Assa1974

I bought my RX400H last March and after a short 15 months I've now sold it. For the first time since in 25 years of driving I do not currently own a car and it's a bit scary right now. Anyway I wanted to give my short-lived but exceptional companion a quick eulogy. It was by far and away the best car I've ever owned or had the privelage to drive. Completely reliable, comfortable, quiet, quick when required and totally capable in every way. However, the one thing I have noticed as the whirlwind sale took place over the last 24 hours is that I've come to realise I did't have the same personal connection with it that I have had with other cars I've owned. Technically it's utterly brilliant, no doubt, but I never found it's personality. Was it simply too good? I think perhaps the lesson I've learned is that the cars I've loved the most in my past have not been the ones that ticked all the boxes. They weren't the most practicle or economical or reliable (far from it thinking about my Alfa). Something for me to ponder as I search for my next car. That said, I can't argue with getting back exaclty what I paid! I suspect I'll file Lexus Ownership under 'unfinished business'.

I'm seriously thinking about getting a Saab convertible at the moment. Used to drive my parents' 900i and then early 9-3 back in the 90's. The 900 in particular is an appreciating classic these days.

What do you consider high miles / low miles, old / young? For £6500 you're looking at 2005 - 2008 cars with anything from 70K to 150K miles. My advice would be to not worry so much about the age or mileage and just concentrate on the history & condition. An older car that's done more miles but has been only ever used for the daily commute by an older owner is likely to be in much better nick than a younger car with lower mileage that's been an abused family car.

Had my car serviced by my local garage last time - £130. Got a quote for a timing belt change. He said £450 but he also said he didn't want to do the job after talking to Lexus and being told there were potential complications with the start-up routine after disconnecting the battery, which is a load of bull**** and sounds like the local Lexus dealer scaring off an independent in the hope I'd take it to them. Unless the car is under warranty or still young / low mileage I would never consider using a dealer for servicing. I'd also try to source parts myself where-ever possible even when using and independent.

If it's a direct comparison then obviously the 450H is the way to go. However if it's the choice between a high-miler 450H and a low miler 400H then there's other aspects to consider, mainly how tidy the car is. Do you want all the modern toys and don't mind the scratches/chips and/or worn interiors the 'cheapest' 450Hs are bound to come with or are you happy to put up with 15 year old tech if it means a near-perfect body & interior?

There was a thread on this very subject I posted to only last week: http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/98620-rattlefrom-underside-of-my-400h-se/ The putty did the trick - super easy.

I'm chuffed I found this thread! I've had an annoying rattle at MWay speeds for a few weeks now. Thought it was some loose trim in a rear wheel arch but once patched up the rattle was still there. Just had a crawl under the car a lo', it's the heat shield. Thanks to those who went before I can now fix this easily enough. Forums to the rescue again!

Oddly mine had stopped working but when the car came back from it's MOT/Service last week they're working again and I'm sure the garage didn't do anything!?

I tracked down the source of the noise. The trim on the inside rear of the rear left wheel arch has split along the bottom edge where the rear bumper attaches. It looks like there's a attachment that joins the rear bumper, this piece of trim and a third section of trim together (unusal to attach three sections at one point) on the underside. I suspect this has failed and the split has propogated along the bottom edge of the trim. The result is the bottom edge of the rear bumper inside the wheel arch is hanging loose so at speed it is being defelcted and banging. I'll tape it up for the short term and source a new piece of trim. It doesn't look too hard to remove and refit.

Driving down to work today I became aware of a loud rattle coming from the rear of the car, apparently under the rear seats on the left hand side although it's hard to pinpoint from the driver's seat. My first thought was the exhaust was coming loose but it's the wrong side. I then wondered if it was suspension but the noise didn't coincide with the movement of the car on the road. I've just done a short run this lunchtime at low speed and there's no sign of the noise despite numerous bumps, potholes and traffic calming humps. My conclusion is there's something loose that is moving around in the airflow at higher motorway speed. I had a quick scan under the car but nothing is immediately apparent. Any ideas what it could be? The car is due in for a service / MOT so hopefully they'll be able to track the issue down.

Those don't look like the standard rear screens. The standard ones are in the headrests of the seats with the DVD player under the driver's seat. These look like (better) after market players. IIRC the rear entertainment system was never a factory fitted extra, it was installed by a 3rd party when the cars arrived in the UK. I viewed a lot when searching for my car and the quality of the installation was variable. Personally I avoided the cars with rear screens (I was looking at the same age of cars) because the quality of the screens compared with today's tech is poor, most had some sort of issues and they generally went hand-in-hand with less-than-prestine interiors in the rear. Portable DVD players are cheap anyway.

Friends got an Evoque 18 months ago - it took 9 months to arrive and even then LR had mucked up the interior. Their cars are hideously over-priced and it's the worst kind of badge prestige. The Evoque is a horribly compromised design and I don't really get where this new one fits into the range other than, as others have said, by making room by changing the RRS. Still why would you get one of these over the Disco? That's what annoys me about LR these days. They had a perfectly good range with the Freelander, Disco, Defender and RR but by pandering to the urban chic crowd they've diluted what made the brand great IMO. To answer the question, though, no it's no competition for the Lexus. Completely different market.

On my 400 the warning light comes on early into the final quarter and I;ve had the needle firmly on R for a few miles several times and it's taken less than 60 litres to fill so there's a healthy reserve. I reckon I can easily get 75 miles from the warning light coming on. It's very conservative.

On my two 200 mile commutes this week, including cold mornings, I managed and indicated 34mpg. I estimate that cruising along at 65mph gives me about 4mpg extra compared to the 70-75mph that I used to consider 'normal' motorway speed. The revelation is that it barely costs me any time mainly due to driving in rush-hour traffic so my average speed is not effected much.

It's a little bit of a faff TBH. If you do a google search you should find plenty of advice and I'd suggest you do that even if just to verify what I've posted below. This is a procedure I picked up myself doing just that. I can't promise what results you will get but it seemed to give me an immediate improvement even if it was only a couple of MPG on a long drive. 1) Make sure the vehicle is fully warmed up. Do the procedure immediately following a long drive that runs the engine (highway speeds are best - not long gliding stealth runs at low speeds with the engine off). This will insure the coolant temp is at FULL operating temperature - it is not necessary to actually measure the coolant temperature if you warm up the engine sufficiently and don't let the engine shut down too long and cool off before doing the procedure. 2) With the vehicle stopped and in drive, press firmly on the brake to keep the vehicle from moving and then step on the accelerator while watching the power meter (to the left of the speedometer). Press down on the accelerator to keep the needle between 1/2 and 3/4 up the scale. You will find that the engine management system will automatically limit the engine load no matter how far you press down on the pedal so the amount you press is not critical as long as it is either 1/2 scale or to the engine's self-limiting load value. Keep the engine loaded for a full 30 seconds but not longer than 40 seconds (this procedure brings the hybrid battery up to a maximum state of charge - if you watch the battery symbol, you willl see it tick up to a "full" display). 3) Shut off the engine and place it in park 4) Wait 5 seconds. 5) Turn the ignition key back on to display "ready" 6) make sure the A/C and heater system controls are set to off 7) Lightly step on the accelerator pedal until the engine starts -then immediately take your foot off the accelerator and let the engine run until it stops by itself. This completes the procedure.