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All fitted now and over the moon with it

Delighted to say my RCF will be Quicksilver equipped when I pick her up next Thursday.... Vroom vroom 😁

I've come late to this thread - so late that I've missed Paul. It's worth picking up on the oft-discussed "CVT drone" and "gearbox" points though. Owners who enjoy their NXs may feel defensive about this because motoring journalists cut and paste the same criticisms of Lexus models from one review to the next. As long as people expect to hear a linear relationship between engine revs and road speed, they will never get used to a modern hybrid. Even describing the compact power-split e-CVT unit as a "gearbox" kind of misses the point, as though Lexus & Toyota selected it in preference to conventional transmission options for the hell of it. Over 14 years of hybrid ownership I've got completely used to the decoupling of engine speed from road speed, and I still think that the Lexus/Toyota hybrid system is a generation *ahead* of any pure ICE drivetrain. It's a fact than when accelerating hard the NX hybrid system is noisy. It's also a fact that most of the rest of the time - and especially in urban situations - it's much quieter. Since hard acceleration is probably less than 1% of the time spent in the car, it's a tradeoff I'm delighted to make. Others - like Paul - may differ. There's still a challenge for Lexus sales staff in articulating this for potential buyers; and a risk that Lexus might be tempted to compromise the efficiency of the hybrid architecture by trying to replicate the behavior of conventional drivetrains. Perhaps all of this will be rendered irrelevant by the arrival of Lexus EVs in a few years.

Or for leaving the dog in the car 😊

Fair play - you don't mess about! Enjoy - look forward to your views once you've experienced it!

I had continuous problems with the Engine warning lights telling me that fuel/emissions/timing/CAT's, you name it were faulty. After about a year of these issues, I heard a blow in the exhaust and on inspection found three pin holes right next top the sensors in the exhaust pipe. We have a tyre and exhaust depot near us and they made up a complete system from the down pipes to rear including silencers and CAT's for under £800. all in S/S and it sounds great, nice and quiet. All done no more issues with warning lights and a long life exhaust - job sorted. Might be worth asking the question and one of your local exhaust chaps.

My cars to be featured on 3 of their different web sites and fb pages next week, as “car of the week” virtually everyone from company was out taking photos and vids whilst it was being tested out didnt half give me that warm fuzzy feeling inside 👍🏻

2x remotes and the obd11 Bluetooth dongle so I can operate system also via phone app and recieve info on how engine and other systems are performing

Rare colour. Looks epic at this time of year, when the sun is (mostly) out. 👍

Hi all. Done about 3000 miles in my es now all settled in nicely. A word on fuel economy. I drive regularly from east Manchester to Telford. So urban then M60 M56 to Chester then A41 (yes I know it's not the shortest way but it avoids M6 hell).its about 80 miles or so with a variety of roads. Didn't take care of the fuel economy and didn't hang around on the motorway. I got a fuel consumption figure of 60.4 mpg for the trip which I think is phenomenal! Photos attached by way of proof. Just very impressed with it.

A couple of months away until Lichelle returns to Germany.... #ringprep underway 🙂 So far - RR Racing USRS 10 litres Mobil 1 Mahle oil filter Brembo discs front and rear Brembo rear pads Ferodo DS2500 front pads HPS post MAF intake pipe Tom's drop in filter Dot 5.1 brake fluid Just got to decide whether to run the HPS Intake pipe with Tom's drop in filter or run the Takeda intake currently on the car. 🙂 I wish I had a cheaper passion sometimes 😉

I've been using it since 2013, so as long as I've needed it I'm on PS4s now as well. I'm not a good enough driver to notice any difference.

I use a very special Lexus paperclip 😀

This makes sense, thanks!

Given the price I got it for I couldn’t say no, would have regretted not doing it and would have wasted money in the process.

Lexus have an official eBay store in the UK they still supply spares parts and accessories for older RX. http://www.ebaystores.co.uk/LexusOfficialStore

Thursday 13 June.....Flash sale at ECP on wipers today.

Wow that looks a quality bit of kit, love the idea of the remotes and obd, must sound awesome. Just had a look through the website, must admit the idea of being able to chose how loud you want it does have great benefits, and you can have the option of back tips too.

