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Ahah! That's Southern motorways for you! In t'North, on us proper motorways, where we are chased by whippets, and the Traffic Police still use Lotus Cortinas, and the (solitary) motorway services still sells hot dogs for 1/6d - we don't get none o'them traffic jams either - so we's able ter drive flat out at 60mph without a care in t'world. That's how we get 34 mpg. (But don't tell anyone - 'cos they'll all want us peace n quiet)

Quick update. Lexus emailed me offering a complimentary winter health check, seemed a bit pointless on a 3 month old car, but I said what the hey, why not. I took the mud flaps with me and cheekily asked, while the car’s here can you fit these for me? They did, for free too! Bonus.

Hi Russell the DVD player is under the drivers seat, access from the rear, pulldown flap then you will see the DVD player

Hi fellow LS400 lovers, i still can’t believe that I am now the owner of this. After gliding around in it for a week, my decision to buy is now firmly cemented in my mind as probably one of the best decisions I ever made. I’ve never before owned a Lexus, but when I saw this I was reminded that this model had been my wedding car. Twenty seven years later, my blushing bride and I are still together and still very much in love. We even still have wedding photos of us posing in blissful rapture alongside the Lexus LS400 which was loaned to us by the company my wife worked for. it’s a joy to drive and at a tad under 80,000 miles, still a relative baby. She needs a good valet and those wheels need a refurb, but don’t ladies of a certain age need a trip to the beauty salon every now and again? 😉 I’m conflicted about the reg, though. On the one hand, it sits well on the car and the windows are etched accordingly, but it means nothing to me and we have our own cherished plate. I’ve thought about this for a while and I’m erring on paying the £80 quid retention and banging my own plate on it. At least if have to sell it, I can do so with the original plate on. Anyway, I want to thank you all for your knowledge and advice. I’ve been “lurking” on the forums for a while and I’ve already picked up some valuable information. SGS Engineering for instance will definitely be on my call list because the gas struts don’t seem to be holding the bonnet up - I wondered why there was a 4 foot length of wood in the boot but after trying to check the levels, I think I know! 🤭 Regards, Sam.

Just recorded a 1000 miles done on the tacho thought i would post a report. It's winter so the fuel consumption is not going to be at its best but i have to say its not bad at all really on a mix of motorway and town i can usually achieve around the mark between 38 to 42 mpg without trying really so that's not bad. My short commute to work i get 26 to 28mpg. I've not actually done a full refill of the tank i never let it get that low and i know its a small tank (44 litres i think) but on the occasions I've topped up the gauge reads around a quarter full or thereabouts it doesn't cost a lot to top it up, so economy wise i would say long term it will be good as expected. I've dipped the oil and it looks as good as new hardly any discolouration at all. The drive is sublime really good and the immediate pull off from a standing start at lights is excellent no drag at all. I'm enjoying the brake hold but keep forgetting to turn it off when not needed , not sure it may go off on its own. The ecvt gearbox is very good as well when driving you can hardly hear it even when pulling on to the motorway its not bad saying that I'm not heavy footed. That brings me to the Lexus link when i look at my Journey's in the app and the hybrid coaching etc it says good braking good or bad acceleration, well i can tell you i totally disagree when it says bad acceleration the odd time it has been correct but i get this a lot and i can tell you i don't I'm not heavy footed. i can honestly say i aint I'm wondering if Lexus are doing this to encourage more sensible driving I'm just saying as a comment to the app. The Bridgestone run flats are no more noisy than any others I've used i am not complaining. I've noticed on the windscreen some stock marks number wrote on i cant them off. When edging into either a garage or space hitting the brake and releasing and moving again there is a bit of noise and creaking the wife also mentions when releasing from park moving to drive its not as smooth as our Audi we have she is on about the clunk into drive i think, i tell her its a different set up. She rarely drives it by the way. loving the heated seats and steering wheel i set the climate concierge to do the business. The windows demist well the wing mirrors and rear screen clear quickly to be truthful hardly any misting inside has occurred yet so that's testament to the Lexus system I'm sure. These cornering lights are very good very useful indeed. The adaptive high beam works and is easy to use. One thing I'm struggling to get to grips with and its me not the car is the keyless entry and exit and in particular the back hatch door using the kick sensor is ok, opening from inside the car ok providing you unlock first but for some reason it will not open on the key fob and when you close the rear door from the rear lock switch i dont think it puts the deadbolts on. I am regularly looking at the manual but will get there eventually. I don't think the button inside the car for opening the rear hatch is in a good place i have to look down bend etc to see where it is and again that will only operate if the doors are unlocked. The boot and there has been a lot of talk about this i find it adequate for our needs and demands however should we wish to double the space its easily done look at the topic boot spaced on here. So all in all happy with the car meets all our requirements good purchase.

