Leaderboard

Hey, I recently upgraded from a IS220d, so without further ado, the pics: A 2013 GS450h Premier Bought from Lexus Sidcup with 71,000 miles and a full Lexus history. I did pay a bit over the odds, but I managed to get 3 years warranty and a discounted service plan. I have only had it 3 days, but here are my impressions so far: THE GOOD: The most obvious one first - performance. I admit I was a little underwhelmed with the speediness at first, but then I discovered I had been a bit silly today; I didn't realise the car had a 'kickdown' accelerator I put my foot down properly and damn did it shift! The acceleration above 60mph is especially good. Next we have comfort. The 18 ways adjustable seats are supremely comfortable and supportive. I also cruised to work this morning and the suspension rode the bumps very well. It does have AVS fitted, but I've yet to try it properly to see if it makes much of a difference. What I can say is that in normal mode it holds the road well. As you can imagine, it has plenty of toys. The 12.3 inch display is very nice although I wish you could have the modes full screen. All the usual refinements, and I find the powered boot lid quite amusing. I haven't gone through a whole fuel tank yet, but it is looking promising. I have been exploring its performance potential somewhat, and it still looks to be on target for high 30's mpg. Not bad for something as quick and heavy as this is. Also, something un-Lexus like for its non F brand, but the noise of the V6 when going full pelt is quite nice. It has quite the growl when pushed. One other thing that occurred to me on the way to pick it up - the rarity. GS's are seldom seen on the roads, whereas I saw countless BMW, Audi's and Mercedes on the trip. I like being different, so this is something that is often overlooked as a nice bonus. THE NOT SO GOOD: Lets get the inevitable one out of the way first - the gearbox. I really wish it had a normal automatic gearbox. I'm sure I will get used to it eventually, but I am not a fan of the drone that permeates the cabin when you accelerate hard for longish periods. On a similar note, the lack of sense of speed could be a problem. Maybe it is because there are no gear changes, but I am having trouble determining how fast I am going without constantly looking at the speedo. So, since the car can gain speed so quickly, it is difficult to modulate the performance. What I really miss is a feature my old IS had - the light ring inside the speedo that lights up orange at a pre-determined point. I found it very useful and it would have worked well here. The heated seats have an annoying feature; they turn themselves off. I am not a fan of the car deciding when they are warm enough. I like them quite toasty, so their performance isn't fantastic. So, in conclusion, it is a brilliant car that is perfectly happy cosseting you to work on a cold morning, and then launching like a scalded cat when you mash the accelerator before refusing to give up grip around the corners on the way home. I can certainly appreciate the lamentation of the salesman at the dealership that there is no 450h variant of the ES. If you are ever in the fortunate position to be able to own one, I highly recommend it.

New RCF owner here, having introduced myself in the newbie section I'm awaiting delivery of my 2017 red RCF. The car's being delivered Thursday so I've taken the day off and got a bit of cash for fuel. My nearest Lexus dealership is Southampton, I popped into there to get an idea of servicing costs which seem very reasonable compared to the car I've been running. Really looking forward to driving it.

Love the effort here. Can’t wait to get a rcf and join the fun!

Congrats, love the red but having a red ISF I’m going to be biased.....enjoy 👍🏻

Indeed they are rare I'd never seen the RCF before, it seems to be very much a Marmite car but as soon as I saw it I fell for it's different looks. Wow that's some serious anorak work you've done there with the register.

My family used to own “Beacon Bank” on Beacon edge, they built a house in the grounds and sold off the Manor House, due to age and being in a conservation area the grounds became to much to upkeep, they’re now in Cumwhinton on the outskirts of Carlisle.....love it up there 👍🏻

I’ve chosen to abstain from voting as I’m easy, I’ve no personal preference and I’m happy to support the effort of those that put themselves out to arrange the events, my only opinion is “the more the merrier” 👍🏻

That's right and I'm glad in some ways that they were so tight, I offered them £31K as a cash purchase which they weren't interested in. So in some ways it was good as I did a bit more homework and found out about the addition of active suspension in the later models. Having seen my first RCF in red it did tick all the boxes at the time so was tempted.