No problem, having lived with the exhaust for a few months now and of course the stage of driving with the windows open like a big kid just enjoying the sound is a novelty that will probably never wear off. But at cold start up you and your immediate neighbours will know it's up and running it's not anti-social loud and as soon as you put it in gear it subdues. One of the reasons I chose the RCF and paid attention to on the test drive was whether it could do longish motorway journeys in comfort, although I sold my big Luxo-Barge and fly if i have to do a long distance these days, but I have found a two hour continuous journey fine. As I mentioned if you cruise at the motorway limit with a light touch on the throttle or even in cruise control the exhaust doesn't really intrude but if you press the throttle you know it's there.

Thanks @DAW, I found your original post on this last night and that is my intention: Lexus Stockport -> TWG area manager -> Stockport dealer fit if all is well. Like you I value dealer fit.

The 2 for 1 warranty offer has been around for forever. An invitation to purchase is always part of the bumpf/paperwork whenever I've collected my car again after any visits to the dealer. Good luck with the purchase [emoji16] Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

@black-on-black Consumer Rights Law applies, you have the right to reject the vehicle within 30 days and make him take it back and give you your money back. I would offer him a choice between that and fixing the car with a new part and giving you appropriate paperwork for it.

Thank you I sent a message just now hopefully you'll get this resolved asap.

Sorry ,both dent pulled handle badly scratched, panels down to metal and primer,then painted lacquered. When I can work out how to add photos I will.

You right to say that smartphone apps does not usually support more advance configuration (although Carista does have some of that), but that is not limitation of OBD2 reader itself - interface is the same. When it comes to Lexus (not sure about other cars) you could find all errors including ABS by connecting to "ECU". Yes ABS have it's own controlling module, and there are dozen similar modules for all different things, but what we need to be clear OBD2 connect to all of these modules as long as they have connection and are programmable. "ECU" (Engine Control Unit) is misused term back from the days when only the engine had control unit. OBD2 does not actually connect specifically to engine control unit, it connects to bunch of individual sensors and some of them are part of various units. What I am saying?! - in theory you can all the same on the app as you can do on any cable, bt or wifi readers, they all connect to the same. The difference only comes to "generic" applications and car "specific" applications. So specifically Toyota/Lexus TechStream will have largest coverage of the options available for Lexus and they would be better described with proper names and not generic codes.

As @Geoffers says above, you've been very lucky. A traditional car only uses the battery to crank the engine and the starter motor will draw a current of 300A upwards whilst it's doing so. Once the engine fires and the alternator is spinning it's the alternator that feeds all the car's electrical demands and also keeps the battery charged. If your 12V battery in the hybrid isn't up to providing the 300A or more cranking current, it will look to the very expensive DC-DC converter (which is our substitute for the alternator) to provide it and if it does so, you'll very quickly hear a loud bang and see the magic smoke that makes it work, escaping at a rapid rate of knots.

Not doubtful at all. The 12v battery on a Hybrid car is not designed to start an engine. It has a much lower continuous current and even lower CCA (cold cranking). As above, it is there to start the control circuits and some other backwardly compatible 12v systems. The 12v is charged not via a conventional alternator, instead it uses a DC-DC converter. If you are jump starting another car and your battery doesn't have the available current, this will be load the DC-DC and there is a good chance of damage as that certainly isn't there to start another vehicle. This then results in not being able to start your own car. Yes you've been lucky and I'm glad. Unfortunately, lots of people have suffered failure. There are now warnings in the newer manuals advising you not to jump start other vehicles, something that should have been there from the start as the risk is too high. If someone was say, holding your puppy to ransom and you really, really, really must do it, then leave your car jumpered to the other car for a few minutes WITHOUT turning the engine over in the other car, allowing the other battery to charge a little. Disconnect and try to start the other car. That is probably the absolute furthest I would go if I had to. Glad I haven't got a puppy really.... Some models don't need you to press a button on the keyfob to unlock the car. Providing the key is on you or in close proximity to the sensors, the car will unlock as you touch the handles. This uses a lot more power in standby as the method for communicating and searching with the keyfob is very different than a conventional alarm/central locking that just 'listens' for a signal.

