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I was concerned about hybrid battery life and tackled the service manager at my dealer. He said in 11 years they had only replaced batteries in one vehicle due to wear and tear. Other replacements had all been caused by cars getting in flood water or rodent damage. He said they have several customers with cars exceeding 250,000 miles with healthy original batteries. He also made the point that replacement costs have dropped and you don't have to replace them all if their are problems.

Should be fine for now - its not the end of the world if it does go wrong. Obviously I repair / recon batteries so cant advertise my price but others on here may tell you, other things to check include, if there is a buzzing or whering noise when at a stop & engine off - Auxiliary transmission oil cooling pump (home repair of this is possible at home too for @ £60 ish) Shock absorbers leaking they are £350 ish each, Contrary to Lexus information aftermarket 12v Auxilliary batteries can be fitted @ £70 - £150 rather than OE ones at over £400. Obviously I am biased - I own one & love it! Tax is high for a hybrid due i think to its CO emmisions but still affordable, last time i got it was I think £250ish but check that. I think 99% of all problems can be rectified with information from our forum so I wouldn't hesitate if all else is good Mr Acre !

I was nervous at first but I've had my GS450h for three years and though I've had problems (Brake Caliper / Shock Absorber etc.) the Hybrid system has operated flawlessly. Any problems I've had, could have happened to a GS300 too.

Newer, less tax, better MPG, blistering performance. Well worth the extra £800. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201710170374175?model=GS 450H&sort=sponsored&advertising-location=at_cars&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=New&postcode=fy11rn&make=LEXUS&radius=1500&page=1

Here's me on my F Sport Lexus bike. It was taken 6 minutes months ago, since then I've put on some weight, grown a beard and lost my suntan...

So the ‘F’ didn’t feel left out at this time of year, bought her a present, although used, still very nice. 😎 should work nicely with my Toms filter. Looks like at least 5bhp every day! pleased that the throttle body was still clean after nearly 43k miles.

This is about an hour's drive from me, any thoughts? https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201710130243228?make=LEXUS&model=GS 300&logcode=p

In case you guys ever have trouble sourcing a simple mirror glass only replacement for your Lexus Just bought a replacement mirror glass for my nearside door mirror on the Honda Legend ....... cost £20.39 and very quick delivery from Order.( no heat and easy fix ) Cut to measure from my template, just a backing of sticky fix over the original 11 years old degraded misted.whitened mirror glass Honda Main Dealer replacement glass alone would have cost £202.45 incl vat ( plus maybe some challenging fixing ) These guys have many standard glass mirrors for sale at £9 or so but NOT for my 2006 rare Honda Legend. CDM at Wembley 020 8998 9642 Malc

There will be a registration fee and maybe VAT but no import, duty as long as you buy it before we leave the EU. :)

I'd be suspicious of that car. It was up for sale ages ago. Look like same pics too. I thought the dhp pack had half wood steering wheel

Mine is just a tad more......with full European Travel too. Don`t tell everyone though as the increase in numbers, will lead to an increase in accidents, will lead to an increase in claims, will lead to an increase in premiums. :):):)

Got some more done today back on the engine, weather was not ideal for this but its 1 of those jobs ive been meaning to do since having the engine stripped. It was time to paint everything and make it look nice and fresh. I removed the oil filter housing first as this was still on the block then i got the block masked up... The block was cleaned off and it left just a bit of surface rust but wasnt too bothered about this, i then did 3 coats of high temp hammerite satin black. I was going to go for gloss but i figured satin would be better if i ever had any sort of a leak and also it looks just a little more subtle. Whilst i was at it i also cleaned up the engine mount brackets and the oil filter housing and gave them a blast of aluminium paint and got them fitted back on the block. i also masked up the secondary sump and got that painted again in alluminium paint and this also turned out pretty good. and thats it for now, will hopefully be doing the piston ring gaps pretty soon as i now have a proper ring filer, this is going to be a very long tedious job as ive got to do both compression rings of each piston

The vehicle has regenerative brakes so the mechanical ones don't get used as often, that is why the pads/discs last so well. Only if you brake heavily and the needle goes beyond the charge range on the power meter do the mechanical brakes start to be applied. Changing 'gears' on the CVT is just he same as applying a small amount brake - it is simulating engine braking using the regenerative brakes.

I also do this with my GS300 to help reduce brake pads wear.

I like it. Very neat piece of individual detail.

