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Showing content with the highest reputation on 02/28/2019 in Posts

  1. Reyland motorsport have quoted me today, came in a fair bit cheaper than I was expecting, a full set of 4 comes in at about the same price as RR-Racing charge just for the rears, EXCITED!!!!
    2 points
  2. Really don't know why you guys are still bothering with main dealers. Just had our IS serviced at local independent, £220 all in. Oh 4 OEM spark plugs are £50, and will be a 20min job max.
    2 points
  3. I agree with Phil's summary above. Simply replace the struts with new Lexus RX300 non-air struts in each corner. Unplug all air system components and then it's a case of eliminating any error codes and warnings. I wouldn't consider swapping from air unless there were several failures of the system but that wasn't the question. Has your air sus failed or do you just not like it?
    2 points
  4. As a British engineer, I don't actually agree with harrylime. British engineering is brilliant in some respects - we're fantastic and innovative problem-solvers. We're very good at originating clever new ideas. We're terrible when it comes to consistency. There's very much a "bodge-it-and-make-do" approach whereby hand-fettling is an accepted method of finishing the product. The attitude that I've encountered many times over the years in UK industry has been "We've always done it this way and it was fine then so it's fine now". This mindset doesn't allow for making something better over time. (It should be noted, however, that "bodge and make do" actually works pretty well in a war). Meanwhile the Japanese and Americans come up with continuous improvement approaches like Kaizen or Six-Sigma. The death of the British car industry had little to do with government support or lack of. It was because most of the products were lackluster or poor quality or both when playing on an international market. Metro or 205? Maestro or Golf? Rover 800 or Toyota Camry? XJ40 or LS400? Again and again stupid things have been done. When MG Rover became independent from BMW they had a really well engineered car in the 75/ZT, and they had some rather dated but liked cards in the 25 and 45, both of which needed updates/replacements. What did MGR invest their money in? They spent a lot on re-engineering the FWD Rover 75 into an RWD V8, and a bunch more developing the X-Power SV. That left nothing for developing mass-market models, so the best they could do was import the Tata Indica and slap a cityrover badge on it. That car failed not because of carrying a british badge, but because it was expensive for what it was and nowhere near as good as its competition (eg fiat panda). The point about Honda Swindon, Toyota Derby, BMW Oxford and Nissan Sunderland producing high-quality cars in a productive fashion is that the quality and continuous improvement systems are overseen by those companies. The culture of quality is enforced from above and these plants are not allowed to descend into typically british chaos. Should a new car company start up in one of these facilities? By all means - but it won't be easy. Tesla did exactly this (Tesla Fremont is what was formerly GM Fremont (the Longbridge of the USA - a reputation for poor quality and low productivity) and then latterly the NUMMI joint-venture between GM and Toyota, before it was sold to Tesla). If you wanted to make a new British car then it would need to be forward-looking. Most of the components are already there - Take Gordon Murray's iStream architecture. Bring in electric drivetrain from Ricardo. There's a Li-Ion battery factory for sale in sunderland (AESC - owned by nissan but they've been trying to sell it off for a few years). Get some styling from some of the great british automotive stylists currently doing the rounds (Ian Callum, Peter Horbury, even Chris Bangle (who despite controversy at the time did actually pen designs that stood the test of time very well, even if people couldn't see it at first)). Leather and wood and metalwork inspired by the great british automotive traditions - make the car unapologetically british. Volvo have achieved huge growth and success in the past few years by stopping being apologetic and actually being distinctly swedish (thanks to chinese money). There's enough german cars out there, and jaguar made a mistake by trying to be that. Leave techno-bauhaus to audi. Make it distinctive, make it desirable, but above all make it a quality product.
    2 points
  5. Whilst my RX450h is having its wheels refurbished i am using a 2018 IS300h Executive loan car.. Having previously owned a 2014 IS300h f Sport i am no stranger to the breed. Firstly i have to say that this model rides far better than my F Sport did and the seats are more comfortable on a long journey. In 2 days I have so far covered just over 300 miles on less than half a tank of petrol. The computer has been giving me an average of just under 55mpg so a pretty good consumption. Build quality is excellent ,the car having covered around 5,700 miles there are no rattles or creaks anywhere. The navigation system is awkward to use and my trusty Tomtom sits on the screen doing its job admirably. The speed limit camera fitted to the IS like others of its ilk should not be relied upon. i am sure that there isn't a 100mph speed limit in Kidderminster despite what the car says.... One thing I have noticed which may be down to this later models aggressive styling is that everyone wants to overtake and then test the radar cruise controls braking efficiency. Still I got my own back yesterday when on a stretch of road I know will have a mobile speed camera. a BMW Mini came blasting past me and then decided he needed to pull in too late -you've got it the camera van was there. That is the 2nd time in a week some numpty has overtaken me into the jaws of 3 penalty points! - on the same stretch of road. All in all a nicely screwed together car , but the lack of auto folding mirrors and electric seat adjustment does seem a bit off on a car of this calibre.
