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As I mentioned yesterday the RcF has gone to Lexus Cheltenham for a service and a bit of personalisation. They kindly gave me this to runabout in for a while and I must say I'm very impressed.......... I requested it about a week ago as I've never driven one before and my first impressions are wholly positive. From the outset it's obviously a drivers focused car and has clearly been designed as such from the outset. No doubt most of you have read plenty about them as they've been around for some years now, but what I really appreciate is normally aspirated petrol rear wheel drive. This one is a manual which most no doubt are the gearbox is great close ratios stacked together well for acceleration in any gear, bit noisy and buzzy at motorway speeds 80mph in 6th equates to 3000rpm, I understand the auto 6th is an overdrive. Great pointy steering and the vehicle is easy to place in part to the raised front arch bumps, but like an Elise or Exige. Engine revs out pretty well past 7000rpm albeit this one is still tight as it's only done 199 miles and naturally I'm being sympathetic........ c The interior is great IMO all the tech and kit one would want with swathes of suede in all the right places, great seat and positioning nice and low just right for a little fellow like me. The pedal/steering to gear lever are just right and feel just right, engine produces just short of 200bhp would I want more not sure really would quite like a go in a super charged one to see. All in all a great package chuckable car with a fairly spacious boot reliability as I understand stand it and not a bad price what's not to like 🤗 Big Rat

@Bluethunder Nean I agree the engine note from the boxer 4 is a bit nondescript, guess the car may benefit from an exhaust on it. Some pics of this model but sun is a bit intense.

I had a friend who turbocharged his 2003 Civic Type-R. Admittedly front wheel drive so slightly different kettle of fish...but it ruined the car. He removed it in the end. My friend Phil has an AE86, they handle amazingly well...admittedly it’s not quite stock!

@Tfp Tim absolutely the guys at Lexus Cheltenham say exactly that one of them is on his fourth having alternated between running one of these and an IsF and Rcf, the dealer principal races one and is actually collecting the launch colours cars. They do seem to have a following, I can see why. 🐀

The difference is hanging the tail out on a nice wet, deserted, roundabout. These cars are so easy to learn oversteer with, they'll do it at very low speeds in the wet.

The 430 heads for the paintshop tomorrow... it does look nice but 13 years has taken its toll in one way or another.... The worst bit is the nearside rear wheel arch (car is on a wheel free ramp hence the big gap!!) The rear bumper has a dink top to bottom in the middle And a dig in the corner... Bootlid has a big scratch down the edge here (touched in) And more scratches and chips here.... it also has damage around the number plate area where various different plates have been put on in the past... The front has lots of rash that always shows more on the darker colours, difficult to see much here but it annoys me... The front bumper has been painted before and the quality is a bit suspect, the paint is very flat with little shine and the lacquer is peeling in several places... There are also some large chips out of the bonnet and boot.. So not that bad and yes it's what you would expect from 13 years and 130,000 miles but I'm sad and want it looking the best it can... so bonnet, both front wings and the front bumper will be painted as well as both rear wings, the boot lid and rear bumper, the nearside rear door will get painted to blend the colour in.... There is not much in the way of repairs, most is just flatting and painting so it's only £400 for the lot so for a small outlay it will be near mint bodywise... As you can see I took the rear badges off to clean them up before they go back on the new paint... you can see why you don't see debadged 430's... they still have locator holes for the badges... virtually unheard of these days... They would look something like this if debadged... Think I prefer it with badges.... I also took the grille off to strip it down and give it a good clean... looks weird without one.... More to follow....

