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The thing to bear in mind is that the bar display is not a battery 100% or 0% display, and the bars are not a linear as far as percentage charge for each individual bar. Zero bars is battery at 40% charged. All green bars "or all full bars" is battery 80% charged. These are the minimum and maximum charge levels the computer will allow so you only ever get to use 40% of the potential battery capacity. John.

I thought it might be time for an update on my LX600h. Some of those with good memories will remember that I bought this from Lexus Stoke around 18 months ago. It is a 2008 model and had 100k on the clock when I bought it. It had a full Lexus service history which I am determined to maintain. The dealership included a 3 year warranty in the purchase price. It went for its second major service yesterday having just clocked over 130k miles (around 11k since the last service). A grand total of c. £120 was spent on a pair of windscreen wipers (for the MOT) and a service of the air conditioning system (due to the car's age and part of the normal schedule). Not bad for one year's motoring! The car was cleaned and fully valeted as part of the service. It looks brand new but sadly too dark to photograph now. The previous service at 120k was a little pricier with one major piece of the exhaust system that needed replacing. I'm looking forward to another 18 months of motoring and then will take stock and see whether I will be selling this car or carrying one with it for a longer period of time. Difficult decisions but I'm very, very happy with my LS600h and the accompanying ownership experience at Lexus Stoke. First class in every aspect.

It would be worth checking on FixMyStreet or similar , to see if anyone else reported this pothole before your incident. The council will claim that it had just occurred and they cannot be held responsible for it as they didn't know. If someone else has reported it on a public forum that argument will fail. The fact that it was fixed 2 days later suggests that it had already been reported as councils take weeks and months to react to potholes reports. We should all report potholes and the like on public forums as it puts a public marker down as to when the pothole was reported. and stops them wriggling out of their responsibilities Good luck and don't give up. Graham

I bought mine for the quality and cruising comfort. We have an MX5 for silly stuff in corners. One bit of advice, of you're trying to corner hard on public roads, buy an MX5, the steering is so communicative, you can run over a bank note and know the value printed on it. The Lexus isn't designed for anything like this.

Hello F-ers, happy new year and all that, my resolution is to attend more car meets... 😛 with that being said, there is, as the title suggests a 'German vs Jap' meet group, attended one in December and it had good variety. Anyway they have secured a larger meet venue, first one being tomorrow at Sandown Park Racecourse (you can find the event and group on facebook), just a general message to see if anyone local fancied attending or any future meets for that matter. It is a static show (as part of the agreement with the racecourse), so no risk of clowns hopefully... 😉 Starts at 9am, £4 per car, passengers are free. Maybe see some of you there/ at future events?

My rather battered 1998 Mk4 LS400 went to a dealer for not a lot of money just before Xmas. As some of you may have gathered, this was my second stint of ownership with the same car. I first owned it in 2011 when it was only a 13 year old car at only 85,000 miles that cost a little over £3k.... I was blown away by the car in every respect and had three and a half years of trouble free motoring, every MOT a straight pass. I sold it to my mate in 2014 with 120,000 miles on it because I had moved house and it did not fit on the steep drive very well and ground it's bottom on the high spot heading out onto the road. It also was not very practical for the local lanes and remote country car parks that were really 4 wheel drive territory in our new location. So, I manged with a Honda CRV. Then my mate upgraded to a smarter lower mileage LS400 and he was selling it... I wanted it back... and although I have enjoyed the last year of re-ownership, I've had to face up to it not being the same car I once owned. My mate had given the bodywork a good beating in car parks and a low speed non insurance bump in the snow producing a mangled wing. It now had 160k miles on it, is now 22 years old it did not feel as smooth or as a quiet as I remember.... but the main thing is even though I adapted the driveway with strategic concrete humps to ease egress, the car still ground if the boot was loaded or the fuel tank full. It was a nostalgia re-purchase... a good blast, but I have had to admit defeat and now have a Lexus RX300 which I rather like and is more suited to my zone. I'm sure I will keep poking my head in here, but just to say a big thank you to all the LS400 forum contributors, especially the long term LS400 owners on here (you know who you are) who share their knowledge which has been and will be invaluable to past and future owners of these amazing cars. All the best, Stu

Sorry, can’t make it tomorrow. Maybe next time. Happy New Year!

@B80 If you haven't driven a 340i don't write it off until you have. In terms of performance it really does make the IS300H look like a 1.0 Fiesta, and that's without even taking into account the awful power delivery of the IS300H in comparison. Yes the IS300H is like a mountain when it compares to reliability but sometimes in life you just need to take a bit of risk!! The 340i isn't just fast, its properly quick.

