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I sometimes find it difficult, as a follower and occasional contributor to the LOC, to quickly and confidently distinguish legitimate opinion-based argument from sterile forms of argumentativeness, correct information from incorrect information or (heaven forbid) wilful misinformation, and legitimate complaints from generic rants. I think, Renato, you are going to get this on any forum. The LOC is far better than many I have used in the past. The moderators are keen to try and prevent this. Some feel they are too quick to jump in. However, if posts breach T&C guidlines, then there is not excuse. We must accept that people on the forum will have different opinions, some of them entrenched. I am pleased when debate gets heated that moderators step in to defuse / end a situation developing. Here on the LOC, we are far more civilised than other car forums!

I have done 5 trips to North Norfolk and back to Gloucestershire since March this year, all roof up, 2 people, 2 dogs, boot full. Weather has been mainly fair but some rain, traffic variable but mainly good. Route M4, M25, M11, A14, A11/A134/A1065/A148 to Cromer. All at legal maximum conditions allowing. Total distance c1500 miles Average MPG 30.1 Fuel Used: Tesco Momentum 99 (mainly) & Shell V-Power. I am happy with this.

I drove 170 miles to collect this car. This Premium Pack ES was the only one in the entire Lexus Network in Mesa Red and tan leather interior when I saw it. Like hen's teeth in this spec. It arrived at the dealer who said this colour combo/spec won't hang around long. Sales talk maybe but there was some truth to it as I just couldn't pin one down. What I am getting to is this car was coming home with me unless there was some significant reason why I wouldn't want it. I've had a Premium Edition ES but the spec is well below a Premium Pack and my very first ES in 2019 was a premium pack so I knew my third ES had to be a premium pack The scuffed bumper is something I don't even think they knew anything about even when they did the second year service before I went down. My life was spent in body shops so the actual damage was an easy fix for me but I take the point that a Lexus approved car shouldn't be sold with this sort of paint defect. I agreed £150 reduction on the price as it was agreed the damage came under the heading of a Smart Repair or localised paint repair. I intend to take the bumper off again in a years time and have the bumper fully painted to bring it back to new condition but this localised repair will do till then. I'm at the stage now where I need to use some stopper paste or body putty as some people call it. It's very fine grade of filler and is good for very fine micro scratches prior to priming. Not sure the parking sensors will need to be re calibrated. I removed both bumpers on a Lexus LS460 for repainting once and the sensors worked fine when reconnected.

It's because it doesn't have an Audi/BMW/Mercedes badge. Was it Clarkson who said that if you put one of those badges on a plate of sick, they would fly out of the shop?

Nice move, Malc. Congratulations.

Very true, and in itself a highly positive contribution to Lexus’s image without the company’s involvement …“LEXUS. THE CIVILIZED PERSON’S CAR”.

Oil has brought us decades of prosperity just look at the rise of the western world in the last century. It created possibilities to travel by car boat plane is the basis for numerous products and was the driving force of many economies. The dark side is the drilling can be a pretty horrible story with human rights issues and slave labour and wars have started because of oil. The slogan Stop Oil is naive as we just cant. Looking for alternatives yes fine great idea nobody will debate this but it is not as simple as it sounds.

Agreed, it would not make sense for Lexus to directly participate in the Forum, but I do hope they are lurkers and take note of some of the discussions.

Spot on Ken, a very valid summary of good reasons to buy from a Lexus dealer. You will pay a premium for the purchase and the servicing but you will have peace of mind that you should not be landed with a huge repair bill if something goes wrong. Advice - get an insurance quote before you buy.

I wish l had a product that the law says you have to buy!

As somebody who has spent their entire career in the Printing Industry I agree that there in nothing better than a hard copy printed manual!

You are absolutely right with what you have said there about the inconsistent practices - its ridiculous. Also because of this it seems you have to question, check everything that they say and provide evidence to support your case which is so irritating. My partners 4 year old Yaris Hybrid had its service and I had told them that there was a fault with the front parking sensors in that they get triggered at very random points when driving by a leaf blowing past, exhaust vapour from a car a mile away, spec of dust drifting across (ok a bit of an exageration :)) but makes my partner edgy when the car suddenly warns of an obstruction ahead that isn't there. They are ridiculously sensitive and trigger for no reason at all. They said no fault found and all ok, I went outside with her to drive off and as soon as I started the car was warning me of proximity danger at front, I was still stationery and the object in front was the dealership building but it was at least 8m away. I went back inside they sent the service person out and he said oh yes that's not right but don't know what it could be and we haven't got any available appointments today so bring her back in future and we will keep her for a day / look at it again. When I got home I did some research myself through my work system and found that Toyota were very aware of this issue on the 2018 Yaris models and had implemented a free 'chip' change / fix completely rectified this but were not doing it as a recall and only if the customer complained about the issue and insisted it to be done. Toyota however had rectified it for 2019 models onwards. I PDF'd the information and emailed the dealer and they said they knew nothing about it at all but would order the chip and replace free of charge. Its a bit mad that its the customer who has to do the work to identify the fault to get it sorted especially with a company such as Toyota who seem to recall cars for the pretty much everything.