If your ls doesn't come my way Phil I'm thinking of a gs450h. My budget will be lower so I'll be taking a bigger risk and probably buying privately. I' also looking at importing one.. saw this at jap auction . Looks nice

My MR2 is a 2003 mate, 230mm length X 120 mm wide X 190mm height approx mine I believe to be a Panasonic supplied by Toyota if this helps. You need to just make sure the terminals are located the same as original if you are getting a different make etc mate. + & - in same place.

Hi! I also had the white smoke when the car reached a certain temperature! It will only be visible in low temperatures (and i am talking thick white smoke with a very bad smell to it like a steam train) ... i have no idea why! To stop it I had to keep going on the M1 with it but that did not really help! Also Lexus said that nothing is wrong... It is a very common issue! After a very bad experience with a service somewhere around Wembley (Will not name the garage) I decided to buy some tools and open the EGR valve myself! After first try the car was better and the smoke had gone but not all of it! The EGR does play a role in the hole situation and it is worth cleaning! Fuel additive like the one that was mentioned by the OP and Shell V-Power (BP made the smoke a bit worse)! But i soon found out that it was sticking and had to reopen it again! My first ever try at being a mechanic failed! The second time after i opened the valve again i used a small tube attached to the hoover to try and pick up as much carbon as i could from the manifold and boy was there a lot of it there! Since the bonnet was up i got some cleaner and cleaned the MAF as well! Just make sure that you can easily operate the EGR valve manually after cleaning it! The next thing on my list is the fuel filter, but Lexus Edgware almost gave me a heart attack by quoting me £45 for the filter itself and about 2 hours work for £180.00 an hour....... If anyone had the fuel filter changed at a less ridiculous hourly rate please let me know! But when i First started the car after the second procedure, I swear it felt like a complete different car all around! Hallfords has the right carb cleaner ( careful it is strong, USE OUTDOORS)! If you live in close proximity to Edgware or Wembley National Stadium maybe I can show you how it is done! Cleaning the EGR and MAF plus Shell V-Power with Extreme Diesel Cleaner are a great way to keep your car from feeling like half asleep all the time! Also very important thing that @Shahpor has taught me is that IT NEEDS A LONG AND HARD RUN once in a while! It works wonders!

As Lee says there is room to work on the heat shield. Removing the two rubber hangers rear of the silencers will allow them to drop to give more clearance. The OEM nuts "8 mm socket size" holding the shield are made of a very soft material "probably zinc", and may break up or round off as you undo them. Replace them with steel nuts and a good coating of copperslip anti seize compound along with some penny washers for a lasting job. John

Yes, I was able to work around the muffler with either a spanner or a socket. I may have jacked the car up a smidge to gain a bit more elbow room. But you should be able to check out the job without raising the car. It's definitely worth a quick look to see if you can DIY.

Plus one for hybrid, agree with all that's been said. Get a tidy one with Lexus history, you'll never look back. But do consider the small boot for the size of the car, other than that it's all positive IMO. Brian.

Now you've got me really thinking!! I may just give them a call tomorrow.

FWIW, although I didn't buy my GS450h from them, Lexus Stoke have looked after it for the last 2+ years. This is for servicing through their service plan scheme including MOTs; Lexus warranty work; non warranty work such as the dreaded rear exhaust section; buying parts such as brake discs and pads etc, and I have to say I cannot fault them. Not even once, not in any respect about anything whatsoever. And believe me, I am as fussy as it gets, I'm a lifelong petrolhead and I've had many car brands of all types in my lifetime; and I am happy to confirm to you that in my total experience with them that Lexus Stoke customer service, care and attitude beats every other brand I've had by a very long mile. I hope you thoroughly enjoy your new car, and I'm certain that you will. As I say, FWIW! Best wishes, Brian.

Lexus fitted 17" wheels to the facelifted Mk3 (2010 on) SE spec cars. I don't know the wheel width but the tyre size on these models is 225/50 R17 94W.

I believe it is 8j. Just check the diameter of the new set to be sure your speedo won’t be off for too much. If you want to change alloys be sure that tpm valve will fit new ones. Normally if I were you I would stick to the same size and wouldn’t down scale.

