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So here we have it, she's 25 today ........ champagne all round and only 231k miles Malc

well, I'm age 70 now so maybe she will last me till I give up driving or find I need an all hydrogen fuel powered new one that's going to be with us all in about 5 years time Toyota of course ...... or maybe Lexus by then OR might she just last 25 years ! Malc

Members freely share factual information concerning Dealerships. I have been monitoring such information so as to understand which Dealerships provide what kind of service. Some Dealerships offer high standards of Customer Service, others less so. Some Dealerships have undulating standards, some offer consistently high standards.

And which car would you suggest? Tesla is nowhere near full autonomous... and will not be for very long time. If you claim otherwise, then you are denying the facts. Tesla "autopilot" is merely Level 2, and until it has at least Level 3 - "autonomous" will have nothing to do in same sentence with Tesla. And again - "automation" for me is meaningless thing. Unless I can be in self-driving car when drunk or asleep, or if car can drop me off and pick me up from work. Yes I can see value in that, but for car to drive itself when I fit to drive and sitting behind the wheel - that is totally pointless. Yes.. those are all factors, but I have been there and had it... my car ownership history includes BMW328xi (e90), MB C350 4-matic (W204) and I know what I would be getting. BMW build quality was always quite good, but material choice was always inferior to Lexus... Unless you get "individual" at which point BMW becomes much more expensive. MB build quality was tragic, but since then I had tried W205/W213 and to be honest they are very well made. On MBs one sticking point for me is the gear-shifter on the steering column which I hate, but BMW are overall alright. As well I would like to note that whereas between 2006-2013 Lexus IS was king in terms quality of entry-level Luxury cars, head and shoulders above MB or BMW, this no longer the case since 2013. IS mk3 in my opinion is not as well made as mk2, and BMW/MB have stepped up their game. I agree BMW/MB will not be as reliable as Lexus, but they have "acceptable" quality, whereas Tesla does not have even acceptable levels. One key issue I have with Lexus is engines - apart of 2UR-GSE Lexus does not have any other engine on offer. Of course - there used to be 2GR-FXE - but it was never fitted anywhere else except of GS... (SUVs are out of question!) I strongly believe that 2GR-FXE should have been fitted to RC making it RC450h, hence RC having GS sub-frame, but for whatever reason that never happened. I could live with 8GR-FXS but it only fitted to LC500h... So as I have already stated - my only 2 options are to get into used RC-F or LC500 or 500h, which are highly price dependant. I mean I would need to get amazing deal and find the car exactly in perfect specification for me for this to happen, which is very unlikely. As well I can have BMW i8 for less than LC500 costs and that is very attractive proposition. Apart of these 3 cars Lexus have left me without any options... so as sad as it is - that is not my choice, that is what Lexus forces me to do. I will always be happy to comeback as soon as they have something reasonable to drive. Lexus is the same thing for me - a status symbol, just more subtle, not every motoring commoner knows what it is which makes it even more exciting. I am explicitly allergic to anything and everything Amurican, I hate US, their cars (with some exceptions) and their culture... sorry. I know Lexus is perceived as american, but that is not really true - it is more like Japanese "guess" of what typical Amurican would like and end result is very interesting. You have different perspective - "Driving" means totally different thing for you then it does for me and that is fine. You value things like comfort, I value things like handling -obviously SUVs will be more comfortable, but will handle worse, so here is the answer - you will get SUV and I won't. My definition of driving is - "blasting on the A roads, taking corners at near limits of the grip, launching the car hard, pinging of the rev limiter and listening to roar of the engine". You can define yours, but my guess it will be more like - "comfortable cruising at 5MPH below speed limit and just chilling". Neither is better or worse, I just explaining that when I say "people who don't like driving" I have my definition of "driving" in mind, not yours. That is my precise feeling - I feel squeezed out of Lexus club... and this only going to become more acute once RC, IS and GS are discontinued.

