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Agreed, not cheap but I go all giggly when I stomp the go faster pedal and addicted to the cold start/ tunnel runs/ general mischief. The investment was totally worth it 🤷‍♂️🤣

I'm going to look at this car tomorrow: https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1187613 If anybody knows anything about it do let me know. I have spoken to the seller and his done some recent work on brakes and suspension to pass the last MOT. Other then that the MOT history is quite good. I think if the car is solid with no rust, the service history (and cambelt!!) checks out and with the recent work then the price isn't bad. I've read a few online LS400 buyers guide so should be OK to check it out, unless theres anything specific about the 1st Gen facelift cars that I should know?

Very nice car & welcome to the club. I’ve got the Quicksilver fitted which is a bargain relative to the valved systems but is worth every penny. Hardly use the sound system as too busy finding an excuse to listen to the exhaust note.😆

When I had the E39 I used to read the E39 BMW forums - in the USA where they do some high mileages it was actually quite interesting as reports of auto gearbox failures seemed to be higher when the gearbox oil had been changed over those where it hadn't - and some of those where it hadn't been changed had covered 300k+ miles. Although completely un-scientific it was partly on the strength of these reports, and from talking to my BMW dealer, that I never asked for the oil to be changed on mine over its 210k miles. Unless Lexus advise changing the e-cvt oil I think I will leave well alone on my current IS 300h too. Currently I have covered 85K miles but I do however have the Lexus extended warranty on the car so if the e-cvt goes kaput it will be covered - I plan to keep the extended warranty in place until I sell he car or I can't renew it any further, at which time I will sell the car anyway but by then it will be closing in on 150k miles.

As @Cezar B said, we’ll need to have a meet, I’m interested to see how the ArmyTrix sounds 👍 #TeamGTHaus 😜

collected and oh how I have missed her this last week glad she's back, total cost £467.88 Auto Electric Co Alternator £298.48 ( exchange ) Yuasa battery £79.40 Labour content £90 Malc just out of curiosity they also supply dynamos ( bloody expensive for some ) and replacement brushes at sub £2 to almost a heady £5 ( not the 2/6 pence I remember from aeons ago )

rather than pics here is a video of it, with all the sound effects anyone could ask for

I have had 3 Prius and now on my IS300h All of them had transmission fluid changed every 100k and none of them had any failures. My oldest Prius is now 16 and has done 340,000 miles with no major mechanical issues, my IS is just approaching 140,000 miles and drives like new. I recommend changing the fluid, no fluid will last more than 100k and still give optimum lubrication Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Oh dear..... don’t think I’d be able to drive with the childish laughter and tears rolling down my face 😂😂😂😂😂

Hey gang, it's me again 😛 - another car event, this time with much better notice. Goodwood Breakfast Club kicks off 1st March with Vee-Power Sunday 😄, free to enter, just have to sign up online so they know rough numbers, it's a cracking drive down/up/left/right (depends where you come from), be good to represent the F's V8 and you tend to get a good mix at Goodwood, with less ***** boxes. Usually hack down with my dad in his Aston from Aldershot area, happy to pre-arrange a meet up and drive down if anyone fancied. Will keep this post hopefully updated as I realise we are early January 😄

Hello everybody After a 4 month search got a very good deal on a 2018 black rcf. Put my deposit down today. Its done 5k miles single owner. I had it independently inspected and it does not even have any stone chips. anyway I may get ppf/wrap as I didn’t really want a black car but it was comfortably in budget. To finish it off I would like to buy an aftermarket exhaust. I am fairly flexible on type but preference would be quicksilver. if anyone wishes to sell theirs please let me know best wishes Simran

The Big centre armrest in the front of my car has an annoying creak when leant on. Today I took a look at it and realised that the 2 catches either side of the lid seemed to be the cause. A quick search in the garage found a pack of small self adhesive backed felt pads One either side of the lid next to the catches and hopefully all is sorted.

noby76, you can read the same thing for the other systems 🙂 The ABS section of the manual explicitly says "You should not trust it or depend on it, as it will not work on mud, snow, ice..." (will make you a photo at some point) Although I would love to continue this discussion, private may be better place as I already bought an LS460 with all bells and whistles. The only question is what to do with the GS. From the first 1K miles I can say that the car is amazing and even more boring than the GS .. and much faster .. and those systems are better ... The lane control is definitely worse than that of the brand new Volvo S90 that I had from the insurance company, but otherwise this car is soooo much better and scarier! Anyway, thanks everyone! Oh btw. The insurance company will pay me 2800 of which they will take 320 for the buyback of the GS430!