I’m relieved in a way that I know it’s not ‘just me’ who is witnessing this because for a while, shortly before becoming a member on here, I thought maybe I’m being too harsh with my grumps with the sales team I’ve now been dealing with for 13 months. I know I’ve been asked what dealer I use, but out of respect and decency whilst my long-standing order remains ongoing, I’ve chosen not to say for now. Given my location, that certainly limits the possibilities. All I’ll say is that my dealer has been discussed by at least one other former member in the past (after a bit of searching), but our experiences are very much ‘chalk and cheese’. Recently in another post I said that that it’s unlikely I’ll be dealing with my particular dealer again after I collect my new car (currently due in September) and would unlikely buy another Lexus after this upcoming one based on this experience alone. It would take something pretty special from them in the remaining time I have to wait (or upon collection) for me to change my mind on that. Given how woefully uncommunicative they have been for over a year since I placed my order, in my heart I think enough damage has already been done. I’ve never, ever felt this way about one particular dealer of any brand I’ve dealt with in the past and it does shock me that Lexus, in my opinion, have very much let themselves down. What I find particularly sad is that I’m quite a ‘soft’ person and I am beginning to feel as though I’ve been taken advantage of. I don’t particularly like confrontations but it’s had to get to that point over the last month or so just in order to get something...anything...to happen. I can see it all bubbling up when it comes to sorting out the finance with them/getting a trade-in value on my existing car and again on collection day.

Just seen on the Facebook LOC:

Get an insurance quote first before considering an RX.

Some of it I guess has to do with the motoring press as well. With pretty much all UK motoring brands being German (or European conglomerate) owned the press has to pander to those brands. There is a very popular reviewer on YouTube who reviewed cars from all the big three Germans and Lexus ES was included in that round up and according to that one reviewer .. the Lexus was the worst of them. I have personally owned Audi and BMW (Audi from brand new) and I am at least one single data point that does not agree with that outcome. The ES when I considered buying was priced in the BMW 3-series segment but had the space/comfort in the 5-series class. Compare U.K. with North America though and the situation flips (in my opinion) towards the right direction. The German cars over there are considered mostly lease-only products. If someone has disposable write-off eligible income they go and lease a German brand car. The fleet market in North America is majorly occupied by other Asian brands or budget American brands as well. I was able to rent a VW at one occasion somehow as I had a Hertz Emerald membership provided by my employer and I walked out of SFO arrivals and completely randomly this VW Jetta was the first car on the lot and I was in a rush. Every other time the rental was a Nissan or a Ford. Also, Lexus are not doing themselves a favour by marketing the ES (and pretty much all hybrids) as e-CVT. The press especially totally unfairly rags on the hybrid drive system. The ES makes less noise than the chain-rattley BMW 4-cylinder I had. Also, try to kick down a Volvo V90 (lowest powered petrol variant was the one I test drove) and it makes a proper racket... and doesn't go very fast too. The Audi A6 I had was on the awful S-Line suspension and not only the engine was droney, the tire noise was horrendous ! Lexus should simply take away that term e-CVT from their marketing materials and start using the proper term Planetary Power Split Device. But I think recently, newer Lexus products are getting favourable reviews from the press. But sadly, the newer products are quite expensive (The NX and the RX) The one reviewer I believe is quite a fair reviewer on YouTube (savagegeese) has reviewed the new products and has concluded that the ES is a far better Lexus than then new NX and RX are. --E

By all means try that as it makes perfect sense (to us mere mortals!) ... but when I renewed earlier this year I went for a higher voluntary excess and the premium went up too! Work that one out!! 🤔

Pick my 450 up about 4/5 weeks and it has a full paper manual. Still waiting for mudflaps, wheel locking bolts and the second key.

Just recharged this afternoon and got the same result as the previous charge - 53.3/54.9.

A/C would make a small 2hp difference but I'm sure they turn it off. Heated seats wouldn't make a difference. I'll post it up once we go.

