Leaderboard

After having an NX300h for a few days as part of a curtesy car whilst my IS was in for a service I thought that I would write a little review on my findings. I picked the car up late on Thursday evening form my local Cardiff Lexus. The car was a demonstrator; SE spec. From what I understand the SE is not the base model but one up. It had some of the usual refinements that I like, heated seats, sat nav etc, but it was missing the basics such as parking sensors, although it did have a reversing camera! One thing that I really did think was a serious need for improvement was the info entertainment system. There was a USB port but it seemed this was to be used to charge phones and not as a socket where you could plug a USB stick full of music. The audio quality on the standard system was not amazing either. Visually the car is very striking to look at. What’s really weird is when you first start driving it. Being a Hybrid the first time you turn it on its complete silence. Even when the engine springs into life it doesn’t really make much more noise. The cabin layout was nice with a screen upon the dash, heating controls underneath and the usual buttons on the steering wheel allowing you to change the volume, answer phone calls etc. This car also featured an electronic hand break. This can be activated via the press of a button, or when the vehicle is placed in ‘Park’. Something that was a little strange was the break hold. This comes on automatically on my partners Golf, but you need to press the ‘break hold’ button at the start of each journey to activate it. Once the ignition is turned off you have to turn the break hold feature back on. This essentially puts the hand break on when you come to a stop regardless of whether you are in park or not, a handy feature. As previously mentioned, the driving element of this is fun. Initially I didn’t like it as much but as I drove around town I found myself fixated on the energy monitor. The Hybrid system will start you off, and, providing you are light with the throttle, can take you up to speeds of 40MPH. However, the range is incredibly limited, although this maybe down to the fact that I live in Wales and we have lots of hills here (I think I managed just over a mile on battery power). The car is almost silent when driving below 10MPH, and it doesn’t really get much noisier when you go faster. If I am being truthfully honest though I do think my IS is quieter at speed. The gearbox in this car is not a traditional 6 speed automatic. The E-CVT is a ‘gearless’ gearbox which does have massive benefits around town. You will never feel it change gear… as it doesn’t! The gearbox seemed to cope really well with around town driving, however when driving back to the dealership there was a section of road on the motorway which was uphill. When I put my foot down to overtake the engine did roar into live to give a little extra boost. Some of the car reviews slate this, but honestly it’s not as bad as people make out. If you are going to be planting the throttle everywhere you go then yes, the engine will generate quite a bit of noise, but if you are gentle with it, then you’ll be fine. Most of my driving is usually around town. On the motorway the car’s trip computer displayed 44MPG. When handing it back it was showing 42MPG. That included Cardiff to Swansea and the return trip one trip to work and a trip to a local city in total probably around 200 miles. Although this is not an acid test as I didn’t have the car long enough to do a lot of town driving I still feel that around town economy was better than what the IS would usually give. Motorway driving however, was disappointing. Considering the official figures are low 50s, this falls short. So I suppose the million dollar question would be would I buy one? At the moment the prices are too high for me, as typically I like to buy second hand and there’s not too many of them around. I did like the size and rear space (not that I take many people) and I did like the elevated driving position, but I do feel that there needs to be tweaks made. It would be nice if the battery range was a little longer as Mitsubishi have a 38 mile range in their SUV equivalent (although it’s a PHEV). The other thing that I found strange was the battery technology that Lexus are using, I would have thought LiPO would have been put into their modern cars. All in all an enjoyable drive.

