Leaderboard

My RCF Carbon is in at Lexus Hatfield having the £45 winter health check and preparation and so I organised with the dealership to borrow the new long wheel base RX450h for the weekend. We have 4 children between 10 and 13, so we need a 7 seater and I have managed to get this Lexus on my other half’s list of cars we are considering. The model we borrowed is in Luxury spec and apart from that I didn’t spot any obvious non-standard options. So my impressions are: - it is deceptively quick, clearly not a patch on the normal monster I drive, but in town from any speed the hybrid motor provides that instantaneous torque which makes the car feel a lot more nippy than it should. It also means the car is a lot quieter as the gearbox doesn’t kick down as far as it needs. Which means it picks up speed without making the normal fuss - which means when you look down, you don’t realise how much speed you’ve taken on - speaking of quietness, it is almost Bentley quiet in the cabin, bit of tyre noise, but apart from that it is a very pleasant calm place to be - stereo is awesome. It’s not the Levinson in this one, but still sounds great. Music was okay but with spoken word (DAB radio but also audiobooks and podcasts) the hifi was particularly well resolved - the ride is good if a little wallowy, granted this is particularly noticeable from me as I’m going from the ridiculous into the sublime, but nevertheless it is good and very well at everyday speeds on almost any road surface - I haven’t extensively tested it off road, but the few bits I have driven down (access roads to dog walking car parks in the South Downs and a farm entrance to visit friends) the car didn’t deal with them very well at all. Over sprung and under damped on rebound I would say - meant it sounded and felt very crashy. Not a patch even on my old Mitsubishi PHEV thing. - size and practicality. It’s MASSIVE...much bigger than an Outlander. But the legroom is pretty bad in the back. The middle row of seats slide forward and back which is cool. And with 5 people it’s v big. But the draw of this car must be the 7 seats and unless you are transporting 5 year olds, someone is going to be complaining Overall? I really liked it, but feel it is flawed. And vs the pretty flawless Xc90, i feel it’s going to struggle.

For reason I won't go into, I went to the (VW) T-Roc forum the other day. Bearing in mind the T-Roc has been out for only about four months, there are probably 100 threads already cataloguing loads of faults, including clutch failures. Long live Boring Forums!

Got it about 2 weeks ago. Obviously it is not a lexus, but it has the exact same engine and most of the buttons are identical. ok if I join in?

There is usually so little to read on this forum, it could reasonably be described as pretty boring. I can go on Jaguar and BMW forums etc and read about all sorts of problems with engines, gearboxes, suspension problems, starting problems, creaking, rattling trim, electrical issues, not to mention the countless diesel related problems. I recognise that there are far fewer LS cars on the road than BMWs and Jags but perhaps, sometimes, it's good to be boring? (I hope I'm not tempting fate, the only issues I currently have on my 400 are the windscreen washer light on, I can't be bothered to fix it, and a new cable needed for my heater temperature control, which may be a major job and not worth resolving. Perhaps the final test before buying a new car, is to gravitate towards those with the quietest forums?

Evening one n all, Ryo is organising a Mini meet at Tesla Oxford services, meeting will be at 1pm with some American F’ers who own a Super charged RCF, open inveration to one and all. hopefully see a few there. Paul

Many thanks Herbs, that was really what I was looking for,

Les, thanks for posting those photos. I can now see what is meant by machined and not painted. Please let us all know what happens. It'll be interesting to hear if you are offered/you accept refurbed wheels and if you have them painted to avoid the same problem recurring or if new replacement wheels are supplied but without the machined parts.

I am still amazed that I bought a celestial Black car. But the combination of black and cream/ivory inside is just stunning.. Also the car was almost showroom standard. Very pleased. Thanks everyone for helping out. I collect it on Tuesday after transferring the money tomorrow. Ls430 gone....😕

Pretty sure you can manually open the tailgate

Don't forget that mpg always drops in colder weather.

They absolutely can be converted to LPG. We had ours done within a month of buying the car and it was absolutely excellent.

I fitted an easy access jump start terminal to my Prius. To make the system safe from reverse polarity connection, and accidental short circuit of the jump point to ground I fitted a 50 amp stud diode in series with the jump point. This stops current flow from the jump point if accidentally grounded, and prevents reverse current flow if the jump leads are wrongly connected. John.