We’ll definitely look out for future ones, can’t tomorrow as I’m Christmas deck removal and working in the loft most of the day 🙄

You’ve been waffling on about a Range Rover for years! Would it be a pink one? 😂😜

It's probably easier now as usually the brush holder is removed by undoing two screws in the back of the alternator. Back in the days you are talking about "I had an MG magnet virtually the same car as the Wolseley" you had to dismantle the Lucas dynamo to get to the brushes. John.

Your tyres are ditch finders, change all 4 ASAP. I am running my IS300H on Michelin Cross climate tyres and they are brilliant. They are super quiet and are perfect in any weather conditions

When I reported the pothole that damaged my car the hole was repaired within 2 working days while other smaller holes in the same stretch of road were left untouched. John.

I use a CTeck smart charger. It is the one recommended by Honest John. I connect it to the 12 volt charging point under the bonnet so nice and easy. I just leave it over night for a top up conditioning charge or 3 months during the Winter when I'm away. Never had an issue with the charger or the battery over the past 3 years.

The BMW blown straight 6 really is one of the best combustion power plant ever made. I've seen them been dyno to 600whp with upgraded internals. Its the pinnacle of the combustion engine without going into Supercar territory, which partly why I moved over to EVs. Once you have seen/owned the best there is its time to move on and try something different.

best wishes ......... I'm still with the Ls400 after nearly 20 years ( 3rd one ) and happy Malc

The colour swung it for me Masa Red

Phil I will, I keep all the records (receipts) in case I need them. Someone told me it can take up to 1 year to get a refund from council! It's not just about money, it is principal for me, we pay taxes and roads are ******* and being repaired as bad, no preparation just patches over potholes - shocking! Funny thins is - the pothole I run over was fixed 2 days later! 🙂

Keep at them, don't let them win. I was driving through Kent yesterday in a van, near Tenterden, the worst potholed roads I've ever known, so dangerous as everyone weaves around them.

Felt a need to add my two pennyworth… We have had numerous BMWs over the past few decades interspersed with other marques too. For pure driving enjoyment then yes, on a winding fast road absolutely, a large engine BMW delivers. Reliability-wise ours have been middling. My all-time favourite was an E39 528i auto. I covered 210,000 miles in that car all around the UK and Europe and it was generally reliable – never let me down anywhere other than not starting once in my drive but did need catalytic converters and radiator replacing along with some other more minor items. As a long-distance high-speed mile muncher though I couldn’t fault it. My other notable BMW was a 330i auto (can’t remember the model number but same era as ganzoom’s from his photo – mine did not have the turbos though). The 330i was fast and handled well but actually a disappointment to me compared with my E39 528i as no-where near as accomplished or as comfortable for long distance journeys. Didn’t do so many miles in that 330i but it was 100% reliable though build quality was also down on the 528i. Had a colleague though with a 335i of the same era around the same time who sold his after not too many miles when the turbos started making an odd noise before he was hit with a large repair bill… When I was looking again to change I seriously considered another BMW – I loved the straight six engine, probably the best engine ever made, but started to struggle to justify buying very top of the range to get this engine as the middle ground was now 4 cylinder turbo units. This fact along with growing congestion, roadworks, ridiculously placed speed cameras and simply a lack of places to really enjoy driving a powerful car at close to full tilt (outside of a track day), led me to re-evaluate what I needed. I looked at several different marques, but nothing really grabbed me. Reliability is important to me and I wanted something a bit different if I was going to make a switch from BMW. I started contemplating left field and read the reviews of the IS 300h which were “mixed” … I decided to take one on a day’s test drive and was very impressed – I went back to the showroom and bought a two-year-old one the next day. I put the IS 300h in the same league as my E39 528i. A fast and comfortable long-distance tourer with the added benefit that in urban, slow moving, stop start traffic, fuel consumption does not take a hit and progress is serene (compared to an ICE stop start system). In real-life day-to-day driving I haven’t found it lacking in performance. I often leave it in Eco mode to be fair unless I need to push on. For overtaking on A roads, I always put it in Sport for a more immediate response. Does it respond like the 330i – no. In the IS300h mashing the throttle to the floor and point and squirt driving does not give the same satisfaction and there is some lag compared to say the 330i (though it’s no worse in my experience that some other auto boxes – such as Mercedes… - the BMW auto is particularly good). However, if you drive the IS300h regularly (i.e. as your only/main car) you find that feeding in the power progressively rather than mashing the throttle pretty much eliminates much of this lag feeling and pleasingly fast progress can be made in a manner better suited to the car and drive train. So, in summary what does the OP want from a car? If it’s a point and squirt, pedal to the metal traffic light grand prix, or maxing out on the twistys style of driving, then there are plenty of hot-hatch or other performance saloons that will suit better – in some cases they may come with large and regular repair bills though. If it’s more rounded long-distance touring on today’s congested, roadwork filled and camera festooned roads but with adequate performance for making fast progress when needed (if you ever get the chance) then the IS300h fits the bill. I have no regrets making the change to the IS300h and would get another without a qualm.