Thanks! There's a long way to go before its a 'lovely' Lexus! But I am working on it. Currently going through it cleaning years of being smoked in and general neglect. Ewww! I

Hi Guys Well, I posted in another topic due to leak in the back that I had thought I had fixed, I am back to say unfortunately it returned with a overpowering damp smell again (despite running an ozone generator for 2 hours in the car) So determined to get to the source of the issue this time.... 1. LH front passenger seatbelt damp again - I naturally think sunroof again and start stripping off the trim to look for water ingress/mould trails. 2. LH scuff plates off, bit dirty underneath but looks okay, door seals come off too. Again no surprises with those. 3. LH B pillar off hoping to find a trickle from sun roof to seatbelt coil (would answer wet seatbelt conundrum) - surprisingly, looks quite healthy inside, no signs of mould, mould smell or water marks. 4. Peel back carpet at the edges where possible - find the whole underlay SATURATED. 5. Start stripping back more trim to get more carpet up, the more carpet I can peel back the more water I find! Literally pools, not puddles, pools of water in the footwells (the body has peaks and troughs in it) 6. Pull some rubber grommets and start getting the water out. 7. Noticed on tracking back the water left a sandy/dirty trail which I trace back to the boot area. 8. Light clusters out - what do I find? What can only be described as a bullet hole underneath the LH light cluster. It's not uniform enough to be a intentionally drilled hole and would of taken some force to get through, as it stands I am still at a loss to understand how it got there... (pic shows hole and unadulterated right hand side of the same area for comparison) 9. Onwards and upwards. I test the hole by pouring water in it and sure enough it floods the insides. 9b. Treat the hole with rust inhibitor and anti rust primer. (Hammerite Kurust) 9c. Plug the hole with a rubber grommet and silicone it up as much as poss. (halfords grommet and granville sealent) 10. End up peeling back more carpet where possible but again more I peel back more dampy/mouldy/brown water I find. 11. Having enough at this point I remove all seats and completely strip the carpet out. 11B. Pull out all rubber grommets where water is collecting and let her drain! 12. Wash down the bare metal with diluted bleach solution. Scrubbing off the mould where possible. Water keeps wringing out brown even after the 3rd pass. 13. Many passes later, spray the area with some decent household cleaner and final rinse out and wash through with clear water. Carpet & it's sound absorption material is still drip drying in the garden but I reckon it's totalled, it's got mould in the absorbtion material. It's polythene backed so would of never dried out on it's own with the amount of water present and whilst it was a big job (4 hours) I am glad I did it. Going to get a new carpet and just fit it whilst I've got the opportunity. I'm going to run it round bare for the moment just to ensure all leaks fixed. Equipment used: Trim Removal - Flat blade screwdriver Light cluster - 10mm spanner and socket (tricky to get to, rachet spanner is ideal) B Pillar cover - 10mm socket Chairs removal - 14mm socket Seatbelt bolt - 14mm socket Center console - 10mm socket Granvile silicone sealent Halfords assorted grommets Araldite epoxy to fix broken lug on light cluster All purpose wipes Bleach and other cleaners

Never had a good experience with a dealership. Only experienced those at Audi and Lexus however. Over the years I've had a couple of excellent independent mechanics who obviously have a passion for what they do, which installs absolute confidence when handing your keys over. I don't even think about recording the mileage etc. In some cases it seems the average service/maintenance offered doesn't match the excellent Lexus 'product'.

I have dealt with 3 Lexus dealers, Bolton, Cardiff and Swindon, all very nice and shiny etc but when it comes down to it they are a business just like the rest of them, they need to make money out of us, I quite like the coffee and pastries approach, when I get tired of paying for it I will take my business elsewhere. Lexus Bolton realy have gone the extra mile for me in the past, really impressive. As for an independent, go and speak to Neil Garner at Neil Garner Motorsport, Kemble, great guy and really knows his stuff, he was Fernando Alonsos race engineer when he won his world title.