    1 point
  6. I don't know if this has been posted before, I only saw it today. An excellent review I think.
    1 point
  7. 1 point
  8. Do they do discs for other marquees as well? Looking for disc options for my CLS63. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
    1 point
  9. Not all Lexus can run E10 so it does matter 😉 https://www.e10bensiini.fi/files/227/Compatibility_of_E10_Petrol_with_Various_Passengers_Vehicles_27_05_2011.pdf
    1 point
  10. I have known Martin at Reyland for a long time, since my Cosworth days, I have total faith in him and I am sure they will be awesome!!
    1 point
  11. Perfectly sums up what a fantastic machine the ls400 is. I've just ordered a complete set of genuine rear suspension arms for my MK4 as well as new hub bushes and strut rods for the front. I'm hoping it will help give the car a ride closer to feeling new. No other car would get me buying genuine parts at this age of car but the ls400 deserves it. I work in car sales and drive pretty new cars all day and nothing comes close to getting back into my 20yr old ls at the end of the day.
    1 point
  12. Found it. No rust on mine but I cleaned it and smeared oil on the area to be safe.
    1 point
  13. Having also had an IS300h as a courtesy car I'm stumped as to why so many people seem to favour bland German diesels. It wouldn't do for me as a choice - too low and the foot operated handbrake is a deal breaker for somebody with a duff left leg - but generally it is a fine vehicle. Quiet, economical, beautifully made and refreshingly different.
    1 point
  14. the ride has become solid so you just bounce when hitting a bump, i will recheck the sensors but couldn't find any faults before. thanks for the replies its appreciated.
    1 point
  15. It may just be a height sensor issue. Has the ride become hard or is the suspension still ironing out the bumps? I don't know what the RX300 equivalent is in the US but Rockauto have struts with springs for about £75 each. Someone here must be able to give you the part numbers.
    1 point
  16. May I ask which Thinkware model you chose and why you chose it over the others? - Their range seems comprehensive...
    1 point
  17. I finally managed to match it up - it is the drivers side (UK car) at the very front of the engine bay - in the original image the front of the car is the right hand side of the image - so the left side is the air filter housing and the right side is the plastic cover over the headlight. It's a narrow gap (a few inches) looking down to the chassis frame.
    1 point
  18. Just ordered a pair of Desno wiper blades from Euro Car Parts, they have an end of month sale - 50% off.
    1 point
  19. Take care over sunroof. Mine didn't work when we bought it and it took the garage that supplied the car over 30 hours of labour plus a few hundred in parts to fix it. The problem was caused by a small plastic part jamming the runner on one side and burning out the motor. They had to remove most of the interior of the car and the whole sunroof and supporting frame to fix it. All covered by the garage. Estimated cost if a Lexus dealer had done it probably more than £3-4K! Make sure you really need a sunroof!
    1 point
  20. No replies yet I see. As far as I'm aware there probably isn't much else that's needed. You would have to disable the height warning light on the dash. The compressor can be left in place with the fuse removed and the height sensors disconnected. I've considered what I would do should I be unfortunate enough to have suspension problems and I think I would go for direct replacement struts from Strutmaster in the US if I can manage to get a reasonable shipping rate. The parts are a direct fit and cost around £800 for the four. It may be worth enquiring with them.
    1 point
  21. The reason I intend to keep my RX350SE long term is that I consider it virtually bullet proof. This is just an opinion of course and is based on a number of factors including the lack of rust on my particular car and lack of air suspension. From my extensive research on the USA club site where there are many more of these cars the only common sources of terminal failure are rubber pipes to an engine oil cooler which my car does not have and another rubber oil pipe up to the VVTI on each bank of the V6 which I have had renewed as a precaution. Their cars also suffer from steering rack failure which is unknown to Lexus Guildford and does not seem to occur with our RHD cars. The other preventative maintenance item I have had done was a new water pump fitted when other work was carried out under guarantee. If it blows up in my face tomorrow I promise to let you know.