Congratulations & welcome to the club. Dont forget lots of pictures area requirement😉

Congratulations! The car looks lovely and I agree with most of you points, performance, comfort, specification, the noise of the V-6 engine (love it btw), rarity, all of these bang on! Regards gearbox, I think you will get use to it @Farqui said the motor doesn't need to be revved often or long enough to annoy you too much. Heated seats, personally I do not find them that great, my previous BMW had better distributed heat over you bum. I would add that I love xenon lights, BSM, rear blinds, Premier is a great specced car! I can't think of anything else I would need, well, may be better sat-nav! Enjoy your new car mate!

Switch off AFS when go abroad, ie when you drive on the right.

Very good. And pigeons And squirrels

Well done Shahpor, it looks like you've snagged yourself a very clean GS - it looks great and seems to have plenty of toys Has it got tinted rear windows? Do try and go steady until you get used to the quiet speed, when I first got mine it wasn't long before I got a ticket. I wasn't racing the disconnect from gears, engine noise and EV soon had me over a town limit without realising it - which really annoyed me as I make a point of sticking within the limits especially within urban areas. I found the gearbox operation odd at first too, it's not like anything I'd experienced before. But after a while I soon adapted and now I find that 90% of the time it's great. With so much power on tap full chat blasts are short lived (for me) so the high engine rpm doesn't become intrusive for me anymore. I do like the instant kick though, it's a real sleeper and often surprises folk when you decide to stab the gas. What's the boot like in yours? - any chance of a pic? How are the brakes? Mine were pretty tired but since refreshing them the anchors are quite impressive for a big motor, a car of your should be to top-notch. Do you have any trips planned? Meanwhile enjoy your new-to-you sleeper

@Comedian Be afraid be very afraid 😧 🐀

Fully agree mate! I was brought up 16 miles North of Keswick and know the roads and locations very well up there. My only concern would be the distance for you, @Peter P18 and anyone else from further south than me (Hertfordshire). It's a good 5 hour drive from mine so it would definitely be overnight Friday and Saturday to make the most of it. I reckon a "mid-country" location work best for most of us and I'm keen to make sure it's not a kille distance before we even start the tour. The other thing to consider is the nearby continent! You can actually drive to Paris quicker than Cumbria from my house. No joke!!

Ours has seen off many of the local dogs.. Not saying he's a heavyweight but ... Would you?

A pleasantly nice Top Gear review of the UX 250h. Nice to read as a Lexus sales exec. We are very excited about this car! https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/lexus/ux

Hi all. First time Lexus owner, IS300h Exec on 64 plate. Sonic titanium with light grey leather & black interior. Came from a 530d and only had the car for 3 days. Loving it already, even the eCVT, which suits my lazy driving style. Running in EV is a new experience as even my old 5er was a bit rattly at idle. Will spend some time reading the threads here but just wanted to say hi.

My experience was different. I walked into Lexus Glasgow to look at an IS. I explained I found one at a good price in Lexus Newcastle on autotrader but I was calling in just to see one in the flesh. The salesman produced two cars, one at the same price which was older and a better one at a price beyond my budget. He did seem a little off hand at first stating that he didn’t want to put too much time into a someone buying a car from another group as it was clear the two IS250s he had weren’t for me but the Newcastle car was. He asked if I was potentially interested in a GS, I said yes and he had one just in as a PX and he did a lot to make the numbers work. A test drive and a few forms later the GS I have now was mine and his whole demeanour changed when I showed enthusiasm for the car he could sell me. In short that car is right for someone and the right someone will walk in and buy it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

From my experience I've found dealers to be purely reactive in their approach to sales. I've only had one call back (out of about 10 Lexus dealerships) to ask.... are you still looking or I've got another car you might be interested in etc. In addition, I've offered on cars, it's not been accepted, then the price drops very close to my offer but never received a call. Most seem happy to wait and rely purely on incoming enquires....

