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Well, after a good look at an E350 Merc Estate, I was left mightily impressed by the power and handling....it has no right to go round corners the way it does! However, must say that in spite of the glossy photos, I was left a little underwhelmed by the finish and the ride on the Sport model is just too firm for me as are the seats. It was also ridiculously long! I never thought I'd say this, but I hankered after the more relaxed and serene drive and comfort of the "more boring" RX, so decision made and I'll hopefully be the owner of a 2014 F Sport next week, fingers crossed. I will be having a final test drive Tuesday and take it from there.

with 200 owners its not a surprise its quiet. Isn't drive tribe the place to hang to chat? It's useful though and I learned alot when I started researching buying mine a few years back. it also doesn't work all that well on my windows mobile phone (I know, rare type of person. And isf and a win10 mobile!). I suspect its fine on android and apple but who wants to have the same kit as everyone else? dave

I've had Lexus for over 10 years now and I would never go to any other marque. My experience with Mercedes is that the build quality is highly suspect. My uncle had two and has been crippled by major electronic problems on both cars. And when I had a test drive in a couple Mercedes, I was dismayed at the quality , as the doorhandles almost came off in my hand and it was from showroom models. As far as BMW is concerned I think the ride is atrocious, very hard, and every piece of equipment is a cost option. I love the Lexus because it is total luxury and quality and it's got all the toys I Ever need. I would never have anything else now. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I've upgraded the firmware on my Premium Nav unit this week: Old version: VD12102F New version: VD12103A According to the release documents, it is mostly bug-fixes but the main one for me was it fixes an issue with the split-screen nav mode where the turn-by-turn icons are displayed empty.

As this has been discussed in another thread and a few people are interested I thought it should have its own thread. As said we will meet at AV8 Café, Kemble Airfield GL7 6BA on Sunday 15th Jan around 10.00am You cant access the café from the A429, only from the A433. Everyone welcome, see you there.

Do we have a National List of Lexus Indies, comprising Indies that individual Members can recommend on the basis of service they have received ? If no, can we have one please? I can recommend one on the Wirral who would be useful for Members in Wirral, North Cheshire, North Wales and South West Lancs. I have no affinity with any such Indy. Regards John

Hello all, I'm new to Lexus having owned numerous Volvos for the past 35 years. We have just taken delivery of a new Lexus GS450H. We're very pleased with it but I've found that the user manuals (both the large 'online' - circa 600 page and the paper version supplied with the car) are not too good.There are two issues I am stuck with at present: 1) The light switch(es) - the left hand stalk has two rotary knobs - the outer is the normal light selector (as far as I can tell) and there is an 'inner' rotary knob with three positions - the first two have detents and the switch locks in one of these two positions, the last position (three) has no detent and the knob returns to two when the knob is released. Neither manual mentions this knob or shows it in any illustration - what is its function? There is also a push button near the driver window side of the dash with a headlight symbol worded 'Auto', again, what is its function? I cannot find out how to switch on the rear high-intensity foglight either - this too is not mentioned anywhere. 2) I'm used to the (very useful) speed limit detection system - my last Volvo had it and it was very reliable. The system on the Lexus seems less dependable and often fails to detect roadsigns. When it does it then seems to stop displaying this information at random (this also occurs in the HUD). I've also noticed that when the vehicle is stopped and parked-up, upon returning to the car the speed limit display shows nothing and will only re-display after it has 'seen' a valid speed limit sign - this seems rather strange as if there's a speed limit when the car is parked-up and left, then the same limit will surely apply when returning to the car and starting-up. Any comments please? Regards, Mark Woodward.

Have a look here: https://www.lexus-tech.eu/Bluetooth/search.aspx Latest iPhones with IOS 10 seem pretty good bar email readouts

I wouldn't buy a car to fit my phone.....I'd change my phone to one that fits my choice of car

Hi Paul. I see you currently have a 2007 GS300 and I assume that it is the petrol not the hybrid? I too have a 2007 GS300 petrol which I love. Bought it 7 years ago when it was 22 months old and it now has about 61K miles on the clock. Could you report back here on your experience with the RX once you have had it, say, 1-2 months as I'd be interested to know what you think moving from the GS to the RX and how it compares. Thanks.