That would be great! 😃 Keep me posted, please @Womble72

Spoke to @Big Ratthe other day, will try to get down and hopefully @Warrington guy will too, is pencilled in diary 🤞🏻

We are trading in our 56 plate RX400h tomorrow, only had the 1 year warranty when we bought it in Jan 2009, never felt the need to extend the warranty and other than the stuff you'd expect to need to do over the years (tyres/brakes) never had a single thing go wrong with it - now 130k miles, serviced/MOT'd annually by Lexus MD. Suspect will not be extending the warranty on the 450 when it's gone either. Yes, they are complex, but (in my experience at least), uber reliable - hopefully not jinxing things from here on!

Trust me if they were watching you, you would never find the device without specialist equipment 🛰️

Yes, Richie in certain models.A and B Class I think--Renault. Also the A+B Class models have Dual Clutch Autos unlike the E Class which still has the reliable Torque Converter. I have had 4 Mercs AND WOULD NOT GO NEAR THEM OR THEIR DEALERSHIPS NOW. Isn`t it strange that arguably the largest manufacturer in the World (Toyota) also makes the most reliable vehicles?

Yes for every one who does change the oil there is another who doesn't. In the case of traditional auto boxes there are lots of narrow channels which is what disturbed crud can block up. On the Lexus / Toyota ecvt this is not the case as far as I know and so changing oil should actually pose less risk i guess than traditional autos.

Hi Paul, I think that’s pretty reasonable considering what’s been done & glad it’s sorted. I would be interested to hear if you think there is any difference in how it drives now?

I would, if Toyota were on our list. We only have what the business consider 'premium' brands. Audi, BMW, Lexus, VW and Volvo.

Update @ 17:55, just had a call from Westfield motors, car is done, final bill is £1179:55, bill includes all parts, fabrication required at exhaust connector, dip stick removal, fabrication and relocation, new O2 sensor and gasket set, geometry testing of car.......damn that VAT 😂......always manages to ruin a decent figure 🙄

Thanks John. Interesting, but would not sway me away from my GS either. Mercs are certainly not what they used to be.

Update to my experience of the Mercedes C220d after a 100+ mile trip on rural, and town roads. Initially I found the accelerator to be very non responsive, but things improved a little but still not great by going into sport mode. Even then there was a long delay from pressing the pedal to anything meaningful happening. This was not helped around town with the engine stopping every time I came to a standstill to the point it got annoying in stop go traffic when the engine would stop just as the traffic in front began to move. At busy traffic islands "particularly the type you cannot see over" with the engine stopped and needing to get onto the island before a car came into view was problematic. The delay after pressing the accelerator for overtaking something like a tractor that I had been following on rural roads was such that in my GS I would have got passed the tractor in the time it took for the Merc to react. The seats although of the bucket type were not comfortable. There seems to be little in the way of padding, and did not stop me moving about on the seat. The ride in sport mode was firm as expected, but it did not ride potholes well even with 225/50/17 Continental summer tyres fitted. There was some road noise, but especially around town this was drowned out sum what by the drone of the diesel The "HID I think" headlamps on dip beam were brilliant lighting up the road, and hedges on both sides of the road well with very defined cutoff much better than the GS The LED main beam "when lit" were adequate, but at low speed "seemed to be about 20mph" or when coming to a standstill turned off, and would not come back on till above 20mph. This was annoying in narrow country lanes when another car passed in the other direction. Turning off the main beam, and slowing below 20mph after passing the main beam would not come on till speed was increased. The main beam also does not give full light immediately, but comes on in a definite pattern starting with a central illuminated area that spreads out sideways until fully lit about 2 seconds +. Even at speed this was still the case. The dip ,and main beam were well matched in color. Although the GS dip, and beam do not match in color the GS main beam is far superior. The display screen for the satnav, rev cam, and other systems is very good. It's a pity the lines on the reversing camera err on the side of very safe by looking like you are going to reverse into an object when checking the mirrors you are going to clear it by some margin. The birds eye view is excellent. The handbook is built into this screen, and here the fun rely starts. The washer system needed topping up, and no where could I find the bonnet release. The handbook has a search facility where you type in you question. I tried to type in release bonnet. The alphabet appears at the bottom of the screen, and you choose the letters you wish. As you do this the system gray's out some of the letters reducing your choice, and comes up with possibilities. Up pops release boot , and all the letters that would spell bonnet are grayed out. Eventually. I found what I was looking for under engine bonnet. The instructions clearly showed with pictures for a right hand drive car that the release lever was in the passengers foot well to the right by the transmission tunnel. It was not there. After much searching I found the release on the drivers side above the accelerator pedal roughly where the OBD port is in the GS, but you need to stand on you head to find it. John.