Got my eye on a RS5 sportback next, just need someone to take the 20k initial hit for me on one and look after it for 18 months or so. Still I will find it difficulty to part with my F, the combination or reliability, rarity, performance and stealth cant be matched.

Some nice clean pictures of the paintwork would help. I wonder (and suspect) if the car has had some poor quality accident repairs, the bonnet may have been painted by the dealer prior to sale to cover stone chips. For sales cars they don't usually use a Lexus Bodyshop (I know of 2 main dealers who don't) . I would get someone in a friendly bodyshop to put a paint thickness meter over the car to see if there are inconsistencies in the paint depth indicating repair.

Hi there. Sounds like the bonnet had laquer adhesion problems. This could be down to a delay when applying the clear coat over the base colour at the time of painting. Your bonnet may of had paint correction before. The door does look like a chip or scratch but it's difficult to tell from a picture. Can you peel more away just by your finger?

Up front it is not as "snug" as the GS - there's more width between the console and the door, and the console is lower. The glass roof adds headroom and a feeling of airiness, and the continuous curve of the roof peaks over front headrests. In the back I find it spacious, as did our neighbours when we took them out for a jaunt (4 adults total) through the Lakes. Sadly my brother, who is 6ft1, did not fare so well - his head was touching the roof in the back. However, he has a long back (very similar inside leg to me, and I'm 5'7). Ultimately it's going to depend on what shape of 6ft your boys are. Rear legroom is good for the size class - its a long wheelbase car (longer than GS, but overall length closer to IS), and the middle seat has no transmission tunnel to contend with - the floor is flat across the rear of the car. However, because of the battery pack beneath the floor, the floor is a little higher than you might expect and that can mean knees are higher than people are used to. It's something that you'd have to try, and see if it works for you. Coming from an NX, you might more comfortably move to a model Y, which should be arriving on UK shores in about a year's time. This would definitely have plenty of space for 6fters in the back. Some people have fared badly on insurance - we did pretty well. The SR+ is group 48 and the dual-motor LR and the Performance variants are group 50, so they aren't going to be the cheapest or easiest cars to insure. I paid £612 fully comp, 12k miles, 37yo male in category F (bad) postcode, 15 years NCB, husband as named driver. My renewal notice for the Leaf was £548 for 8000 miles, our GS450h is £760 for 5000 miles (husband as policy holder, 2 years license, 15 years NCB (long story), 58yo). Basically, I was happy with the cost, but have heard of people being quoted much higher subsequently, so will see what happens next year. Only Direct line group (DL, Churchill, Privilege), LV and Novo seem to have any concept of what Teslas are, many others won't insure them or quote crazy prices. I posted on another thread, but will give a bit of an update here: 5000 miles after 4 months. The car is now 5% more powerful than it was, now charges quicker (peak is 170kW, depending on many factors. Highest I've seen so far is 132kW) and has new features (1 pedal driving mode, new voice commands and text integration, new mapping features, YouTube Netflix Twitch and new games (to entertain while charging or camping), improved autopilot capabilities and visualisation, etc.). So far when things have bugged me I've generally found that after a few weeks they are fixed. All updates come OTA (wifi) so no dealer visits required. Trip to London over Christmas was fine. Google maps gives Ilford to Todmorden at 4hrs26, we took 5hr15 including charge stops (in rain in winter, which reduces range - in summer it could be done faster), which wasn't significantly different to the time that we took on the same journey in the GS in November, and if I'd planned it a little better we could have cut it to 5 hours or so. Still very pleased and happy with it, no buyer's remorse. In fact, it's probably the most pleasing thing I've bought in my life, out of everything. Our GS450h is a car that feels special, in a very similar way to how my dad's 1996 740iL felt special. The Tesla feels different - it makes the 2015 GS seem much closer in time and tech to that 1996 BMW than to the 2019 Tesla. As a car to be driven in the GS is lovely, as a car to drive the Tesla is truly epic.

