wharfhouse
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Posts posted by wharfhouse
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Costco £1.46 a litre for E5 - depending on annual mileage worth joining Costco just for the fuel?
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52 minutes ago, Julie Churchill said:
I bought my Lexus CT200 in 2021 (2018 model). My insurance renewal quote has just doubled (RAC) and I have been refused a quote by Churchill due to my car being a Lexus! Absolutely flabbergasted! Just spoke to Lexus Croydon who say they are aware that some insurance companies will not insure Lexus cars. This was obviously not mentioned when I purchased the car…. I love my car but will now have to consider changing to another make. Very disappointed.
I would run quotes on one (or more) comparison sites. I was concerned over my IS 300h insurance this year, and although my existing provider (Tesco) was asking for 77% more this year than last, I used a comparison site and managed to get renewal for only 15% more with One Click which is with Aegis (I live in Berkshire so not as bad as London but still south-east weighted). Premiums and willingness to insure a particular marque/risk are very insurer dependent.
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I've had two replacement screens in my IS 300h - one was Pilkington and the other Fuyao. Both were marked up as acoustic glass and other then the name on the glass I couldn't see or hear any difference between OEM and either of these. Both were fitted by Autoglass - I took the car to their centre to be done as it was within walking distance of where I live. I did notice after the last one was fitted that the passenger windscreen wiper was in a higher park position than before and so I removed and repositioned the wiper arm myself. May be worth taking a photo of where your wipers park now so you know they are put back in the same place.
The fitter is right in that windscreens are cracked regularly, especially on today's potholed roads throwing up more stones. It's also one of those "probability" issues - for example on a previous car I had gone for many years with no problems and then had three replacement windscreens in nearly as many weeks...! On my IS 300h, I've had the current Fuyao windscreen in for a few years now but in the first year after it was fitted picked up two small bullseye marks near the rear view mirror. Fortunately these have got no worse and I've received no more (large) stone chips and none are a MoT failure. I don't see much sense in doing anything about stone chips as I know one day something will hit the windscreen necessitating another replacement.
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5 minutes ago, peniole said:
Here's something that also makes no sense in the UK insurance market, compehensive vs 3rd party cost difference is negligible. Why? Every other country I've insured in, 3rd party is considerably cheaper as the goverment mandated option.
I've actually found that 3rd party sometimes comes out MORE expensive than fully comprehensive when I've experimented before on the comparison sites!
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There seems little rationale or logic behind the increases and to me just seems like insurers are out to get as much as they can while they can - in my case here are a few examples over the last couple of months:
- My mothers 12 year old Audi A3 (lives in North Yorkshire) that two years ago was about £350 per annum, then last year £510, renewal this month was £933 - so 83% increase (all those years were with LV Insurance) - no change in circumstances other than she is 3 years older (now 86 years old) - LV would only reduce it £45 on calling them - ran comparison quotes and best she could get was £792 with another insurance company so took that.
- My daughter and her fiancé with a 4 year old Kia Niro and a 13 year old Ford Fiesta (live on the south coast) and both cars with Admiral insurance multicar saw about a 25% increase in premiums - no change in circumstances except a year older (both under 30 years old) - but on calling Admiral they got the increase in premium roughly halved (so about 12% for the year).
- My wife's 4 year old Toyota Yaris (we live in Berkshire) with Tesco Insurance went from £234 to £366 - so 56% increase - no change in circumstances. Ran comparison quotes and got it down to £294 with a different insurance company so changed to them.
- My 9 year old Lexus IS 300h with Tesco Insurance went from £374 to £661 - so 77% increase - no change in circumstances. Ran comparison quotes and got it down to £429 with a different insurance company so changed to them.
Having seen all of those within a few weeks of each other just highlights how broken the whole insurance market is.
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22 hours ago, Cesar said:
I've bought mine this year IS300H 2014 with 300k miles and drives smooth, the previous owner had done all services in main dealer. Hybrid battery will need replacement soon that's all
How do you know the hybrid Battery will need replacing soon - have you had any errors being shown? If the hybrid health check has been carried out to schedule (which if it's been serviced by Lexus it should have been) then the Battery is warrantied for 15 years with unlimited mileage and so should be changed free of charge.
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11 hours ago, binnocorp said:
I really want to know what the next model will be, considering they have an SUV/crossover for basically every size car (that the UK could want).
Surprised that the LM came to the UK market. Checking the new registrations for those will be interesting over the coming years…
For IS owners, would you consider the ES? Assuming the CANBUS problems are fixed in the future?
