There used to be a time when a 100,000 mile vehicle was past its useful life. 100,000 miles meant that the oil rings wore away and the transmission was one gear short of a picnic basket. 100,000 miles meant that the floor boards were as solid as paper. 100,000 miles meant that your malaise mobile was maybe worth its weight in scrap.
Over the decades Toyota automobiles grew in popularity. They gained a reputation for reliability and longevity despite seriously lacking resistance to rust. When Toyota launched the Lexus brand in 1989 they claimed to be relentlessly pursuing perfection – whatever that was.
Today I drove Matt Farah’s Million Mile Lexus. Like the town bicycle, the 1996 Lexus LS 400 is getting pass around between people with the single goal of accumulating miles. Due to time constraints I was only able to add two humble miles to the odometer that as of this writing reads 981,199.
Can a vehicle that is capable of traveling ten times further than many others be considered at least a technical perfection?
Matt’s Lexus, hashtag Million Mile Lexus, is currently being driven around the United States by a very nice Bulgarian couple, Ana and Anton. You can follow their adventures on their YouTube channel and Instagram. About halfway through their journey the Lexus needed what every vehicle would need – an oil change. Because the world of automotive passion is extremely small, Anton and I happened to have a common friend, Baer Connard, who is the owner of ACE Performance Tuning in Tewksbury, Massachusetts.
You may recall reading about ACE Performance Tuning here before. It’s the place that sells Ariel Atoms and Nomads, a shop that’s stuffing a Hellcat motor into a ’68 Charger, assembles and modifies Zenos, is building an MkII Escort rally car with EcoBoost power. When they get bored with that, they race snowmobiles in an Ariel Atom on a frozen lake. Point here is that Ace should be able to perform an oil change on a twenty-two year old Toyota.
At first sight there is nothing remarkable about this Lexus. It’s just another vehicle on the road albeit with some stickers on it and luggage inside. Sit in it and… still nothing remarkable. The driver’s seat is soft and comfortable, unlike old Benz seats that try to shoot springs into your butt or Bimmer seats that often rock or twist. I have to admit that I was slightly grossed out when I thought about how many people have sat in this seat, farted in it, and dropped their boogers all around it.
Twist the key and the engine starts up as if the odometer was off by a fraction of ten. Until you notice the dash lights, you wouldn’t think anything of this car. But the dash lights – airbag, check engine, oil. It’s been determined that these lights are illuminated due to a bad oxygen sensor and a bad oil pressure switch. No one really knows why the airbag light is on.
The air-conditioning on this hot day worked as well as in any new car. All the dash displays seemed to have been working properly, which any Audi owner will admit to being remarkable. While the original speakers have been replaced by someone who did an extremely bad job of installation, the radio sounded great. All the cigarette light receptacles were working fine, too. It should be pointed out that they were all located next to proper ashtrays.
Squeaks, and there are plenty, are more audible outside than inside the car. They mostly come from suspension components and various drivetrain mounts. But once going the squeaks somehow go away. The Lexus gently floats down the road, wiggling its butt a little. Later, during the oil change, Ace Performance ace technician Dave will find a ton of loose linkages in the rear-end.
The Lexus exhibits slightly too much body roll and dive for my tastes. Weird, as the shocks have been changed only 100,000 miles ago or so. The brakes were slightly oddly behaving, too. Press the pedal and not much stopping is happening until the pedal reaches about half-way mark. My guess would be to inspect the master cylinder or at least check the fluid which looked to be older than my kindergartner son.
On an open road, the old boat is super smooth despite the worn suspension and mismatched tires. The steering wheel didn’t pull to a side or vibrated in any way. It’s remarkable how quiet it was and how well the big V8 engine pulled. The transmission wasn’t slipping but would make an occasional clunk which I assume might be due to worn mounts.
But there is a reason for this car’s overall great condition. This is a car that spent most of its life in Florida and Southern California, where the weather and road conditions are extremely friendly to cars. This Lexus LS was a pricey vehicle so it’s likely that it was garage kept and well maintained by whoever owned it before Matt. With around 900,000 miles on the clock when he bough it, an average of 45,000 per year, it was probably hardly driven in cities or in place with otherwise dense traffic.
So, can a vehicle that is capable of traveling many times further than many others be considered perfection? Hell no, far from it. But it’s not bad. It’s far from being bad, actually. In fact it’s so good that I wouldn’t hesitate to jump into it and drive across the continent once I’m done decontaminating it.
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