Lexus doesn't fit run flats on the 300e electric UX. They're only fitted on the 250h with 18" wheels. Not sure why but guess it might be something to do with the extra weight of the 300e or extra torque or the noise of runflats might be less acceptable in the electric model.

Interesting thread. I agree that the es300h represents fantastic value for money compared to German counterparts but the reality is people just don't want to buy saloons anymore. They are considered old fashioned and seriously uncool. A real shame but they suit my purpose for now but my next car wil be an suv purely from a practical point of view.

I ordered mine, price fixed, last year in September, so may have price increase since.

I have always assumed that Lexus’ marketing and technical support people do not participate in independent forums because it is the company’s policy not to do so. And although the policy may not extend to dealerships, perhaps because of enforcement difficulties, the latter are probably informally encouraged to follow it. Not, I imagine, that the majority of dealers disagree and haven’t already instructed their staff accordingly. Independent forums are not a controllable medium and are, as such, anathema to anyone responsible for promoting and protecting a company’s interests and reputation. I sometimes find it difficult, as a follower and occasional contributor to the LOC, to quickly and confidently distinguish legitimate opinion-based argument from sterile forms of argumentativeness, correct information from incorrect information or (heaven forbid) wilful misinformation, and legitimate complaints from generic rants. Lexus, were it to actively participate, would need to address and evaluate these and other issues before responding or risk alienating unquantifiable numbers of people by not doing so.

I’ve always had BlackVue cameras. in fact it was the evidence collected by my last cameras of an HGV swapping lanes to write off my last car, that convinced his Insurers to pay up in full without further quibble, that paid for my Lexus. BlackVues are noted for superb technology and outstanding reproduction - especially useful if you want to catch readable number plates. Neat and unobtrusive, they also offer a great deal of interconnectability with cell phones, for example, although it’s not something I use. They do lack a built-in screen by which to view video files immediately, but pairing with cellphones gives you better viewing anyway. They are among the more expensive dashcams, so perhaps the first thing to do is determine how much you want to spend - and if you’re going to install it yourself. You don’t mention if you’ve had them before, so in case not, here are some more general thoughts. 1. Always go for a two camera setup. You’re just as likely to be hit from behind as hit something in front. 2. Install the cameras so that they can operate in Parking Mode ie with the ignition off. Again the car is just as likely to be hit - and more likely to be vandalised - when stationary. 3. Buy and fit the biggest SD Card the system will take and keep the smaller card that comes with the camera as a backup. If involved in a serious incident- and able to do so - swap the cards round so that you preserve the evidence. 4. Depending on usage, reformat the SD Card on a regular basis. Say, every 4 to 6 weeks. It’s what the manufacturers recommend to prevent rewriting errors corrupting the video files.

To be fair I was well pleased with the outcome as I phoned them on the Sunday night after rear ending someone lol! And it was all sorted and booked in for the repair on the Monday with collection arranged 3 days later, top job done. The only downside was 3 months later getting a threatening letter off the other parties insurer saying they would be taking me to court for their clients costs because my insurers hadn't settled with them 🥲 After a few long winded phone calls my insurers sorted it, even so I sent a letter of complaint over the hassle I received. Imagine my surprise when nearly 1 year later I received a nice letter of apology and an inconvenience cheque for £300.

That makes sense mate. Totally understand. Yeah I found the headers whilst in the States. The guy wanted to get them moved on desperately as they were worthless over there. I bought an extra suitcase and flew back with them lol.

Picked up my second fob on the 24th July - 6 months to the day after taking delivery of the car. I got a letter from Lexus asking me to book an appointment with my local dealer (Birmingham) and the appointment itself took 10-15 minutes.

As this gets rolled out more widely, there’s a benefit for all RX owners even if their car hasn’t had the modification. Anything that introduces uncertainty or jeopardy for the bad guys - will this car be an easy and quick theft or not - helps everybody, as hopefully they’ll start to look elsewhere and for other targets. My assumption is this modification isn’t about ultimate prevention, it’s more about delay and causing difficulty. If one car takes thirty seconds to steal but another 3 minutes then the hope is the villains will take the easiest option.

@Herbie I'm not shooting the messenger... Just commenting on the facebook post. It may be the case that the NX is not currently being heavily targeted by UK thieves, but it seems a different story in France, with the NX being second to the RAV4. https://gettotext.com/the-toyota-rav4-was-the-most-stolen-car-in-france-in-2022/ And given this seems to have started (according to other articles on the web) in Japan in 2021, we can extrapolate the likely outcomes.... Cheers, Paul

Love that carbon fibre roof!

