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Hi Folks! I have been driving a wide variety of cars and bikes now for 38 years. Some expensive, some cheaper than a newspaper. Some for weeks, others for years. I have seen traffic change from eerily quiet to 24/24 trafficjams, seen police interference from zero to computercontrolled infrared laser radar highways/B-roads. In some strange way i liked most of the cars i drove, also because they did fit in that timeframe. However, most of them i just forgot the moment i handed over the key. I have tried to come up with 2 of them, the Worst and the Best car i ever owned. This does not have to refer to the best engineered car as an emotional aspect might even be more important. ( for example i drove 3 citroens 2CV, which were driving deathtraps but i loved them so they wont be the worst car. I have been thinking about the Alfas that rusted so badly i could not jack them up anymore, about the Omega Estate 3ltr diesel that was fantastic as i could throw the entire family and bikes in, but it was lacking something so also not the best. Anyhow to keep it short here they are; THE WORST Almost a draw between a Ford Mondeo Diesel 4 door saloon and an Alfa Romeo 75 Indy. The Ford was terrible with a rattling 90 hp diesel engine. So frontheavy and soft on its shocks that sudden death understeer was common. I hated that car so much i tried to wreck the engine for 6 months before giving up. Overrevving, clutchless shifting it survived all so at least it was reliable. The ALFA on the other hand.... The buildquality was as bad as the engineering, really bad. I bought it new and did visit the dealer so frequently i knew all mechanics by name. Jammed gearboxes, broken valves, all sorts of electronic issues. The deepest of the deep events was when it jammed in 3rd gear in Paris rush hour. Oh yes i also simply pulled the entire shifter from the box so i had it in my hands when driving on the motorway. Driving that car was an adventure as you never knew if you would reach your destination. So my worst car will be the ALFA 75. THE BEST My Lexus IS250 Simple, no competition. Overengineered. Great little 6 cylinder inaudible at idle and incredibly smooth. The entire car was radiating quality, from the glovebox to the doors, from the gearbox ( i still admire the accelleration from standstill, like a cloud between the gaspedal and the box, soo smooth, soo linear. One of the most underrated cars in the automobile world. And what about you?

Back in the 60's I bought a clean one owner Triumph 13/60 Herald for next to nothing. The story being it had lost drive in any gear. The owner had a new clutch put in, but still no drive. A garage diagnosed a broken gearbox. I bought the car for peanuts, and removed the cardboard gearbox cover inside the car. "On the Herald, spitfire, and Vittesse the gearbox came out from inside the car". First thing to do to remove the gearbox is to remove the four propshaft bolts. There was none fitted just empty holes. I fitted four new bolts, and problem solved. The car drove beautifully. John.