Enough of this cleaning nonsense. It was time to get my hands dirty again. For quite some time now, I've been buying up parts here and there and putting together a package that would overhaul and improve my brakes. The existing brakes have been performing fine and always pass the scrutiny of the Lexus techs whenever my car has been in for a service or an MOT, so there has been no real rush to do anything with them. As a result I've been able to play the long game and take advantage of discount codes, special offers and killer deals to pick up everything I need for reasonable prices. Some of this stuff was bought as far back as 18 months ago. I did actually intend to do this brake job last year as my front discs and calipers looked ludicrously small and puny when they were sitting behind the 19" IS-F wheels I used to have on the car. But a mixture of me being lazy, and the fact that there was no genuine reason (other than looks) to make the swap, meant it became something to be tackled at a later date. During my last service though, there was mention of the front discs being lipped, and that the pads had under 5mm left front & rear, so that was the green light I had been waiting for. These are what were hiding in the rockauto package in the "haul" picture above. A pair of reconditioned IS350 front calipers from the USA. Cheaper options are/were available, and although it was always my intention to paint them, I opted for ones that were finished with a "weatherproof" coating, because well, why not? The premium was pretty small, and even accounting for this, shipping costs and a hefty import tax bill, they were still reasonably-priced compared to the rusty and seized GS calipers being offered by salvage firms on eBay UK. And here they are. A few nicks and gouges in the aluminium casings here an there, definitely (they're not brand new after all), but overall not too bad and fully-rebuilt with all-new bleed nipples, pistons, seals, guide pins and pad fitting kits etc. And count how many pistons there are. Four! Next on the shopping list was a pair of larger, fatter discs for these bigger calipers to grab onto, so a genuine set of GS450h discs/pads were sourced from good old Lexus Birmingham's eBay store. Because the new calipers are a 99% direct bolt-on swap on an IS250, and because they came with all the necessary hardware, this was it as far as the front end was concerned. I started on the rear. The discs were still in pretty-good shape, just a little rusty so they were retained. The dreaded slider pins also appeared to have no issues. Both sides were moving freely and their rubber boots were intact and exactly where they ought to be, so I adopted the "if it aint' broke, don't touch it" attitude and left them well alone. To improve the appearance of the calipers, I wanted to paint them a colour that will stand out behind the wheels. My inspiration was the official F-Sport BBK package that was available in the USA as a dealer-fit accessory. So, something similar to that "F-Sport Blue" would be required. This arrived in the form of a caliper painting kit by Foliatec. Their "RS blue" colour is a pretty-good match, so after removing the old pads and cleaning them up a bit, I painted the rear calipers in situ, and also tidied-up the discs with a lick of satin black Hammerite. I gave them about 4 coats overall and left my car on jack stands overnight to let them dry properly before attempting to fit the new pads. I considered sticking with OEM but ended up going with a set from Brembo for around half the price. The last time I done any brake work myself was well over a decade ago, on a BMW, but swapping these pads was extremely easy. I would encourage any other IS owners (or indeed GS owners with the same brakes) to DIY them. The only tools I really needed were a pair of needle-nosed pliers! It never ceases to amaze me how, even today, something as important and critical as the braking system is held together with tiny and delicate pieces of metal in such a rudimentary fashion. New pads fitted. I would like to have placed some kind of decal on the rear calipers to up the bling factor and match the fronts, but they are incredibly thin with no major surfaces to place one on, so that was it as far as the rear brakes were concerned. I had some VHT clear lacquer to hand but it seemed a bit pointless to waste it on the rear calipers, which are used so little. So, the wheels were re-fitted and a short test drive was undertaken. The brakes definitely felt a little stronger and smoother on the test drive. On to the front brakes then. The calipers were painted alongside the rears, alternating between the two to apply each coat. I had to really because with the Foliatec kit, the colour is mixed with a hardener so time was a factor. For an off-the-shelf kit that is applied with a brush, I'm quite happy with how they turned out. As with the rear calipers, they received about 4 or 5 coats each. Even though these front calipers are pretty massive, I still had plenty of paint left. Obviously some areas were missed/skipped because they won't be visible on the car, but still, I could've kept on painting them if I wanted to. As with the rears, they were left to dry fully overnight. The following day it was time to apply the decals I had sourced from eBay. Separating them from the backing paper proved to be quite tricky and a bit of a faff, which made lifting off the transparent top layer a bit nerve-wracking, but thankfully that was the only thing that lifted and the decals were firmly stuck in place. I went with a silver logo, and I'm so glad I chose this option over white. I think they really look the part. Next, for some added protection, and to help ensure the decals remain on the calipers, I applied several (I forget exactly how many) coats of high temperature lacquer. Finished results below. Again, these were left to dry fully overnight. Now it was time to install them on the car so the following day, the front end of the car was raised and the wheels were removed. This is how the OEM setup looked. As mentioned earlier, all working fine and no real problems, but just a bit tired-looking. I find it a little bizarre that the front discs are a smaller diameter than the rears, but they are (296mm vs 310mm). The new calipers and discs would put that right though. Removing the OEM gear was very simple. Since everything was being replaced, I could just undo the two 17mm bolts that the caliper is mounted with and pull everything off at the same time - calipers, discs, pads...the whole lot! All that was left to do at this point, was to undo the 14mm banjo bolt and clamp up the brake lines to minimise fluid loss. The next step was to clean up the hubs to ensure the new discs had a nice smooth surface to mate to. I mentioned earlier that this upgrade is a 99% bolt-on job. The picture below shows why it's 99% and not 100%. That small triangular piece of metal has to be trimmed from the dust shields to avoid fouling the considerably larger 4-pot calipers. New discs and calipers installed.... And then with new pads (genuine Lexus) installed.... After bleeding the system, I gave everything a final wipe down to remove all the oily fingerprints etc. Finished results below. Other side... The wheels were then refitted and I took it for a test drive to confirm everything was OK. I was worried they would be noisy as due to an oversight on my part, I didn't have any shims for the pads, so I'll need to order those and fit them at a later date, but the brakes were nice and quiet and stopping power was impressive. The OEM brakes always felt a bit "grabby" to me but shedding speed with this setup seemed much smoother. One of the main reasons for this upgrade though, was of course for the aesthetics. I put some petrol in the car during my test drive and when I was walking back to the car on the forecourt I couldn't help but be impressed with how great the bigger brakes looked. The car was dirty though, so for a nice money shot I gave the car a quick foam and rinse so the wheels were reasonably clean. Overall, I am SUPER happy with this upgrade. I think the end result is quite spectacular on a visual level (on the front anyway) and the overall cost wasn't really that much more than fitting like-for-like OEM parts. I'm also really glad that I did all the work myself. In the past I would've (and have) taken the easy option and just bought all the parts and handed them to an indy garage to do all the dirty work, but I figured this was something I could probably do myself, given enough time, so I swallowed a brave pill and went for it.

