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Well as my car hit 150,000 today I decided to go into reverse and so bought this beauty. It's one year older than my car on an 04 plate and 49,000 less miles. It's in gorgeous condition having only had 2 owners, full service history and only failed 2 tests in the past. (Incidentally that's 1 more than my old car). So, this being my third 430 in Canterbury blue with cream interior it didn't take long looking round it before the deal was done. This has one thing more than my previous car which is the adaptive cruise control radar system, an optional extra at the time. Obviously I can't keep them both so my '55' will be on the move once the reg plates are sorted.

Hello gents, It has been awhile since I've been on the forum. But I did promise to give an update if there was any changes to my GSF (cc. @Big Rat). I've done a few things to it, mostly aesthetics. Here's a few thing's I've done to it to make it my own :- Lowered with Tein Coilover Suspension Tankless Aircup liftsystem for the front Remote Valved Catback Exhaust System by Bulletperformance Tom's Racing from lip and sideskirts Dixcel Japan brake pads RR Racing Air Oil Seperator Full front end PPF Have a great day everyone.

I would strongly recommend you either buy another set of Lexus brand sensors or use the old ones. despite having good quality units fitted to mine they don't seem to like being 'paired' to the Lexus.

Thanks. I know 150,000 miles isn't a problem with these cars but the one I've just bought has 101,000 on the clock and the interior is spotless and still has the lexus carpet mats. The bodywork is tidier too. There's always going to be a point when you look at your car and think that certain areas could do with improvement, i.e. because of scratches or maybe a carpark ding. 2 of the front proximity sensors had coroded and stopped them from working and it's understandable with a cars of these years that they're not going to be perfect so I suppose it's it's just me looking to get as near as damn it to that. The wheels on my 55 plate car were poor and rather than having them re - furbished which really is just the face of the wheel I opted to buy some aftermarket wheels which looked smart, not overstated and as close to the originals as possible.

Hi Bill, Picked it up yesterday, very pleased with it, well worth the wait!

The official capacity for the UX250h is 43 litres. I've averaged 47.8MPG over 16k miles of various types of driving, which translates to between 400 and 500 miles to a full tank, depending on weather conditions, weight of right foot etc. A larger tank, and therefore longer cruising range would be nice, as it is I can just about manage a week's commuting if the weather's not too cold. I feel like an extra 20 litres wouldn't make much of a difference to the handling of an 1,580kg car, but would be very useful for folks like me. Nick

Very nice looking Mark 👍 I am curious though as to the reason for the change?

Congratulations! Both cars look very clean, hard to tell they are more than 15 years old!

Intensive use would be things like towing a caravan, carrying heavy loads, or driving over rough/hilly terrain for extended periods. Basically anything that might put extra strain on the transmission.

Hello, So I've picked up another IS250 last year. I had one previously and I missed it, so here it is. Manual, black leather, sat nav with Mark Levinson audio system, air conditioned seats and the rest that's pretty normal for these cars. Bought it completely stock. Soon after I've done an oil change, I replaced a dirty air filter and put an HKS Super air filter in it and changed the oil cap for a Mishimoto aluminium one. I've replaced a dirty & damaged gear knob gaiter and disgustingly used gear knob that just pained me every time I drove it. Then the exciting stuff happened.. a set of RAYS Gramlights 57CR 18x9.5 ET38 paired with very average TOYO Proxes TR1 225/40R18.. I've used the older compound (T1-R) tyres and they were fine. Definitely a very noticeable upgrade over the previous 245/45R17 Continentals that someone put on it. 245s are just way too wide for the amount of power this car has in my opinion. It feels a lot more nimble now on the narrower tyres, but also much more grippy due to the Toyo's being just better in every way. The AVG mpg's have also changed after changing an air filter & wheels. I used to average 21mpg on my way to and from work (14mile one way mixed commute - dual carriageways, town and country roads). Now it's around 26mpg and strictly motorway driving - cruise control at 70mph went from 36mpg to 43mpg. Safe to say I'm very happy with it so far. Currently I need to get rear discs & pads all round as these are sh*t and very bad on dusting. Plans for the future are: TEIN Flex Z Fully adjustable coilovers to improve the handling. HARDRACE front LCA steering response bushes - that should stiffen up the steering wheel a little bit as it's way too sensitive for me at the moment. GT86/BRZ OEM differential & 4.1 final drive - will reduced the top speed, but will increase the acceleration which is something very noticeable, especially on A/T cars as they have 3.7 FD and M/T have 3.9 FD, but my Manual will benefit from it too. HKS HI-Power exhaust (currently on back order - should arrive in April) - unleash the V6 noises! Sound clip from someone in the USA here Rear diffuser Vland tail lights + lots more but I won't list everything..

