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All the Toyota/Lexus hybrids are exempt from emissions checks because the engine has to be revved off load, and the revs held at a given level. This cannot be done as to rev the engine it must be in drive, and hence is under load. The engine may also turn off in the middle of the test or even not start at all. Some MOT stations have to be reminded of this. Mine always needs reminding, and I always get the same look followed by are you sure. The tester then goes off to check, and comes back saying your right. This maybe because there are not many hybrids in the area although I do now see the occasional Prius. John.

Now, most of us on the Lexus Owners Club are proud of our cars and love to keep them looking clean. However, birds are not so keen on this and regularly evacuate their acidic (and sometimes seedy) excrement all over our paintwork. Anyway, Ive been doing this trick for a while now and I thought some of you guys who live close to the shore, near the seagulls or just happen to find your car covered in bird poo on a morning would find it useful. Now, the test vehicle - my son's MK5 VW Golf in Black Magic Pearl and the result of his hospital placement in Scarborough: Yes, after a quick wash, it appears that seagulls have left their trace permanently on the paintwork. The first picture actually has scratches in it, no fault of the seagulls but my son knowing he should wipe it off quickly decided to wipe off rock hard poo, leaving scratches in the process. Tools needed Bog standard hairdryer Mild polish - Autoglym SRP, Autosmart Mirror Image - something along the lines of that Applicator MF cloth Method Essentially, the idea is to heat up the paintwork but not get it too hot. That's why I use a hairdryer and not a heat gun. If the bird poo is fairly recent i.e. up to 1 week old like the one in the second picture, it'll be removed in 1-3 minutes of heat exposure without the use of a polish. If over that time, in my sons case, the 1st picture was over 1 month old, it may help but won't remove bird poo etching completely. and here are the results - bear in mind this method works only if the bird poo is fairly recent i.e up to 1 week old! Above - the original etching was over 1 month old. It has been improved but catches the light in certain angles. However, it is a massive improvement from the dull, scratched look earlier. This required heating with a hairdryer and 2 hits of Autosmart Mirror Image to get to this level. Above - the original bird poo etching was 1 week old. It was COMPLETELY removed during the process whereby it was heated with a hairdryer only. No polish was applied. It cannot be seen in any angle, in any light, no matter what the circumstances. Hope it helps! Let me know what you think.

Hi Paul How about an NX? I've just swapped to one from my RX. Not quite as quick as an IS but plenty of space which I'll need when it's the youngest's turn for uni. Chris.

Thanks Steve, i have changed them for original parts, and the ride is just great now.

Yes, could be right with that. I'll see if it's the same as the rears when it's next misted up as they don't have the coating. Might keep an old wiper blade for the fronts in the boot

Spot on! It's the first 5 characters on the Version number. Ignore the * and the ring around the Variant. Glad to know mine had all new brake calipers, disks and pads all round fitted two years ago. Thought they looked clean with no rust on them. Also had new nav unit fitted in 2012.

I have just completed a 1500 mile holiday travelling to and from and around Ireland and got an overall consumption of 34.6mpg, not too shabby considering the type of driving and the amount of stuff plus three passengers being lugged about.

Glad to be part of this, Steve. Here is one photo from today. The reason it took so long is that we live in London and did not really need a vehicle. We just wanted one and the time was now. I read in the handbook that the levels Normal do Lower are switching automatically between them depending on the speed. Would try to see how it does when going country and chose L as a start. This is our Lady in Red.

On likes can I say all of it? Well most of it. I've had my two year old NX for two weeks now and love it. Likes: Being able to have all my music on a USB drive and select an album etc by voice. The 360 camera for getting round the kink in our drive and into the tight garage. The card key. It's much less bulky in your pocket. Dislikes: Having to wait a couple of minutes before being able to browse or select music by voice each time you start the car. The music not muting for Sat Nav voice guidance. The connection for downloading routes from My Lexus seems a bit hit and miss. Oh and it's so slow compared to my old RX400h. Wait that's four, I can't have that.

Ok here's the update to the issue...It was the wheel bearing. Thanks to "the acre" for a correct diagnosis . Sourced the part and fitted it this afternoon. Quite an easy job to do as well if you are keen on the spanners. Weirdly I had an engine light come on this morning but since replacing the bearing and taking it for a drive the light has gone off. Don't know if a diagnostic test would reveal the bearing problem but it just seems a bit of a coincidence . Anyway , happy days and thanks again.

10€ on WISH, installed in 1 mn, very satisfied with the result!

I think there should of been a recall regarding the GS450h struts - some members have had premature failure even after having them replaced. The Lexus warranty will cover them at some dealers, at others they wont, and Lexus are the only ones with replacements. For this reason I think these cars will be prematurely scrapped - thats sad news for a unique car with its unique performance.

It's an expensive replacement strut they are anything between 5 and 700 each new plus fitting you cannot replace just the fronts with conventional it has to be all I had the same with a rear left I bought a full set air struts second hand fitted one for £100 I have sold the car to get a sc430 mmmmmm oh sorry got carried away and I have three shockers left in my shed to sell if your interested regards les

The springs arrived as promised yesterday (KYB Proflex) so I would assume OEM quality but my local garage couldn't fit it onto the strut until today. Bit of a squeeze but managed to get it back with just the drop link disconnected and a bit of pushing and shoving so back on the road again. Going to get the garage to fit the other when it's in for an MOT in a couple of weeks, my days of greasy hands and dirty fingernails are coming to an end these days.

I never had auto fold on locking mirrors on my 2007 SE-L ( I think it was added around 2009?) so I invested in a PO-40 module to achieve this. Had a slight hiccup after fitting in that the mirrors only folded upon Double Locking the car ( something I don't always do -naughty boy!) but I wanted them to fold on 1st stage locking so I could see from a distance that the car was at least locked to 1st stage! see my thread here Cheers Paul M.

Thanks for the advice. I’m sure I will get more MPG as I improve the smoothness of my driving. While at the Derby Community Hospital this morning a 17 reg NX pulled up next to me. Lovely car in a dark bronze colour. Hybrid as well then on the other side of me a Toyota Auris hybrid pulled in. There’s more of these Toyota / Lexus cars around than I thought once you start looking around.

Hasn't quite got the right interior mats yet, but it's finally here! It did take almost a full month from date of offer and nearly three weeks from date of agreement, as they managed to send the wrong set of cars over the Irish Sea. Anyway, there it is - the outgoing Mark II CT in the Sport Plus trim (thus sunroof, beepers, reverse camera and half-tahara/leather on the all-sport outline including black alloys and front grille). The sunroof is nice - makes the whole car feel airier.

I think Lexus have been reasonably smart here. They've put together a relatively inexpensive face-lift and drawn attention to the model just at a time when people are falling out of love with diesel. If you only need a compact car, and want better mileage without the use of diesel fuel, options are fairly limited. You have either the Prius, where the looks are too much for some people, Auris or CH-R, Kia Niro or Hyundai Ioniq. More prestige brands such are relatively expensive plug in hybrids such as the Audi A3 E-Tron and Golf GTE. I suspect by extending the life of the CT200h, they have probably caught quite a few sales whilst the market is going through this paradigm shift away from diesel while most prestige manufacturers dont have a ready, non-diesel solution. Might turn out to be a smooth move. Personally, I'm very happy with my CT200h and even with its idiosyncrasies, I cant find much else to replace it with when my pcp is up. May just buy it outright as GMV might be a shrewd figure with the death of diesel pushing up hybrid second hand values.

Great photos, you can probably guess from my username I've owned a Corrado in the past 😀