After much research on this site, I decided to pull the trigger on a ‘99 LX470. I had initially wanted a 4Runner but after learning more about the LC’s, I was hooked. I had looked at a few LC’s around town(Denver), and further, but didn’t feel comfortable(higher mileage, smokers cars, etc.) pulling the trigger until I found this LX. As mentioned on this site, they happened to be more plentiful in the used market and, somehow, cheaper. I’m hoping I made the right decision. I went from a Jeep Wrangler, to a Jeep Cherokee, and then most recently a Hyundai Elantra. I moved to Denver around 2 years ago and ever since had my eyes on Toyota's. Coming from a Hyundai, wanting an LC, but ending up in a Lexus, leads to confusing conversations. I say Lexus, and people think I wanted to buy a status symbol. Then hear 99, and get confused. Meanwhile, I’m trying to explain what a Land Cruiser is, what a quality machine it is, and why 150k is not a lot of mileage. Regardless, every single day that I’m behind the wheel it blows my mind that I spent less than $10,000 and this is what I’m driving. Looking around at what costs as much or more, I see so much…crap. Less capable, less reliable, borderline disposable automotive crap. Anyways, before I jinx myself talking bad about other vehicles, I’m just gonna finish this introduction by saying I’m very happy with my choice and thank you to everyone on this site for creating such an incredible resource.
I’ll upload pics soon but the specs are: 99 LX470, Black, tan leather, 154k miles, timing belt done around 90k, maintenance records, AHC fully functional, factory roof rack, 6 cd changer, wood trim, etc.
I’ve been searching the forum for a generally agreed upon listing of what should be done to baseline the vehicle. So far I’m gonna flush the fluids, synthetic oil change, new plugs, new wires, air filter.
Random quirks/issues/observations:
-Does anyone else find their outermost turn signal bezels tilting outward? I’ll have to check the mounting points for them, but I was wondering if this was a common problem.
-Parking brake doesn’t move. Does that happen to be a common thing, or just a random occurance?
-As with most, the in dash CD changer is inoperable, but I’m planning on removing that and adding a touchscreen with Bluetooth.
-2 rust-through spots on the upper rear tailgate. Does anyone have experience with this? I’m hoping to have it repaired instead of replaced since the quotes for a replacement job are around $2k.
-The leather is in decent shape. The passenger and rear seats are all surprisingly decent for being 15 years old. As expected, the driver’s seat is the most cracked/dried out. I bought some Lexol but I’m rather unimpressed with its performance. Will purchase some Leatherique in the coming months and try my hand at that.
-Passenger side window switch is broken-ish. It functions but the black switch lever itself is cracked. Same with one switch in the driver’s side panel. I imagine this is expensive to replace(?) so that will probably stay that way for a while.
-The steering wheel adjust only operates inward and outward, not up and down. Luckily, it’s current position works for me. I think I recall reading Tech articles about how to fix this on here.
-The shift position D on the dash is, as usual, not operational. But I think I like it that way.
-The retractable cup holder on the rear of the console is missing its cover plate. I’m assuming these are impossible to find and/or expensive so I’m thinking this will just have to stay that way.
-Rear bumper has a 6” or so crack in it. I don’t really care as ideally I’ll be replacing it with an offroad bumper, but if there are any cheap or easy fixes to make it easier on the eyes, please do chime in.
-I’d like to remove the running boards and third row seats in the future, as well as add sliders and bumpers.
Any recommendations or tips for a new owner are greatly appreciated. Also, if any of these are dumb questions or answered through a quick search, feel free to ignore them. Just wanted to say hello and that it’s good to be here. I look forward to learning a whole lot more over the coming months.
-JC
I’ll upload pics soon but the specs are: 99 LX470, Black, tan leather, 154k miles, timing belt done around 90k, maintenance records, AHC fully functional, factory roof rack, 6 cd changer, wood trim, etc.
I’ve been searching the forum for a generally agreed upon listing of what should be done to baseline the vehicle. So far I’m gonna flush the fluids, synthetic oil change, new plugs, new wires, air filter.
Random quirks/issues/observations:
-Does anyone else find their outermost turn signal bezels tilting outward? I’ll have to check the mounting points for them, but I was wondering if this was a common problem.
-Parking brake doesn’t move. Does that happen to be a common thing, or just a random occurance?
-As with most, the in dash CD changer is inoperable, but I’m planning on removing that and adding a touchscreen with Bluetooth.
-2 rust-through spots on the upper rear tailgate. Does anyone have experience with this? I’m hoping to have it repaired instead of replaced since the quotes for a replacement job are around $2k.
-The leather is in decent shape. The passenger and rear seats are all surprisingly decent for being 15 years old. As expected, the driver’s seat is the most cracked/dried out. I bought some Lexol but I’m rather unimpressed with its performance. Will purchase some Leatherique in the coming months and try my hand at that.
-Passenger side window switch is broken-ish. It functions but the black switch lever itself is cracked. Same with one switch in the driver’s side panel. I imagine this is expensive to replace(?) so that will probably stay that way for a while.
-The steering wheel adjust only operates inward and outward, not up and down. Luckily, it’s current position works for me. I think I recall reading Tech articles about how to fix this on here.
-The shift position D on the dash is, as usual, not operational. But I think I like it that way.
-The retractable cup holder on the rear of the console is missing its cover plate. I’m assuming these are impossible to find and/or expensive so I’m thinking this will just have to stay that way.
-Rear bumper has a 6” or so crack in it. I don’t really care as ideally I’ll be replacing it with an offroad bumper, but if there are any cheap or easy fixes to make it easier on the eyes, please do chime in.
-I’d like to remove the running boards and third row seats in the future, as well as add sliders and bumpers.
Any recommendations or tips for a new owner are greatly appreciated. Also, if any of these are dumb questions or answered through a quick search, feel free to ignore them. Just wanted to say hello and that it’s good to be here. I look forward to learning a whole lot more over the coming months.
-JC
Now, as we say in other forums - THIS THREAD IS USELESS WITHOUT PICS!
