texasjohn

Hello thanks for the heads up. I bought an E500 instead so no longer looking.

Unfortunately it has all gone horribly wrong, it was sold to another buyer yesterday or this morning. I told the dealer in Plymouth I'd buy it yesterday, but could not get down to pick it up (self employed so a day off work costs me more than delivery of a car) and would happily pay for delivery to my house. They would not sell it to me unless I picked it up, due to potential liability connected with Distance Selling Regulations, so I asked them to reconsider otherwise I may have to leave it. I then went to another Snows group Lexus dealership in Hedge End, on my doorstep, yesterday afternoon and tried to buy it through that dealership, I waved my debit card at them but there were only salesmen present and they told me a manager at Hedge End would need to speak to a manager at Plymouth during normal working hours, although in principle they said it should be fine and agreed to speak with Plymouth this morning and arrange to have it shipped up. I phoned the Plymouth dealership today and was told that it had now been sold to someone who was prepared to collect it. So that's that. I am in the hire car until further notice. I could have put down a holding deposit but didn't want to until we had terms agreed, that I suppose is the risk you take. To be honest, I'd rather have the GS460 but with only 15 or 20 ever registered I don't see one coming up in a hurry.

I don't think £500 per year is too much for the warranty, for peace of mind. It only takes something like a sat nav unit or amplifier to go 'pop' and you have covered your cost.

Yes, that's what I mean, most sat navs seem to have birds eye (north up), birds eye (direction of travel up) and some have a perspective or '3D' mode, although some older systems (older MB COMAND springs to mind) only have the first two. I suspected that there was little point using anything other than D but useful to hear everyone's views on it. I'm looking for a comfortable motorway cruiser with a bit of straight line speed and a decent stereo, so stirring the gearbox is not really in my list of needs. Will probably put 17" wheels on it if a set come up on eBay cheap, I thought the ride could be improved a little particularly at low speeds. I drove a 650i yesterday (19s) which wasn't that much worse than the GS450. At present I have a rented Hyundai i40 estate. It rides very well (16s) and is really quite a comfortable car, has all the toys but the stereo isn't up to much and it's gutless (1.7D).

By the way, two questions 1. Does the navigation map have a perspective mode? I forgot to check when I went to look at the white car. 2. Is there any point to using the 'manual' +/- shift mode on the CVT? Does it act like a normal auto and hold the car in a lower gear ratio? It just seems pointless to have this facility on a CVT!

Thanks for the comments. I have spoken to the dealer again today and intend to go ahead. They will have someone from admin call to take a payment tomorrow. Mileage on the car is 69k. It's the silver car at Lexus Plymouth. The only negatives are it has missed one service at some point in its life (around about 35000 miles) and two of the tyres are a brand called 'Greenway' which sound like rubbish. The dealer for the 08 car won't budge at all on price or include additional warranty beyond 12 months or two proper tyres. But given local independents are selling older or higher mileage GSs for the same price (closest to me is a GS430 07/07 with 68k for 7990) I think it's a fair deal. A white 2010 450h at my closest dealer has similar miles and is wearing a pair of 'primewell' tyres, which are of dubious quality too. That car is 12k though and in my eyes isn't good value and has no ACC or sunroof.

That's useful to know

Personally I would try and stick with OEM wheels but that is just me. With aftermarket brands you pay for what you get and cheaper wheels may well be less durable. Good aftermarket brands that spring to mind are Enkei, Rays, OZ, BBS, Rota. None of these are particularly cheap. Proper refurbishment, blasted down to metal and powdercoated, shouldn't cost much more than £300-400.

Evening folks, After many years of German cars I am new here. Very taken by the GS as a value for money alternative to the usual suspects. Just looking for a nice comfy cruiser. I have decided on a Lexus GS and as you know the 450h is probably the most prevalent. Before I make the leap and buy a 450h I wondered if there are any members on here with the (rare) GS460 8-speed? I've been looking out for one but none have come up for sale, unsurprisingly. I liked the car but not a big fan of the CVT gearbox on the 450h and a bit more boot space would be nice. There is a 450h SE-L (ACC, ML, Sunroof) out there at the moment which feels like a super deal to me, an early 08 plate so 186g CO2. 12 months Lexus warranty, under £8k. I will have a search on the forum but if anyone can advise what the best iPod connectivity solution is, I'd be grateful. Looking to connect digitally and have navi screen access to files and folders rather than having to select on the iPod itself. If there is a Lexus kit then great, I will see if I can order that from the dealership.

Thanks for the heads up. Also new to the forum and looking to buy a V8 Lexus (GS or LS)