thanks Roy ,as i like both aspects to that recipe i expect it would be delicious , and yes i have retirement all planned out , just need to get there now ,take care 👍

I have always been told by the generation above me ( wise old men) to not buy a brandnew model and wait at least a year for the child deseases to disappear. This was in the analogue mechanical area. Appears it is still the case and maybe even more so. VW will get it right eventually i have no doubts about that but buying an ID3 or4 does not seem to be the best idea now...

Hi John Yes I would think the blue badge is the reason in that case - I guess the details are held against the individual for any car registered to them that is driven in London. I looked into exemptions in some detail when I got the IS 300h as I drive into London every so often and so when you mentioned about being exempt I wondered if I had missed anything - unfortunately not by the look of it. Probably won't be doing much more driving into London though fortunately.

Small update, ive started cleaning and painting all the calipers and brakes are ordered. These parts have been very slow coming through, still waiting on rear discs and pads. I have all new rear pad fitting kit, from carrier pin and bush kit, stoptech street front and rear pads and brembo cross drilled discs all round. Was going to go with a big brake kit but as this car is probably going to be too loud for tracks it probably wont see anything apart from santapod. BBK would probably be over kill and talking to a few running big power and doing trackdays they suggest that a good disc and pad combo would be adequate for the road, if not i will run them for a little bit and swap it out for something. No pics just yet as i will wait for everything to turn up. Another update is ive swapped the dailey driver Celica Tsport for a Lexus CT200H. Absolutely worlds apart in terms of quality although the Celica has had a hard life with 140k on it. Well i would load pics but seems to be that problem with an error message again when loading pictures, tried 13 pics and not 1 will load🤨

I think you will find if you register your car with TFL for a fee of again I think £10 your car is exempt from the congestion charge. This is based on information from when I had a Prius. John.

Yes, searched extensively.

Just bought an IS 300h so my much loved 2007 is250 has got to go. I'll advertise it in the For Sale section once my Gold Membership has been approved but please message me if interested in the meantime Lexus for sale.docx

I may be wrong but even if they were a physical fit and straight swap, you'll probably find that there is no wiring or relays for DRLs in your car so you'd have to sort that as well.

IN HL TODAY, Vas Are you aware of major problems with the new VW Golf Mk8? We have a six-week-old car that has had to be taken off the road at VW UK’s insistence after software for Driver Assist, SOS and sat-nav all failed. Before being safe to drive it apparently needs a new steering wheel, which we await. The dealer’s demo car has similar issues. It seems this model had major software problems from the start, leading to delayed launch and recall in Germany. But our car was built in February and we wonder if models shipped to the UK did not receive the necessary updates and modifications. Any information? IF I have received three reports so far, and I’m hearing that there are similar problems with the tech in VW’s new ID.3 electric car.