I few here already have them:

Are you not aware of hyper expensive designerfridges in black or red?? The smegs of the world. Or the american fridges big enough to host a family( well propably not an american family..) its not easy to be a dealer i know. You need to have the hyperexpensive building, the suits the staff have to sell the x number of cars or no end of year bonus. On top maintenance intervals are getting longer manufacturers want to go direct over the internet and all thats left is a maintenance hub on comissionbasis. Large dealers buy smaller ones and its cost cutting everywhere just to survive. Just not a healthy business environment. However, that does not excuse a sub par attitude as far as i am concerned. If you dont know the details of the car you are selling, if you are not interested in long term relationships. Are blatantly arrogant and full of yourself. I can go on and on. I really think dealers will disappear and the village garage and the true specialists will survive. Volvo announced to go full internet only in the UK. Ford will restructure the network and will go comission only and Tesla? Well the propably started all this

Lexus do have their own forums, but I agree independent is better. I doubt the RX Can Bus issue would have had the same focus on a Lexus managed forum.

You make an excellent observation Len. I contacted my dealer regarding the 450 canbus plate saying that it's attracted a lot of chatter on this forum. Intriguingly they had no knowledge of the part and said that they will contact Lexus UK? This lack of interaction with a user forum is diametrically opposed to my Jaguar club where JLR are actively involved thereby adding brand value without expensive s****y Marketing Gurus! But that leads onto different points - what is the point of a user forum? Shouldn't the manufacturer be fronting this up? Fundamentally are they adverse to criticism? Or, are they above it all? Once the product is out of the door is that the end of their job and is now the dealers responsibility ie the middle man? And we all know where middle men are going 🤔

I hope you are correct however.... There are people on here (myself included) who have waited 12 to 18 months for delivery so it does seem quite strange that delivery has now been reduced to 4 months.

On a fast road, with a set of Bridgestone Duellers, the ride on the F-Sport is smooth. Much, Much smoother than the NX's IMHO

Theres a long post here when a CD is jammed which may be useful. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc430-2nd-gen-2001-2010/572620-cd-changer-jammed-7.html A more expensive option is to change the unit if that is the problem and not something like a wiring/fuse issue. Paul Frost has a used on on ebay currently.

hope this helps ! Malc

Well he’s not obliged to read but equally you’re definitely not obliged to post here ad nauseam. As for telling Brian not to read a topic he is a Lexus owner on a Lexus owner forum (see website name) and you are not. You defend your right to a presence here but basically you’re not here to contribute or learn but simply to promote the theory that Lexus owner-owned LCs are overpriced - and prices will fall significantly- in the forlorn hope you can buy one yourself. If current Lexus LC owners object to that somewhat pessimistic theory - promoted by a non Lexus owner on an owner forum, then they have every right to read that guff and object to it, rather than leaving you to peddle your pessimistic guff unchallenged. (Speaking of objecting to your pessimistic guff there is so much nonsense crammed in your last short “market analysis” reply to me that I haven’t got time to address it line by line - but I will later - don’t worry. I rather enjoy it.)

I took Betsy in for her 3 year service at Lexus Leicester yesterday. I was greeted by my name and not "good morning Sir" which I found astounding. It has been 10 months since I was there last. If it was a BMW, Mercedes or Audi, I wouldn't be surprised to be on first name terms with the staff what with having to take the car back every five minutes for repairs. No upselling, coffee and biscuits on offer, Betsy cleaned inside and out, no issues whatsoever. Happy customer.

I think it also bears out my view of people in general, in that few can be categorised in a wholly general sense. Often people will say that such and such person is like x, when my experience has been that they're the opposite. We might all have a base level, but often how we behave is a reaction to either our environment at the time, or the person we're engaging with. I know that I can behave differently with work colleagues, friends or family members, for example. In the same way, a service employee can feel in either a superior or inferior position to the customer, or helpful or unhelpful, depending on the nature/behaviour of the customer, and so will act accordingly. Like I say, whlst we all have a base level, how people treat us will be as much about how we treat/approach them as it about their own nature or inclinations.

Yes, maybe like you I am someone who will do their own independent research and then know where I stand (which I apply to many other aspects of my life) and so often I don't have so much push back as they know I won't take any BS. If I have an issue, once I've given the people in an organisation a chance to sort it out, if they don't then I generally escalate it to someone who can, no matter how high up I have to go. However, I know many people will not take a stand and organisations take advantage of that, pushing them from pillar to post to delay making any decision.

