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I had the use of a new RX450h Premier again last week, while my own car was in for some warranty work (radio unit being replaced). With the evenings drawing in, I had the opportunity to drive the car at night over 45 miles of B-roads across country. I was blown away. I had been impressed previously by the Auto High Beam function available on some Lexus models, which automatically and efficiently manages the switch between low and high beam, but the Adaptive High beam System in the new RX is something else and is just outstanding. The system does not just automatically switch from low to high and high to low beam, but provides various degrees of lighting in between, varying the intensity and range of each of the 3 pairs of LEDs depending on traffic and road conditions to optimize visibility. As you follow another vehicle on a dark country road, you can see the range of the lighting stretch all the way to the car in front and also expand sideways, without switching to full beam. As you get closer, the beam retracts accordingly. If another car comes towards you, you can see the beam from the right-hand side reshape itself so as to not blind the oncoming driver. And of course, when the car does switch to full beam, the level of brightness is just incredible with a very long reach both in front and sideways. It is just like driving in daylight. While the system does not provide swivelling headlights as of old, it has small, but very bright LED cornering lights imbedded in the bumper, next to the fog lamps. They are so small, you barely notice them when looking at the car, however whenever you drive around a corner or switch the indicators on, they brightly illuminate the road at a 75 degree angle far better than the old AFS system. In all, this new system makes driving at night a lot more relaxing and far less tiring.

I passed my test, first time, on 5th June 1975 at the age of 17. My dad put me as a named driver on his fully-comp policy for his three-month-old Morris Marina Estate and it cost £10 for the 9 months of cover left to renewal. A couple of years later I got my own car and cover and although I can't remember the figure, I do remember we all commented that it was expensive, and we were told that "under-25s were always hammered - wait until after your 25th birthday and it'll come down a lot; it'll be really cheap then" Load of rubbish!! Since June 1975 I've driven over 700,000 miles, had one small 'at fault' accident; one 'not at fault' accident and two speeding tickets, separated by 15 years (35 in a 30 and 76 on the motorway) and my insurance has never been 'cheap' - truth be told, I might even struggle to call it reasonable, let alone cheap. However, what really narks me more than anything is that we can no longer compare like-for-like. 'Fully comprehensive' used to mean fully comprehensive but now, "You want this? That's extra; You want that? Oh, that's extra too. But we do give you free breakdown cover and a fluffy bunny keyring". NO!!! I want car insurance that covers my car, fully-comp that means fully comp. I do not want free travel insurance (that only gives basic cover and is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard so that I have to go and buy 'proper' travel insurance anyway) or a free voucher for wine, or free 'lost key cover' or free breakdown cover (that only gives basic cover and is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard). Sorry, rant over - but I do feel better for it

Passed my test April 1974. Had a couple of minor scrapes and bumps in the next few years but little since despite being a field based IT engineer doing around 30,000 miles a year. Been driving on private insurance since 2010 and I have 8 years NCD and I now do about 10,000 miles per year. Shocked into getting alternate quotes after a renewal for over £600 landed. Now insured at just under £400 but I still think this is too much.

that's a cracking example about to go px. I waited a while to get mine, walked away from one which was tough. But worth the wait.

Having had same major bills on German cars I did a lot of research on the ISF before buying one. Other than the water pump issue mentioned above they really don't seem to suffer from any serious weaknesses. The only reference I ever found relating to a gearbox was on an Australian forum where one failed straight after the delivery of the new car to its owner and this was immediately replaced by Lexus. There are large numbers of these cars being run in the US and there was no mention of any gearbox issues on their forums. I took out the Lexus extended warranty to cover the only other issue I read about at the time, which was the occasional fogged zenon head lamp unit. These are are expensive to replace and because the warranty also comes with breakdown cover including Europe it seemed pretty good value to me. As has already been mentioned above kerbing your wheels is more of a concern to most of us because the twin colour coating is difficult to match, which means its usually easier to refurb all 4 wheels. The only other minor issue to be aware of (similar to the BMW 3 series E46) is age/mileage softened front suspension bushes which result in inside front tyre wear which is worth checking because obviously the tyres are not cheap. I've had my car since 2014 and it really hasn't missed a beat. I honestly can't think of another car of this type which comes close to the ISF's reliabilty. Do the research on its competitors and I'm sure you will agree!!

A lot of focus is placed on fuel consumption, but you really need to put it in context and work out the difference in cost over a whole year, bearing in mind the difference in price between unleaded and diesel and cost (and frequency) of servicing. Unless you do a lot of miles, you might find that the difference is not really worth worrying about and is compensated by the refinement provided by the Lexus.

£100.00.....mmmm Lexus dealers do know how to charge and no I don't know the part number for the required special tool shown below.

I would suggest to use https://www.lexus-tech.eu/. It is official source of all Lexus/Toyota technical documentation. Normally if I need to do something I just buy 1h subscription (3EUR) download all the manuals I need and I'm ready to go. For job like removing/installing manifold I would suggest that this will be one of the best 3EUR spent in your life :) PS. If you need to disconnect fuel line don't forget to relief the pressure gently first as you may end with nice fountain under your bonnet.

From what I can see it was an option.

No problem, I'll sort those out this evening. Sent from my iPhone using Lexus OC

You're quite right there. I've been to London a few times recently and it's overflowing with Prius and I've only seen 1 CT up there which is identical to mine. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sorry but i'm raising the BS flag on that one until such time as I see pictorial proof. Apart from the bean counters not letting it happen how many 2.0 engines do you know of that run two turbo's ? On the +55BHP i think it's unlikely from just a tune, but if you change the air filter and remove a CAT or change the exhaust as well as a tune then should be possible.