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Toyota Crown Majesta 4.6 It is roughly same size as LS460L and with it being a Jap .............. more toys !!! Also available with the earlier 3UZ-FE 4.3 and 4WD http://www.tradecarview.com/used_car/japan%20car/toyota/crown+majesta/14912069/ Toyota Crown Majesta Wheelbase 3,225 mm (127.0 in) Length 5,165 mm (203.3 in) Width 1,910 mm (75.2 in) Height 1,525 mm (60.0 in) Curb weight 2,130 kg (4,695.8 lb) 2,430 kg (5,357.2 lb) LS460 Wheelbase 2,969 mm (116.9 in) (SWB) 3,091 mm (121.7 in) (LWB) Length 5,029–5,060 mm (198.0–199.2 in) 5,151–5,179 mm (202.8–203.9 in) Width 1,875 mm (73.8 in) Height 1,466–1,481 mm (57.7–58.3 in) Curb weight 1,925–1,965 kg (4,244–4,332 lb) IT'S A TOYOTA TANK !!!

Thanks for the advice, Adam. The figure of £22,000 was based on my estimate of around £16,000 to get hold of a decent equivalent of my car including any fault fixing, another £3000 for courtesy car costs and compensation for loss of car until this is sorted, and £3000 for my injuries, pain and suffering, along with a quick settlement premium. Of course, if the insurance company don't want to go down that route, then I would accept the other options of a properly repaired car with acceptable courtesy car, or an equivalent replacement vehicle bought and checked to ensure it was fault free. I would understand that the insurance company will probably want to get away as lightly as possible, but as I am not at fault, I will press the third party insurers to the maximum and am prepared to go to court if necessary. I will of course keep you all updated as to what happens.

I have emailed Steve Global Moderator with regard to the threads that covered what you need to do to insist your car is put back in the condition it was before the crash. Hes out tonight but I am sure as soon as he is able he will have a look for them. Looking at your post above you seem to have covered all the angles. Mike

Hmmm...I find these prices absolutely eye-watering! I do all my own servicing - I can count the number of times I have taken my car to a garage for other than MoTs during the last 47 years on one hand, and that has mostly been for clutch changes when I haven't had facilities - although I have done half a dozen clutches (not all my cars!) myself. Let's see what's involved - here is the service schedule I use - pretty much standard Lexus schedule. You will note that a lot of the items say 'MoT' by them - these are the items checked by MoT inspectors each year - why pay a Lexus technician to do the same checks again? MoT inspections are pretty much spot on these days, if you go somwhere you can trust. I actually check most of these things myself, but there's the option! There are one or two extra notes to jog my memory! Most of these are checks - mostly by Mk 1 eyeball - see later for replacements and costs! Every 5000 miles Replace: Engine Oil 5W-30 Fully Synthetic Sump Plug 30 ftlbs Oil Filter - Lexus/Toyota - torque 18 ft lbs Check: Air Filter Cabin Filter (Check aircon is in recirculate!) Every 10000 miles / 1 year Check: Brake Pads ; Discs MoT Washer systems ; Wiper Blades MoT Tyres MoT Exhaust and mountings MoT Steering and suspension components MoT Auxiliary Drive Belt Lubricate Hinges/Locks Check all controls and lights Road test Reset Service indicator Every 20000 miles / 2 years Check: Damage and corrosion Brake Pipes and Hoses MoT Coolant/Anti-freeze (Replace @ 100000 miles/10 years)) Automatic Transmission Fluid (my car is automatic, obviously!) Drive Shaft Boots MoT Brake Pedal; Parking Brake - check & adjust Battery - condition/security/electrolyte Underbonnet connections and hoses Headlight beam adjustment MoT Seat belts MoT Longer Spark Plugs (Denso FK20HBR11 X 6) Brake Fluid Charcoal Canister (er - not sure I'd bother with this!) OK - materials required: 6 litres and a bit of suitable oil - I use Dexos2 - check it out - available on Ebay for £20 for 5 litres - less if you buy in bulk Oil filter - genuine Lexus - £10.99 (includes sump plug washer) (Both the above at 5K mile intervals - I like frequent oil changes!) Air filter - £;5.00 (I don't believe expensive air filters do any more filtering - I'd rather change a cheap one more often! Say 20K mile intervals - Lexus say 40K. Cabin filter - £6.17 (Ditto) 20K mile intervals. (Both above from Ebay -prices as of 21/6/14) New wiper rubbers are about £11.00 from Lexus. Change every year or two. Spark plugs - about £65 total (Ebay from USA). - but 60K miles at least intervals. Brake fluid (low viscosity)- about £12.00 /litre. Every two years. Coolant - Toyota concentrated - ~£26.00 for 5 litres, plus a few quid for deionised water from Halfords! That's it, apart from a few sundries such as copper grease, spray grease etc. There's probably a fuel filter change involved somewhere, but Lexus don't seem to mention it) And there are a few extra items such as diff oil changes (60K miles and check drive shaft flange bolt torques - 15K miles) You can add it up for whichever service you're doing - and compare with Lexus prices. Now I know that not everyone can do their own (or have the time and/or ability) and if you park your car on the street it will be difficult if not impossible - but you can work out how much you're paying the Lexus dealer for the privilege! It is where they make their profit, after all! You probably want to have the work done by a Lexus dealer for the first three years to keep your warranty intact - but my car is 8 years old, so what the hell? I do about 8K miles per year. (PS - that's the IS250 - I have a 22-year old supercharged MX-5 as well which has never seen a garage! (Ok - once at one year old) and a Seat Mii (wife's) which will get two garage services (at one and two years) before I get to grips with it!)) Apologies for a long post!

