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Yes, absolute rubbish. Ours is on 19-inchers and it's the best, most comfortable ride we've had.

I've dug the steam cleaner out so at some point I'm going to have a stab at those creases in the front seats as that's what Lexus have in the service manual to get rid of them 😉 IMHO it's in great nick for 146k miles and a 56 plate and still has more options that probably 80% of cars on the road today. That 3M headlight restoration kit made a big difference to the headlights as well, they really let the car down when I picked it up as they were yellowed but since I used the 3M kit along with 3M UV coating they've seemed much better. It's a shame the sun wasn't in the right angle today as I noticed that when it hits the front L badge you get a really nice rainbow effect (not sure if that's because it had the new badge and radar fitted last year). The B pillar seems to be a weak point on these, it's wearing the same on my Merc. I didn't get through much of the todo list - it had the full valet done but tbh I can do a better job given the time. Ironically the solar sensor in my MB is the same as the LS - it seems that at some point it's had a dealer sticker in the window and someone has taken something sharp to it so cut one of the bars, on the MB it was literally either side of the sticker 😕 The one thing the LS can't compete with is the MB headlights - the LS ones are potentially brighter as I fitted the best (at the time) bulbs, but the MB has intelligent LED lighting and it's bonkers and you can leave it on full beam and it decides when to activate / deactivate and will even turn off LEDs to black out the area of an oncoming car. I've only ever used them once due to summer but quite literally game changing and all cars will have them in ten years (or at least an option on the higher spec models).

I never did get around to updating this thread - I had a bit of time so gave it a good cleaning today. I never did have any more issues after the first post and it's been the perfect motorway cruiser, I've never had a car drive so well and easily on the motorway or in fact in general. I've sold the Volvo and replaced that with a 2016 E Class estate (I've never tried an MB so figured I'd give them a go) and found one in a colour similar to my first ever IS (dark grey). Unfortunately as much as I love the LS it can't cope with a trip to Costco with a pram in the boot and then all the shopping the wife does along with the two kids (to be fair it was a squeeze in the Volvo and still tight in the E Class estate!) The sound system in the LS460 is better than the MB E Class Harmon Kardon system, you really notice it on the radio for some reason - I guess FM was much more of an in thing back in the day vs nowadays where everything seems streaming orientated. DAB where we live is always dropping out and FM sounds really weak in the MB. I think for whatever reason it doesn't go through all the DSP. Media from USB or SD or decent quality streaming all sound good and I've tried some 5.1 demo disks but they're a bit of a gimmick. The E Class is nice but you can definitely tell the LS is the next level up (I'll have to try an S Class at some point now!) So pic wise let me finally get some up many months later 🙂

Possibly confusing 20" wheels? I liked "Also worth having a look at is the Jeep Grand Cherokee, along with the Range Rover Sport. The latter has a far better cabin than the Lexus, and it’s much nicer to drive, but its reliability record isn’t as good. " Where its "reliability record isn't as good" means it is opposite ends of the spectrum... and I even own a Landrover!

We bought a 2014 Advance 2 months ago from Lexus Glasgow, 28k and bodywork and interior are excellent. Was £24k with 3 years servicing and a years warranty then got £1k contribution to finance that we took to get the £1k off and paid off.

Thanks to @olliesgrandad and @First_Lexus for their advice regarding the seats and overall comfort. I've had the car for nearly 2 weeks now and so far have had no issues. I find the seats extremely comfortable, as have my passengers.

Just over a year ago I bought a 2010 SE-L Premier from Lexus Stockport. It’s Cadoxton Slate over Ivory and had 80,000 miles. In the last year it’s done over 20,000 miles faultlessly, it does look a little tired externally (is the paint particularly thin?) but this is mainly because of selfish arseholes in car parks. The interior wasn’t mint when I got it but was pretty close, it’s a little worse for wear in places now but isn’t awful for a 9 year old car. It does polish up beautifully though and after a wash still looks a million bucks. The Ivory interior wears quite well for its colour, I think. I paid £17,495 for it, which still feels wayyy too much but only because all my previous cars combined cost this much. I tend to not worry about resale values, because they’re tedious. If I take the purchase price and mileage it’s cost me less than a pound a mile which I’m happy with #manmaths. I probably won’t have it too much longer, because circumstances have changed, but I do adore it. Yes it’s thirsty, but it weighs 2 tons. Yes, it’s a pain to park in tight car parks, but it’s a great place to be stuck. The red one sounds canny and was my preferred colour. Wishing you well in your search! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ours is a 63 plate (November 2013) Advance. Had 33.5k on the clock when we bought it in February last year and we paid just under £25k for it. Certainly didn't look rough inside then and still doesn't now at 47k.