I have seen IS250 to 4L 1UZ-FE swap from Lexus LS400 and typical LS1/3 swaps (tell me what car didn't have LS swap?). After all IS-F mule was based on variation of 2UZ/3UZ versions, later UR1 4.6L before development of UR2 was completed. In term of 2GR and 3GR - that would obviously be easiest, but I guess the question is because of V8 - which has a charm of it's own and V6 cannot provide that. That said - all engine swaps are possible and IS250 can certainly "fit" V8 engine. From the practical point of view - before you finish the swap you will certainly spend more money than IS-F is worth which kind of defeats the purpose. Well except of maybe having fun project.

Lots of useful info in this discussion following my first post. I've posted a photo of my 13-reg 300h, for which I paid £12250, which I judged a fair price. It's a Luxury version (whatever that may imply, and clearly from earlier posts the spec can vary widely) - but it has reversing camera and cruise control, although not adaptive (which I mistrust anyway.) Leather heated seats, etc etc. The only thing I miss from my LS430 is the driver's seat position memory (an odd item to exclude from a luxury spec, but there you are.) I'm managing regularly to achieve better than 50 mpg by careful driving technique - select cruise early, no blipping the throttle, careful braking, etc. I reckon I'm set for the next 5 years, by which (optimistically) the car will have paid for itself and at 82 I'll be in a rest home.

First of all Michele, just to avoid confusion, the 'main' battery in a hybrid is the big traction battery (nominally 288V), not the 12V auxilliary or starter battery. Personally I've never been a fan of the solar panels. They do appear to work alright and there's nothing wrong with them but I just think that there may be times when the car may not be parked out in the open (hotel underground car park for instance) and so they are rendered useless just when you might need it. I much prefer proper jump leads or, even better because you don't have to depend on a 'donor' car, a jump start battery pack like this one here. This particular one is capable of supplying 800A peak power but, as you'll see from the photo below, my RX450h only draws 15.32A to get the car into the READY state so you could go for a smaller, cheaper unit if you wish. I've got one but decided to get the 800A one in case I ever need to use it to jump start someone else's car - you never know when someone may ask for help. I've had it in the glove compartment of the car for over a year now and never needed it yet. It does hold its charge very well, still being more than 80% charged after five months, but I suppose a small charge every three months or so will ensure that it's almost fully charged for if it's ever needed. I suppose what I'm saying is that I'd be inclined to return the solar panel and get a jump start battery pack instead, but that's just my own personal preference and not based on any technological argument.

No, the best thing you can do is to just leave the factory satnav as a rolling screensaver because it's old, clunky, counter-intuitive and just awful and use a standalone satnav or Waze on your smartphone instead

Update: All those light bulbs are somehow different, these are the part numbers I ordered (to replace all those lights at once): Bulb, Vsc Off Switch Toyota 90010-01147 Bulb (For Pattern Select Switch) Toyota 90010-01059 Bulb, Seat Heater Switch Toyota 90010-01070 Bulb, Throttle Position Switch 84999-10710 and this is how they look like (if you have never replaced them)... One of them was missing the green hood (probably needs to ordered separately, but I missed that), so I just re-used the old one. BR.Sami

Fair enough, but you do know that Lexus/Toyota don't make exhausts, tyres, batteries, wipers and suchlike don't you? They just buy in from whoever does make them, put their markup on and then sell to you. If you ever needed it (hopefully not) you could get, say, a genuine Lexus camshaft because they do make the engine, but not items like above. And yes, probably way out on pricing but I'll almost guarantee it would be cheaper. I had quite a rare Nissan at one time and none of the usual suspects could supply a new exhaust. Nissan main dealers wanted almost £900 but I got a whole custom-made stainless system, cat back, guaranteed for the life of the car and the guarantee transferable to new owners if I sold the car, for £390. They measure everything from diameters of the pipe, to lengths, to bend radii all from the existing system so you can't tell that it's not a "genuine" one anyway, except in the wallet department.

The stainless steel exhaust system was exclusive to the LS400 and the first deveation from this was on the ls430 which had mild steel back boxes .The cost of a complete system was probably a factor in the decision as Lexus were now paring the production costs of later models having established itself in the market place. As for the rest of the Lexus range it would be interesting to know how much of a stainless steel content there is in the exhaust system.