Great. What colour? I had one back in the day. Keep those fluids fresh - oil, gearbox...

Welcome to the LOC, and what a rare car. I remember when top gear were reviewing it, even Clarkson loved it! How about some photos?

I had the car fixed the car, and sent a copy of the invoice to both the contractor, and the council. Being disabled I could not be without the car for weeks until the claim was settled. I am not saying all councils or areas will be the same, but if you believe you are being given the run around do not be afraid to start pushing. John.

Goodness, used to be a lot easier. Years ago ('95?) I had a brand new Citroen AX and damaged a wheel, tyre and front suspension. Took a couple of photos, got a written quote from the main dealer and a cheque from the council arrived in short order!

I have been through this after a pothole literally burst a front shock absorber. On line I found that a contractor was responsible for all road repairs, and claims in Herefordshire with multiple on line claims forms. My claim for over £600 was going nowhere fast. Every obstacle that could be put in my way to put me off the claim was done. I rang the local council, and told them I was taking the council to the small claims court. The council came back, and said the contractor was the party to claim against. I then wrote to the council stating the council was responsible for the roads, and they could not in law pass on there liability to a third party, and that if my claim was not settled in 14 days I would go down the court route. Seven days later I had a check for payment in full from the contractor. Moral if you know you are right keep pushing. It's not the value of the claim, but the principle that's at stake. John

I would lodge my complaint to your local council ASAP, explain that your going away but will come back to the issue on your return. Can you get a friend to take some photos? With the amount councils are paying out you'd think it would be cheaper to repair the holes!

Freshly washed on each occasion mate! Got a few more CF upgrades to go on (bonnet and rear bumper spats) then defo want headers and a different exhaust plus I've got a design for a custom airbox that'll be perfected with a bit of input from Rich "induction" Twells. The man Twellsie has a custom (UK cracked) map on his in testing as we speak so wanna take a look at that too. Not keen on the supercharger as by all accounts (like you say), you just end up with an undriveable car unless you wanna go wide body or just use it on the track, neither of which appeal. Sorry to all the performance-first boys and girls but mine is looks first, noise next and everything else after that. Keen on a stereo upgrade too but that's last on my list. Sadly it looks like I'll need a new steering rack before most of the above though. Good job I put the cash for the warranty Lexus wouldn't give me into a savings account 😁😁, totally fine with that after 2.5 years of very happy, flat out most of the time, motoring!!

Well, the latest update is that the GS passed its MOT without issue. There are a couple of advisories, 2 of which are the very annoying covers obscuring components nonsense, and the other a misty shock that apparently isn't a problem. Other than that, I got a nice video showing how clean and healthy the rest of the underside of the car is. Also had the dealer fit a pair of Michelin Primacy 4's to the rear, which worked out to £147 each, which doesn't seem that bad. So, 11,249 miles or so after purchase, all is well and I am still enjoying the ownership experience. Only slight downsides are that someone has managed to scrap my front bumper and leave some red paint, and it looks like a stone has gone right through the paint on the drivers A pillar resulting in a small amount of rust forming I will get those looked at soon.

Hi all, never thought it would happen to me but with so many potholes around Glasgow this was just a matter of time. Basically, run over pothole, heard a very unpleasant noise when it happen (when your suspension hits the bump) and thought straight away - it will be a damaged alloy wheel, burst tyre or even damaged suspension! For 4 seconds all was quite which gave me hope but 3 seconds later the tyre pressure monitor came on and I though - this is it, that was MY pothole! Checked the tyre which was losing pressure which seemed like from the side cut (it was already dark outside and ****** with rain), so parked safely and put on a spare wheel. Came home, washed the flat tyre, took it home and I can't find the cut or the place where it burst, which tells me may be it is just a seal between the wheel and the tyre. I will get a compressor out and try to inflate it and see what happens. The worry I have is damage I do not see i.e possibility of the bulge in tyre in a near future, damaged alloy wheel or even a suspension! I took a few photos of the pothole, as good as I could considering the time and the weather, in case i need these. Did that happen to you? What should I do? Who do I complain about it and will it get me anywhere? I think I would have more chances if the tyre was visually damaged but it's not, however, I am afraid of the internals of the tyre, the wheel and suspension. Also going away tomorrow for 10 days holidays is not helping as I can't even takes the photos of the pothole during day light! Any advice would be appreciated! Many thanks Vlad