Hi Sorceror! Thanks so much for the useful info above, where possible I’d like to go “above board” just to make sure I use the proper route. However, it’s good to know that there’s potential to make the small changes, such as only the drivers door unlocking for example. Hope you like the pictures of the car after it was collected and driving part way home and with the car it replaced! Thanks again! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Me too. Brilliant..

I also have a tale of tradesman woe, before detectors. I drilled a hole in a kitchen wall just 3" from an external copper pipe. The drill hit a live cable, the electricity arced across the chuck and burned a hole in the copper pipe causing a mains gushing! The days before consumer units with breakers of course. Lesson learned? not really.

painting coming very soon :) fitting is very well. using original factory screws. But the clips need to be replaced by longer ones .

These wheels look really nice on an LS! Quite a few have done this swap in the US. Apparently you'll need 15mm spacers to clear the front calipers on a '98 car. The ideal tyre to upsize with is 245/45-18. Existing wheelnuts are probably fine if they are of the flat seat variety.

You can of course get updates. My original hdd source was original 2010. I updated in 2014. It did make a little difference here and there. But there was still a lot missing. I have just driven from Cabrales de Arenas to Santillana to Bilbao and on Logrono. There were many occasions where madam was telling me to u turn, turn left or right as we were sailing down the A8 motorway. She did, however, take me faultlessly to the Guggenheim in Bilbao. I used google maps to get decimal coordinates and then a converter to adjust to degrees, minutes and seconds N and W. In all fairness she took me straight to our apartment in Logrono. Pretty large city with many one way streets. Logrono, by the way, is a lovely vibrant city that almost never sleeps. The tapas bars are just buzzing at night! Right now it’s 9:40 pm and 30 degrees! Time for tapas and Rioja!

At least it is not FWD, otherwise we would need to calculate pushing... and pulling... and pushing.. and would need to get laboratory with soft walls..

A great watch indeed. Others in the Megafactories series on other marques are also worth a look.

Do the guys at Cheltenham have an opinion on supercharging them? My friend in Canada is about to have his Subaru one done. $15,000 canadian I think he said.

@Tfp It is in lovely condition inside and out I was just trying to place where I've seen that wheel design before as well, I think it's from the Dp's collection, there were some lovely AE86's on display at the recent Toyota day at Cheltenham I think @Rusty Crobarposted up some pics of them recently 🐀

Wow, that does look very nice in an old school way. What's the interior like? It looks high quality in the pics.

@DAW Thanx matey if you get the chance go for it that manual gearbox thing could catch on.........🤔 🐀

@Ala Larj Absolutely once the dust had cleared the other guys gathered round and not a moment of bantering p... take was heard... much 😂 🐀

I really wanted one of these when they were launched. I've owned several of it's older brothers the AE86's. But I felt it just needed more power. I too would like to try a supercharged one.

I hope you accepted the tea. Am sure it would have been rude not to!

The LFA was produced using the tech from the disbanded F1 team factory if I remember correctly.