So in September last year I became the proud owner of a 2008 IS250, I love the car, it is a joy to drive and puts a smile on my face every time I travel in it. Over the last few months I have set about modifying and replacing parts here and there, so this is a description of what I have done so far Replaced all the LED's in the interior, going to replace the door mirror puddle bulbs when the weather is a little warmer Replaced the boot gas struts as they were on the way out Installed the Vland rear lights, what a difference they make to the car, brings the rear end bang up to date Replaced the door puddle lights with LED Lexus logo Finally, I had my interior trim pieces hydro dipped from the red/brown look to a black woodgrain the film is "Lexus woodgrain" which is supposed to be based on the modern Lexus cars, I really like the look it has given the car, it goes nicely with the black leather and trim, I have attached a few pictures of some of the work, let me know what you think.

There is a new listing on fleabay which has already attracted bids to over £2305.00 with over 9 days to go. This is with no current MOT, a coolant leak and requiring “a HT lead”. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lexus-LS-400/174492529250?hash=item28a090b262:g:fqAAAOSwHXRflHe4 Admittedly it does looks clean, genuine and with a quoted mileage of 29,000. However a quick check on its MOT history reveals a different story with mileage in 2006 showing around 65,000, 66000 in 2007 and a mere 325 in 2008. From 2008 the mileage appears consistent. Probably had the cluster replaced but obviously a lot more mileage than showing with another 65,000 to go on top. Another thing is why not get it MOTd before selling.

Tyres on my RC300h F-sport. Had 22,000 miles on them this time last year when I changed the rear tyres, they still 3.5 / 4mm but with winter coming thought it was wise to change them. Front tyres still has about 6mm then. Replaced with like for like Bridgestone 265/35/19Y from the Lexus dealer at £158 per tyre.

It really depend on what you looking for... maybe you can summarise why you considering RC300h? is it just for looks? As well strange options - BMW 2-Series would be much cheaper, I would imagine comparison would be much more between BMW 4-series and Lexus RC. As far as reliability goes, RC300h will be at least as reliable as IS300h and that one is extremely reliable, so don't worry about reliability. Although, I would still expect to look at full service history and condition of the car being decent (even the best car could be just poorly maintained). The concern about tyres is completely unwarranted and local garage definitely have no clue... (and cannot have a clue). Just to give you an idea - there are less Lexus RCs then there are BMW i8s! So any garage claiming to know tyre wear patterns on these cars are simply lying. Are the tyres expensive - yes they are as expensive as any 19" tyres on any car... so I guess the answer is no, they cost close to average. As well tyre price would not be much different on different models, the entry level "luxury" model came with 18" and F-Sport/Premier had 19", difference between tyre set is like ~£25. Maybe confusion is with RC-F, not RC300h F-Sport?

Buy a cared for is300 and enjoy it for what it is, if you want something else, then go and buy something else.

Let's face it, these cars are now old, is it really worth spending excess money on them? Nice as they are, not a good investment.

I think Toyota abandoned the N and TNGA-N platform (along with Mark-X, IS / GS, RC and Crown..). Current Lexus IS is the best selling car in this platform and its sales volume is less than Porsche 911(992), which make no economy sense to continue. I have to say Lexus is doing very bad in promoting their RWD cars, a lot of 'car guys' don't even release IS is a RWD car; I used to work in a motorsport consultancy firm and my colleagues still think its FWD. Currently Toyota has 3 RWD platform, the L / TNGA-L platform (LS/LC), the N / TNGA-N platform (IS / GS / RC / Crown...) and the SGP (Subaru Global Platform, all Subaru and GT86). I assumed the N platform will be dropped and the current Crown would be the last model shared platform. In the future, L platform would remain as the flagship platform and 1 or 2 SUVs (Lexus and Toyota each) will be added to the L platform too. Currently there is no Toyota SUV based on a luxury car platform so I guess that's where Toyota would focus on. The Subaru platform is an interesting thing, it's not as good as an luxury car (McPherson strut front suspension), but proofed to be reasonable successful as sporty cars, so we may see some new Toyota as rebadged Subaru in the future, possibly new Mark X and IS. ======== So yes, there will be no IS / RC anymore. Even there is a next gen, it will be a completed different thing, no more double-wish-bone front suspension and 5 links rear suspension for sure.

