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Hi All, After 8 years, 130k miles and a few headaches, I am moving on from my IS220D. Heading over from Ireland to pick up a 2014 GS450H F Sport on Tuesday week! Thank you to all for the excellent help and advice I received over the years. Genuinely kept my car going at times! I know that the car gets a lot of flack but it has served me very well and also fed my interest in DIY car repairs (not everyone's cup of tea!). Honestly, I will miss it. (Alloys upgraded since photo!)

You mean the Mercedes AA Class

I was just reading a thread on this site whereby a member felt the need to apologise to another member for getting the gender of their car wrong. I feel that in this day and age we need to be careful about gender stereotyping and wondered what gender other members give to their cars and why? What makes a male car and what makes a female car? I do not want to upset mine by getting it wrong!

Yes @Big Rat, do keep your mates informed......

Personally, all my cars, including my current one, have been male. I just feel that it is too bulky and rough to be anything else. My partners Renault Clio was female. Maybe it was because she was delicate and fell apart easily?

As I've said on other threads, since picking up my (brand new) NX300h in September I've had a few issues - it is now officially known in my family as the 'timeshare' car, because I have it for a few days then the dealer has it for a few days.... I've actually had my own car for about 6 weeks out of my total ownership of about 16 weeks. Anyway, over the period Lexus Swindon - who have been generally very supportive - have supplied a number of lovely courtesy cars for me to use. I've since formed a very positive impression of the range as a whole. Car 1 - IS300h Advance - 2 weeks. I liked this one, but it caused me some issues as it was a bit low for me (I suffer from some mobility issues). As a car it was a high quality thing and good to drive too. I didn't much like the foot operated parking brake but that was about it. Why so many people continue to buy a BMW 3-Series when this is available is a mystery to me. Car 2 - NX300h F-Sport - 10 weeks. My least favourite of the cars I've had. Don't get me wrong, I like the NX a lot, but wasn't a fan of the F-Sport version. I found the seats too hard, the ride too firm and it was much noisier than my Sport model, likely caused by the tyres. The extra tech was nice, but not nice enough to convince me that I'd rather have an F-Sport over a Sport, Luxury or Premier. Car 3 - RX450h F-Sport - 3 days. A weird one this. The interior is a thing of beauty and quality, but the drive left me disappointed. I found the steering very remote - to the point that I found the car hard to place on the road with confidence - and I was surprised how noisy it was at motorway speeds. The ride was also too firm for me. Again, the extra tech was excellent, but overall the experience left me a bit 'cold' and the car was a bit big for me to feel comfortable driving in tight situations. A lovely car though, and certainly gets noticed! Car 4 - GS300h Premier - today. Well, this is the first of the courtesy cars that I'd happily have in place of my NX. (TBH I'd have the RX as well if it was on offer!). What a lovely car. So smooth, so quiet, so comfortable. I'm a big fan. Having had all of the above, I think all of them stand up to the competition very well. They are certainly beautifully made - especially the interiors - and generally nice to drive. I think if more people properly considered a Lexus, you'd see far more on the road - but the UK's obsession with 'premium' German brands shows no sign of reducing any time soon, which is a real shame.

Hi All, After 8 years on the IS forum, I have finally moved on to a 2014 GS450H. Picking up next Tuesday week - no photos yet unfortunately and the ad has been taken down already. I will put some up when I get the car. As with every car I've ever owned, it's black on black. Very exciting, I know! It ticks most of the boxes for me. It's an F Sport but missing the front fogs and doesn't have the larger screen unfortunately. Has a sunroof which is a nice addition. Anyway, just looking for some general thoughts or advice. Will be looking to add the fog light kit and would love to do something about the hybrid badges beside the rear wheel arches (for some reason they look addly placed to me!). I have an iPod that goes everywhere with me. It's quite large in size (240GB) and not sure if it will work with the GS. Has anyone tried? Thanks in advance

I actually miss my IS220d too. Although I had a few issues with the vehicle it was my first Lexus and I felt so proud to own it. You certainly won't be disappointed with the GS450h. My grandad also has this model and it's absolutely superb. I've been a passenger on several occasions and believe me this car is properly quick. Infact it feels almost as quick as my IS-F.

Couldn't agree more, best colour also. (P.s. thanks for putting the value of my car up!! Haha)

I use an old iPhone 4 plugged in via the USB port in the central box. That shows up as an iPod, so I imagine yours would be OK.

Thanks so much to all, Got in touch with Tony from wheels in motion...... So helpful... Tony suggested I do a few tests and after checking the reports etc he reckons that if I switch the front wheels side by side and if the car veers right then the tyres may be an issue, but if the car veers left then it could possibly be a pneumatic issue. Hope I got that right Tony....

As Mike brewer would say...he's havin a giraffe 😆

Very interesting, because GS450h in my opinion is the only car in Lexus line-up which can be considered and upgrade for IS mk2. As such this is pretty much the only car I am looking after at the moment - great engine (sadly no 2 door option). Will be interesting to hear your impressions moving to GS and best luck with your new purchase.