Number of things to take in to account. First on a world car the ECU will be set to test against knock and advance the timing over time until fueling is optimised. This is because the cars have to work with all forms of fuel (her petrol) and in the US, a big market for Lexus, the unleaded fuel quality is quite poor. We will actually get better performance over here on our 94 RON (regular unleaded fuel) as a result, however we will get a slight improvement driving the same way with higher octane fuel, such as Shell V-Max/Optimax/V-Power - which is 98 (and my preference from my days of highly tuned cars for track days). The question is, does the improvement in fuel economy make up for the increase in cost. V-Power is presently about £1.41 a litre in my area compared to £1.32 for regular unleaded. On Regular I've been getting around the 34.5-35 mpg mark for my regular drive, where as with V-Power I was getting 37-37.5, so about a 2.5 mpg difference, or a 7% difference, but for ~7% increase in price. As I don't drive the car in performance mode it makes little difference cost wise to me. Second. Detergents. It certainly is a case that the detergents in Optimax (V-Power's former name) did make a difference on cars that had not had a suitable flush (such as redex) put through them. In theory, these days, there's a few more petrols containing detergents, but while I no longer track day I know the consensus is still to stick to Shell V-Power (even though BP Ultima is 99 RON and Tesco do, or at least used to do 100 RON). My rule and advice was to use one tank of V-Power/Optimax every 3-4 fills, and if you did not, over time, you would find a small drop in economy and performance over time. Normally not noticeable as it is gradual. The big difference was always the first usage of Optimax on a car over 3-4 years of age. Over 10 years old and it could make a great initial difference, but only very small after that (hence no point is using V-Power every tank).

Hi Paul..thats odd as it's just sat there - probably me- tech dinosaur I'll try again

I test drove this the other day at Westovers, very clean but in the sunshine the swirl marks in the paintwork were unbelievable. Looks like it had been put through a car wash all it's life.

Seem to have posted in the wrong place

I would just like to introduce myself. After seeing a red metallic RCF at my local filling station which I couldn't take my eyes off I just had to check them out. I've just sold my CL65 AMG on the basis that I was going to buy a concours Alfa Romeo Montreal. The deal went sour due to greed so I test drove the red RCF at Westovers and really liked it. Having done a bit of research I discovered the 2017 models have AVS, being a self confessed gizmo freak I just had to have that along with the TVD. Luckily for me on the Lexus approved site there was a red one with everything I wanted and a bit more for sale up in Newcastle so I bought it, it arrives Thursday

Attached a few more photos of new car as promised and the departing beemer 🙂 Bought a space saver wheel for the boot as never trusted a can of goo. @Doog, you definitely need to watch pot holes on those new wheels!

@B1 RMA David good choice, lots of great toys to play with on her, maybes meet you both some time at a gathering some time in the future....... Oh and when your ready don’t forget we need to see pics.... lots of..... it’s a need 😄 Big Rat

Thank you for the kind words @Chris111 Have you seen this one? https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201809240812435?year-from=2012&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New&sort=price-asc&make=LEXUS&advertising-location=at_cars&postcode=rg248jt&model=GS%20450H&radius=1500&page=1 Same colour and spec as mine. There is also a black one available on Autotrader.

Appreciate the reply - just what i am looking for! Yes £30k includes my part ex I have considered a m240i as the i don't really need a big car and like you the thought of a straight 6 appeals in such a small overall package. I expect the 340 is fantastic however for me as a company car it would be 3 -4 times the amount of BIK tax compared to the 330e & the power difference isn't huge (the noise is significantly better though!) I agree with your sentiments re Lexus - i don';t really see anything in the current line up which appeals enough not to look elsewhere! Have you seen the leaked photos of the new 3 series? It is very Lexus esque - the rear looks like GS!

If you are replacing the battery in the wheel monitor you do not need Techstream as you do not need to register the monitor as it is already registered. You also do not need to completely remove the tyre. You just need it pushed off the rim seat on the valve side so that the monitor can be removed, and replaced temporarily with a standard rubber valve. This enable you to use the car while carrying out the battery change. Because the tyre has not been moved on the wheel rim it will not require balancing. John.

@Comedian Excellent now with all the assistance you’ve received from the bruv collective on here.....what’s our gift..... Maybe a paid for weekend at Skeggy...... Or a meal for two at the most isolated Indian restaurant in the country ......... 🐀