Interesting to read this as the hybrid transmission does not have any gears or clutches to engage like a conventional automatic. The clunk could be the release of the parking pawl if the car has edged forward after Park was engaged. But an Audi automatic will be the same as this (Is the Audi automatic?) Since nothing else is happening when you engage Drive, could it be that Lexus has gone to the trouble of creating an artificial clunk to make the car feel more like a conventional automatic? It's hard to know what else it could be as nothing mechanical actually happens when you engage Drive except for the parking pawl and some changes in the electrical circuits. When stopping, you could try engaging the parking brake before you release the footbrake and before you engage Park. Then the parking pawl in the transmission won't be holding the car on any incline. If it still clunks when you engage Drive it sounds as if it might be an artificial noise to give the feel of a conventional car.

A really helpful android app to get the best mpg results with RX and other cars also is Hybrid Assistant. It works with OBD interfaces (some suggested on site but you can boy whatever you like). The app is from eCVT enthusiast app developers and totally free and they made a great work. Hybrid Assistant

Hi, had my H&S cat back on for about 3 months now and I’m still loving it, I leave for work at 5am but it’s only a tad louder than stock and drops to a burble after about 10 seconds , it’s not a lot louder at crushing speeds just enough IMO ,it’s only when you pass 3000rpm that it really starts to growl and then really gets going and sings to the red line,I went with the x pipe and have no drone to speak of ,I don’t think it sounds as aggressive as a AMG but it’s a fantastic roar and even gives a little crackle and burble when down shifting in manual ,the quality of the exhaust is good and fitting was bang on (hardest bit was removing the old dummy tips)I went for the oval tips with ceramic coating on the tail pipes and am happy I did as they clean up really easily, the tail pipes just bolt on so I’m going to get some carbon effect round ones from eBay to have a change from time to time. Fantastic mod to the f and now sounds like it should. IMG_1070.MOV

Chuffed to bits with my Android Auto upgrade on my NX 2019. Having Google Maps displaying satellite view is fabulous. It suggests destinations based on where I've been before at similar times, and having to plug it in when I get in the car is simply not any sort of issue at all. Much prefer Google Maps to Waze (also owned by Google) as, like someone else has said, it is too cartoon like for me. Google Maps remains the original and best Android map system.

The main difference I think is that standard suspension mode in the adjustable models is same as standard car, but it can then be made firmer either in normal or eco mode (customize) or Sport + mode

I've not driven a Lexus with air suspension but I do enjoy wafting along in the RX. I used to own a Mercedes 300ce which in 1990 cost £42000 which today means it equates to around £100000 car and was beautifully built . That was a wonderful long distance cruiser and the Lexus is on a par for ride comfort.

Bit of a ridiculous overreaction if you ask me. To be fair there isn’t that much fun on here, it’s all a bit too serious and sensitive.

I`ve just split my pre-dinner Scotch reading that Ed !

Nice to meet you Dave--have met conversed previously? I`m sure I read somewhere that First Class was going to 99p in the near future...or is my love of Rioja overwhelming me again ?

Merkel

Hi Richard, I have a 2019 RX + Premium Pack (i.e. no adaptive dampers) and the ride quality is very good indeed in my opinion (better than my adaptive suspension equipped Jaguar XF). The only slight negatives I've found is there is a little 'float' when driving on fast A roads, but then the RX isn't a car I chuck around the bends 🙂 The adaptive suspension may alleviate this somewhat. Sadly, I've never driven a Premier/Takumi model with the adaptive suspension, so I can't say for sure how much of a difference there is. Could well be worth asking for a test drive in a non-Takumi RX to ascertain whether this is a deal breaker for you.

Hi James I had this problem after some (a lot of really) accident damage. The repairers had not put the cable in its clip and when the new head lamp was fitted. They spent months trying to sort it out - one Lexus dealer wanted to charge me £1000 for a new head lamp (I don't go there anymore); it took Coventry Lexus 5 mins 🙂 to. fix - great service. I found the AFS light was off on start up and if the lights were off - as soon as the lights came on and I came to a corner the lights steered, jammed the motor, the head lamps recentered and the AFS light came on. The body shop just reset the fault but were never able to test it properly - I was in a loan car for ages and decided to go to the dealer where they bought their spares from (with the body shops blessing) and get it fixed. Driving a diesel loan truck was plenty of motivation. I decided crashing my car and wiping out the front end is a bad idea. Bren

Suspension is only adjustable if the adjustable suspension option is fitted. Mine doesn't have it. I would agree about the ride. Coming from a nice wafty IS250 SE-L on 17's, the 18's on the F Sport give a noticeably choppier ride over lumps and bumps where various types have dug holes in the road. Linas is right about the party trick though. When the salesman showed me that, I instinctively reached for my wallet.

