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Good News! Just had a phone call from the Supplying Dealer to say that Lexus are going to replace all four wheels as the car is so new. They will be in touch again once the logistics are sorted.

On the contrary the CVT is superior on the track. In the mid 1990 a CVT Williams Fi car driven by David Coulthard lapped the GP circuit at Silverstone 2 seconds faster that the same car with the standard box. Huge improvement so banned. John

It was a Passat B6 2.0 TDI DSG that I had the "pleasure" of experiencing it in. I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who had this experience. Utter garbage. Press the throttle to get out of a junction/roundabout and the clutches would engage (perfectly smoothly) right away, less than 1k rpm and no boost. No go. At all. The car would limp forward for 10-15 feet until that truck that was 200 yards away when you started doing this is coming worryingly close.... and then the car would launch forward in only a semi-controlled manner... The next flaw was on the motorway, sudden bunching traffic caused me to decelerate from 70 to 35mph in lane 3. Traffic cleared and pressed throttle to accelerate again - however, the box had kept hold of 6th gear the whole time until I decided that I wanted to accelerate - it's response to the throttle was not to go, but to change down a gear... that's normal for an autobox.... except that the DSG didn't need to change down one, but three gears and each one had to take their turn - you could see the numbers reeling down on the gear display as they ticked by.... 6.... 5..... 4...... 3 aaaannnnnnnd go! I've never experienced that amount of lag with any torque-converter auto I've ever driven (including all manner of dismal rentals in the USA). The NEXT flaw was on the road where I used to live - quite a steep road of terraced houses (can you tell I live in Yorkshire?) - steep enough that each 16ft wide house was 1ft higher or lower than each neighbouring house. Driving up this road to the turning area at the top, 15mph, let the speed come down to 10, down to 5... just by easing off the throttle, no brakes required. However, the DSG decided that 2nd gear was the right gear for this, and the engine lumbered and laboured until eventually as I tried to turn into the ginnel at the top it came grinding to a halt. THEN it decided (finally!) to try 1st gear and attempted to then catapult me full-pelt towards the neighbour's car. Eventually having got it turned around I came back down the road to park in front of my house. Parallel park. On a steep road. If you've ever tried parallel parking a DSG car on a hill you'll understand. DSGs are not capable of gentle easing of power against a slope - the software prevents it because it would burn up clutches in no time. That means that parallel parking on a slope is distinctly kangaroo-like and needs a generous space. My automatic Volvo V70 I could put into a space just long enough that once I was in it both the front and rear parking sensors were going continually - this passat needed a space 50% bigger. By no means do I regard torque converter autos as anything like perfect (very variable performance depending on software, fluid condition and quality, maintenance, etc) but they are far superior to the DSG.

Just put my winters on the ISF and Jeep this week.. as it's been very mild here in Kent so far this year. My summer tyres are absolutely shot to bits and barely legal tread wise. I did however have a lot of fun knowing they were end of life... I've just ticked off 90,000 miles in my ISF, so nearly 50,000 since I picked it up 5 1/2 years ago! Dave

Unfortunately the motoring press love to hammer the CVT gearbox. Personally I prefer it to a conventional auto.

Brief update - my Advance collected yesterday and I've been enjoying wafting around in it. All good so far! Still getting used to the hybrid side of things, but I'm planning on keeping this one for a while so that'll come. Was interesting to compare it with a customer's 2010 SE-I that they had at Tunbridge Wells: Have since seen a couple of others when I was driving around over the weekend. I haven't got used to what mine looks like yet, they're not particularly common around this way.

Wrapped the roof avery black and window tints all round 🤨

My GS450h SE is just lovely, on hindsight though, i would probably would have preferred the SEL model as the Radar Cruise on those is superb - technology that was far ahead of its time at the time! Reliability I don't think you can knock it really. All the points raised above are reasonably common but should not put you off, shame you didn't ask a while back as i knew a chap who was downsizing as his wife didn't like driving larger cars - I did the works on his hybrid battery & she was in beautiful shape. I have a nice silver one in at the moment from the Isle of Wight which, at 12 years old, will soon be running & looking like new again. All the best Richard

Thanks all. I've been getting around 31-32mpg so far. Just as importantly I'm enjoying the whole driving experience.

Using Google translate to decipher my Japanese auction sheet, this is the translation result for one section! 女くーかたHow to make a woman

We told you you had a great offer there! lol!

