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It was freezing outside yesterday - 4 degrees! The missus decided to tell me I was being lazy and her car needed washing - took a look at the wheel and was like whoa (only 2 weeks worth of brake dust). Car was washed with Carchem 1900:1 shampoo (Leather Oak scented and smells divine), wheels done with Valetpro Bilberry at 5:1 and arches with diluted APC. All dried with a MF drying towel and then a coat of RainX on the rear screen and the rear side windows. I don't like using it on the windscreen so used PowerMaxed Rain Off instead. Finally, Sonax BSD applied to the car (amazing - literally takes 10 minutes to do the whole car, lasts 3 months and the water behaviour is unparalleled). Anyway, my hands were too cold to master my phone so I only took afters! The paint quality on these still amazes me! Yes its soft paint and I swear the old couple in the shopping centre car park scratched it by staring when I activated "Stealth mode" but its probably the smoothest, most reflective paint this side of £40k and - because I got fed up with taking ages to clean the wheels - Ive invested in some Planet Polish Wheel Seal and Shine (video attached). Its just under a tenner and came with a small sponge for application. The sponge itself is quite soft and easy to get into the spokes. The product itself comes in a 250ml bottle but I only used 2 pea sized drops for each wheel so will last absolutely ages. Initial impressions are good with application and removal extremely straightforward - only gave the one coat and beading is looking fine! Ill let you know how it goes

Yeah that's right @Flytvr stuffing his face with coffee and cake at our @Mark G and 🐀 Fav spot while we are working our fingers to the bone saving hard for the steering rack failure fund 😂 Well done matey thankfully the warranty gobbled it up 👍 Big Rat

I've been round quite a bit over the last 4 yrs. My celica Gt4 was great fun and the skyline was a monster. Brera was ok and my Accprd type r was particularly good. It's a nice track, not too hard on the car and very well priced. It's 1.5hrs away and still my local

That's a horrible situation to be in. As the car becomes cheaper it's more likely to tempt people who have the car at the upper limits of their pricerange, especially with the Lexus brand reliability history. What were they new? £50k+? They are unfortunately going to cost like a £50k car to fix. Thankfully the brand seems to be pretty reliable when compared to rivals but when things do go wrong the costs mount up very quickly. IIRC £120 an hour labour rate at a Lexus dealer? I've had 1 radiator replaced under warranty and I'm still in profit from the 4 years of extended warranty that I've bought. I've been lucky with timing in getting 2 years for the price of 1 each time but they seem to come round so often it can't be that difficult for others to do. The fact that it includes roadside relay too, I don't understand why you wouldn't do it. It's only £75 or so a month. The above sounds a bit pompous, it's not supposed to. Just trying to point out my logic.

Well myself, @Flytvr and @Big Rat spoke about this last week, I cant remember which dealer it was I spoke to last year about this, they had a customer with the same issue, however he had not taken out an extended warranty and couldn't afford the bill for the repair, the dealer bought the car of him, the guy was gutted. Glad its sorted mate, and why are you at Kemble without us................

From Honest John a few years ago: Repair bills for a £60,000 car bought for £12,000 reflect the £60,000 rather than the £12,000. You can reduce the odds quite a bit by opting for a Lexus. Japanese 'quality' far exceeds anything out of Germany.

Cheers bud :) I'm currently sat in a cafe (AV8), feeling very happy about it :) @Mark G @Big Rat @emjay82 @Rusty Crobar , where are you?

I've got a Honda S2000 for track days. I'm no driving god, but it's certainly fast enough for me to have a LOT of fun. It can feel a bit down on power for longer straights (especially at Silverstone), but in the twisties it's excellent. I can also afford to replace what might drop off it! I'd love to track my ISF, but with the H&S exhaust, it's pushing the noise limits, even on 105dB days! Can't wait for the weather to warm up a bit! I've already had days at Oulton Park, Thruxton, Castle Combe and Silverstone; I'd like to tick off Brands Hatch and Goodwood during 2017 :-)

Yes Mark we were at Bluewater in August. I think I've run out of things to modify on the car now so it will probably look just the same. I must admit I do like silver, my previous LS and GS430 were both silver. Paint finish does seem to be a topic of conversation with ISF owners.

I went to a private test facility today, which looked a lot like a deserted roundabout, to push the limits of the handling. First I tried sport mode and was very impressed, gave just a bit of slip before bringing itself back in to line. Reassuring to know you can have some fun but that the car will look after you. Next was with traction disabled. I was suprised how much you needed to push before reaching the limit. Once grip was lost a slight lift got the back end under control again. I'm no drift king so I wasn't going crazy with the throttle but after 3 or 4 laps I was exhausted from the G force! What a machine it is, more grip than any of my previous cars but also really well balanced - and a lot of fun 😊 Next step is the track...