Hi all again. I picked up my sonic red LC500 this week (just over 2k miles). It is a Sport+ with the tan interior. I had test driven this vehicle previously but now that I have a few hundred miles in the driving seat, I thought I'd post this up. Looks - The sonic red colour is stunning and has real depth when seen in sunlight. It does pick up surface scratches easily but I am going to detail it and have a ceramic coating applied mainly to make it easier to clean. Up close, the car has some very interesting angles and it reminds me of various different cars (LFA, Nissan GT-R). It looks a lot more impressive in person rather than in photos. Interior - By far the best put together and highest quality interior compared to any car I have had (including high end Porsche vehicles). I mentioned this in another post but at first glance on autotrader, I was put off the tan interior. Having seen it up close, it is apparent you get nice subtle changes in shading and the contrast between alcantara and leather is lovely. The entire thing feels way more expensive than it is (£150k+ territory of car). No rattles/creaks at all but I recognise it is still fairly new. I don't imagine it will age badly if kept well taken care of. The dash is well laid out and I actually like the trackpad with haptic feedback. You do have to get used to it prior to attempting changes while driving though. Ride quality - Mine has the 21s with Bridgestone runflats. In comfort mode it is quite supple on almost all types of road exept pot holes with sudden drop-offs. There, it still feels a bit choppy and out of curiosity, I'd like to see what an LC500 with 20s (and non-runflats) rides like as I think this will transform the car considerably in terms of comfort. When in Sport and Sport+, it stiffens up nicely but it isn't overdamped and I find that a huge bonus for normal road driving. I would never take it on a track but I imagine it is a little softly damped even in Sport+ mode. I haven't found a way to decouple the drive modes in terms of the individual settings yet and I'm not sure if you can do that - e.g. set it in Sport+ but with a comfort suspension setting? Handling - Very pleasantly surprised at how capable it is dynamically. When approaching the limit in sweeping bends and sharp cornering, you really do feel the rear wheel steering assist and LSD at work and it isn't off-putting. It is always controllable and doesn't require lots of opposite lock unless you are really being silly. Even then, I can feel the combination of TC/LSD working so I don't think it is ever fully off. The steering is as direct as I'd expect suiting a luxury GT feel but precise and not vague. I don't know if it is meant to weight differently in different modes but I don't find the steering weight very different between normal, sport and sport+. Engine/exhaust/gearbox - Probably one of the best features of this car. The 5L V8 is a masterpiece. I can see it getting better over time as it gets broken in and it will become even more free-revving. I love the requirement to rev it to the top of the rpm range to access the majority of power/torque. It really suits the car and I think this is why it is so controllable. The sound is phenomenal both inside and out of the cabin or with windows down. I have had several people commenting already and I've only had the car 2 days! I have owned many V8s (NA and forced induction variants) in the past and this feels the best engineered and the sound department at Lexus have done a stellar job with the cabin noise, exhaust downshift crackles/pops without it being ASBO ridiculous. The 10-speed auto is great with fast shifts when needed and lots of comfort and smoothness when not. A couple of times I have noticed it "thump" itself into a lower gear when pootling around town but I checked with the dealer and there are no gearbox software updates for it at this time. Fuel economy on motorways is actually surprising at between 35-40mpg. Overall, I think it is a great all-round GT/luxury sports coupe. All the dynamic components feel well put together and don't intimidate or frustrate the driver. I think it would be a great car to learn car handling in. It feels so well made and makes one feel special when inside. I know there are a ton of cars out there at similar price-points with much more performance. I don't think many of them can match this car's interior quality, handling dynamics, engine feel and looks. Reliability remains to be seen but I can't see any reason it won't be to similar Lexus standards. I am very glad I didn't go for an AMG GTS in the end. I think the latter would have bored me in 5 minutes. With the LC500, I feel I can easily get a few years interesting usage from it and the fact that my kids fit in it (and they love it) is a bonus.

Most fun? Nissan S-Cargo. Best-well LS400 Ser 4? Though you'd think me mad if I didn't mention several Citroen DS23s, or my unique CX 25 Turbo auto (they never made an auto turbo!) My Dyanes were fun too. Just been in an electric Zoe. Impressive-but....fun? No. A Mehari is FUN! ds garden.bmp

Courtesy of the wife, hopefully it uploads/plays 5b48e89f-d3fb-4a0c-a99d-2bed8afcda79.m4v

Just a heads up. Chemical Guys UK based in Scotland has ceased trading. I have an outstanding order which I am trying to resolve with PayPal. Last Saturday I received a phone call from a guy who said his company had now been appointed by Chemical Guy US to represent them. He said he knew I had an unfulfilled order and stated it would be despatched to me next day delivery on Monday 16th.Well unsurprisingly nothing has happened so be careful if you intend ordering from their updated website. Might be prudent at this time to order from Slims.

i had a neighbour who had an Alpine, my god it was a heap. It had a twisted chassis so crabbed down the road, exhaust fell of regularly. Engine sounded like a bag of nails. Funny now as i had not thought about it in many years and that brought back funny memories of what a heap pf a car that really was.

Worst was a 1978 Chrysler Alpine. Within three years the tappets were shot and within five it was a rust ridden wreck. Best was probably a 1989 Vauxhall Belmont SRI . That went on forever, cheap parts, easy to service, only issue after ten years (apart from usual consumables ) was a sticky caliper and the bonnet gradually turned pink.

@Matrixxxx My mechanic should still have my set at his garage. I will give him a shout and see if I can swing by and pick them up. Will let you know tomorrow.

As @DAW quite rightly says it is a complete assembly here is a pic of of a complete unit from behind........ Big Rat

My worst by far, a toss up between an NSU Printz or VW Variant, but I think the NSU wins. A gallon of oil just to get it up to Newcastle Upon Tyne from London. My best, probably my Volvo 740GLE, what an amazing bomb proof car that was, it never ever let me down in several years of ownership.