Hi all. There is no answer to that really just complete and utter bad luck i trust you have learnt from you unfortunate mistakes and you are now 100% perfect now. 65mike

I understand that the compression isn’t high enough to warrant super unleaded... 🤐

I’ve always loved these and think they are wearing their years well. Know nothing about the interior, but I think the exterior is looking more and more handsome.

@65mike Mike in 45 years of being in the trades only got it badly wrong twice...... ill share them with you all.......... About ten years ago I completely refurbed a fairly large property for a friend/ landlord fairly substantial landscaping as well as the interior two bathrooms new kitchen skim plaster the whole property and redecorate. The final phase was solid oak floor lay through out the ground floor, so far so good 7 weeks without a hitch for the site. I was just in the process of drilling the small holes for the final door threshold bar between the hall and dining room, drill bit went straight through a central heating pipe in the concrete and water erupted under pressure like a geezer........😫 Just by sheer chance immediately to right was a large stack of the yellow muck buckets all empty which were used to catch the majority of the filthy black water.......lesson learnt don't trust detectors to find copper encased in plastic....🤓 Second one large farm house refloor timber joists replaced big job over a considerable length of time, nearing its end in one of the ensuites I overreached to get a powered tool and passed straight through the plasterboard ceiling into the utility room below landing at the feet at the clients wife.... who said completely unabashed " Cup of tea lovee" 😂😂😂 Big Rat

Hi all. Big Rat you cannot be any worse than some off the cowboys i have had i had the bloke who thought me was a excellent tiler and then proceeded to hammer a plate in my expensive hall carpet a bodger, then the carpenter who hung my interior doors and left screws out and the bathroom handle loose on the inside. Anyway talking about adverts the Remington man is here to tell you how he brought the company. 65mike

@Comedian The takeoff speed is stored in the data of @Flytvr Rcf the last time @Mark G exercised her there.........😂 🐀

Hi all. I brought a set from the bay off E and was going to fit them as i had 2 metal ones on the car when i got it. The problem came when i could not get the 2 metal ones off had to use a pair off pliers around the rubber valve and a adjustable spanner to get them off noway was i putting the other ones on so back to the plastic dust caps. This way i know i can get them off come rain or shine and they will not be stuck 65mike

I am sure it would be just as brilliant in FWD... you know as people say "FWD pushes from the rear" etc. 😄 😄 😄 😄

super diesel if you have used parts of IS220d...

Would you have to use super unleaded? 😜

We'll make a fortune! In fact I'm off car hunting now on the strength of your suggestion.🚘

Not so fast, this is my post. Ignore the above everyone. Now, if anyone wants a new kitchen, built in wardrobes, new gate (bespoke of course)......

Autocar has article on hydrogen fuel cell cars. What they dont mention the hydrogen has to be conpressed to about 10,000 PSI for it to be usable as a fule - thats not a typo 10,000 PSI of pressure versus 30-50 your put into a car tyre. That pressure alone to blow a nice sized hole in your house if not contained properly, without the combustion protential of pure hydrogen to worry about. I cannot even begin to imagine the complex safety/tools needed to manage a fuel under such pressure, let alone the costs and energy wasted associated. Add in the fact hydrogen fuel stacks still have to be hand assembled- partly when the Mirai is so expensive. https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/john-o’groats-land’s-end-hydrogen-fuel-cell-car Mean while I've been driving EVs for the last 3.5 years, just this week I've done Leicester to Leeds round trip twice, and the only place I 'refulled' my car was at night charging up whilst I slept - using essentially the same electrical wiring that is needed for a power shower. Total cost of 550 miles for fuel = £15, and that's with rounding up/assuming 10% charging lossess. Didnt need to stop to refuel midway, didnt need to drive at 50mph. The only barrier holding back EVs is price, our 200+ mile range EV is the same cost as brand new top spec RX so unaffordable for many (though the Miria is similiar). But cheaper 200 mile range EV are nearly here, Tesla Model 3 been the most anticipated, same price as a 3 series, 200 miles+ range, decent passenger/luggage space. Hydrogen cars are already dead end tech, why Toyota is still wasting time/money on them is beyond me.

This RX being your very 1st hybrid is gonna do your head in for a short while. It did me when I got my 1st hybrid (the IS300h and all previous cars had manual gearbox ) I couldn't get to grips with it so after 5 weeks it went for an auto box sports mondeo. I'm not saying goes get rid but be patient and learn your car. As Colin stated. Get upto the desired speed, so longs as it's below 40, then gently release pressure on the throttle. There are a few videos on YouTube made by lexus on how to drive the hybrid. I found that after driving the mondeo I got used to an auto box. This was good for me as I found driving the 2nd 300h I bought was so much easier than previous. Your economy will get better with time and from the info given you. Oh. On 1st start up of the car the engine will always start up no matter what. My car shows 3/4 full but within seconds it drops to about 1/4. Don't fall into the trap that you have an EV car. Our cars can go into EV mode but I've found that happens when the engine is at normal temp and the battery at anything over 1/4. So to answer your question. No. You just haven't got used to it yet. Just go out and drive it and enjoy it. They truly are a superb machine.