So I went to leeds yesterday and collected the car, drove it home to Stoke without incident. It's absolutely fantastic! Full service hiatory and 12 months mot. Needed a good clean but now looks great! No body or paint damage to speak of bar a couple of minor scratches and touched up stone chips on the front. The leather could do with some work as it has wear in places. Nothing major though. Any recommendations for leather repair/repainting? The wheels need a refurb but I'll have a go at that myself in the summer. Also is there any way to update the sat navigation system? I know you can't get new cd's but can you retrofit a later system (430 dvd?) or Tom Tom unit to the in built screen as it's brain is in the boot isn't it? Overall I'm smitten with my new car. Even my wife managed to say it's very nice and comfortable, which is high praise indeed! I'll try and get some pics up in the next day or two. Thanks to everyone who has helped me.with questions up to this point. I'm. Sure I'll have more :-) Matt

Yes Dave may do just that and replace filter with the K&N one at the same time. Dealer just called and said his mechanic looked over the car again and it needs new brake pads and discs on the front. So they will be new when car is delivered next week. Cannot wait! cheers Bob

There was a.ovely story going around in the late 70s and early 1980s about some poor chap who had been driven mad by a clicking from the rear of his Opel Senator, a very whizzy management car of the time. The dealers were at a total loss after a lot of checks. In the end they were given the go ahead to cut open a section of the rear of the body to find a steel ball bearing attached to the body by wire with a message to the effects "found it at last you capitalist basta..d'... A period of great social unrest in the car industry. Wonder why on earth you had that gaping hole in the bodywork? Revenge from a disgruntled Japanese worker!

ok guys.....brought car and its being delivered next Tuesday. Here are some pictures. Also is it worth replacing air intake and filter. I see K & N is a popular choice and not to bad in terms of cost. Take care

I've only ever used Lexus Guildford, though that will change shortly. So far they have been very good and willing to discount their servicing costs. Their service team seems to know a lot about the car and appears to have good continuity of staff - I keep seeing the same people when I go in there. As well as giving me have an RC-F as a courtesy car........ So no complaints with them at all. Not so keen on the sales team though, bought my F from Lexus Derby, they were much more willing to do a decent deal than Guildford, though that may be the location as I've seen a similar unwillingness to move on price at other main dealers in the area. Maybe there are too many people willing to pay the asking price in that part of Surrey.

there is a very subtly tuned black XKRS that lurks in my local station car park occasionally, Looks and sounds epic, though I suspect having to wash it every 10 minutes would get a bit annoying.

Silver is the way to go, colour makes car look sophisticated and rather butch at same time.

I agree with @emjay82 that the franchises don't really have the quality of the product, to be frank the polished smiles, polished floors and pastries are all very well but it is us that pays for this stuff and we would all probably forsake this for better consistent service. As regards product knowledge the fact is these places have huge turnover of sales people it's just a job to them, which is unfortunate to those other members of staff who are committed. Personally I'm someone who is prepared to travel a bit for service and be firm fair and polite as to what I want and how I want it to be, there's enough of them about whether your car is under warranty or not, ah the joys of motoring 😂 🐀

Thanks Guys no this isn't the car I will be buying. It has been removed from auto trader now. it was the silver one with black interior. Approx 83k on the clock. hopefully it will all go as planned today.

I was sorely tempted and if the elgrand id imported hadnt turned up when it did i may have even bought it. Quite glad it wasnt a pale green mk4 or i think i may ne getting divorced

With all my previous cars I have used my trusted independent and will use him for all the consumables but I feel as though the ISF needs a Lexus service stamp, otherwise it will be less desirable when sold.

He's a very posh man. Wears designer clothes and all!

@Warrington guy Nah not this weekend demolish 2/3 height of wall then fence a top of, as they say in these parts 😂 Thirty metres done 2.5 days, very tired now 😳

Big rat . You must be a posh joiner with a nail gun .