1) The limits for the renewal of a genuine Lexus warranty are 140,000 miles and 10 years. There are third-party warranties, of course, which may differ. 2) I'm not sure you can take out a Lexus extended warranty without a Lexus service history. If you have this then I'd ask the dealer about taking out a warranty. However, I'm sure they're very aware of the possibility of people doing as you suggest and doubt they'd fall for any fraudulent claims! You wouldn't expect a house insurer to pay out if you took out a policy after your house burnt down. 3) The warranty lasts for 2 years, unlimited mileage and is then renewable up to the limts in 1) above. It does require the car to be serviced by Lexus during the warranty period, of course. At £995 for an RX450h I think the 2-year Lexus warranty is a great deal. They picked up a leaking aircon pipe on a recent MOT (cost included in the warranty) and it was fixed within a week without quibble and at no cost to me. The bill to Lexus was £840. Over the last three years I've also had a new front caliper (seized), new steering column (slight clunk), new oil cooler and new radiator (both with slight leaks), all identified by Lexus and sorted without issue.

Thanks for the advice I'm going to make a list to ask or check over on the car ,the cars for my wife to be honest and it will be doing very low miles as she works her business from home after taking it full time .so I'm not to concerned about mileage .the only reason we bought the avensis was the wife travelling 50 miles a day to work and the dog ,so the salesman is in for a testing fitting session with does the dog fit lol.hes 50+ kilos

I bought a 2014 Advance earlier this year which had suffered expensive-looking damage to its exhaust system and the plastic undertray was scraped and held on with a cable tie - and that was an approved car from a Lexus dealer. I swapped it for a better example under their exchange policy..... Check the one you're looking at hasn't been used by someone optimistic about its off-roading abilities (negligible). Tailored rubber mats are available which would keep it looking good inside. Be realistic about the economy you'll get, I doubt it'll be as good as the Avensis. Plenty of discussion about that on various threads here, mid 30s probably average at this time of year, which will drop a little in the colder weather. I also went from Avensis to RX. Not many choices if you're after a big Japanese estate nowadays. I'm not convinced that the boot is as big as the Toyota's, but I'll find out for sure when I pack it with the family and all our luggage for a fortnight's holiday soon. I know it's going to be a great drive though, far more enjoyable on the hills and mountains in France where my petrol Avensis struggled last year. It'd be good to see a relatively low number of owners on the V5 (don't take the dealer's word for it, have a look for yourself even if they want to conceal the previous keeper's address due to GDPR) and it having been looked after by Lexus dealers for much of its life even if it's been taken to a good independent in more recent years as it's got a bit older.

Very nice. It'll be interesting to know whether the MB electrics will last as long as the Lexus. They seem to be a very weak point on MB.

A/C nice and cold I hope!

This took some finding but it was the yellow headlight unit before the 3M process - the plastic is still like new now and I did these last October not long after having the car.

Erm.. Every Stand bye Genset I've ever worked on is a Constant Speed Unit. Usually turbo charged and has ALWAYS had a water jacket heater turned on 24/7 as well as battery chargers turned on if they are near to a mains supply. One was a Hospital, one was a computer "farm" and one was somewhere else. Different horses, different courses. They also usually run on Gas oil. What I'm talking about is an engine with a rubber band driving four camshafts, with a variable valve system that runs on oil, that produces circa 200bhp from less than 3 litres, in a V formation so it's a long way to the top of the engine from the pressure relief valve and the flow has to be split between two banks of cylinders to lube those cams, from a pump that is fed by the crankshaft turning (2-300rpm at starting?) which then feeds an oil filter, and is either filtered or bypasses the filter. So there's a rea;l risk that not much oil at all is going to be reaching the parts it needs to reach. To start this engine up from cold, in winter, and drive it off immediately is never ever going to do it any good. That's what I'm saying and no vehicle manufacturer who is gaming fuel consumption figures will ever change my mind. Sorry. There isn't yet any engine, bearing surface either camshaft or crank that can run without some kind of oil film. And as good as modern oils are, they have to be pumped. Unless the cam itself sits in a bucket of oil like the old Vauhall Victor OHC engine used to do, there's just too much risk of scuffing damage to bearing surfaces, rockers, cam geras, even the oil pump itself.. Think on most engine warning lamps are fed by the ECU now, not directly.