Don't do it, you will regret it!!

Mt Ipad will play music via blutooth even from the boot..

So this isn't an impulse purchase then. I'm sure you'll find your GS a blast. Crumbs, that's quite a difference in tax!

Hi Lee, Ha, a tricky question! I had been so impressed with my previous Lexus that it was an easy decision to stay with the brand. Also, my regular drive on a daily basis has swung a bit more urban than it had been so a hybrid seemed like a great option for me. Other factors such as car tax (in Ireland on the IS220D is about €1,100 versus about €300 on the GS450H) and fuel consumption (at the moment for me is about 30mpg diesel so if I got anywhere close to 40mpg in petrol, I would be savings about €1,500 per annum) really help with the finances! I had a GS450H for a weekend about two years ago and enjoyed every minute of it. I also had a short drive (20 mins) in a IS330H around the same time and it just fell a bit short for me. Really well finished and comfortable but the extra pull from the GS drew me in. I did think about a third gen GS (lovely looking car) but I have a history of holding on to cars for a long time so it made sense to buy a newer model.

Ditto, congrats the GS should be a bit more fun that your IS. There's nowt wrong with a black/black combo either. Looking forward to seeing pic's.

Just to update you guys - the speaker is sill holding strong.

Yep, the rat 🐀 is right 🙄.....😂🤣😂.....

I’m starting to wonder if it’s me that only works here 🤔......the Rat 🐀 is correct as usual 😂🤣😂

It's a............Kawasaki Z1000 SX Tourer ABS MGFA............ my motorbycle 2 wheel bike thing knowledge is legendary....... 🐀

Z1000?

You can prove them wrong by taking another IS300h out with them in the car at the dealership and see if it does it. i doubt it will. Honestly some of the tech's are useless.

you're welcome. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but always try to get an address and a landline, and then give it a call before you part company. basically assume the third party is a scam artist. Sad state of the world today...

I have an obsession with things being equal, here’s my 4 tip car n bike 😳

Phone the dealer, they will tell u which auction, BUT auction is the ONLY purchase with ZERO warranty or comeback,......dealers have to by law warranty their cars, no such thing as a tradesale anymore even if signing to say so, so a dealer will have never sell at auction money BUT will tell u where.......most auctions are online 🏎🏎🏎

Hi, I just found this thread and thought I would clarify what happened, because was I in the crash and the owner was my dad. Here is the reason for the crash and what happened etc. - Me and my dad were going to Donnington Park for a racing event - The roads were super slippy due to rain/and apparently diesel - 40 MPH - National speed limit signs - 5.0 V8... - small amount of tread on Michelin Super Sports (just legal) - back end stepped out in a pretty extreme manner and unexpectedly PS. traction control was completely on (sport was not activated) - went straight into some motorway pillars (holding up the M1) at around 60/5 MPH - The car flipped onto its roof and spun around a bit *Everyone was alright thanks to the great airbags and structural integrity of the car* My dad loved the car though, it was reliable, fast, good looking and sounded great when fully lit If you want to download a (free) high resolution pic of the car, here is the link - https://pixabay.com/en/car-auto-vehicle-automobile-2914268/

Let us know how.you get on @Big Rat. Still tempted myself 😀

What am I supposed to be looking at????? Is there a car there somewhere?

Agreed. My son lives just a few miles away from me and always puts on winter tyres as he has a job that makes it imperative he can get to work. Being retired it is not so important to me. I think Cross Climates will cope well enough in most snow for me, but if it is really heavy snow then winter tyres are still the best option. I have another mate who lives in the highlands so always uses winter tyres, and has always been able to get to work even in quite heavy snow falls. his biggest problem is getting around stranded cars on summer tyres, LOL. The trouble is summer tyres cannot cope with even a small layer of snow, we all know this, but for most UK drivers it is such a rare event they stick to what works best for 95% of the year. I think the manufacturers realise that most UK drivers may be prepared to buy all season tyres but not both summer and winter ones. So I expect to see improved all season tyres and a larger choice become available in the coming years. Of course if we have a real bad winter (which is overdue) then maybe things will change more quickly.

Each to their own, my preference is winter/summer sets but that is not everyones wish and I can respect that. I have recommended Michelin Cross Climates to 2 people as they just wanted one set oftyres. They are getting a lot of good reviews. Just youtube them and see how good they are. I think next winter I might change my winters for Dunlop Winter Sport 5s but to be honest I could last another season or 2 on my current Hankooks. Funny thing is that when I bought them, reviews were raving about them. 2 winters on and now they have fallen to average.

hahahahaha ............... She can be very endearing, passive and quiet, unassuming, a bit " long in the tooth " so to say........... but He is a wolf in sheep's clothing ................ still a legendary fast and very quick car, a boy racer if you wanted............... that very few understand .............. who aren't Ls400 owners Not sure about the other models in the Lexus range though, perhaps they fit a particular mould rather better Malc