Hi All So after many many months of saving, I'm finally the proud owner of my very own Lexus! I just wanted to say a big "HI" to you all and look forward to chatting with you soon! I've attached a pic of my new pride and joy. Cheers

Big rat you'll definitely hear it next Saturday lol

Hi Slack - I don't know for definite but will share what I offered in another thread on a similar question I looked into this quite heavily before purchasing an SE as there were so many SE-L's around but I didn't want the hassle of air bellows going wrong. From what I have found it's entirely feasible, and likely not too difficult, the shocks look relatively the same length (from pics) with the same mounting brackets. The mounts on the body should be universal for air/coil - wouldn't be economical for Lexus to modify a whole chassis just to fit a specific shock, so if I were doing this I would buy one used shock off ebay for 40 quid or whatever (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lexus-RX300-RX-300-Front-front-let-passenger-side-shock-absorber-/272500930604?hash=item3f7252382c:g:KvoAAOSw5cNYY7xw) with a view of getting the wheel off, under-arch plastic off and offering it up and checking dimensions and mountings vs my current air shock - once confirmed it offers up okay with no modification I would of taken the plunge to buy 4x good ones and fit them in a day myself. I ended up finding a nice SE finally so didn't need to follow through on this so as far as my knowledge took me.

Thoroughly recommend the DAS Pro if you're meaning something to remove swirls etc.. Partener with Hexlogic pads and Meg's range of compounds http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/polishing-machines/das-6-pro-dual-action-polisher/das-6-pro-dual-action-polisher/prod_673.html

Won't be disappointed with a K&N typhoon . They sound great

I just left the lid off. I piggybacked the trunk open fuse and you can also see where I grounded it. It's a permanent live so I can record while parked.I just switch on and off the cam whenever I want. I also used a low voltage protector. Low voltage protector (just make sure it has the same type usb connector as your cam) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/302193281681

All done... nice an easy.... as ahmedali44 said, my Varta battery was a little bit bigger which made refitting the bracket a little strained, otherwise all done. I did the window trick, twice for good measure.... didn't hear any beep, so hope it is ok

It's gone!! Lol damn quick off the line 😀

Just adding to this, Lexus Twickenham has a two site model where the showroom is five mins drive from the workshops, so you have a song and dance about dropping the car off and long wait times for it to be delivered driven back for pick-up. I rate their mechanical workshop skills but I find the sales service staff quite snooty. It's the kind of place where having a passion for your car and an interest in how it is serviced is frowned upon. That being said, they get the job done and seem to do it well, but I'd rather just drop it off and wait at the workshop that going via the showroom for everything...

Shouldnt really make much difference as it only went up by a small amount - and, it was back in October 2016. My insurance has gone down year on year since owning my car Multicar policy with Admiral in 2015/16 year was £800 with £500 total excess for the RX450h (10K business use + 16 year NCD) and the IS300H (5k commuting + 12 year NCD). Multicar policy with Admiral in 2016/17 year was £753 despite the tax increase with same excess and mileages but also 1 claim of £2300!! (wife's fault just to put it out there). My 21 year old son's is best though - he's a completely new driver - 06 VW Polo 1.4 on 8k per year personal use - 2015/16 was £673 for 10 month Admiral telematics NCD accelerator (he had 0). Come renewal time it went down to £575 even though he's got bronze score throughout the year. I got him to ring up and pull the "student got no money" card and its now £448 with £400 total excess :) All policies comprehensive of course but Admiral seem unbeatable for pure value at the minute

Think that was discussed befor, possible it's an import as it has touch screen on a mk3

Brilliant, guys at work here wondering why I'm having a fit in the lorry. Can't stop laughing. That was a blind sider out of nowhere.

@Mark6pot The cheque is in the post matey, you can spot it by the envelope only one I could find 😂 🐀

Good man dutchie, it was the right hand side but yes got it. Of course I overlooked the simple way!! I set it to range now,much better imo. Thanks!

try fiddling around with the buttons on the left side of your steeringwheel. just push them and see what happens you will quicklu see how you can control the lay out.