I too find the seats extremely comfortable and probably the best that I have experienced (and I have owned and driven quite a few cars over the past 40 years!) Enjoy your NX.

The only Lexus with tips that get bigger in the cold?

^^ Excellent news. Enjoy the NX.

today i found that if you have the air distribution set to face level the seats do cool down quite well.

Are these not synthetic gears from the multistage transmission? Something which I suspect would have been very obvious from a test drive? The V8 LC500 is the one to go for. Doesn't make sense to go for the LC500h whatsoever unless its for a company car.

Again. Light aircraft piston engines don't use Synthetics because they usually run Leaded fuel as well to prevent knock at altitude when the motor's by definition run weaker and synthetic polymers don't work too well with leaded petrol wash down. (Historical foot note, early WW2 pictures of Spitfires and Hurricanes were doctored before being published to hide the white staining of the engine panels caused by the lead content that helped them make the power they did). Post 3... http://www.sonerai.net/smf/index.php?topic=2341.0 Still recommends warming the engine before using it. Usually a single grade as well. Mechanics frankly are not Engineers and will tell you what the manufacturers want you to hear becausre that's the guidance they have. Engineers have letters after their name. And the term usually means they design and build the stuff. And I'm a member of a few "clans", get all kinds of publications and nowhere have I seen a recomendation to drive off a stone cold engine within 30 seconds of start up. It's the manufacturers gaming the fuel consumption figures to get cars into different tax bands, or make their vehicle mpg figures look better. These same manufacturers don't really care what damage you do to your engine as long as it lasts past the warranty period. My 2007 Honda VFR Vtec won't let the Vtec work until the engine reaches 60C. All Vtec is on these vehicles is an actuating plunger that slides across under oil pressure to activate 8 more valves after a certain RPM threshold is reached. So even Honda know that cold oil isn't good for engines. So if there are cars changing rev limits according to engine heat, what does that tell you about whether the engine should be warm or not? Kind of contradicts itself? It's ok to start it and drive it off immediately but you can't actually use all the performance until it warms up? That is an oxymoron if I ever saw one.

Thanks @Flytvr and @Silkmen - very helpful, much appreciated.

Hi John I purchased mine second hand from Dav and installed it myself. I used the stock springs (after cleaning them up), but purchased bolts, nuts and washers. Dav kindly supplied fixings with the exhaust, but I switched them out for 10mm bolts for a better fit. The bolts I used were longer than stock due to the increase flange thickness vs the OEM exhaust. I did however use the stock bolts to determine the spring length when fastening the exhaust together. I also used additional nuts as locking nuts to ensure the bolts wouldn't work loose. Just to be sure I got my mechanic friend to give it a once over and he was happy with fixings and he gave it 👍

Id measure your existing blades, then just search through wiper blades on ECP without putting your reg in and buy the correct size. By going on what you're saying, you need the 24" and 19" blades

No doubt the sites where you saw that people had it done were US ones. For some reason it seems more prevalent there - no-one seems to know why - maybe fuel, maybe oil, maybe engine settings??? I don't think there has ever been a report on here of actual proof of carbon build up on an IS250 engine in UK. As others have said above, don't get it done unless you experience problems. Incidentally there is an article in this month's Car Mechanics about GDI engines (like ours). Carbon build up is obviously a problem even in UK for some GDI engines (Non-Lexus - lots of makes have GDI engines these days). The clean up cure usually recommended is walnut shell blasting. There is also a comprehensive feature in CM about EGR valves - all you wanted to know! (Heads up diesel drivers!)