@NemesisUK Is he a good Rat catcher.......😳 🐀

Does the £30K budget include your car as a part ex? I'm in the same position in that my car is three years old. Its not however a company car , I don't have any commute of note so its used for pleasure only. Sadly it needs to be a little practical as well Like you I'm a bit of a petrol head, so much so I wont yet even go down the hybrid route. I will buy on PCP as often there are incentives (see below) - then pay it straight off having pocketed the incentive. My current car is the 4 cyclinder turbo version of yours. I've done the round robin of dealerships and looked at plenty of cars / deals and test driven a shed load of cars as well as having my car valued. Apart from the RCF there is nothing from Lexus that makes me want to stay with them at the moment and I fancy a change I've actually gone back to the dark side. BMW (I know -its BMW) are doing some outstanding deals on cars. Audi and Mercedes have without doubt ruffled their feathers. Amongst my numerous test drives I did an M240i. There was a thread on another forum about the new Supra being fitted with a straight six B58 engine. I was initially sceptical but combined with BMW's 8 speed auto its sublime, appears to be a very reliable engine. I tried it in various guises and have settled on a 340i... I know its BMW but it really is a wolf in sheeps clothing. It sounds beautiful, not V8 beautiful but the best sounding 6 cyclinder engine I've heard. Although it probably wouldn't fit your needs (I believe its not too bad on a run 40 plus mpg is possible) the deals being offered on pre reg cars are outrageous.. I've managed to get a pre reg, 3 months old / 5 miles on the clock for £17k off list price thats 35% off, absolutely fully loaded with options. Although BMW don't technically do finance incentives on pre reg they will - I got a further £1000 off. Unlike Lexus you can pay this / PCP off straight away (Lexus require six payments). Their part ex figures were also generous (as were Mercedes) far more so than Lexus .Although I didn't look for a 330e the F30 platform is being replaced by the G20 in the next few months so deals are there as they try to shift stock. Cost to change for me for a new straight six turbo, with all the toys was less than 15k.

I wonder if not having passengers (that often) means the seat moves a little more and works loose (on our lovely pot-holed roads) due to not being pinned down by human backside!!! On the squealing brakes, I get that from time to time (less now I have Pagid rather than Blueprint), and have been told the shims look okay, but I would think after 20 years the shims are a little compressed, so not quite doing the job they did when brand new.

Lovely looking car Shahpor. That's the exact model and colour I'll be looking for. Interesting to note you mention the lamentation of the salesman that there will be no 450h version of the ES.

Love it What are the buttons in the rear armrest for? Rear climate?

My tyre pressure warning light has come on several times in the last week, although admittedly it does seem that the rear offside is losing some tyre pressure. I pumped the right tyre pressure into it on Friday and yesterday the light came back on. So I think I've got a slow leak as opposed to a TPMS issue. YouTube is your friend, I've had a quick glance at this video and it seems pretty informative. You can get TechStream hardware and software off eBay for quite cheap. Aside from that, you need a Tyre guy to get the tyre off the rim and then you would need someone who can solder to solder in the new tabbed battery.

It depends on your point of view of fair. It does seem to be the going rate to effectively replace a battery costing less than £1. If you do have a new sensor fitted insist on keeping the old one. You can then fit a new battery at your liesure, and use that when the next one expires. Since they were all fitted at the same time, and get near identical use the others will fail soon making your total bill £340, and four time the wasted time. For that money you could have bought a new set of tyres. John

Do you seats have an auto mode for climate? There should be a setting to adjust how long they stay on for.

Ohhhhhh.... very nice 🙂 Don’t misfuel going from diesel to petrol although the nozzle won’t fit into the filler.

@Stuno1 Yes Stewart it is but it doesn’t travel off it’s contained within..... well the odd one or two make an escape 😂 Here’s a pic of the same drive about a month later.....

Gravel but no grid for our drive. Great burglar deterrent, first crunch of gravel and the dog let's 'em know who's home!

@NothernDan I wish they’d invented them 20 years ago matey I’d have an LFA sat on my grids now with a very happy Rat inside it 😂 🐀