There have been quite a few discussions about extended warranty and of course there are different personal situations that will come into play as to its value. I took the 2 years extended warranty on my IS 300h when the original 3 year warranty expired as I planned on servicing the car at Lexus (has to be Lexus serviced for the extended warranty to be valid) and was happy with the comprehensive breakdown cover also included - and I'm not very good at putting money aside for the "just in case" scenarios! Earlier this year I stopped getting the indication on the dashboard that my washer bottle was nearly empty. First time was in all the snow and cold weather so just in case it was linked to that left it to the warmer weather but it was still not working. At the service I asked them to have a look and they reported that the sensor on the washer bottle had failed - the cost to replace - £462.48... Of course it's not a critical item and so without the extended warranty I would probably have left it, but asked Lexus if this was covered by my extended warranty and they checked and confirmed it was so just had it replaced under the warranty. One of the reasons I took the extended warranty was simply peace of mind - I know Lexus cars have a better reliability record than many makes (all?) and this was one of the factors in my choice of car, but all cars can develop faults regardless and I also know that Lexus parts can be expensive, probably more than some other makes. I was pleased to find that the extended warranty covered this.

@Bluethunder Nean the answer to your question is Solar Flair (Orange) there is one left I believe. Big Rat

I wonder which carbon colour combo is the rarest?... Incidentally there's only 3 RCF's for sale on AT at the moment.

In some circles nicknamed "queen of trailers", as you have seen them on car trailer mostly. Renault Megane from same era in same circles was called "princess of trailers". Not because is better (same electrical gremlins all around), but Megane was simple smaller one.

Here are pictures of 2 of my favorite cars. This model Z3 was i believe the only version with factory front indcator lights. The rear lights were the same as the Z3M

It is about 5 or 6 inches higher than the high pressure one but BEHIND the radiator, it's difficult to see, you will find an air con rubber pipe there, run your hand down it and you will feel the valve... it's a pain to get to but not impossible... Look down where the red spot is... And you will see it.... Good luck

I passed my test in 1999 at age 21. My first vehicle I bought was a 1995 Daihatsu hi-jet 1litre van. (N87 ENX) Cost me £2,500 of my hard earned savings and £1,100 in insurance. Using it for business as just passed my City and guilds NVQ level 1,2 & 3 in Plumbing and Gas. I hated the way it was blown around in the wind and brakes not great as drum all round. It was 4 years old and only had 28,000 miles on the clock. It failed it's mot as OSR strut leaking and all one assembly. Cost £283.40 inc MOT fee. It was reliable. Sold straight after as insurance gone up 20% even though claim free and sold the van for £1,750. I was glad to see it go! Drove my Nans 1985 Volvo 340GL 1.4 (C159BTA) as a named driver with direct line. Bought for £1100 in Porthleven in Cornwall when lived there for 11 months and sold for £50 as clutch going and getting rusty. Owned 340 for 5-6 years Moving to Normandy France in 2002 to renovate my grandparents holiday home and bought my first car, a 1986 Volvo 740 GLE estate. (D795RJW) Cost me £425 and I really liked it. After 5 years having it cutting out and stalling and garages at a loss. As we had made a profit on buying and renovating a property used the profit to buy a new 2007 Toyota corolla linea techno 1.4 D4D hatchback for 21,500 euros. My grandfather insisted on new. I advised 6-12 months old but wanted new. While waiting 4 weeks for the new car my 740 worked perfect but we had a 2,500 euro trade in which was good. It was French registered, but only worth peanuts in the UK. Liked the abs and aircon and the 50mpg but found it uncomfortable on 2 hour plus journeys and found if window slightly open in rain water dripped onto window switches and seats. We fitted seat covers from day one. No reliability issues. After over 7 years in France 2.5 years with the Corolla we sold the house and car and moved to County Kerry Ireland. Only got 8,000 euros for the LHD corolla at the supplying dealer and it was immaculate and only done 45,000kms. We were looking for a cheap car in the UK and my Sister found a 1989 240 GLT (F912 YOA) automatic for £350 with 8 months mot and done 159,410 miles owned by a disabled couple and partner died who drove. Got on the plane from Dinard to Birmingham, viewed the car and started it up and bought it for the full asking price in late 2009. Have it to this day and for 8 years my only car and daily workhorse. Fantastically reliable but a bit rusty round arches and had welded twice for 50-150. 18 months ago bought a 1996 Volvo 940 SE LPT estate auto which is great and very reliable. P483UWV. Cost £250 but spent 1k on AC and maintenance items. Bought at 184,000 Recently bought a 2006 Lexus IS 220d and so far no issues even though now done 177,000 . Cost £1,475 so my most expensive used car. Completed a 762 mile weeks holiday with no issues last week to the Isle Of Wight. Mot on it on Tuesday. Another AC condenser on order as Condenser leaks. Didn't mean to write an essay but travelled around a bit and as you can see no real bad cars. If I had to choose best for price it would be Volvo 240 and 940. Lexus I use for best as it looks nice. James.