When one considers the 1 Billion dollars and the thousands of artisans and engineers that were gathered together to produce the LS400 over a seven year development there cannot be any justification in someone coming along and defiling same as shown in the pics at the beginning of this topic. It is tantamount to defacing the Mona Lisa or graffiting the war memorial.

Thanks for that, Vagtech, I guessed that it was to reduce waste but didn't know that there was a general trend away from spin-on. I changed my MGA the other way as it was a very awkward job to remove and replace the element housing due to restricted access. I once owned a 1932 Standard Little Nine on which oil filtration was provided by a vertical cylinder of steel gauze inside the sump which was attached to the sump drain plug and into which the oil pump inlet pipe dipped. Ingenious but not sure how effective it was. Those were the days of thick white metal bearings though which were probably more tolerant of dirt.

2 reasons i can imagine. Cheap and easier to recycle. Cartridge and spin-on Early engine oil filters were of cartridge (or replaceable element) construction, in which a permanent housing contains a replaceable filter element or cartridge. The housing is mounted either directly on the engine or remotely with supply and return pipes connecting it to the engine. In the mid-1950s, the spin-on oil filter design was introduced: a self-contained housing and element assembly which was to be unscrewed from its mount, discarded, and replaced with a new one. This made filter changes more convenient and potentially less messy, and quickly came to be the dominant type of oil filter installed by the world's automakers. Conversion kits were offered for vehicles originally equipped with cartridge-type filters. In the 1990s, European and Asian automakers in particular began to shift back in favor of replaceable-element filter construction, because it generates less waste with each filter change. American automakers have likewise begun to shift to replaceable-cartridge filters, and retrofit kits to convert from spin-on to cartridge-type filters are offered for popular applications. Commercially available automotive oil filters vary in their design, materials, and construction details. Ones that are made from completely synthetic material excepting the metal drain cylinders contained within are far superior and longer lasting than the traditional cardboard/cellulose/paper type that still predominate. These variables affect the efficacy, durability, and cost of the filter

The oil topic for hybrid cars is a bit more complicate. At starting, there is a warming phase (eve if you decide to move in EV mode), in which thermal engine has to reach 40° C idling, once this temperature has been reached engine goes off, ready to restart if needed asking more power than the available by electric motor, if battery needs charging or if speed is over minimum speed in which it has to be anyway on. Besides, in hybrid cars thermal engine, in slow speed situation or when v diminish, is off or working without burning fuel (like in usual cars speeding down), so the result is an average working temperature lower: in this situation, the importance to have a proper oil is quite important, even more in starting time, and for this reason hybrid use 0W-20 oil, not only to spare fuel being it more "fluid". Last engines (like that in UX) require 0W-17 oil. This is also the reason why Lexus and Toyota ask to change oil more often than other car brands, than can use thicker oils and "long life", or in sport cars (where fuel consumption is not a priority and working temperature is high) it' s better to use 5W-50 or more.

I’m sure you will be happy with your wheels. I have had mine a couple of months now and no regrets at all. A nice high driving position, easy to get in and out of and very comfortable. Wafting along is a good description. I don’t get great mileage, at 32 to 35 mpg but my journeys are less than 7 miles in each direction on A roads at 60mph for most of it. We did do a longer 100 mile plus journey and return and got 38 mpg on the tank brim to brim so it can be done. However I knew the mpg would not match the saloon IS and still bought it, the best car I have bought. I don’t let car washers anywhere near it and am happy to wash and wax it myself, taking great pride in admiring my handiwork when it’s done 😊👍. It probably cost me over £150 to get all the gear including a jet washer but I will get that back by doing the job myself and it will be done properly too.

Great post. Thank you.

sounds an ok buy . so how much was the " cheap " purchase and the on-going costs to sort it all out ? and any more piccys ..... we love those especially . we can grow to love her too with those Malc

I've got into the habit of disabling the keyfob transmitting signal when I lock the car outside the house at night. It's a habit now and no problem. Certainly less hassle than putting the keys into a pouch/tin/cage/etc when I get into the house. When I get back in in the morning I just have to unlock the doors from the keyfob and then the comfort access works ok all day until I turn the keyfob off again at night.