No - IMHO the ES is a totally different proposition to the IS - I'm simply keeping my IS for the foreseeable future and see what happens in the car market in the meantime. Lexus had lost the Dale of at least one new IS from me and soon could have been two.
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5 hours ago, Notamech said:
I see this with most car manufacturers these days. Their entry level cars are a disfigured "SUV" they're killing off all the sedans and compact hatchbacks and pushing these ugly small SUVs.
But to be fair its probably what most of the market wants. Most people arent car enthusiasts they want a functional comfortable car and dont care so much about "sportiness". Despite me choosing an IS because personally i like sedans and i like reliablity more. I see the impracticality everytime i try strapping my kid to the child seat and her head hits the ceiling when getting her in. At those times i feel like a taller car would make sense.
Also while i love the IS for what it is. It honestly isnt the best sporty compact sedan out there and those looking for a compact sporty sedan probably buy BMWs
Until you get bored of BMWs - which I did after quite a few that all seemed to start blending to be the same car even after new models were launched and wanted something left field and so chose the IS 300h which was different enough to be interesting and kept me interested such that I have no idea what to change to - so will keep it soldiering in for a while longer yet.
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41 minutes ago, Thackeray said:
I think it's mostly just for fun. In a manual car you might change down to get more power for faster overtaking. You can simulate this for the same reason - higher revs gives more power, perhaps when you're about to overtake. But with this transmission you can get higher revs just by pressing the accelerator in a way that is not possible in a manual. In past years, journalists who didn't understand this described the transmission as being noisy. This is wrong. It's not the transmission that is noisy it's the engine, which like any other engine is noisy if you change down to the lowest available gear when the car is moving at speed. It's just that you can get maximum power in this transmission just by pressing the accelerator, rather than having to manually change down.
You can also use the paddles on a long descent of a hill. But I generally use the brakes in order to get maximum power regeneration. If the hill is not too steep you may be able to slow the car enough with a light touch of the brakes which will only use the motor-generators, rather than the brake pads, to feed electricity into the battery. And when the battery is full, the car will increase engine revs automatically to provide engine braking when the battery can take no more electricity. Sometimes you might think the engine is running when in fact no fuel is being used but electricity is being drawn from the battery and the motor-generators are turning the engine without petrol. This is done to reduce the charge in the battery when it's close to the maximum.
In D the "gears" are designed for hill descent etc as above to aid engine braking. In S and Sport mode the paddles it gearshift sequential give 6 simulated "gears" that can be used more like a normal gearbox - they work but after a few plays with them didn't see much benefit other than getting ready for a quick acceleration like an overtake - though in practice mash the pedal to the Floor and whatever you're in the car seems to deliver max power from engine and Battery together anyway.
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22 minutes ago, Spock66 said:
So VED rises each year with inflation, but not the £40k threshold which has been fixed since 2017.
Yet more fiscal drag...
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1 hour ago, Bob99 said:
I’ve started looking for something to replace my is300 I have had for 10 years. Drawn up a similar list to everybody else.
LBX, CHR, Corolla, CX 30, Honda Civic
Quite liked the LBX but expensive in Takumi spec, CHR not sure about the interior and not a fan of flush door handles. Liked the CX 30 in Takumi spec but mate has just got one and it seems a bit thirsty. Civic similar size to my IS but not sure the build quality is as good as the doors felt a bit tinny.
There are compromises to be had with all of them from boot size that will fit golf clubs and trolley in to rear seat space and dealer proximity.
Out of all of them my favourite is my IS300 it’s a shame Lexus stopped it as a modern version would probably have been my choice.
Your IS 300h probably isn't worth that much now - keep running it until it gives up? I'm in the same position - really like my IS 300h and just can't see what else to move to at the moment that would give me anything more so for now it's cheap motoring to keep it...
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31 minutes ago, Stever750 said:
I've been experimenting with eE5 vs E10 on the basis the facebook UK owners group thought is almost unanimously a noticeable improvement in eco. I did with my Super 2.0TSI, not so sure with a normally aspirated engine. Two tanks in on E5 and I can't see any significant improvement in eco, but i did change the rear tyres after the first tank to supposedly A rated eco ones, but yet to see any real benefits. I guess cruising at a GPS speed of around 80 doesn't help.