There are a couple of threads on here which tell you how to get your car repaired to the condition it was in before you were hit from behind. You are insured the accident was quite clearly the white mini van driver at fault. You can demand your car is repaired, not interested that they think it is a write off that's what you have insurance for. Your insurance company will get the monies from the third parties insurance company. So start taking the bull by the horns and start demanding what is your legal right. Mike I should have said also demand your car is repaired by Lexus nothing else will do. Dont accept that the ABC garage do work for Lexus or they have repaired Lexus in the past, your car needs to physically be taken to your Lexus garage. Mike

Well it's only been 9 months since I last updated,with work comittments and the weather only now have I had the time to continue this project. After all the previous work the engine was still not running like a V8 should so I decided to once again lift the bonnet and get my hands dirty. Working on ignition based theory I invested a mere £5.00 in an ignition lead checker,basically you put it on the HT leads and it flashes to indicate a spark is present. Completely naff in daylight but last night after it got dark I retried it and sure enough it did flash. What I discovered from this was the sparks from one coil pack were intermittent and didn't light up the device as much as the other coil pack. Turns out the passenger side coil pack was the cause of all the problems, I took the top one off my running car and swopped it in, fired up immediately and no more misfires.:) Ordered a new replacement which will be here on Tuesday. So finally the Celsior lives once again,just got to put it all back together now and get it MOTd.

It is really easy to knock the wheel studs out And then just hit it with a wire wheel until you can see your face in the hub Now I have put it all back together with new pads and discs and it drives like a brand new car No knocks and no bumps at all

Thanks Janey

I bought a new electric folding wheelchair a couple of weeks ago which fits even more easily into the boot of my LS460, after collapsing down like a pushchair. It was fantastic, at least until my car accident on Wednesday (separate thread about that). I had to import it from Malaysia, but it was worth every penny as it meant I could go back to work in my job at the Police... http://wheelchair88.com/product/pw-999ul/

no, just avoiding multiple listings and fee avoidance.

Hello gents... Well, I had a go at fitting it last weekend, getting the rear section off without too much fuss. The front section required 4x bolts and two oxygen sensors removing (special tool required for this). Three of the four bolts I was able to loosen off, the fourth however was too awkward to get at with the car jacked up (it's not the easiest thing to get on stands). I had to concede the loss (and vow that I will never work underneath a car again) and arrange to take it to the local exhaust fitters as my favoured mechanic was unable to have a look until next week. Driving there without back boxes attached was interesting; boomy but not raspy. Anyway, an hour later and nervous about my baby, she was brought back round to the car park, the driver giving it a blip of the throttle for the hell of it. It sounded much better. How does it sound? Cruising along it's mildly louder than stock, but not drastically, however I've not been on the motorway yet to confirm this. On medium throttle there's a substantial increase in exhaust noise; a very nice tone, deep and gurgly. It's hard to tell you what it's like on full throttle, I've only had the opportunity to put my foot down in 1st and 2nd, but I'm happy with it so far. In built up area, like through a town centre, it sounds fantastic, much more like a muscle car. I've made a small vid of it starting up and a few revs. Apologies but there's a smidgen of distortion. Also, since uploading to Youtube, the sound quality has dropped massively, compared to the original on my computer. It doesn't sound anywhere near as good as it should. Anybody know of a better site to upload to, that doesn't compress the file so much?

Perhaps it's getting old Tony ! We all dribble a bit as we get older !!!!!!! Lol

Lovely mate , the 200 defo has better styling I think, the bonnet on the 200 is a lot nicer than the 250