So if anyone wants......... a driveway........ or an extension........... exterior timber structures......... Just go to the Isf/Rcf/Gsf.. pages of LOC and 'Ratty builders.com Plc Ltd' will help....... large amount of cash up front...... non refundable deposit for rubbish workmanship............. Oh LOC mods am I in breach Bug Rat

I think we have already established the fact there is no simple way of finding the owner or distinguishing it form keeper... and that system is not ideal. The more straightforward answer is 2 fold. The ownership document is original receipt or in case of finance the statement showing that car is paid-off, if that is not present what matter for you is to check if car is not stolen or not financed, if it is then you walk away. If it isn't then you need to make sure you get sale agreement/receipt in your name and V5C in your name in case you ever going to have issues (as you still can). I would say even my car wasn't simple buy - I bought it from the dealer, but V5C had previous owners name on it and the dealer sold it from his home address, because it was Sunday. In short he could have stolen that car and pretended to be dealer, because V5C was not in his name and I just had to trust him for his word. As such I just made sure he gave me the receipt and I have paid him via bank, that is all - I bought it "in good faith" and thus have law protecting me if the thing would go sour.

Equally impressive is the fact that, I believe they (Toyota/Lexus) do all their carbon work in-house (most manufacturers outsource this type of thing to a specialist) and pretty-much leaned "on the job" to build the LF-A. Scrapping the original design (made of "lesser" materials like aluminium etc) in the process.

Plug in Prius exists. That battery I bet will see it’s way into a Camry and Lexus at some stage. Me, I’m a dinosaur I just want petrol powered rwd saloons with a nice north south mounted engine and reliability inbuilt Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Amazing indeed... Just to be clear don't confuse Carbon fibre with CFRP.. net the same thing...

The point is that the are very different about power. If you like a really fast car GS450h is the choice, if you prefer a newer model wait for ES300h but don't expect the speed of 450h, counterbalanced by a big advantage on mpg and ownership costs.

@Comedian Sean plied her with Chardonnay and Pizza..........your forgiven now...... I'll send you the bill........what's tonite 'Cranwell big screen movie incidentally ? 🐀

Hello.... Yes I have spoken to him and he seems to be the sort of guy that I would like to work on my car..... I am trying to contact him and arrange to get the work done.... I will let you know how I go on.. In the meantime, as usual,thanks to you all...................................... Roy.

In poor developing countries, everyone rides bicycles but aspires to a car. As they become wealthier, they get their wish but the roads become clogged. Governments then encourage a return to cycling as "the answer". ☺️ I am quite sure that AI is capable of development to the point of autonomous driving but the issue is public acceptance and liability. Witness the railway. Clearly, even with the current technology, self driving trains are practical but they cannot be introduced because of public perception and union intransigence. Personally, I would always want to drive myself but I will be very old or dead before full autonomy becomes commonplace.

@Comedian Now Sean just you listen to me this is Mrs Rat he’s driving now and you now what a rubbish driver he is......he’s now responsible for me...... and you don’t want me to fetch my weapon of choice........ Mrs Jamaican

@Comedian I cannot tell a lie I like that....... stop it now you’ll confuse me...... I’m old ....... I’m a simple individual...... and I’m leaving for Cheltenham now........ 🐀

I got the "Laser 4880" ... but plenty to choose from on ebay, many cheaper than this now ... looks a bit like this one... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Laser-Tools-Oil-Filter-Wrench-64-5mm-x-14-Flutes-For-Toyota-Lexus-4880/171970642808?epid=651434366&hash=item280a3fc378:g:WSsAAOSwjVVVqACa

There is some silly advice and silly opinions being given on this subject. Fill in the form, which you have done, or send a letter outlining your case. Simple as that. If you come up against a brick wall threaten them with the small claims court, and put time limits on when you expect their replies. You don’t need to do FOI Act requests or requests for risk assessments at this point, if you ever will need to. Keep it simple, send them an invoice for repair, tell them you have video evidence, are willing to go to court to recover costs and the matter will find its way to the legal department.