Changing something part way through a test certainly wouldn't help with setting a benchmark. Given I do a lot of miles I have been able to do some pretty exhaustive testing comparing E10 to E5 over many thousands of miles on the same roads, same weight in the car (hybrids seem sensitive to weight, even the contents of a full tank compared to a near empty tank) and weather conditions (very important, especially to a hybrid as air temperature can make a lot of difference to the Battery efficiency and how much it supports the ICE / runs in EV etc.) to try and remove any placebo effects (I'm not one to be drawn in by the petrol companies marketing claims). My tests have been mainly done comparing Sainsburys E10 (95 octane) and Sainsburys E5 (97 octane) all bought from the same fuel station with a high turnover of fuel (using the same fuel station with a high turnover is important as different E10 and E5 brands will produce inconsistent results, old fuel vs new also, and even different fuel stations of the same brand can). I am confident that under the same conditions that E5 delivers between 5% and 10% better fuel consumption than E10. This of course comes from a mix of the lower ethanol content and the higher octane rating of E5, though which contributes the most is anyone's guess.
A few other points that I have noted are:
a) The car runs more quietly and smoothly on E5 compared to E10, especially at higher speeds and accelerating hard.
b) I haven't tested for any performance gains with E5 over E10 and I doubt they would be measurable in a hybrid, but just noted as in a) above.
c) The improvement in fuel economy seems to be better with E5 at low speeds (there seems to be better pulling power from low speeds on E5 lowering the amount of throttle needed) than higher speeds - hence my 5% to 10% span for improvement as it does seem to vary a little depending on what sort of journey is undertaken.
d) As the fuel in the tank ages the difference between E5 and E10 become more noticeable - so E10 left in the tank for a couple of weeks seems to deliver noticeable less mpg whereas E5 doesn't seem to anywhere near as affected.
Since doing most of my comparisons I have now switched to using Costco fuel and did a few tests with that which largely bore out what I found with Sainsburys fuel.
So my rule of thumb now is that if E5 is no more than around 10p per litre more than E10 at the same fuel station (at todays prices) I will be saving money or at worst breaking even using E5. More than 10p per litre difference then it will cost more to run the car on E5 (putting aside other less quantitative benefits such as smoothness and noise etc.). Given that Costco E5 is as cheap as the supermarket E10 and much cheaper than any branded E10, and the car appears to run very well on it, that is now what I use wherever possible.
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27 minutes ago, mujib1 said:
Thanks. The latter part of your answer was what I was referring to. For example was quoted £250 for single TPMS sensor replacement as part of a service / MOT but got that done elsewhere for £90. I understand that this may not then be covered under warranty but not sure consumable parts such as tyres, brakes etc would be covered anyway..
Yes brakes and various other consumable / wear and tear parts aren't covered as you say. A TPMS sensor I'm pretty sure wouldn't be covered. The 10 Year Plus Extended Warranty is pretty comprehensive (better than 3rd party ones) but is more for the bigger things that could fail and shouldn't in the time/years of the warranty. BTW if you didn't know - it also includes Lexus Roadside Assistance within the annual cost (LRA is around £155 per annum and so makes the overall circa £500 of the 10 Year Plus Extended Warranty better value still).
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1 hour ago, mujib1 said:
Does taking out the 10 year warranty plus obligate you to have any recommended works done by Lexus post mandatory service please?
I don't quite understand your question but will try and answer best I can. If there are any outstanding issues on the car before the 10 Year Plus Extended Warranty is requested then these will need rectifying before you will be able to take out the 10 Year Plus Extended Warranty. After that the car must be serviced by Lexus as per the schedule (12 months or 10k miles whichever comes first) for the warranty to remain valid. AFAIK any other work doesn't have to be done by Lexus but if there is then an issue with that work I would expect any warranty claim to be turned down.
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1 hour ago, Notamech said:
Not surprised. I was in a similar situation last year and was on the motorway halfway back to London from Southampton when i reached the red-zone where it asked me to refuel. I just ignored it and continued driving some 30-35 miles till i reached the fuel station close to home (its much cheaper than ones on motorway services) and filled around 58-59 litres. Like you I was pleasantly surprised that there is a lot of range left even when the refuel light comes on. This is the complete opposite of "range anxiety" more like range tranquility. And for this reason alone i wouldn't buy an EV yet.
Yes, I get close to 600 miles from a full tank - which I have needed many times and I couldn't have been stopping for the few hours extra that would have been needed (at least with today's EV tech) to complete those trips.
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23 minutes ago, Cotswold Pete said:
I always assumed with any of my cars (not just Lexus) that an emoty tank had somewhere between 6 to 8 litres still swilling around.
But running the tank dry meant over time sucking tank debris into the fuel line.
Only ever ran a car to zero once, but it was a 6 month old Ford Escort and all seemed fine, not so sure would have try that on a 10 year old motor unless I had no choice.