There are reams of buyers guides for this model in the club archives that have been compiled over the decades by members of the forum Good luck

Like Malc (hi Malc 😊) I have one side UCA playing up but the other is ok - driver's side is not happy. If buying from abroad with postage it's probably worth getting the pair. If you are on a budget and cashflow is king - I'd get the best you can afford and only do what is required - the one side is fine... The-Acre rightly says tax and admin charge will add to the bill; so needs to be factored in. Nevertheless, Rockauto are very good value and have plenty of choice. I don't expect to claim on warranty as from experience wherever you are...UK included, this can be very difficult at the best of times. I use the warranty info to get the best I can for the £/$.

Thanks for all of your replies, I spent another hour sat on the driveway scrolling through the handbook & options and have now figured it out. When you first press the cruise button it selects adaptive as a default which leads to the 5mph increments, however, if you hold the cruise select button down for a couple of seconds it changes the mode to select 'normal' cruise and allows the 1mph increments to be selected. Happy days. Now I just need to get to grips with the main display options :-)

So I called in to see my friendly parts manager today, intent on purchasing a job lot of transmission oil. Forty something quid for 10 litres isn't a lot but left empty handed because he more or less talked me out of it. He says by all means if I want to play with the car but he said in the umpteen years he's been with Montys/Lexus Sheffield he's never experienced any problems with gearboxes. Might still play but it'll only be if I want to get out of the house for a few hours rather than essential maintenance. :edit: Should mention that obviously HJ was talking about CVT boxes which mine isn't. :edit#2: I then called the member of the Federation of Automatic Transmission Engineers that is nearest to me and happens to be Automatic Transmissions of Huddersfield. In his opinion there is a benefit to changing transmission oil in cars from new eg every 40k miles but in my case there would be none as there is no history of changes. If something is on its way out a few 2 litre changes will make no difference to that fact in any way. He also said there's the very real risk of disturbing "muck" as he put it, that at the moment is quietly sat there doing no harm. So I think I'll leave it.

I have a similar dilemma, as far as I know the front UCA's don't need replacing on my car. But as I intend to keep the car a long long time and use it everyday, do I stump up the cash now and buy new genuine Lexus/Toyota front UCA's from Amayama while they are available..................approx cost for both £350 plus import taxes etc. of around £70. I already have new genuine rear UCA's, rear hubs and rear bearings so getting the front UCA's would complete the set! It's in for an MOT tomorrow at Lexus so will ask them to specifically check the front UCA's for any signs of wear and then decide what to do based on what they find.

So for anyone considering upgrading their SC430 (mine is a 2006) suspension here is what I have found. Its correct to the best of my knowledge but do your own research, hopefully this might provide some guidance to shorten the process. I am using Meister R coil-overs and am planning on dropping the ride height by about 3-5 cm. I have 19" wheels with 245/30 and 285/30 tyres. Front: Best ARB is the 28.6mm diameter solid version (part no: 48811-30560) this is found on the GS300 amongst others and it's possible to find used examples in the UK (£30-60). New from Lexus UK: £254 You can use the standard bushes (I'm upgrading to poly bushes £20) and the standard links as long as you are not radically dropping the ride height. I will also replace the steering rack bushes with poly versions (£25) as the consensus is that this is a worthwhile improvement. Rear: ARB is the ISF version (model no: 48812-30400). Seems to be as rare as hens teeth in the UK. A Lexus dealer quoted me £228 so I ordered mine from Japan at an approximate cost of about half that. The bushes need to be the ISF ones to fit the 17mm diameter bar (48818-30180). You can use the standard SC430 bracket. The links need to be the ISF ones (they are slightly shorter - necessary if you are lowering the car) (48830-30090). It seems that most agree that this is the best set up for road use - there are other aftermarket bars available (mostly from the US and Japan) but they are even more costly and apparently more suitable for track use than road (would anyone really track day an SC430?). I have had no luck finding a front strut brace in the UK and importing one from Japan is about £300. I am exploring whether a brace from a GS (S190) GS300/350 might fit but not sure yet. Apparently it's a worthwhile modification but, for me at least, not for £300. This is a useful site as it gives you OE part numbers: https://www.toyodiy.com

I`m hoping to break the quarter million mile mark before Easter !! Never done it before,nor will I be able to do it again !