When I bought mine 7 years ago green was the last colour I would have had on my list but I had been looking around for many months travelling hundreds of miles looking at one dog after another then along comes the Green one on the Internet somewhere and because of its condition and history the colour went to the back of the list of importance and I bought her and am I glad I did. The colour has really grown on me together with the fawn interior she looks a million dollars especially after she has been down the handwashers. Good hunting.

Good luck with the negotiations Friso....just mention that late Jan, the new registrations essentially devalue the used cars from their pre-Christmas prices LoL! Must admit, my impressions on the post 2012 RX450h initially matched Boxbrownie's impressions. We had been driving it in ECO mode and it was insufferable, to the extent it was getting on my nerves and I don't use a lead right boot! Switching to Sport mode sharpened up the response to essentially remove the delay and to hold higher revs. There should be no inbuilt hesitation as I understand it on Sport mode. It was a clever marketing trick as pre-facelifts of 2012 and previous which had the USA market "problem" (LoL) of sharp initial take off (well, isn't that the whole point of high torque electric motors kicking in after all?) were effectively neutered in EV an ECO modes. The standard driving mode, from what I understand, simply was re-named "sport" mode and an extra mode function added via the steering wheel to "deliberately" select the "sharpened" throttle response which just seems to be the same as the standard pre-facelift one! In other words, there shouldn't be much lag if Sport Mode is selected. My understanding may not be 100% here, but that's the jist of what I was told when I asked. I had a useful day comparing a 450H with a newish E300 estate today. The Merc wasn't quite as well screwed together as I was expecting, but it was a very impressive drive. However, it just seemed too large an estate for us and I preferred the more gentle relaxed nature of the RX and dare I say it, I found the merc too firm a ride, so I'll be picking up a 2014 RX next week as decision made.

Good post .... so its roughly comparative with a normal run of the mill car (mondeo etc ..) so begs the question why are the Lexus quite rare compared to these "normal" cars - definitely more reliable and if you take the reliability of them into account then they are probablu on a rar with these cars due to lack of repair bills...

And lights (images) should appear in the dash panel to indicate that they are on. Regards John

At least the green one has paperwork with it, including cam belt history. So there'll be more information to base a decision on, one way or the other. And if it's a basically sound car, the price is reasonable. Malc is right: a car may not be mint but you can tell whether it has been routinely maintained, whereas some shows signs of having been neglected.

Haven't used Sheffield for servicing since 2011 as I got rid of my old IS250 then. They were always fine - I never had any issues with the work done. I would have carried on using them but I got a good price on the service plan with my new car from Lincoln. I used Lincoln last week for my 30k service after purchasing a car from them in March. They were very friendly and I like the fact that the service manager and the salesman both recognised me when I arrived. They also understood that I had driven an hour to get to them (instead of 30 mins to Sheffield) and got me back on the road as quickly as possible. If I keep the car longer than the 3yr service plan then I will start using http://www.lex-tekautos.com which is an independent Lexus specialist about 4 miles from me. I know the guy that runs it - he used to work for Lexus so is fully trained. A couple of my family have already used him and give glowing reports.

............. it's disappointing when sellers lie about condition and post up previous owners pictures ! That scratch looks a bugger to satisfactorily repair. The cambelt change even if not itemised on the service record ( which is very odd ) should have an appropriate sticker ( from Lexus ) on the top of the engine area .. along with the first cambelt change sticker too ... if it's actually ever been done ! The front two UCAs from Lexus at £820 is probably correct but it's unimaginable that they needed doing at such a low mileage tbh. . and what's a new rear subframe assembly all about for heavens sake ? Summat doesn't seem right to me ......... i would search a little more and maybe the green one will be stacks better than the silver one ..... don't be afraid of stellar mileage if it's been well looked after ......... and maybe the silver one just hasn't been, even for the past 6 months ...... it's beginning to tell a sad story. Good luck Malc

Be aware your handbook describes many options that may not be not installed on your car. Do you have a button that corresponds to this option?