    1 point
  22. Pity about the part "Plus as usual with a Lexus Synergy Drive powertrain, you must have it mated to a belt-driven CVT auto gearbox... " - Lexus really should do something to educate the media about the e-cvt - to call it belt driven just shows how little it is understood - the e-cvt is a marvel of engineering - yes perhaps a matter of subjectivity on whether people like it - but nevertheless a marvel!
    1 point
  23. Well done on you becoming a new Mum & Dad and welcome to the forum, I know you will find the forum very informative and friendly.
    1 point
  24. The whole issue with EV (IMHO) is not the cars - I would gladly drive one - but the infrastructure. The cars must have around 300 miles of range - which many now do - after that for most people it is not an issue as they would have need to have stopped around that range anyway - on long journeys in older cars I used to only stop when refuelling (about every 350 miles) but with my IS 300h which will do nigh on 600 miles on a tankful I now have to stop before I need to refuel. So if I can do 300 miles in an EV before charging I could live with that. I would then need to take on a sensible, say 80%, charge in let's say in under 45 minutes - so the coffee/loo break time. Now - the question is a) would I get a charging point when I arrive or would I have to first wait half an hour or more for one to become free before even starting to charge (Tesla seems the best bet for available charging points at the moment); b) would the charging points be working and/or would I have the right plug and/or account/card - there are a lot of road tests being reported now where the whole sorry state of broken charges and plugs/accounts is a huge issue; c) will any overnight stop have charging available to have the car ready for another 300 miles the next day...? It's not range anxiety per-se it's the worry of no charges available and/or the chargers not working and/or if the car can actually connect to them. I appreciate it's chicken and egg but until the infrastructure can rival petrol - so the possibility of "filling" up reliably and quickly and paying using a debit/credit card with no other hassle - I think the Lexus hybrid approach is currently one of the best compromises. When the industry/government finally actually get their fingers out and actually walk-the-talk and put in the infrastructure (someone has to do this upfront - at least Tesla have made a decent fist of it but now of course it's all proprietary) I will gladly move to full EV.
    1 point
  25. Sod the car.......congratulations on the addition to the family.......😀
    1 point
  26. At least the Germans have a car industry to be proud of. If our successive dimwitted, unimaginative, short sighted Governments had not subsidised our strategy of becoming car assemblers for Nissan, Toyota, Honda and Tata instead of encouraging British car manufacturing we would not have been kowtowing to these foreign companies for years and begging them not to leave the UK, which they are entitled to at any time. We sell off our assets and manufacturing has, relatively speaking, died a death. What cars do we actually make? We make Caterhams, with predominantly American and Japanese engines and gearboxes. We also make Morgans, which are made of wood, and even the ash frame is going to be imported, because we are running out of ash in the UK. I can't believe the fifth largest economy in the world has become so reliant on foreign countries. Honda is closing its plant in Swindon, Nissan will not be producing the new X Trail here, Toyota and Tata could move production anywhere in the world at a whim. We are bigger than South Korea but Kias seem to have taken over the world. I see Kias everywhere. The Koreans seem to be where the Japanese were 20 or 30 years ago. I am not an economist but it seems to me that you cannot expect to succeed economically unless you make stuff that people want. As well as the jobs and the turnover, it's a case of branding and national pride. We have a history of engineering innovation and excellence. We should be taking advantage of that. To quote a well known motoring journalist, how hard can it be? Someone should take the Honda plant, and create a new British car company
    1 point
  27. Last week was the ISFs first MOT and service under my ownership. Wasn't exactly looking forward to it as: a) the car was still in winter storage, b) it was the big service i.e 60k and c) it was a 250 mile trip all in (my local dealer was now just a Toyota dealership). I need not have worried, the car sailed through the MOT and the service went well, additional work needed to correct the wheel alignment and clean up a sticky rear caliper. I really like how they text you a link to a video and the option of authorising any additional work. The highlight was the Salesman Stuart offering a drop off and pick up service to the tram stop. Good lad. There was a bit of a dilema what to choose though... hybrid or v8. Think you can guess what I chose! All in all a great service from Lexus Edinburgh, shame I couldn't get a discount with my club membership though.
    1 point
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