Looks fresh and modern, very nice work [emoji106]

My nephew bought the Cadillac STS last Saturday, really nice car and he’s really pleased with it, no sign of any head gasket issues but we’ll keep an eye on everything. The best bit is the engine and the sound it makes, you’ll never get tired of that sound!!! I’m going on a 5 hour train ride to Phils on Wednesday to see his LS430 which I’m 99.9% certain I’ll be buying. It looks like an absolutely superb example and I can’t wait until Wednesday and to get back into Lexus ownership.

nice job on the lights

@Comedian @Mark G Know nothing about bikes close friend of mine is into them this is one of his, when he came down recently, it seem to get a lot of attention when we went down the the seafront. Big Rat

Better take it off again, I only just checked its MOT history (10:30pm), it has no MOT, back to drawing board

So then as i gave away in my last post i have been working on something else whilst waiting for the rod bearings to come. Ive done a little mod to the rear lights just to make them a little more individual and stand out, ive always loved the look of the rear lights so i didnt want to change them too much. So 1st of all i had to strip them down, now these are not sealed using a sealant they are like plastic welded together so for this i had to use a dremel to remove the lens. once the lens was off had to split the backing from the smoked chrome insert, this was pretty simple and just unclips off. then i popped off the red lens cap to access the side light/brake light housing. Now for the good bit, i wanted to convert the side lights to halo LEDs, now i know the rear lights already are kind of halo looking because of the reflector in the middle of the red lens cap but i want a more obvious sharp clear look to them. For this i ordered an LED halo ring and used a glue gun to secure it inside the lens cap. Then i had to cut a small hole to allow the wires to go back through. I also had to do this for the backing of the light too. Now i didnt get any pictures of the reassembly of this as it just clips together apart from the outer lens cover and this was messy as hell. I was going to use clear sealant but i changed my mind and decided to use black as it would look better and less obvious where i cut the lens. Also its easier to see if a bit gets somewhere you dont want it to be and its too late to wipe off. This was pretty tricky but got it done. Now i did test it before i sealed the lens on just incase it didnt work... heres the results...... Flash on Flash off and another with the lens fitted I am over the moon with how it looks!! Now i cannot take credit for this as a saw this done by a guy on youtube, im glad i found it though as the idea i already had in my head before i saw his video it just showed me the way to go about it. Once back on the car i will use the sidelight feed to light the LED up and leave the feed for the brake light on the original bulb. I have not stopped there....... i wanted the USA look rear lights using halos so i also pulled the fog lights out and pulled these apart. Same again i had to use the dremel to open them up. The LEDs are currently on order so i will update this once they have come and fitted.

Link here ( again if acceptable Mods) http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Lexus-Birmingham-Parts/_i.html?_sasi=1&_sid=380908813&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322 If they don't have what you are looking for listed then get in touch as they are a dealers and will prob have it but have just not listed it! paul m.

The only other GS450h I saw on the whole trip was in the centre of Porto. I did see a few 300h's but the GS is a rare breed.

You get a much deeper tone with the HPS in place, especially once the 2nd intake opens up. Had mine on since the week after I had the car so can’t really comment on throttle response but the car sounds much nicer, lots more induction noise with the HPS in place. Apparently they are less of a heat magnet than the metal ones but i’d always assume the metal or hard plastic ones would deform less under load. they are nice bits of kit either way!

Here’s mine -

As promised these are the pics the switch, it is really easy to take apart and reassemble and I suppose it would be possible to clean all the gunk off the copper contacts. But when I bought the new switch I did not have this knowledge and assumed the switch was faulty.

Hangie and Zotto, thanks for the advice, really useful. I think I will take advantage of the cheaper map update through that website. I have the generation 7 with USB under the middle console armrest so hopefully should work. I'll let you know once I've completed the installation!

cheapest solution would be to purchase a second hand skoda diesel with 100k miles on it. give it a big service and it will be the most reliable and cost effective way to go from A to B. However, if that does not sound attractive just buy the car that you really want and screw the mpg. Life is too short

How many years are you getting from the aux: battery? Mine is now 7 years old and seems OK. But I know when the battery fails you are stuck! It won't start the system. If anyone has recently bought a new battery, could you give the make, code number and amperage please? and price paid. Regards I can now answer my own question. Lexus Cheltenham told me the auxillary battery is specially made by a Lexus subsidary company, and is the only one to fit the small tray. NOT TRUE. I have fitted a Bosch S4-158 with a 4year guarantee. Identical in size. Price £44.82 v Lexus £78.00! Thanks to Google search!