If you look beneath the wiper arms, you can see the heater elements, just like on the rear screen. The difficult bit for me is remembering to turn the wipers to off before starting the car in icy conditions....I usually have them set to auto.

I think the green one has the same colour combo as mine. It wasn't my first choice but I figured that condition/maintenance was more important. Besides, it has grown on me, and it seems to suit the character of the car well: sedate, dignified, discreet. Yes, the boot is surprisingly small for such a big car. The 430's is bigger. Re the silver one: no proof of cambelt change would worry me because it's an expensive job if it needs doing (along with water pump, pulleys etc.) Where's the exhaust blowing? That might not be a big job to fix. The cars were supplied with (I think) two remote keys and one valet key (no remote). The silver one appears to have the DHP handling pack - bigger wheels with low-profile tyres and slightly lower suspension - which may or may not make it handle better than the original set-up. It's what you're used to, I suppose. If it were me, I think I'd hold out for a better one, or at least one with more recent history. The problem is that these are now old, cheap cars which some owners don't think are worth spending much on. Hence the scratch wasn't repaired, even cheaply. And I wouldn't sell a car without washing it! Re your last point: I bought mine for less than I was willing to pay for one because I figured it wouldn't matter so much if it got the occasional mark or scratch. But as time has gone on, it's become clear how difficult it would be to replace, and I'm now nervous about leaving it in supermarket car parks! These cars get under your skin, in a way...

All sorted now. A faulty one way filler valve replaced with a new one,and system serviced as it was overdue by about 40,000 miles!.

with fs now up to what 9 years old, 6 owners and 100k miles isn't bad really. Fwiw ignore all of that stuff and buy on condition and history. if the paint is immaculate then be suspicious as it'll have been resprayed. That's not bad because maybe it just covered up annoying stone chips. But as the black one I walked away from showed, it could also mean a front end rebuild. To a high standard as it happens, but I walked anyway. cheap tyres is a very bad sign. If they go cheap on such a crucial component of any car let alone a 400bhp saloon, then what else did they scrimp on? Non main dealer work is fine as its bonkers to pay full Lexus prices as the car gets older but personally ill keep servicing it at Lexus for the stamp. thread drift but "gosh. Cold roads are fun!!"

Agreed with this. The RX seems to be the family workhorse in the Lexus range and therefore most will have quite a few blemishes unless the owners are like me and really look after their cars! After looking at multiple RXs even after buying mine (usually when my car goes in for servicing) and just being curious, I found many to have touched up areas and poor seat condition. Some even had marks where people put baby seats in without placing a towel or similiar underneath. My youngest is 7 and still requires a car seat but what I've done to combat wear is to get a long pile hardwearing carpet, cut it to size for the base of the seat and stuck it on with some super glue :)

If the bottom is falling out of your world Drink Boddingtons and let the world fall out of your bottom

Try here. Some useful steps how to find the correct type http://bfy.tw/9BuB.

Hi, If you need any help with insurance at all when you have a car in mind then please feel free to drop me a line. Regards, Dan.

Have arranged to view the silver car on Autotrader tomorrow morning.

So,it's still rather rubbish then!!

Blank USB. Unzip download - copy the files HASHLIST.DAT and LOADING.KWI to USB (don't create any folders - USB should only have these two files on) Enter service mode (hold Menu and switch lights on/off 3 times) Select Service Information Select Program Update Insert USB and the OK button should light up. Please be careful in the service mode - don't play around with things unless you are sure with what they do

I did it myself but it isn't available on the portal. You need to get the files from https://www.lexus-tech.eu Do a search for ECU Software updates (even though this isn't for the ECU) and enter your VIN number. It will ask for the technical services bulletin number which is BE-0081L-1113