Apologies John I missed your question until now......P-R-N-D-2-1...........not been for years since so Neutral from me.

Happy Birthday to your LS400. My 1996 Volvo 940 Automatic, had it's first breakdown on Friday, in the 4 years I have owned it. Found the cause today! Voltage to fuel pump ok. Gave the fuel pump housing a few bumps with hammer and stick and fired straight into life. Ordered a new Bosch fuel pump and also going to replace crank sensor, ignition module and fuel injection relay. £150 in parts Have MOT on Wednesday or Now likely Thursday. Hope the parts arrive quickly! Not as many miles as your LS at 205,000. My car was a bargain buy at £250. James.

If you can do it yourself use a wire brush or/and a grinder with grinding disk and remove as much rust as you can. Then use a rust converter and then seal it all with Dinitrol/waxoil or equivalent and re-apply every 2-3 years. James

They do, but you also need to change the wiring harness to the 2010+ one.

As per my recent issue with Lexus Dealership it is very important to keep it social, polite and have everything in writing. Sadly, your position legally is quite bad - we live in country where we are expected to report modifications to insurance no matter how minor, but the biggest mod of the all (that is the rubber which connect you to the road) is free for all and unconditional - you can have any black rubber as long as it is 1.6mm or more. And that is ridiculous! But technically Fullrun Fruntwo is road legal as long as it is 1.6mm+. Now everything will depend on what was agreed with dealership - did they say they will replace the tyres? Is it possible such tyres were fitted by previous owner? And all that will be factors. I consider that is is completely unacceptable if Lexus fitted such tyres, they should not stock such tyres at all, but if it was already on the car I can actually see situation where they simply said - "yes looks brand new, no changes needed". It would be very unusual, but again in used car sales there are many grey areas and none white and black. My personal position would have been as follows - if the car would be with such tyres when I inspected it I would have asked for them to be replaced with "reputable brand" before I transfer deposit. Ideally with 4 matching tyres, but this is difficult and borderline unreasonable in UK (in other countries it is common sense). If after agreeing to replace them with "reputable brand" they deliver the car like that to me, I would have rejected at the point of delivery, until resolved. I don't see the difference between replacing tyres with Fullrun Fruntwo and say replacing wheels with some random aftermarket wheels or replacing brake pads with "generic" brand.. In fact that is probably worse. As mentioned - Lexus have few "standard fit" tyres and that is what suppose to have used, same as you expect any other replaced part to be genuine Lexus/Toyota and not generic replacement.

Your third option is the best and the de-facto standard on most cars. I always found the IS Mk 3 (option 2) a pain even after driving it for some time.

Welcome Kulbir. Do tell us all about it please and as Dave says, we like piccies !

For 1 and 2 - I wonder if you hearing injectors? Petrol engines in Lexus have direct (high pressure) injection. This is different from port injection (low pressure) and it is quite noisy, similar to diesel injectors sort of noise. You car has both port and direct injection for good measure and that gives good power and economy, but those direct injectors may sound like diesel ticking for some. I found all Lexus being well insulated and this being noticeable only once outside, but not in cabin... either way that is my only guess. 3. This is really not a question about Japanese vs. any other cars... this is generic discussion about "snake oil" and whenever it is worth it. There are good arguments on both sides, but it is not specifically related to any Lexus car or GS450h in particular. It is question equally meaningful for all ICE engines. As for GS450h - it has ECU which will detect quality of petrol used and will adjust accordingly, not going to hurt using either one. 4. I personally would have rejected car with Fullrun Fruntwo or Chinesium Turbofast Accident or any other of dodgy tyres. For me having Fullrun Fruntwo is like having no thread left on proper tyres - not fit for using and should not be fitted on the car. I am not saying that standard fit Lexus Bridgestone Potenza S001 or Dunlop SP Sportmaxx 050 are great tyres, but they represent minimum standard which is needed to be safe on the road. Fullrun Fruntwo is something I would refuse to drive onto. I think even if dealership which sold you the car refuses to do anything about it I would raise it with Lexus UK, because those tyres should not be near Lexus, never-mind fitted on one.