Although our car is used daily my wife doesn't drive, so if I'm incapacitated for any reason I can see that the 12V battery may be flat before I'm able to drive again. Of course, Sod's Law dictates that it would be on a cold, rainy day and I'd have to empty the boot of all its contents or risk losing the little plastic clips if I were to remove the engine bay covers to get at that more convenient jump point, so I decided to avoid all that hassle and fit a socket in a convenient and easily accessible place in the boot. Jump leads are great if there's someone else around to provide a donor battery but that doesn't always happen, so a while ago I invested in a jump start battery pack something similar to this one but mine's an earlier model. The hybrids don't draw a lot of current on startup; you'll see from the photo below that my RX450h only draws 15.32A as opposed to the 300A+ of a traditional starter motor, which means that I can use a small, neat socket instead of something big enough to put the big crocodile clips on. I decided on a panel mount 2 pole Neutrik speakON socket and the corresponding plug. These are actually loudspeaker connectors but they're rated at 30A continuous, so plenty beefy enough to handle the current. Having chosen a location the first job was to pull out the light to make sure there was enough room behind the panel and that I wasn't going to damage anything with the drill. The wiring to the light looks dodgy but I'm just waiting for a new connector to arrive so it'll be all proper again shortly 😉 Next job was to make sure I could get the cable to the required location so I pushed a piece of old earth cable down from the top and left it in place to use as a draw wire later. Once that was in it was time to drill the hole using a step drill and test fit the socket. Next job was to get the wires into the conduit, tie the conduit on to the drawrope at the bottom and pull it up through the hole. Next was termination. My original idea was to use spade connectors but when I pushed the socket back into the hole the connectors came off, so I resorted to soldering them on instead (and forgot to take a photo of that). Next it was just a matter of routing the conduit round to the battery and using cable ties to fix it to the other conduits going across the car. Before connecting to the battery I used my Megger to check for short circuits positive to negative, positive to chassis and negative to chassis, in case anything unforseen had happened. All good, so time to connect to the battery. Finally, a test of it all and you can see the battery voltage. All I need to do now is to make up the lead with the speakON plug at one end and the Anderson SB50 connector that plugs into my jump start battery pack at the other end and, as we say up north, job's a good 'un 😊

On the question of performance, I think you got to be honest and says straight away, all these cars are going to be rubbish. Large, heavy cars, powered by circa 200 bhp diesel or petrol electric engines are never going to set the world alight. There is no joy in pinning the loud pedal on any of these cars. To say one is better than another is like saying it’s better to be poisoned rather than jumping off a cliff. The same can be said of handling, S line, M sport, Amg line and F Sport are all totally marketing BS. Put any of these in an actual environment where their performance and handling is laid bare ie a race track and see just how awful these cars actually are. But that’s fine, we understand that a 520d msport is not designed to be the greatest performance car BMW has ever made (and as I’ve spent a lot of time over the years driving an E46 M3 CSL in every environment I.e road, track, autobahn, Austrian pass etc. That car is arguably the greatest performance car BMW has ever made, so ive got a reference point here). these cars will be used on the congested highways and byways, usually at times when the highways and byways are at their most congested. The hybrid powertrain really shines in this environment. It is at its quietest and most efficient in traffic. That’s what it is designed for. Fun fact, in stop start traffic you can actually drive the ES in total silence just from the steering wheel using radar cruise. The hybrid It’s a massively relaxing place to be and it needs to be as your going to be in it for 8-10 hours and 300-400 miles per day. In the real world, hybrid beats stop/start diesel power. It’s a compromise sure (and soon to be outdated itself), but it’s better. To reference back to the review, let’s think about each choice. The Audi is no doubt a superb car, but having owned an A6 from the emissions scandal period, I’m done with VAG cars. In the same way UK customers can whistle for their compensation my £40k every 3-4 years walks straight out of their showroom. The E class, again, a superb car. 2 big issues. The interior. You might as well walk into the showroom and ask to ‘bling me’. And I’m sorry to say but the other issue is the whole taxi thing. So the BMW. Let’s put it out there, it won this test as overall it’s the best car. It just is and in pretty much every metric the ES will fall short in comparison. the carwow review did hint to the ES’s appeal when it mentioned the black tie analogy. The BMW is the sharpest cut, best fitting tuxedo. You will look a million dollars. Problem is, so will everybody else as they are all wearing the same thing. It’s it nice to turn up at the ball in a white tux and a massive smile on your face. But to pull off the ‘being different trick’ the ES has to be close enough to the competition. It cannot be a total disaster as then you are just cutting off your nose to spite your face. The ES manages to be close enough, while maintaining its quirky appeal (and to my eyes, looking the best of the bunch).