Check here. http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2017/02/toyota-s-latest-trademark-application-hints-at-a-hot-lexus-model.html

Agree completely, hence Ive only stayed with the same company for a maximum of three years. I always check the prices upon renewal and I only renew if its the cheapest quote I get. Something to note with the comparison sites though is when you click through to the insurer, check your details as Ive found on many occasions that some of them have been filtered through wrong or the comparison site didnt ask certain questions. Ive found them to almost always affect the price be it for better or worse

In fact the LS is more exclusive than Aston Martins, there are 5,542 registered...!!!

It's no mean feet changing the plates, I also took on this complex engineering task recently with the added complication of doing it in the dark. If you've mastered this @Flytvr the rack would've been a walk in the park

The warranty is great value, obviously you expect to pay a bit more on tyres, fuel, Kemble coffee but the unforeseen costs could be a game changer with a car like this. Still hopeful that Lexus will offer warranty when mine expires in Feb 2018, although I expect they wont offer it at the same price of £895 for 24 months with a 10 year + car.

Yep @Chuckie478 is right expensive cars have on going costs that match there original purchase price, fact. If you can afford to buy, run one of these I think it's right to have the warranty for the peace of mind, there are those who say pay into your own monthly war chest for the unforeseen depends if you can be that disciplined. These things I feel can have the opportunity to bite you badly financially which can sour the ownership experience which is not what any of us want, the days are long gone when most of us can do our spannering with instances like @Flytvr has had. Big Rat

Knockhill looks like a proper circuit!

Well I did mine today, wash dry and Autoglym wax, looked the biz, even attracting admiring comments from people going past, but..... It's now chucking it down... again!

Ooh you're going to have your work cut out on black! Everything shows up on it. The white is actually quite forgiving, there's a few light scratches here and there from finger nails and stones flicking up but you can only see them when they get engrained with dirt. The car needs a good going over with Autoglym SRP to get all the dirt out!

Just washed mine this afternoon, felt guilty having bought a new one , and it hadn't been washed since before Christmas! It was really filthy, but the grey hides it well. I will be more diligent with the new black one, given its actually mine not a lease, and I need to start investing in some decent cleaning products. Will pass the time till it arrives. The white looks great all polished up, good beading. Mine is flat as a fart!

Not jealous 😒 not I'm not you know 😂 🐀

When the weather improves (June) I will have a real go at the LS. She is tucked up in the garage for now - she tells me she does not like to go out in the rain! I do spoil her!

Yikes.... Although these cars are well put together the warranty is worth every penny IMO. Glad you've got it fixed and are back on the road @Flytvr

Hi, I also have a GS so cant comment on RX> In fact just noticed this is posted in the GS forum not RX or NX. Anyway, what I can comment on is: 2. Ive had 2 different models on Lexus approved used, both 100% spot on totlally fault free One had not had a last service they said it had when i checked the handbook at the test drive. The serviced it (£400) before I picked it up and apologised for the mistake 3. Quite a few Japanese makes\models subject to an airbag recall due to a faulty part used by a 3rd party supplier. You can check a specific vehicle here: https://www.lexus.co.uk/owners/your-lexus/#RecallInformation 4. If buying approved used haggle over the APR if you taking finance. I got mine dropped from 5.5 to 2.9 just by asking.

EV mode should not be used to try to improve economy on the road. It is useful to operate EV before the engine starts when cold if your doing a manover such as changing cars around on the driveway. This saves a cold start when most fuel is used. Using it on the move is counter productive in the long term. The electric drive system is primarily there to assist acceleration from rest "the period that most fuel is used when the engine is warm". If you use it to drive the vehicle on it's own, after a very short distance the engine will have to start to power the car as well as recharge the battery with all the associated losses. Every time you change the energy type there is a loss. Petrol to mechanical, mechanical to electrical, electrical to chemical, chemical to electrical, and electrical to mechanical to drive the wheels. The electricity from the battery comes from the petrol engine, and as such has losses in the process of running the engine to turn the generator (a loss) to charge the battery (a loss) to discharge the battery (a loss) to turn an electric motor (a loss) to power the vehicle (a loss). All this when the engine could have powered the vehicle in the first place. I know some of the energy for the battery is so called regenerated from the inertia of the vehicle as it is slowed down, but even that energy came from the petrol engine originally. John.

No, not so! We contribute less per capita to Europe than some. It's just us! The Tory policy of reducing 'debt' meant severe cuts in EVERYTHING, yet still we vote them in. Governments in Europe seem able to maintain their infrastructure better, whilst we waste BILLIONS bailing out dishonest banks and paying Private/expensive firms to run things. Don't fall for that stupid/kneejerk concept of "It's all europe" (Ironically, quite a lot of regulations from Europe originate HERE!) If we put the tax income from road transport back into infrastructure we'd have gold plated roads by now!! Most of the Tax/VAT from vehicles is siphoned off to support other stuff. 80% of fuel is tax, for example. Anyway; great write up. I thought washing my car was an effort! I recall getting Dunlop tyres from Japan to get correct tyres for the Ser 3 400. I have fond memories of cruising along empty highways in Andalucia-and in SUNSHINE!