I was told changing the oil can disturb sediment and cause more problems than it cures - can only comment on my experience based on this 210k miles as that's the most I've ever done in a car (had it from new).

@mr2lad, we definitely have to get together and wake up the dead! And @hockeyedwards too, with his superb GSF&GTHAUS 🦾🚀

Congrats, Simran @Drssg!! Welcome to the F owners club! Looking forward to see some photos of your new toy 😋

Nice one Simran. Jonathan

EARLY update, just spoken to Westfield motors (Ian) GSF manifolds are on, straight forward swap despite formation difference, everything lines up, my manifold was cracked around and only held in position by the three that weren’t!....only alteration is the oil dip stick tube fails the manifold and is at present removed and being reshaped to clear the manifold, the heat shields are totally different as so if anyone was to proceed down the GSF manifold route you would need a set of these, thankfully mine came with them......car should be up and running today with a geometry test required as the sub frame had to be removed for access, biggest concern was the steering rack BUT they have cleared the rack as formation is identical once the branches join pipe to exhaust, just a new O2 sensor (jammed in) and a couple of gaskets and it’s a goer 🤞🏻🤞🏻

Well done, and welcome to RCF ownership. It looks to be a very nice car, and of course according to the film the black ones can fly.

In case you didn’t know that is the ‘Valet’ function for the boot. If/when you use valet parking then you are supposed to ‘lock’ bootlid via that switch in glovebox then lock glovebox lid with key blade out of key fob, you then keep key blade with you when valet service parks car using fob ( now without key blade) and they will not have access to the boot!

I will say still get a gearbox oil change done. not a full flush but just a drain and refill..

Well, after 5+ years with a CT and the same before that with an IS, I have succumbed to the dreaded SUV. A mercury metallic 2018 Luxury has stolen my wallet. It is the first used Lexus I have bought since a not great experience with an IS220d that used to stink of exhaust on the motorway and had a gearbox like a truck. In fact it was from a Toyota truck. However, time passes and my agility is not what it was. The CT is a very good motor but getting in and out had become a chore plus the fact that while I appreciated the economy and cruising around Norfolk is OK, the CT performance is lacking in acceleration on anything like a hill if you want to safely overtake a push bike. The other factor is the CT ride which although it has improved a lot and the car now has better seats, no-one can say it is really good. Let’s be honest, all good valid excuses for looking at a new motor.😀 So, the NX got a test drive. It really is super to drive isn’t it? I just got in and felt right at home straightaway. Dead easy to get in and out and, for an SUV, very comfy especially the seats. I have not mastered the widescreen TV yet but it looks basically similar to the CT Premier screen but in high res. I have never been a great fan of SUV styling but the NX is as good as you will get. The detailing is well thought out. I like the wheel arches for example, they don’t bulge and make the car unnecessarily wider just for fashion. It is BIG after a CT but on the move from behind the wheel it doesn’t feel it. When you get out and have look though - there is a lot of metal and plastic there. I can hear voices saying “Silly devil, why didn’t he get a UX?” Well, the only UX I could get for a little more that the same money I paid for the NX Luxury would have to be a base model. To get this Luxury level of trim on a new UX would be outside my price range, hence the used NX is very good value with less that 10k on the clock even if it is probably a size too big. One other factor is that UX is a brand new model and I have always liked to give a new model at least a year for obvious niggles to be ironed out, even on a Lexus. The ride is good, I love driving it. The steering is light but well weighted. I soon realised this is a very heavy car. It takes a good squash of the pedal to stop the forward motion. Once you know that though it can work to your advantage as a hybrid driver. The coasting distance when you lift off the pedal is huge on a flat road and it goes on forever down even a slight gradient. All that time that little green light is on but you are not holding up the driver behind like people did in a Mk 1 Prius. Economy so far is low 40s, we shall see what happens over a period of mixed Norfolk use. The cruising is quiet at 70+ apart from the tyre noise. I cured this quite well and improved the ride in the CT with some Michelin cross climates. Might try the same here eventually. The acceleration, particularly mid-range, is good too. There is bags of power there to swoop past even an electric bike on the hills. So far I have only done one cross country trip and the car just did absolutely everything a driver could want. Even sitting in a roadworks jam in an NX is a pleasure. 😄