Hi - I have a 2008 RX400h, owned for just over a year. Best decision I ever made! I thought 10 years or 100,000 miles was the warranty on the battery but tbh the battery is rock solid. It's scare mongering. If there is a hybrid health check from Lexus, then you are fine. You can also use a specialist to repair individual cells should a problem occur, at a fraction of the price of a replacement battery. At 67k it is barely run in. Mine was 120k when I bought it and I've done 11k since without the car missing a beat. I paid £6,500, a couple of dings but good service history. Plugs change at 60k intervals so got that done (big job!) as it needed a service, the wheels are usually rubbish, mine was no different so got them refurbed properly (not painted) at £65 each, and had the bonnet front and two corners with deep scratches painted. Cam belt and water pump changed at 100k. So I got a £46k beast of a car for about £7200 and I have no regrets. I don't use Lexus as they are way too expensive for an older car, my local garage service a couple of others. Only issues I had were oxygen sensors with an electrical specialist sorted. I replaced the mass air plow sensor which probably didn't need doing as it turned out but I have the original still as a spare. The self levelling headlights don't work and is a common problem, my lights are a bit low but pass an MOT. Again, costly to replace but YouTube have videos on cleaning and replacing the springs which is usually the issue. The sensor site on the top of the rear axle on the drivers side and get full of cr*p. If your lucky they can be cleaned up. Dead easy to remove with the wheel off. I just have the front fogs on as well which is plenty for me I have had one of the four O2 sensors fail and the garage said don't get an OEM one (£60 or so) as they won't turn off the engine warning light so I had to bite the bullet and paid £193 for the Lexus one. If was smooth before it is even better now so worth the spend! So back to the battery. Toyota state the hybrid batteries in their cars are zero maintenance and are expected to last the life of the car, which is 18 years (I think). Search here for battery issues, very few. Everyone seems to worry about hybrid batteries. As a rule they are way more reliably than the engines they support! The pulling power and acceleration is breathtaking. On a journey I will sometimes turn off the music and sit in silence. Literally. No bumps, no creaks and squeaks, tiny bit of wind noise. It's surreal, feels more like flying than driving. I love it. Put 15 bags of gravel in the other day, say 30kg a bag, that's 450kg. Barely noticed it was there!! Buy it if the history is good, walk if no history. I went 200 miles to get mine. I had the car surveyed by Click Mechanic which I would highly recommend because as you say, these are very complex cars and can be expensive if they go wrong. The have a 3.3L V6 engine, it eats miles. Drive with a feather light right foot, lift of whenever you can, keep 70 and under on journeys, that way I get 34mpg in summer, 29/30mpg in winter cos the engine works the heater. Trick I do is use the heated seat instead of the heater as much as I can. Good luck!

Nice one, Bet you have been pounding the roads of Yorkshire since then with a broader grin than usual. As for a second hand gearbox? I think the one from the ISF written off a couple months ago was being offered for £3K. but go find another second hand one somewhere if you needed one.

I noticed that but I didn't need three poles and, weirdly, the power socket is rated at 20A but the one I used is rated at 30A. What really drove my decision though is that I already had a surplus socket in my junk box so I only needed to buy the plug 😊

My little beauty a few years back.... loved it 4.0 V8 GT limited

Just to add, this is exactly the reason I bought my ISF, we are very close to the point where these cars do not exist anymore, so want to enjoy it whilst we still can!!!

I leave my keys by the front door, if they are that keen to have my car and break in, I would rather they do that without disturbing me and the missus