My phone is always on the wireless charger in the centre console, with the Car Play update it's still in the centre console, just with a wire attached - I don't understand how this changes anything

The majority of cars sold with Apple CarPlay functionality only work via a wired connection. I’ve test driven 6 recently - all requiring wired. It is a bit unfair to say it must be ‘hard wired’ - this makes it sound like a permanent connection. A simple USB-Lightning cable in the centre armrest will suffice. You just have to connect it when you get in the car. There are gadgets available that will provide a wireless connection. I’ve talked about the one I purchased earlier in this thread. I don’t see how the car has been mis-sold to you. All Lexus & Toyota brochures that I’ve looked at discuss that CarPlay only works via a USB connection. I’m one of the first to moan about various bugs in the infotainment system but none of them make the car unfit for purpose.

Nigel, You connect your phone before you start your car & therefore there are no Safety Issues & Apple Car Play is perfect for your car as it includes Siri who alerts you to all fixed Speed Cameras & much more. What are the issues with your Lexus Nav as there are some clever, highly Knowledgeable guys on this Web-Site.? Tel

I'd say it's more than that...car manufacturers (Lexus included) have been making miserable user interfaces for their infotainment systems for years and years, and they're still nowhere near as easy-to-use as those on modern smartphones. It's simply a case of core competencies - Lexus builds cars, Apple & Google write software. Who do you think is going to be better at the software part? So Apple CarPlay/Android Auto basically put your phone's interface and a number of its apps right there on your car's computer screen, rather than whatever mess of outdated apps and functions the car's engineers thought were important. But honestly, a really key advantage of this integration is that built-in infotainment systems age really, really quickly. Software moves on really quickly, and a 5-year-old car may seem pretty new, but a 5-year-old infotainment system will look 20 years old. It also might not work anymore - map updates stop coming, Lexus won't provide software updates forever, and any integrated features cannot be counted on to continue working in a fast-evolving world. If you're happy listening to music off CDs, more power to you. I stream podcasts off the internet, listen to audiobooks, and sync music from my media server to my phone - all of which I can put on the car's screen via Apple CarPlay. Before that, all I could do was stream it via bluetooth or an aux-in jack, because the car's built-in systems couldn't understand any of those services. And because all they 'see' via bluetooth is an audio stream, changing podcasts, books, albums, or anything else would require me to pull over and fish out my phone. Being able to make those changes safely from my car's controls while at a stop light or something is fantastic. Finally, Google Maps/Apple Maps/Waze/Almost Anything On Your Phone is better than any built-in car sat-nav. What's more, you get traffic info and map updates for free via your phone's internet connection. Lexus and their ilk will surely charge you for updating your maps, and only up to a certain point. TLDR; CarPlay/Android Auto is better than the built-in system in (almost) every way. 🙂 Nick

I suspect its only temporary. The IS is a refresh and is only coming in petrol form, no hybrid hence they didn't bring it to Europe. The CT is getting extremely old and of course, the RC is based on the IS/GS I imagine Lexus are working on an all electric IS - or so Ive heard......

Have you considered the vland rear lights? Quite a few members have them, myself included, they are easy to fit, they are a straight swap, plug and play, they were around £200 for the pair!

SXE10 is the model code for a Toyota Altezza, which is basically the JDM version of an IS200. The Tein springs would fit your car. I really liked the Eibach Pro-Kit on my IS200. The drop was almost perfect.