I think all cars back in the 60's/70's/80's were generally rot boxes or had serious mechanical issues be they Austin Rover BL, Ford, Vauxhall, Triumph, or Jaguar. Ford 105e early Capri, and Classic engines with three main bearing engines would last 25,000 miles if you were careful, and did that millage within 3 to 4 years before the body fell to pieces. BL engines A, and B series lasted possibly double those of fords. However the bodywork fell to pieces quicker. Vauxhall's rusted through while still on the forecourts especially the Cresta's, and Victor's. Jaguars produced good mechanical's but some of the bodywork was terrible. Anyone remember the MK10, and early XJ's Triumph 4 cylinder engines used to drop there crankshaft thrust bearings because they only fitted half the radius of the crank doubling the load and ware rate of the thrusts. Gearbox first motion shaft to main shaft bearings disintegrated under load. This box was used in the Marina and Ital making the gears noisy in lower gears with the noise disappearing in 4th. Body work was probably better than most. Foreign cars were no better. Some had good engines notably Fiat, and Alfa's, but the bodywork fell to bits. John.

I believe the tack welds go and it eventually falls off. Always check mine when I wash the car.

Worst equal was a Peugeot 305 estate which was great for carry-cots but when the cam followers failed - poor hardening - the repair was half the vehicle's worth. Ford and Vauxhall had similar troubles: one repaired for nothing the other had a £45 kit. The other was an Austin Allegro 1500 which just after an expensive service to get it past the emmisions test was nicked and torched. About 10pm I had phone call from the police. "Do you own....?" "Yes." "Where is it?" "Outside my house officer." "Would you like to go and check sir?" "Ah, it's not!" "That is because it is at the top of Cheney Lane burnt out." Probably did me a favour. Had a full tank of fuel too. Best is present Lexus. John

That's a very good point! 😄

Worst - Ford Escort Mk3 (was company car, and once it started stalling after first mile), I had 6 months of never knowing when I was going to get to work. Nearly got rammed a few times when stalling. Once has a Rover 200 series, no power steering, mechanically sound, but felt like I was driving a tank, (no power-steering). Thank god the company made me redundant and took the car back. Best - current Mk4 LS400, though used to think my Omega 2.5 was the best until Lexus showed me the error of my thinking. One I would like, a LS460, or GS450 (the missus knows, and just rolls her eyes, and says she needs to replace her X-type soon)

The AA cover also covers two people in a household, I cancelled my wife’s which was close to £100, I don’t need to purchase one so another £100, deduct this and it’s very competitive. Yes, you have to get it serviced at Lexus but I’d do that anyway. The way I viewed it, £200 for the warranty (taking the AA saving into account), maybe another £150 for Lexus service premium, so £350 per year to keep the car on tip top condition and have a piece of mind, I’d need to really want a replacement every 3 years when I could have a reliable vehicle with similar cover and performance for £350 per year. I’d loose £15k now if I want to replace my IS300h with a near identical model, £15k or £350? Easy decision for me!

Great list. I'd happily take any of those 5. My dad had a MKII GTI 16V which was simply awesome. He also had a 190E which I also loved. And pinched at every opportunity. The current nostalgia for stuff like the Allegro and Marina does astonish me. Getting excited about a car that was quite likely to break down or fall to bits at any moment. I assume those that talk fondly of them aren't old enough to remember how bad they actually were and the very important part they played in the demise of the UK car industry.

Invite was through the GRRC

It all depends on the type of sensor. Some have the aperture open to the ultrasonic sensor, some have a memberane to stop water ingress. The front sensors especially should have a membrane. The open type is more common on the cheaper reversing sensors. The ones with the membrane are usually on more expensive sensors and especially need to be on front-facing ones to wether-proof them. Under normal circumstances the membrane is transparent to untrasonic frequencies, but if it is coated with paint, it changes the properties of the membrane and it may lose that transparency and affect operation of the sensor. A decent paint shop should remove the sensors before respraying or if they can't be removed and don't need spraying, can be covered with a masking disc. If they need the sensor to be painted then you normally use masking rings to fill the gap and stop paint covering the membrane or getting into an open sensor. They can be hard plastic rings or pre-cut tape rings. If you do a Google search for parking sensor masking ring you'll see what I'm on about. A decent paint shop should not waft paint over a bumper with sensors in situ without the sensor being masked in some way to avoid problems like this because you never know how a sensor will react when it comes into contact with paint.

