My precious...
The LS400 was Lexus's flagship car and the vehicle that started the brand. In the 80s, there was a rise in people looking for good luxury sedans. The problem was that the best you could get was a Buick or something, and it wasn't very reliable. There was a new market for nice luxury cars that are also reliable. More young people were buying them.
While Mercedes was working on their S-Class and BMW on their 5-series, Toyota spent 1 billion dollars to research and develop this luxury sedan (hence LS). Fun fact: the very logo for Lexus came from the codeword for the car as it was being developed. The engineers used "L-1" in a circle as a designation and that later became the L in the circle that we know as Lexus's logo.
In case you didn't know, Toyota started Lexus. They priced the LS400 at such a low price point that they only made back their money - they didn't actually make any profit. They did this so the car was also cheaper than its competition. The plan worked because Lexus is now a household name in luxury. The other companies were pretty upset.
The car was a hit. It was reliable unlike the Jaguar, BMW, and Mercedes counterpart. It also had more room inside yet was smaller outside than at least the S-Class - I'm not sure about the other two. It came with the 1uz, a legendary engine owing to the fact that it was one of the first high revving, aluminum block V8. It's respectable to this day. The first generation, 1990-94, had about 250hp while the first and a halfth (is that a word? 1.5 gen) generation of 1995-97 boosted that to 265 and finally Lexus came out with VVTi in 1998-2000, further boosting the horsepower up to 285. While not fast, per se, compared to cars these days, it was a rocket when it came out.
Lexus was forever cemented as the reliable luxury car brand and was starting to appear in rap lyrics (apparently there's people [he uses a different word...] doing time for that white Lexus). Everyone wanted one in the 90s.
As far as everything else goes, the quality is amazing through-and-through. The interior is beautiful and pretty ergonomic. Although the leather seats tend to crack from heat, they do okay in white tinted cars. Otherwise they rip, get hard, and pieces start breaking off.
But that is the only complaint I can think of. I had to use a Ford Focus as a daily driver recently and getting in that car really made me realize just HOW luxurious the LS is. Every single part of the interior is better and I'm not exaggerating.
You step in the Lexus at night and there's a light around the keyhole that immediately shows you were to put the key while in the Focus, you go ahead and find it with no light (nope, a light doesn't even come on when you open the door). The seats made my back hurt the first couple days. In the Lexus, you can adjust them so many ways that it's almost overkill. They're also soft and just perfect. Same goes for both armrests.
You get not one but two gloveboxes. The sunroof is amazing. It tilts upward or goes back - whichever you prefer. There's a clock in the middle right there for you to see when you're busy driving somewhere.
Those are just some things that the Ford Focus doesn't have. The Ford also makes every noise it can. Everything rattles and there's little sound deadening so it's just loud inside just from car noise.
I will say that the Focus obviously gets better mileage (7-10 in a similar year, even ten years newer). It's not extremely reliable like the LS400 but it does okay. Should get to 250k miles if taken care of. There's a million mile LS400. And don't think parts are cheaper. They are the same price. I know this because my parents have three Focuses. I don't understand.
The Lexus LS400 is refined and beautiful. It's already a classic and will eventually be a collector's car because of the history. It beats cars that are made today and will forever live on as a Legend.
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