Welcome! How long have you had your RX 450h? What are your thoughts on the car? Photos are always welcome!

Lexus have told me that A.C. Play will be linked to my HUD----excellent. Tel

there are some ****s about.

Have you tried Lexuspartsdirect ? I just did and found this for £12.11 (+ £5.99 p+p 😩) And it states it comes colour coded to your vehicle so no painting required! ( done via the reg No you supply on the order form!) https://www.lexuspartsdirect.co.uk/parts/lexus-is/lexus-is-phase-ii-2006-2013/lexus-is-2-exterior-interior/lexus-is-phase-2-o-s-door-lock-cover/

Spot on Vlad.

A Harp GTI ?

Congratulations Malc. When I bought mine back in 2006 I had a 1995 Rover 820 with a white and rust colour combination despite a good wash and wax cleaning regime. When I was considering the Celsior I thought why am I thinking of a car older than the one I have, I should be looking at a newer model but price was key at the time. I also never thought I would have the same car 14 years later .....cars are generally uneconomical to run before that age and return to their original iron oxide state. Unlike the UK Japanese cars use the manufacturing date as their “birth” date which in my case was 01/01/1994. The DVLA have the car as being “Registered” as December 1994 but it is an “L” registration ( Sept 93 to Sept 94). It’s not just Her Majesty who has two birthdays 😀

This is some of the data that is read thru the Armytrix Bluetooth dongle plugged into OBD port

TUX autos which is a part of LK performance in Cleckheaton near Bradford, they fitted it and programmed it into car as it also reads data of how your cars running and sends the info to your app on your phone, so wouldn’t recommend trying to fit system yourself, only charged me 250 to fit it

Has your car lived by the sea or a car from Scotland with lots of road salt? James.

Well, I had a good look at the MY21 Mercedes E Class Coupe today. It’s a stunning car and inside it is absolutely beautiful with amazing tech albeit without ventilated sears.🤔 The finish looks very good too but...all things considered...I’m going to go with a brand new RX Takumi.🙂

This car has been on ebay before by the same people, last year I think, I remember this car, I think it was discussed on here too

I would ask: 1) is the car being cold by the dealer or private owners 2) why no mention of the mileage discrepancy seller has either taken a very casual approach and overlooked some things or he is simply acting as a middle man therefore not too bothered lets hope all bidders atleast check the MOT history before bidding

In a Post above Dave said "Love of driving said vehicle - repair cost - depreciation - servicing - road tax - mpg - all go into the mix (and possibly other things I have not considered) to add up to how much we enjoy our vehicles. For me, one of the downsides now is the amount of traffic on the roads, A long leisurely drive in an LS 400 (with lots of money in your current account to stay at nice hotels) across France, in decent weather, would be my ideal of driving heaven! Kids and a dog tend to spoil the dream!" This gem says it all in my view. There is one addition I would make and it is the lack of respect that other drivers display when on the roads. Very sad in my opinion and is often a reflection of their upbringing (not referring to wealth, but manners) and a total ignorance of their responsibilities as citizens. Being able to drive on the Continent is to me both a pleasure and an education.

Interesting thread developing into a philosophical discussion about the role of cars into society. I am a 60 yr old mechanical enthusiast and cannot think about beeing without one. When i turned 18 it gave me freedom and independance. It literally opened borders and especially the blood red alfa gt junior heavily improved my success with the other side! But... society has changed in 40 years, there is more money going round and any low cost carrier will bring you to wherever for a few quid. Already youngsters see cars as different than i did back then. It no longer is a status symbol and when living in the city most prefer to live without one. Todays status symbols are hyper expensive mobile phones or bicycles costing thousands. Car companies will have to adapt to this changing market and they also have to defend their market to newcomers from Asia. Yes selfdriving cars will be here one day but as long as the automatic stop system in my car scares the sh## out of me when braking when there is nothing in sight it could well take some time....