Hello all, Just a quick update to say that my 220d has moved on to a friend of mine as I have purchased a newer Lexus. So, a quick look back at my time with the much maligned diesel. I had the IS for just under 3 and a half years and in that time I managed roughly 35,000 miles. In typical Lexus fashion, my trusty steed didn't leave me stranded once the whole time. In fact, the Check VSC light only came on once, and that resolved itself without any help from me. It did (in fact does) have an extended warranty for the duration of my ownership and it certainly paid off. Although, a lot of items that were required were things that are relatively simple to fix, easily avoided with basic maintenance or ignorable altogether. In the 3.5 years, the following was replaced under extended warranty: Dual Mass flywheel - Not exactly something you can diy fix, but hardly a Lexus specific issue. 3 x brake calipers - Sticky slide pins that a bit of grease would have prevented, but I admit I didn't bother because I preferred the idea of getting new ones. 2 x wing mirrors - Not lowering properly in reverse. Again, something simple that can be rectified with little difficulty. Especially with the excellent guide IS200 Newbie has produced. Drivers seat - I am still amazed by the fact that this was replaced under warranty on what was a 9 year old car. A new frame shipped over from Japan to replace one that turned out to have nothing wrong with it other than being worn out. Ride height sensor - During the last service it was noted that one of the sensors was seized. Not a big job, but covered under warranty nonetheless. As you can see, nothing wrong with the EGR value, DPF or 5th injector...I think that is down to the fact that I regularly did longer motorway journeys where I kept the revs up for a reasonable duration. That and the fact that I cleaned the EGR valve before it got clogged up. I genuinely loved my time in my diesel Lexus and was quite sad to see it go. It is going to be hard seeing it being driven by someone else. It is now chugging along as good as ever at 10 years old and 145,000 miles. Hopefully the car will serve my friend as faithfully as it did me. So why did I sell it? Simple; I was in the financial situation for an upgrade and I didn't want to change my own gears anymore. As for its replacement, a post in the GS section, containing the obligatory pictures, will be incoming shortly

@Comedian Well my wallet is somewhat slimmer now whilst I was up on the peaks blat........ Mrs Rat was in Birmingham- again- with the large sista clan...........😩 A poorer Rat

Well, I have answered my own question. The boot liner fits perfectly. As for the rubber over mats, the two rear floor mats fit the same as does the front passenger mat. The driver's side mat does fit but it needed a small section cut out as the accelerator pedal is hinged from the floor in the gen4. The car is really great. It is a 66 plate F Sport in white with black interior and an opening panoramic sun (moon) roof. Bought it last Thursday from Lexus Milton Keynes with only 1071 miles on the clock! Glenn Millward was his usual marvelous person to do business with. Now all we have to do is discover all the bells and whistles. JBP

Very nice composition there Cezar. That should be a postcard!

Technically we have a representative democracy - i.e. voters elect a representative by constituency - but the fact that two thirds of the current constituencies make a vote against one party or the other almost academic makes this concept flawed. A true PR system would be more representative but comes with its own issues. The fate of the nation in terms of the Government we elect is really decided by fewer than 10% of voters in a few key constituencies. Democracy? On the subject of the Dartford Crossing, I'd argue that the lack of a toll of some kind - i.e. it being fully funded by the taxpayer - would mean that those in other parts of the country who never use it would in fact be subsidising those that do. Is that fair? Possibly, as there are limited alternatives, although I believe it is free after 22.00 and there are resident schemes to reduce the cost for locals, so to some degree it is already subsidised. To use another example, look at the debate around re-nationalising the railways. Ignoring whether you think it is a good idea ethically - and I believe in public ownership of utilities and infrastructure by the way - it isn't as simple as politicians would have you believe. I forget the exact numbers, but something like 5% of the population use the railways more than once a week. Of those, something like 70% live in London or commute into London. Those people (not all of them, obviously) earn - on average - between 15-25% more than the national average wage, largely because many companies factor the cost of travel into salaries (what used to be known as 'London weighting.') Should the majority of the population, who rarely use the railways, subsidise the mainly more affluent commuters in the South-East that do? How does that fit with an aspiration to be 'for the many, not the few?' It's a tricky balance, especially once this type of stuff gets into the public consciousness as it will during an election campaign. And that's before even thinking about whether the Government can afford to reduce fares while maintaining the large levels of investment that the private sector has provided. As I said, tricky to say the very least...and having worked in central Government policy in one department or another for the last decade, I really don't know whether there is an answer beyond acting on belief and opinion. Small Government or large Government? That's what everything ultimately comes down to.

Have used manual on really long hills (such as the A39 between Porlock and Lynmouth), as you do get a bit of brake fade if you rely soley on brakes. I have to descend the W near Minchinhampton every day on the way home from work, and I do it with gusto most days, and my brakes are lasting way more than expected (though they do get blinking hot) As said the LS range seems to have low rolling resistance, and I do find a lot of the time when 'coasting' you have to keep an eye on car in front as it seems the LS creeps up with ease.

This was something that was potentially on my radar to do BUT there doesn’t seam to be any consistency with results, I’m not bothered about the speed aspect as what it is it undrivable in real daily terms, the exhaust has done yesterday and the wife has already said “u sound like one of those boy racers” lol, so not sure I need to make it loader.......like she said “your 46 NOT 21” 😂🤣😂