I am actually believer in Lexus, but no faith can make me so blind that I would approve FWD ES300h which barely fits into 9s to 62MPH. The last time I have been in car so slow it was when I was 16 and my mate had Opel Corsa 1.1 which did 0-62 is something like 9.2... that was long time ago and I am not that old. It is just not acceptable for premium car in 2019. Lexus is very good in making very reliable cars, I can swear by it and something like ES350 AWD would be amazing, but in UK we are really getting raw deal - 300h is not great power train and there are no reason to even argue about it. As for the Lexus understanding their 0-60, that is evident over entire range of the cars. I have tried my old IS250 and it always faster to 60, than stated. Most of actual data I quote usually comes from Car and Driver magazine and rule of thumb Lexus understates 0-60 by ~5-8% and overstates speedometer readings by 5-10%. I have a theory that they do it to make Co2 figures lower i.e. does not push the car to the limits doing NTHSA "real driving" tests. Lower tax, emissions and quoted fuel consumtion are more important for average Lexus buyer than 0.3s, but it is hardly ever more then that. If it is quoted to do 8.9s - in reality it will do something like 8.4s. @Habu - I can agree that 50-70 acceleration sometimes are just as important as 0-60 and for some it is more important. But if car does 0-60 in 8.9s it will not do great 50-70 either. Fact is 300h in any car = slow. I have done side by side comparison with RC300h when I had one for 24h and in any circumstances my slow IS250 leaves it in the dust, from 0-60, form 30-60, from 50-70 and even from 60-0. IS250 is technology from the past 2005 car and it will beat 2 generations newer ES300h to dust on any performance oriented comparison - again, just not acceptable, it seems like Lexus was sleeping under rock for 14 years, I expect better from them and they can do better. @gdh300 - again, 600hp or 200hp is rather meaningless for me - I would say more is always better, but that is just me. I appreciate that sometimes there is simply "enough" power. But when we are talking about ES300h (or any 300h for that matter) the power is quite obviously "not enough". And secondly, I do not talk about FWD being able to handle 200hp - modern FWD probably can. It does not change the fact though that FWD is inherently wrong wheels to drive any car, never-mind premium one. Wrong balance, wrong feeling and wrong message to the driver.

Ah that's a great table! Thanks, i'll ask around and borrow a second meter soon as I can to double check and post back.

I think the reason that the motoring press loves them is because if you are having an A-road blat, shifting up and down with the paddles, keeping the engine on the boil then the speed and smoothness of the DSG is excellent. The flaws that I described occur in much more mundane situations (using it as an automatic on the motorway, maneuvering and parallel parking on non-level ground). Motoring journos seem only ever to drive and judge cars on the basis of blasting it across Wales or Scotland. Under those scenarios I've no doubt that the DSG is very rewarding. However, most of us don't drive cars that way. That's why there's a disconnect. Most of us do have to move the car around on a slope or parallel park or sit in stop-start traffic for 10 minutes every morning... the things that many of the cars the motoring press loves just don't do so well.

Probably duff battery if it really is only reading 11V

These comments are spot on. I was unfortunate enough to be "given" a DSG-equipped Skoda Octavia by a rental company on holiday recently. It was diabolical, to the extent that I found myself wishing I'd rented a cheaper manual car. It was particularly horrible at low speeds in town. And yet the motoring press rarely have anything but praise for them. The Toyota/Lexus hybrid system is vastly superior in real-world driving, in my view.

Thanks Vlad Well, I just got back and so far so good, although I didn't really get to try them properly so the real test will be tomorrow morning. It does seem that there are times when the main dealer is good value for money. By way of demonstration, I went from this: To this: And in case anyone is interested, this is how to costs were broken down: So, unless anyone can say otherwise, if you have a Mk4 GS450h Premier or F Sport, it is cost effective to have the brakes replaced by a main dealer. Now I just hope it has solved them problem...

You can also change them to these Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

Totally agree with your post @i-s The DSG is flawed, but the motoring press are unwilling - for some reason - to come to the same conclusion that nearly everybody I've spoken with on the subject. More fool them and those taken in by their pro-German drivel. I've been duped once, but never again. I'm more than happy with the CVT in my Lexus. It wouldn't be suitable for hurtling around a track, but driven like a normal human being in normal circumstances it is just lovely.

Quite right, they're there for a purpose so I'd want to keep them as they should be. Personally I think it should be an MOT fail when the wires are joined.

I’ve never understood the press love for DSG gearboxes. Putting aside the questionable reliability, the lag and hunting for the right gear all the time drives me mad. Having owned the VAG verson - and it having gone bang after 40k miles - I’d never want to own one again. CVT is superior for most normal driving imho.

It' s only a disclaimer, go to end of message and tap "agree" , then you have to select OBD interface via Bluetooth; obviously you have to enable BT in android phone and pairing. For any doubt, in site there are all explanations, being a very complete app with a lot of info available. In addition, the added app "Hybrid reporter" creates a report of trip or also multiple sessions done with HA for evaluation of your driving, mpg etc. A must for every hybrid car driver that likes to find hypermiling and understand hybrid.

Quick update, started with the retrofit to LED light install. Did the interior and puddle lights last night. All I'll say is wow! What a difference, it's crazy how much better they are. Especially good when you walk up to the car and the light underneath the mirror lights up the whole side of the car! A must have mod and very easy and cheap to do!

Check out this item number in eBay 132909401068 It's a genuine brake wear sensor for £10

^^ Me three!

That would be my guess. The sensors aren't cheap though, about £70 each at ECP, although you may be able to use their discount code.