This will go down like a lead balloon on here. I jumped ship from the IS two years ago back into a BMW. I'm a cash buyer so there are no PCP constraints so I can move when I choose too. I've gone Lexus - BMW - Lexus - BMW since 2007. (BMW ownership has been faultless btw) However my love for Lexus has had me looking at coming back for the third time. I'm absolutely not ready for Hybrid but a few weeks ago I did a test drive in an RC300 Takumi. I agree about the fantastic external looks, however once in the cabin I was back in the IS I left behind. Nothing appealed despite this being top of the range...it was simply out of date and absolutely no progress in five years compared to the opposition. I may look back at it in the supermarket car park and think what a stunning looking car but there's more to that. I'm in a 340i so take away the silky smooth B58 its still a three series. I did a back to back test route with an open mind and ignored any performance issues. I was deeply disappointed with the ML, the Harman Kardon in the BMW is vastly better, the infotainment -seriously it hasn't moved! I'm well used the to the clunkiness and welcomed the bigger screen but suddenly I've gone back that decade and I'm not even a technophobe. So I got out of the RC and did the same drive in the 340i..it could have been the 440i..simply worlds apart I'm afraid in every respect including comfort...damnit I so want to come back and I actually felt deflated. Then of course we have the G20 just to add pain onto Lexus which cabin and performance wise is a massive step up from the F30 I've no need or desire for an SUV (I couldn't even fit my golf clubs into a UX) so I've been squeezed out unless I do an RCF....which I may do to scratch the eternal itch but the truth is it may well be the M4 or M2 or Merc C43 or C63...with a warranty of course, however many with a GSF/ RCF have a warranty.

I must admit, I also hate this type of system on indicators. I guess on a car you will eventually get used to it, but in certain scenarios they are useless. HGV drivers, for example, will regularly make use of flicking between left and right indicators to acknowledge being "flashed in" after an overtake.

bit of advice for anyone on here with high mile ct200h,I'm sure most have heard of this issue. it's worth getting egr valve, pipe and intake manifold cleaned out. seems to be common issue with these and the same generation prius. on way to work last week i started getting really bad engine shuddering under light acceleration. when under high load it went away. only shuddered when releasing accelerator. when starting car back up to go home it was still shaking. but after a less than a minute of driving it completely disappeared and has not come back. I asked my local mechanic about it and he said it's more than likely egr. he has done many jobs on the prius down the years. I never got any check engine light when it happened thankfully. I was able to take of the egr pipe to have a look. had some carbon build up inside it. anyway. sorry for long post. just something to look out for in future.

Another consideration is what might be in the offing before long, although looked at from American viewpoint here in these videos. The RX has basically an old and heavy chassis that is suggested will be replaced by a lighter and better platform, as well as other changes in 2023. Some potential RX buyers may be tempted to opt for the revised and much improved NX 2022 model coming out in 2021 in the interim. Some interesting thoughts from the guy in these videos.

Made me laugh I'm exactly the same, it's getting a bit of a problem at the moment though takes me 20 mins to empty my place of work to able to start work I don't even have time to drive half of the time! I blame my parents as it all started with matchbox cars a long time ago the ones with the retro 80's looking packaging good memories.

It is only true Mark if the definition of "life" is understood. To avoid doubt and misunderstanding "life" means the production run of the model. This has traditionally been of the order of 6/7 years depending upon the manufacturer. If one assumes that David`s car has had a 150,000 mile service, then it is due a (1)60,000 miles (full as defined by Lexus) service, plus consumables.

If it was serviced at the main dealer then they may well have a record of it. However transmission servicing isn’t normally included on the maintenance schedule. Manufacturer’s claim they are “sealed for life”, which is technically true - once the fluid’s burned up that’s the end of its life!

Returned to my car yesterday to find that someone has pinched my cap which covers the lock on my drivers side door. Ebay only has them from the states for around $50!!!! Anyone know a MUCH cheaper way of replacing this small piece of plastic? Thanks