward 10+ years and our current one is standard and will remain that way.
Love the Escort, would love a go in one.
Ls400 are great cars. Mines nearly 25 years old, and apart from blue tooth, they pretty much have a similar level of creature comforts to most cars today, it even has GPS voice sat nav which must have been well ahead of its time. It’s a great cruiser and has a good turn of speed, it’s grown on me massively in the week that I’ve owned itI’ve gone back to a LS400, we had one for the engine, which is in our Scimitar SE6, really liked the car and got another, like yours, the Mrs used it daily and did at least 1K miles a month in it, I put BC Racing coil overs on that (it was a long time ago) which were fine on motorways and smooth roads, but not great on local roads.
Fast forward 10+ years and our current one is standard and will remain that way.
Love the Escort, would love a go in one.
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