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1 or 2 rear fog lights... does it really matter? - I regularly drive in snowy and foggy weather when visiting relatives in southern Bavaria, and I can't say that I have ever had a panic attack as to whether the light is on the right, the left, or whether there are one or two. If this is an issue, I would suggest that you are driving far too close. Ultimately, the fog light is to let you know that there is vehicle ahead of you and that you should be cautious. Whatever the vehicle. I have to admit that, until now I had not even given it any thought, but now that I have, I think I prefer the single light option so that the fog lights are not confused with brake lamps. Now, what REALLY gets MY goat are people driving around with their front fog lights and, even worse in my opinion, people who drive with only their side/parking lights on. My view is that driving with only with parking lights on is dangerous and that you should not rely on tiny bulbs for other drivers to notice you. (there is a reason why they are called parking lights) Discuss. :-) Good week end to all.

I'm a new member on the forum, Only had my IS200 for about two weeks, and I'm very happy with it in general. There's a few niggles to sort out, but as I consider the car was a bargin I don't mind spending some time and a little money on putting it right :) One reason the car was cheaper than usuall was its lack of service history, but after a test drive and a good listen to the engine, etc, I decided to go ahead and take a chance So, one of the first jobs on my list was to change the timing belt, It'd done 89,000miles so well on the way to the 100.000miles recomendation which most people seem to go by, but over the "or 6 years" which seems more realistic! So as I'm pretty handy with my tools, and an engineer of sorts :D I decided to do the belt myself and change the water pump at the same time, the job was fairly simple and I must say that the quality of engineering on the car was fantastic. Note, there was no unusual noise coming from the engine and no lack in performance. This is what I found when I removed the top timing belt cover, Wow :o Yes the belt should be twice the width! and with the bottom cover removed, The remains of the other half of the belt are plain to see. The tensioner pulley had worn and gone out of line and was trying to throw off the belt, luckily the guard was close enough to stop it coming off in one go. You can see in the next pic how the tensioner pulley on the left is out of alignmentcompered to the others, The old belt and its remains! The problem it seems wasn't the belt at all, Half the belt was still doing the work fine, but the tensioner must have been worn for ages, so even if your belt looks good, you could still be in for a supprise! So if your belt has never been changed even if your car has low milage , do it! You may not be as lucky as me!

Hi all, Currently have a Lexus LS400 Mk4. - X988 MBE. Messi on here used to own the car so will vouch for it. I'm in a position where the car has been off the road for a while and will need some money spending to get it back on the road. Currently no MOT - will need some bushes and the handbreak to be looked at. I'm offering the car free to a good home as it is too nice to go to scrap and I've a BMW 8 series that owns my heart, I would rather someone gets the use of it. Granted I would appreciate if someone would be prepared to make a donation to Help for Heroes - but I am looking for no financial gain myself. It will need to be collected on a low loader. If anyone is interested please contact me via PM on here. I will not just be handing it over to a dealer (people in Dudley take note!). Rob

Nothing wrong with the Qashqai but the NX is a step up in quality IMO. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

August Bank Holiday, PistonHeads Sunday Service at TopCats Racing.

This reminds me of a prank some friends played on me some years ago: they attached a kipper to the exhaust box of my car... now that was bad... It took me a little while to realize that the smell came from my car and by then the kipper had fused to the box and could not get peeled off. Thankfully it rained a couple of days later and driving through puddles cleaned it off. Who needs friends!? :-)

"In my experience driving behind a vehicle equipped with twin rear fog lamps completely masks the appearance of rear brake lights and can lead to the following driver not realising that the vehicle in front is braking and that the distance between the two vehicles is being reduced significantly. Just my observations." Well said Daniel. And how many idiots do not drive with dipped headlamps on in poor visibility? And how many idiots drive with their day driving lamps on, not realising that the rear of the car is not lit up ? We could go on but, changing bad practices requires re-educating people and most just do not want to learn or re-learn. The Highway Code is a manual of good driving habits, which are often ignored or forgotten once the licence has been obtained. Regards John

Yeah I'm 6'2 and I fit in better than I fitted in my IS. Have you seen anything you like so far? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Get on Facebook and start a rant to Leeds UK. Found they are quite responsive after Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

Good stuff Peter - I will try and buy a copy of the mag tomorrow

Hi Peter, great article and photos and nice for you to have a life long reminder of the car. Can't be many people who can say that!!

I have been probing about with my multimeter , 6 volts going into and out of the camera connector, but I have noticed that the wire colours don't match up on the plug to the socket, anyway have noted this and have arranged to have the car looked at at Lexus Cheltenham, (where I know all the Toyota personnel who change into Lexus mode depending on which door you go into, never let me down on parts for the Soarer or the Surf ). It goes in on Sept 22nd , am hoping its only the camera , but will update after.

Superb pics, I'm still jealous of those seats!

Looks fab Peter, great photos, looks like the photographer has captured the lines perfectly. I have ordered a copy and look forward to the read!

Top work and a lovely thing to keep with the car.

I'm 6ft 1" and no problem.

I paid £850 for my 1999 LS400 with the keys and an MOT.

Hi Piers , yes I remember you posting many moons ago, I am still a visiter having only just lost my Soarer of 13 years, it was like losing one of the family a truly memorable and almost unique car.

What file format is your USB Stick? I think it will have to be Fat32 to be recognised. This is from the USB section of the manual: Compatible device formats The following device format can be used: • USB communication format: USB2.0 FS (480 Mbps) • File system format: FAT16/32 (Windows) • Correspondence class: Mass storage class MP3, WMA and AAC files written to a device with any format other than those listed above may not play correctly, and their file names and folder names may not be displayed correctly. Items related to standards and limitations are as follows: • Maximum directory hierarchy: 8 levels • Maximum number of folders in a device: 3000 (including the root) • Maximum number of files in a device: 9999 • Maximum number of files per folder: 255  MP3, WMA and AAC files MP3 (MPEG Audio LAYER 3) is a standard audio compression format. Files can be compressed to approximately 1/10 of their original size using MP3 compression. WMA (Windows Media Audio) is a Microsoft audio compression format. This format compresses audio data to a size smaller than that of the MP3 format. AAC is short for Advanced Audio Coding and refers to an audio compression technology standard used with MPEG2 and MPEG4. MP3, WMA and AAC file and media/formats compatibility are limited.  MP3 file compatibility • Compatible standards MP3 (MPEG1 AUDIO LAYERIII, MPEG2 AUDIO LAYERIII) • Compatible sampling frequencies MPEG1 AUDIO LAYERIII: 32, 44.1, 48 (kHz) MPEG2 AUDIO LAYERIII: 16, 22.05, 24 (kHz) • Compatible bit rates (compatible with VBR) MPEG1 AUDIO LAYERIII: 32-320 (kbps) MPEG2 AUDIO LAYERIII: 8-160 (kbps) • Compatible channel modes: stereo, joint stereo, dual channel and monaural

Just an Update Since I posted this, My car has nearly done the 1000 mile run in, and true to Lexus newcastles word, My Fuel economy has been the best its has been since purchasing the car. I was averaging 29 mpg now my same journey it is anywhere from 37 to 44 mpg. again my car was out of warranty and work was carried out free of charge (very pleased at that), But also disapointed that it has taken over 12 months taking car back to dealer. I hope this improved MPG lasts.