That's why I love this forum. I learn something new everyday. I think I will stick with a upgraded halogen bulb, but have read that some of them don't last very long. The search continues. Keep the comments coming folks.

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts Tom. Views from real people are often far more insightful than what’s written in the press. Out of interest, what vehicle are you currently using to transport your large family? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thank you thats useful comments, we wanted a car that stands out a little, because there are so many similar looking SUV type vehicles out there, its seems to me when driving around every other car seems to be a Chelsea tractor (RR) or a Nissan quashqi, i do like the gearbox transition on the NX that shifts between electric & petrol, and found acceleration good on a test drive, and following a great deal of research over 12 months on all the manufacturers, we found that the Lexus NX was the only car that offered something the others didn't, which i found interesting, and in a crowded market swamped with SUV type vehicles makes the NX fairly unique, so looking forward to getting the car next February.

Uau! That's quite a step from Smart to a SUV Lexus! You will notice the difference and not in size only but in fuel consumption as well! lol! Welcome to LOC David!

They look bad. Hope u get replacements or at least refurbishment. I bought this one this afternoon.Paid £23250. https://mylexusview.vehicle-vision.com/presentation/1e07b58e694a47c0afd83324e62e922a/lexus-rx450h No machined rims!

Well, we're a year in with our NX Premier. And re still convinced that we made the right choice. The mainstream choices are German or JLR. The press reviews focus on sportiness (ha ha ha ha - in an SUV), image, and above all - seek to reflect mainstream popularity to keep their sales up and advertisers happy. And by the way, sales of medium to large SUVs from those manufacturers are tanking as they're dependent upon diesel. If you need to buy something for image, status anxiety or keeping up with the Jones', don't get the Lexus. It's an independent choice and most people don't know what they are. Any Lexus is not a mainstream choice, and all the better for it. The things that make it right for us include: They Hybrid mode. We bought ours with actually money so didn't want to be exposed to taking residuals on diesel cars. And petrol only was a bit too juicy. It's not even trying to be sporty so don't drive it like a sports car. Just relax and waft along. The fuel economy is as good as or better than most diesel SUVs in normal driving - 38 mpg average over the year. in 17k miles, not a thing has rattled or gone wrong. We've almost forgotten how to get to the dealer. This car will last a LONG time. The radar cruise control is excellent, makes a long journey so much easier. The Mark Levinson stereo is AMAZING. All the toys were included. The only options was the protection pack, well worth it. And the satisfaction and reliability surveys put Lexus at the top and Germans/JLR mid-table at best. Yep, I still don't like gearbox, the engine start/stop occasionally isn't as smooth as it should be and I've nearly thrown the sometimes bonkers satnav out of the window. But the latter is not unique to this car. Take the plunge and don't worry about the others. They can follow the status-needy crowd.

I had a phone call from Lexus Derby yesterday requesting pictures of my wheels so they can open a case with Lexus UK. Took these this morning.

nearly ever car designed after 2005 is built with a price in mind and not a standard as they were prior ot 2005 i had been a honda owner for some 25+ yrs ( lexus wernt about then ) having virtually ever model they produced prelude x4 crx x2 accord accord type r accord aerodeck nsx na1 s2000 x2 jordan civic, logo etc and the build quaility was second to non so in 2007 i bought my wife a civic gt 2.2 diesel and was utterly discgusted in the quaility "lada esque " door handles sat nav that pack in ! knocking from front , gearbox was shocking ...i then went to lexus (pre owned ) and havent looked back wife has a 250 se-l and im going to buy another gs300 sport .. what people dont realise is we all drive around in cars 5-8-10-12-15 yrs old and expect them to be just as they rolled off the line . ... ive tried the bmw -merc -wouldnt go no where near a vw - stuff and nothing compares to LEXUS ..... just my pennies worth .

All the best Tim.

Just got the 911 back from its service- this was the major one, car has 40k on the clock and is coming up 8 years old at the end of the year. Bit of a cheat as the final bill includes some warranty and new front discs and pads. Porsche certainly know how to string out the list of service items though and somewhat tied into all that if you want the warranty - I went into ownership with my eyes firmly open- still they did water a bit when I saw the bill. Biggest disappointment was that there weren’t even any mints in the glovebox!