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Here's your chance to get a near-new 1st-gen Lexus LS400

The original Lexus LS400 was the automotive equivalent of a batter approaching the plate, pointing to the right-field bleachers and smacking the first pitch out of the ballpark. With the engineering excellence of Toyota fueled by the bountiful resources of the Japanese bubble economy, the first LS perfectly executed its mission. It also set a benchmark in quality and has earned a stellar reputation for durability. Most of the examples that today turn up in the used-car market have racked up mileage well into the six figures, and although they're often amazingly well preserved, that very longevity makes the idea of a near-new first-gen LS400 all the more compelling. With just 34k miles on the clock, this 1993 LS400 available now on Bring a Trailer is the freshest we've seen in a long time. This LS400 is said to have remained with its original owner until being acquired by a dealer in New Jersey. Like seemingly all LS400s of its era, the car is champagne gold with a tan leather interior. It also has chrome wheels and gold badging — but then we did say it was a New Jersey car. A just-completed $1,200 service included a new timing belt, water pump, and distributor caps and rotors (there are two, one per cylinder bank). That should start the winning bidder off on a course of several hundred thousand miles of trouble-free ownership. At this writing, bidding has already reached $10,000, with six days to go.

Toyota tops Kelley Blue Book's Resale Value Awards

Kelley Blue Book announced its annual Best Resale Value Award winners, and we weren't too surprised to see the list dominated by Japanese automakers - mainly Toyota and Honda. KBB hands out the awards based on the projected residual value of mostly all 2013 model year vehicles, and Toyota skated home with a number of awards including 10 of the 22 overall categories and having five of its products in the top 10 for models with best resale value. KBB's Best Resale Value Awards were announced in the same week as the ALG Residual Value Awards, and there were many similarities between both lists, especially when it came to Toyota.
To come up with its winners, KBB measures depreciation over the first five years of ownership, and looks for the cars it expects to hold its value the best after this time; on average, the report says the 2013 model year vehicles will lose 61.8 percent of its value in five years. Of the 22 categories, 15 slots were filled by Toyota, Honda and Nissan products, while the Camaro and Porsche (Cayenne and Panamera) each took home a pair of awards. If Toyota has anything to be upset about in this list of cars, it's that categories for Hybrid/Alternative Energy Car and Electric Vehicle went to the Ford Fusion and Chevrolet Volt, respectively.
The overall top 10 models for the best resale value in 2013 are, in alphabetical order:

2015 Lexus LS gets tighter turning radius, new infotainment

Go back a couple of decades and the thought of a Japanese automaker challenging the German limousines would have seemed laughable, but 25 years later the Lexus LS is a mainstay of the luxury sedan market. And it didn't get there by sitting on its laurels, so it should come as little surprise that Lexus is offering some small tweaks as it enters the 2015 model year.
This time around the upgrades are rather minor, consisting primarily of a new multimedia system. It's got an updated navigation system with 12.3-inch display, revised backup camera imagery with dynamic gridlines, and an enhanced Lexus Enform App Suite that can control the locks, ignition, climate control and more, remotely.
While they were at it, Toyota's engineers also reduced the turning circle by four inches (on cars fitted with 18-inch wheels), and enhanced the F Sport package as well. Otherwise, it's essentially the same LS we've always known.