One of the happiest periods of car ownership I have ever experienced was back in the day when I had VWs. Nothing to do with the VW brand, just the fact that I found a VW specialist that more than knew his onions. Describe a problem to him and he more than likely diagnosed the issue even before I'd finished my sentence. So, when picking up the car, I knew the issue would have been fixed. Also, being his business, he cared as the buck stopped with him. I might as well be looking for a hen with teeth, but I'd love to have a local IS-F indie. I'd still get the servicing done at Lexus, but everything else..... I appreciate Lexus main dealers washing cars. However, I don't expect it and really wouldn't be that upset if they didn't do it. I rarely have time to sample the fruits of the expensive coffee machine and as for the pastries, all I can say is that @Rebecca must be an early bird. I'm much more interested in issues being diagnosed and fixed first time. This is where Lexus have failed me. My IS-F has been back with Lexus no fewer than 7 times since June. I am not going to list the issues, but there have been too many occasions where I've been told 'Yes, we've definitely fixed it this time' only to drive a mile down the road and realise that this is not the case. By reputation, maybe I expect too much from Lexus and therefore the Lexus dealers :(

Hi , I agree with the post from Texas ; as a member of the Mazda owners club we have had cases of NGK iridium plugs sourced from China doing exactly as he described when electrode parts have detached . NGK engineers claimed they were fake and with the high standard of fake packaging very hard to spot unless you were an expert ,so steer clear of cheap Chinese plugs Dave

Lexus bristol absolutely superb. Very friendly and helpful and those Danish pastries are to die for 😘

Wait until you hear them! 😍 Looking forward to meeting everyone and checking out some of the other lexus models, the F is my first one!

Nasty cough you have there . Our family are in the Chester area so trips up there are a frequent occurrence. Always had IS250s until recently, so not a performance car like yours Paul.....but the route lends itself to a spirited drive, quite challenging in places. Especially over the top from Llandrindod Wells to Newtown....watch out for the sheep !

I love him dearly he knows that is it cake....... is it 😍 🐀

Did someone say supercharged V8?

White sedan man :).

Also a fan of the Uniroyal RS3. Used to put Pirelli P-Zero on everything but tried the RainSport 3 on my last Jag and was well impressed. Going on the GS as soon as the ones it came with wear enough to make the spend worthwhile. The no-name things that the dealership put on for me are dire, "Sh"tGrip 3000" or whatever slide all over the place when pushed. I believe Uniroyal are owned and manufactured by Continental.

It's not fear fella just good old common sense and a large dose of research 😏 🐀

maserati quattroporte? Like this one...

Hi everyone. New owner here :) I have bought a 2012 CT200h SE-L and picking it up on Monday. I traded in my much loved diesel Honda Accord as the government are really sinking their teeth into trying to ban diesels. Plus, I now only work 9 minutes from my house so it's uneconomical. I loved the car on my test drive. It has leather heated seats, fold away sat-nav, rear view camera and a few other things that were present in my Accord which I'm happy with. Now, I've always been a modder. So I'd like to order the parts ready for when I pick the car up. What are common modifications? - number plate lights? (any recommondations that aren't ridiculously white and more OEM?) - HIDs? (if so, which brand works with the auto function that's relatively cheap?) - puddle lights? (again, more OEM looking) Any other worthwhile modifications? I don't like modding map lights or anything as I think they'll hurt my eyes. Also, does the car have footwell lights? I drove it in the day. Cheers, Ben!

Been back a few months , just got round to signing up , any excuse to post a pic

As I have mentioned in some previous threads on tyres, I did development work for Michelin for what was then the suitability of there tyres for Police Pursuit type vehicles, all the way down to general purpose vehicles. Vehicles used for high speed instructional work driver training etc. They are a very good quality brand, who spend vast sums of money on R&D without going into boring detail I believe the best advice on tyres is buy the best you can possibly afford and drive accordingly. Dont exceed the limits of your ability or that of the vehicle and you cannot go far wrong. The most important thing you can do is maintain the correct pressure this paramount, check them frequently you look after them and they will look after you and your family and other road users for that matter. Big Rat