Hello all, I am now in a position to give my view on the standards at the Lexus dealership I bought my RC300H from. I did not want to give full details before until I had given them the chance to rectify (which they have just completed). The dealer I used to have my last Lexus serviced at (Swindon) could not get a used model that i required so I had to purchase from another dealer. At the time I bought I explained I was not happy with the offside rear tyre at all (wont go into the specifics but I have worked in motorsport for many years and had a good reason to not be happy about it. The sales guy said Lexus technicians would not have approved it during the very recent service if it was not ok so I had to accept that. Anyhow I was delivered the car and the driver said 'you do know it only has one key?'. That riled me as it was an expensive purchase and at no point did the sales guy say it was short of a key. Then after the delivery driver had gone I looked at the service book which had not been shown to me before, I was told 3 services done by Lexus and all as they should be. The service book didn't match at all and I spoke to a Lexus contact I had who validated that the service book was accurate which meant that they had in fact not completed any major service at all and it was now 4 years old. Long story short I complained to Lexus HQ and within 30 minutes the dealer principle phoned me to sort things out. He agreed their service department had failed to do the correct service, he agreed that I was meant to have a second key but he said he couldn't do anything about tyre as passed the service. He said I needed to bring it back asap to have the brake fluid etc changed and have the full 4 year, 40,000 mile service done foc plus the second key paired. This dealer is 2 hours from my home and I said I was not prepared to lose time off work and drive over 2 hours each way in my own time to put right what should of been done in the first place. In all fairness to him he was brilliant, he arranged for a really nice loan car to be delivered to me and my car collected for the work to be done. When the service was completed a service person contacted me to advise that lo and behold the rear tyre was close to limit and would need changing in the next month or so and they would do at a special price of £255! I knew that the other tyre on the axle would need changing in next 8-10k so I said there is no way I'm paying for a brand new tyre when I queried this at the start and was told service said it was fine plus they did not supply me with any of the service paperwork to cross reference. They said they would speak with dealer principle and ten minutes later phoned back to say they were replacing both the rear tyres free of charge!!! They have now returned the car to me with all work completed and nothing to pay and collected the loan car. The driver was a really nice person as well and clearly passionate about Lexus. So I am extremely happy with what they have done, they acted rapidly, sorted the immediate issues (service and key / pairing) and also replaced the two rear tyres free! Absolutely brilliant work and I would highly recommend Snows of Southampton to anyone looking for a Lexus and will not hesitate to buy my next Lexus from them.

I agree that seems premature, and Michelin tyres are normally good for longevity. Is this even wear right across the tyre or has wheel alignment maybe contributed to more localised wear? The new UX 300e has a 35% larger battery for better range, although the efficiency still isn't on a level with Kia, Hyundai, Tesla etc.

Hi all, unfortunately there is definitely a dramatic downward change with regards to some Lexus Dealerships. I have to say that Swindon branch where I used to get my IS250 serviced and recall work done are brilliant in everyway and really excelled in both their attitude and the work that they did. However my personal direct experience of two other dealerships has been really infuriating and costly! I am currently in the middle of a huge issue regarding an RC300H 2019 that I bought a month ago from a main Lexus dealer. I will not go into details on the specific branch as I have reported them twice to Lexus HQ for the sales guy clearly misleading me and for them NOT working to or knowing the Lexus servicing schedules; I will not name them as trying to resolve amicably. As soon as (if) this is all resolved I will explain fully but for now all I will say is that while I have a Lexus I will only ever use Swindon for servicing and repairs, although it is over an hour from where I live they have always been honest and straight with me and really do all they can to act / represent a Premium brand as it should be represented. I became a loyal / avid Lexus fan over the past 7 years but sadly my current experience has made me think that I will never buy another Lexus in the future or at the very least never buy from a main dealer and only use Swindon for work required.

The best theft protection

I've been fortunate as the two dealers, Battersea (now closed) and Guildford have been pretty good. The service has been polite and courteous, and they've carried out the required services, with an information video, coffee, biscuits and courtesy car when needed. Can't ask for much more really. To be honest, I'm more appreciative of the fact that I only have to go once a year for annual service and MOT, with no additional expense, than the more regular visits I made to the garage with my previous Jag. Frankly I'd settle for average service and a car that needs little attention, than being on familiar terms with a dealer because I'm visiting them frequently.

Lexus Newcastle have been brilliant as a service customer. No complaints from me whatsoever. Seems to be rather hit/miss elsewhere! Now just need to see if they let me drive an LC500 at my next fuel pipe recall or stick me in a UX….

To answer my own question it is a little support which clips into a hole in the top of the battery. I mistyped my old battery date. It is 011106 -1st November 2006. Is anyone still using an older battery? John