Its pretty straight forward, only tricky bit is getting under the driver side footwell to undo/do 2 x 10mm nuts on the foot brake padel. There are two Philips head screws on each corner of lower trim level, nuts can be undone whilst brake is still applied, but once it's released to carry out the work, I think it's easy to do these nuts whilst the lower trim panel is off. The steps I tooks are First I undid the 2x10mm bolts. Quick tip is deep socket, ask me why 😁. I undid when the parking brake was applied, it made it so much easier. REMEMBER to release the brake afterwards before moving to take off the wheels. Second step is take off the wheel AFTER securing/stabilising the car, don't forget to use wheel chokes or any thing which can be placed in front of wheel to stop the car from rolling. I used a piece of wood as wheel choke. If possible use your tyre or any other stand/axel stand/wood as a dead weight under the car to prevent any mishap. Once the the wheel is off, take out the little rubber grommet. Quick tip is to use nose pliars, initially I used flat head screw driver but ended up it being inside the disc hub. So lesson learnt and used nose pliars on the next wheel. After removing the grommet need to locate the adjustment lever. All the YouTube videos I watched, showed the adjustment screw/lever is in 6 o clock position. Well it did not happen in my case🙄. I spent 45 mins looking for this adjustment leverage 😥. Anyway in the end I had to take off the disc from hub to locate it. I ensure that in this process I did not have the keys anywhere near the car as I did not want to take any risk for the caliper piston to shoot out. To remove the disc, first I remove the brake fluid reservoir cap to eliminate any a pressure building in it, I then pushed the piston back before removing the caliper, quick tip is to use flat head screw driver to push the brake pad a bit, once there is a little gap to accommodate screw driver head, put the screw driver in it and use disc as a leverage to push the brake piston back. Once it's has enough space then undo the bolt on top of calliper and once undone caliper will swing down allowing enough space to remove disc. A 21mm socket will do the magic. Once calliper is off. The way to take off disc is to just tap gently but firmly on the disc with a small hammer, I used a solid rubber hammer to avoid any damage. It will loose the disc and the disc can be taken off easily. Once disc is off, rub its internals either with wire brush or with some sand paper lightly, to remove any dust or rust. Please ensure if you use sand paper don't go with full blown steam on either pads or discs as it will damage them. After taking off the disc I found that the adjustment screw was towads the end of the car i.e. 9 o clock position. After cleaning the pads and disc I put the disc back and checks the disc was freely floating. I then adjusted the lever/screw in question. I used a flat head screw driver and moved the lever/screw towards the front of the car. After few turns I checked whether the disc was still floating free or the pads are stopping it. Once the disc was stuck by pads, I loosened it a bit and once I was happy then I put the caliper and wheel back accordingly. I did the same process on both sides. After putting the wheels back and closing the brake resorvoir, I started to tighten the 2x10mm nuts on the foot padel, at this stage lowering the plastic trim really help as it gives some space to work on. As mentioned in the start, deep socket makes it a lot more easier as compared to normal socket, because to tighten these nuts with normal socket you have to do it in a awkward position 🤐. once the nut on back is tightened, the nut on the front (locking nut) can be adjusted accordingly and you can have a fully working parking brake with a foot padel that does not sink into the floor anymore. Please consider whilst tightening the nuts don't over tight them as they will over strecth the main cable. I kept checking the padel travel after tightening initially, once I was happy with the padel movement, I tightened the locking nut. This is how I adjusted my parking brake system, any suggestions to improve it would be highly appreciated. If you want to adjust your parking brake system, please do it on your risk as I will not be responsible for your actions. Thanks Manee

I know it’s not what the new ES is all about, but almost 9 seconds to 60? The traffic light GP has never really interested me, but that’s diesel Fiesta territory...

Thanks Herbie, that's made my mind up 👍 It's not as chunky as it looks. There's quite a big radius on the locking bars. I took both options out of the boxes for a proper nosey and the Elite, although bigger, really does seem way more substantial. It really is 'in your face' too huh.

I have no idea because I've got an RX450h No, it doesn't.

I shouldn't worry about the in-house VAG magazine, they have to keep their principal advertisers happy, and their biddable readership. I read that Lexus are looking to sell a meagre 700 ES in its first year in the UK. Not a massive target. Enlightened folk like us (!) will buy the right Lexus for us, the problem is for greater sales amongst the Audi/Mercedes/BMW set is getting the - generalising here - image obsessed user-chooser company-car driver to realise it's not all about office car park Top Trumps and what Jeremy Clarkson thinks (or whoever it is people follow now). If only you could say to them: "drive the thing, and imagine it's 200 miles to go to home, its a wet Wednesday evening, brake lights are stacked for 800 yards ahead. Hmm, that understeer-oversteer balance doesn't seem quite so important now, does it? " [Channelling Alan Partridge there]. Some hope. Anyway, just so long as Lexus sell enough to keep it in the UK market, so I consider one in five years time... 😁

Once you have removed the drum "you will have to swing the caliper out of the way first" you can see the brake shoes. These have very little lining material on them when new about 3 mm only. They tend to ware at one end of each shoe, but as long as there is more than 1 mm they are serviceable. John.

You're right, the rear disks/drums have adjusters that can be tweaked with a screw driver/similar. If i were you, then i'd be checking these first. While the wheels are removed, you should also also pop off the rear drums and check how much material are left on the drum pads.