Thought I could rely on you to find that image 👍🏻😉

Yes, a Lexus track event at Goodwood. There was a lexus instructor in the passenger seat for each car as well for some reason....... Everyone got a couple of hot laps with the senior instructor driving at max at the end of the session. Front nearside tyre failed part way through my run with him, which added excitement...

@Matrixxxx My mechanic buddy has still got the tips. Will get them off him shortly, will check condition and work something out. I don't envisage me returning to standard exhaust so you can have the tip if it's in good enough condition to be reused although I should imagine that something is better than nothing.

It was driving a Morris Marina around the south of England for two years with absolutely no lumbar support that caused my back to go....badly!

I would agree it sounds like a wheel bearing as it gets worse when turning, don't rule out an unevenly worn tyre though.

Too much paint will cause them to react like this though

Make sure you also order the screws and fixings for it... mine were so rusted they couldn't be reused. I believe they were only around £25, but can't remember the part number.

Worst was a 1964 Hillman Imp, best was/is 2010 Lexus GS 450h.

I would think you'll need to replace them - I can't think of anything you could use to get the new paint off without also removing the original colour. Plus, if you didn't get rid of every last drop of paint you may get incorrect and inconsistent range-finding, possibly resulting in dings. They work by emitting ultrasonic sound waves and measuring the time for the wave to be reflected back, so a clear surface, not blocked with paint, is an absolute must. Who paints over ultrasonic transducers? Bloody numpties!

I couldn’t understand why they were so expensive until I saw a picture of one. It’s not just the mesh & tips, they are part of a resonator assembly. H&S only sell bespoke exhausts - they were suggested because if you have the misfortune of loosing one from each side & can only source replacements from Lexus at £400 a corner the H&S (with tips) is a no brainier.

Try your local Toyota dealer. I know they will service a lexus and to top spec but you'd have to go to lexus for the hybrid health check. Oh Toyota charge half what lexus do. I enquired when I had my IS300h.

The sat nav is a standalone model https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/p/552113 it fits the space perfectly once screen has been removed but as I said all cabling must stay in place as is needed to open and close the electric door covering. All needs to be removed but metal frame is what you need, the electronics on the inside of the plastic frame also is not needed

Worst car for me was a Maserati Biturbo (red over black, tan leather). What a pile of crap that was! - In fact I have seen it in some publication (can't remember which) as one of the worse car of the 80s! Nothing good about the car apart from the name and the looks. Appalling road holding, all or nothing performance, infuriating gearbox (1st gear was bottom left... supposedly), and dismal quality and reliability. Best car was my first Lexus RX400h Exec Limited Edition (Oxford blue/oakham leather). I have to add a Special Mention to my first car, an Autobianchi A112 Abarth (metallic steel blue). I still smile when I think of it.

Interesting topic , I have been driving for a long long time , the worst car for me easy, Ford Zodiac Mk 4 ( google a picture if you are too young to know what it looks like ) .Good looking car with dreadful brakes handling and reliability .I had a V6 ,bought for family transport in the days before MPV s ,low miles ,1 old lady owner (yes really ) broke down every other week .The really annoying fault was in hot weather with the carb being between the V of the cylinders ,vapour lock would prevent the car restarting if you stopped the engine so you went for a walk while it cooled down a bit!!. Gave up in the end and gave it to a couple of scrap guys who were touting for junk .They drove it away thinking I had gone mad. Best car ;difficult as they are all good when you purchase them, but I have had lexus for the last 12 years and mazda MX5 for the last 15 ,running 2 totally different cars side by side , at the end of the day the IS250 wins ,not by a big margin but it is a great allrounder for us. Dave