I know fuel filtering better than it was years ago, so maybe less of an issue to 'go low' on reserves.
My E350 says fuel is low when there is near enough 100mile range which is about 10 litre in the tank and with my old LS I recall getting over 50miles when I had 'run out of petrol'
Yes, I don't do it on a regular basis - usually refuel at around 1/4 tank and before the light comes on but had a few more miles to do this time than I had planned for so it was one of those moments that I probably won't experience again so thought I'd see what numbers it presented when refilling.
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In case anyone is interested, I found myself a few miles from a fuel station today when the mileage remaining in the fuel tank registered zero (well it actually just says "Refuel" when you get to that point and then stays at that). The fuel light had been on for some 30+ miles before this. Yes, I know - living on the edge!!!
I did about another 5 miles, mostly in EV mode to the fuel station after it hit zero miles left as it was mainly A roads, and then filled the tank to the fuel shutoff, and then just a tad more to account for any frothing. With that I put 58.1 litres into the tank.
Given that the tank holds (according the specs) 66 litres, that means there is around 8 litres remaining when the miles left being reported hits zero. I generally achieve at least 10 miles per litre (using the car computer), so in theory that means at least 80 miles of range left (taking it steadily) after the car reports zero miles. Now, I don't know whether the full 66 litres can be used (the take off pipe may leave some still in the tank, I have no idea) but if you ever do any maths and wonder why it doesn't seem to add up the reason is the 8 litres left in the tank once the car reports zero miles remaining.
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17 minutes ago, Stever750 said:
Sorry, one more question and one unlikely answered in another thread without huge amounts of searching.
What the max length of flat pack you can fit in with the rear seats down? The item I need to collect is 1.5m in length.
I've just picked up one of there from IKEA in my IS 300h - https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/kallax-shelving-unit-white-80275887/
With packing this would have been 1.5m long. Backs seats down and my normal driving position (I'm nearly 6ft tall) and there was still a good 10cm to spare.
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I asked on the Lexus mag forum about the vulnerability of the IS 300h to CANbus vulnerability through the headlights as it wasn't in the list of cars due for any retrofit, both for my current 2014 model (which shouldn't be vulnerable) and if I purchased a post face-lift 2017 model (which I thought might be) - this is the reply they posted:
Hello Phil,
Thanks for your question.
Your current IS 300h is not impacted as the technology that enables CAN bus theft isn’t in those vehicles.
While no car can be considered 100% immune to criminal intent, our Product Technical team have also advised that the IS 300h from October 2016 to September 2020 Production is not affected by CAN bus theft due to the platform of the vehicle.
We hope this helps.
Thanks.-
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1 hour ago, Tickedon said:
Lexus have published a statement and for the first time detailed models at risk…
https://mag.lexus.co.uk/lexus-uk-statement-on-vehicle-theft/?
On the plus side, it sounds like they have something planned beyond the protection plate for the previous RX generation.
Interesting that there is no mention of the IS on the list - I thought facelift models from around 2017 also had the CANBus vulnerability through the passenger side headlight (but not the original pre-facelift from 2013-2017)
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34 minutes ago, Stever750 said:
Although there is a perfectly usable Yokohama E51A on the rear (not the GT as you pointed out) the other side is a name i don't even recognise, so tomorrow it will be fitted with Falken Azenis FK520 and get a 4 wheel alignment check using the Absolute Alignment system.
Sounds good
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15 minutes ago, GMB said:
I lost 20 years NCB when I moved back to the UK. Quote " We do not accept NCB earned in another country". So back to Zero on three vehicles. Thanks UK insurers. Nothing I could do. Funny thing is that one company said they could accept it and their costs were higher than the ones who would not. Odd!
When I moved from a company car to a personal car the insurers accepted a letter from my employer that I had no accidents in the previous x years and so started me with some NCB (though unprotected). That was a lot of years ago now so not sure whether they do the same today.
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12 minutes ago, Bounce75 said:
The only issue with Tesco ins is they only give 9 years NCB & I had 20 years when I joined from the AA last year.
I have had to phone them & they are sending out a letter with 21 years NCB proof.
I've found that it doesn't seem to make any difference after the nine years....
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22 minutes ago, Bounce75 said:
That is probably a very good idea.👍
I was with Tesco the year before and when it renewed last April it went up 37%, but as it was still within a few pounds of the cheapest quote when I ran an online comparison I stayed with them. Hoping that given last years large increase, this year may be more palatable... but not holding my breath!!!
E5 petrol prices 🤔
in Engine & Transmission
Posted
Cheapeest is £1.52 for E5 at Tescos near me - sometimes more...!