Blimey! Have to love the extended warranty and for the length of time they offer it. Glad it's resolved without incident.

Nice to see it is a blue one with white leather being ragged. Don't see many blue cars with white leather @Mark G ;)

Anyway I'm sure you and others will love this then, same colour as yours !

Sounds great, photos, we need lots of photos!!

I'm up to Knockhill in April with the ISF. Will be interesting to see how it gets on. I've got images of hammering down straights and being slow and sideways in the bends......hope so anyway!lol

Hi Chris and welcome to the LOC. We are a friendly bunch so please don’t hold back asking questions big or small should you have any problems with your car. We always welcome ideas on how to overcome problems with our cars but as they are the finest cars in the universe they don’t go wrong that often. We always love to see pictures of your cars. Happy Lexus Motoring.

Hello and welcome to the LOC. Good choice of Lexus model, nice refined V6 and excellent reliability as you have already discovered.

I'm not sure about that pub itself, but I will bring a Guinness for you just incase!! :)

Absolutely no intention of changing my lexus IS250 for a long time to come. I love everything about the car from the outside in. The most comfortable and luxurious car I've ever owned and the levinson sound system is superb. The IS250 to me certainly does not feel underpowered at all but then again I've never drove a performance car. It has heaps of power compared to my previous cars. Is220d, mercedes e220d and bmw 320d. My next car will almost certainly be another lexus is. Not sure the hybrid is for me so will probably go for the is200t.

Apparently owning a Lexus in the US is a prestigious affair...and they take errant noises more seriously. Over here, more of a "whatya expect...". Seems this cover fits the injector pump of the V6 and V8's (2).

Update on this issue at last, main dealership have established water ingress from sun roof and water ended up all over loom connections behind glovebox, numerous pins/sockets eith covered in green corrosion or badly covered in blackish carbon deposit from arcing. All electrics cleaned up and issues with sun roof leak resolved. Everything now working correctly so will find out tomorrow when I pick up car.

I'll leave this right here...

I've been driving for nearly 40 years and it has always been the same, stay with the auto renewal and you will pay too much, every year I go through mine and my wife's and save money... funny thing is, this year it was cheaper to insure our cars separately with Admiral than it was on a multi car... Silly price for multi car renewal so I spoke to Aleksandr Orlov and Admiral was the cheapest for both of us but on separate policies...!!!???? Any accident you have will increase your premium whether it was your fault or not, or if you claim or not, their view is that if you have been involved in one, in any way, then you are more likely to be involved in more, so the risk goes up, and the premium. Value quoted at insurance renewal is NOT what you will get if you write it off, the value for insurance is to establish the risk so they always over estimate the value to put the premium up, always worth changing it to what you think it's worth... They only pay market value in case of a claim and then it's usually a very low one...!!!

As a professional driver I had the opportunity to drive just about every road car made in the last 10 years. I would say that the IS 250 SE is up with the best of them at that price point and for various reasons it's the best car I've owned. The Lexus dealers are renowned for their great customer service and I won't be looking any further when I buy again. The Qashqai? Are you sure? The Nissan dealers themselves admit (privately) that they are often embarrassed to sell them, especially the first series. I've yet to meet a pro driver who has bought one. In the end though, it's down to personal choice but I always remember the equation: Satisfaction = Experience - Expectation If you do go for the CT200h, please write a review for us and let us know how the car is from an owners perspective. Personally I'm looking at the RC300h.

I wasn't particularly impressed with blueprint discs and pads - discs needed replaced after 20k, but started to cause wheel wobble when light braking at 10k, and pads squealed and sprayed dust, so replaced with pagid discs and ferodo pads. Rear replaced with all pagid components and are fine. Pete

... a stock Lexus makes a noise like this!

I had a Ballast fail on one of my headlights and was qouted some silly prices for a replacement so i looked for an aftermarket ballast and come across a lexus ballast replacement on ebay . Turns out the guy lives not far from me so i collected the ballast with all the required cables to make the ballast fit into the headlight and he advised me on how to install. So removed the front bumper (quite easy) and removed headlight , bottom cover comes off and has original ballast fitted to it , i removed the original ballast that also has the bulb feed lead connected , its tricky but the bulb feed lead can be manipulated past the AFS assembly. The original feed for the ballast feeds the new ballast so connected it up and installed the new bulb feed lead past the AFS unit and installed bulb and refitted headlight, Best £35 ive spent , works a treat and also looked very good quality . I had a crack in the back of my headlight which had let in water which pools in the bottom of the headlight , which is unfortunately were the original ballast is which is why mine failed but the replacement is a sealed unit so should survive any water ingress. Link to item below http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Xenon-Hid-Ballast-kit-D2-D4-replacement-Lexus-GS300-GS430-GS450-IS200-LS400-SC-/170979454118?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&fits=Car+Make%3ALexus&hash=item27cf2b6ca6