Best was either my 2001 Mercedes CLK 230 Kompressor or a 1989 Mercedes 300SE. The S Class was so incredibly well built and beautifully floaty to drive. It was also insanely practical. The CLK I owned for eight years and 130,000 miles from my bachelor days until after the arrival of boy #1. I don’t think you can own a car that long without having fond memories. I’m very happy with my GS450 but haven’t had that long enough for it to challenge either of these two but it’s in the top three. Worst car was my 2000 Range Rover Vogue. Fine to drive, but appalling reliability and simply laughable build quality with cheap materials used and corners cut. It put me off Land Rover products for life. (dis)honourable mention for worst car also needs to be my 2004 Smart Roadster Brabus. It was always going wrong. For the first year I don’t think I cleaned it as it was back at the dealer every month with another warranty claim. Fantastic looking thing though and it sounded awesome. One car which straddles both good and bad camps was a Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.7 V8. Pretty shoddily built albeit in an honest, Detroit blue collar type way, and it did break down on me a few times, but was essentially both a van when you needed one and a comfy barge with a brilliant V8 rumble. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Talking of Tiguans, a friend of mine has just found out that after ordering and paying for a 2.0TDI 4-Motion a couple of years ago he has in fact got a 2.0TDI front wheel drive. Oops. Interesting chats with JCT600 Volkswagen in Sheffield are ongoing

Worst - 2009 VW Tiguan. Bought new, and what a terrible car. Loads of gremlins from new, including poor paintwork finish on a door and a malfunctioning touch-screen, but as time went on it just got worse and worse. A hole in the driver's carpet at less than 30k miles 'fair wear and tear sir' and then the seat bolster on the driver's seat wore through before 40k miles. The final straw was it destroying the (infamous) DSG gearbox on the M1, fortunately JUST a few months within warranty. After that was replaced it broke down a few times - transfer box fault, alternator, starter motor...so it went. Good riddance. Never again will I be fooled by a VAG product! Best - 1993 Daihatsu Charade 1300 CXi. I loved that car. Rare, fast, quite cool for a youngster back in the day and indestructible. Only sold because my first wife wanted something 'more practical' which turned out to be a bland Hyundai Accent. I still regret selling my Charade now...sigh. The wife went shortly afterwards, but I was left with the Hyundai.

Worst - 1997 Peugeot 406 2 litre petrol company car. Inherited it from someone else when my car went back. Hated it with a vengeance. Awful thing. Poor performance, poor economy and handled like a boat. Best - 2011 Jaguar XF 5.0 V8. To this day I wish I still had it. I'd have saved heaps and heaps of cash on depreciation of all the other cars I've bought since then, much much more than I'd have paid in extra fuel charges if I'd kept it. Capable of 31-32mpg driven gently and driven gently in a 385BHP V8 was no chore. Driven less gently it brought a smile to my face every single time.

Worst - Fiat Grande Punto 1.2 This was my first car and while it had some plus points (economical and cheap to insure) it was horribly slow and had to go back to the dealer umpteen times due to electrical gremlins. Not owned but I have to drive at work sometimes is a 2006 Renault Clio diesel of which we have several in the fleet. Constantly having issues with engine management warning lights, rattling heat shields, faulty door locks and electrical issues like radio/wipers/heater fan randomly stops working. Absolute piles of junk and they haven't even done high mileages considering they are 10 years old - the faults have been since new. We are just running them into the ground now. Best - I'm a bit torn between my CT 200h or my last car which was a Suzuki Swift Sport. Very different animals and the Swift was a hoot to drive on B roads but not very economical. The CT 200h is where I want to be on a mixed road commute of 50 miles a day.

Worst was 1974 ex army landrover. Think I replaced every mechanical and body component over 2 years. Best was my first car, a Datsun 100A. Did over 100,000 miles running up and down to uni and never spent a penny on it. Eventually scrapped it at 200,000 when I could see the road through the floor.

Totally agree with @dutchie01 regarding the IS250. By far the best car I've ever owned. Quick off the Mark, silky smooth transmission, ultra reliable and great sounding V6 when you put the power down. Simply can not fault this car. The worst car I've ever owned is also a Lexus but this time it's the IS220D. Absolutely dreadful and very unreliable. Massive turbo lag and mismatched gearing make it a chore to drive. I've never owned a car in my life that gave me anywhere near the ball ache the diesel gave me.

The worst, Vauxhall Cavalier, totally mundane. Did everything it should be excelled in nothing. The best, SEAT Alhambra, 8yrs and 190k miles fault free driving. Versatile, load swallowing and very comfortable in summer or winter and over many miles (drove non-stop from Swindon to Fort William, no probs)

The Worst Lancia Dedra 1.6. It looked really nice back in the early nineties but oh boy did it brake down :(. Every other week I would have to push it to the nearest phone booth/garage/garbage bin and wait for breakdown assistance Best is the 740d x-drive M sport. Really really good at motorway, can't fault it much in almost any area. ( Three years unlimited miles warranty should help with any major issues but the car should really go after that )