After a special order was made to purchase the space saver wheel tool tray, it arrived today. I used to carry my spare wheel in the boot (Photo) because of the large original tool tray/inflation kit arrangement and it was something I just accepted until the part number 64779-33280 was made available by another forum member who wanted his spare under the floor like the US and most of Europe have. So it's done and gives me the solution I wanted since I took delivery of my first first ES back in 2019. Perfect fit of course but at a hefty £278.15 incl vat. I was quoted £231 but wasn't told it was plus vat. No discount as it was a special order because it's not a UK spec part. The dealer let me try it in the boot to make sure all was well and then I paid for it. In 2022 my new ES cost £35,725 after all discounts and PCP allowances so the £278.15 I spent to get where I needed to be was an expensive option that somehow I justify to myself. Plenty of storage space for stuff over and above the basic tools the tray was designed for originally. You can see the huge difference in depth between the two trays. Now I have a more spacious boot.

While i have sold the IS250.. still waiting on it being collected.

Relatives lease their Volvos a XC60 and also a V90. Wife has had 4 XC60 and Husband has V90. Had a few BMW's in their day and Jag E pace. Come back to, or stick with Volvo. Great if you can afford to lease, or new under warranty, then buy another. Say's not had a problem. Owns his own company and has covered 40k a year in the Volvo's at various times when out bringing in new clients. He loves his Volvo. First owned Volvo was a 1999 V70. I like the models that are rear wheel drive. 240, 740, and 940. Owned all 3 models since 2002. Cheap, under £400 and reliable. Currently have a 1996 Volvo 940. Run in at 207,000. As new as I would go with Volvo is a phase 1 V70. I also have a Toyota Auris Hybrid. James.👍

Bore size, GSF’s have a bigger bore whereas PPE’s are probably the same bore as ISF manifolds

Looks like steam to me & from experience stainless systems make more. Hover you hand over the outlet and you will see the water droplets & your hand will become wet, oil will, well be oily.

Yes, if possible lol. Seriously though, cars parked beside the sea and cars in areas with heavily salted roads are much worse than those from drier regions. Not too many folk bother to wash down the underside to clear the salt after a drive, and the RX's aren't well protected underneath. Water ingress to interior shouldn't be a thing with modern cars, but our RX leaked like a sieve. Pete

Surely that would only be if the details on the policy are correct? On mine it just says the engine size, doesn't say anything about power.

I concur with you …i have 3 sets of alloys for my RCF and all fitted with tpms 19 OEM with OEM tpms all works perfect 2X 20” with good quality TPMS fitted which only 1 set 1/2 reads them ie are being read and no warning lights showing but does obviously if pressure goes down but it doesnt give me the individual pressure readings on dash… other set i have the warning symbol on dash, regardless garage spent ages trying to get car to read them……they wont marry up 100%

It does sound nice! I like it

That's...truly Kafkaesque. Well done for catching it, and if Direct Line can't get their **** together then they deserve to lose your custom. 30 seconds of internet searching could corroborate the details and the right person could correct their database in moments. Nick

Great looking car - rare aswell given the condition, age, mileage and features I also took the same route (no on my second 430) - unfortunatey mine has picked up many surface scratches whilst just parked on the road which bugs me everytime I look at it! enjoy!

Just to verify: sometimes they use standard 0W-30 oil for all models (not so professional if Lexus official service does). Another think to verify is the oil level that should NOT exceed the max level at WARM engine.

I could live with it as it's the only the once so far it's happened. It's the thought of if the engine getting damaged that worries me. I'd say it sounded like it was the problem with that engines VVTi not keeping the Oil in top of engine until the pressure gets up to get it where it should be looking at YouTube and previous Posts on the same engine noise. Has anyone heard of the engine being damaged by this problem ? Been perfect apart from the once it happened !

I've taken all extra measures to make sure it will deploy as correctly as possible 🙂 like i mentioned in my original post that even if it deploys correclty, it's all about timing. If the timing is way off then it will effect it's effectiveness. But I have take measures to make sure the timing is minimally effected as possible by allowing the breaking points to snap easily 🙂 I'm making a few more for some of my IG followers including a 3IS one soon. Will post photos once they are installed 🙂

..and totaly understand that. Not only do I only look at the 430's, I'm only interested in the blue ones for myself..it's just my favourite colour

A man of taste and discrimination. When I get around to it I have all new sensors for my front bumper. They are black but the one I have already replaced blends in nicely with the blue bumper. Mine has a few chips and scratches but is mostly good ('04 @ 132k miles) and is a keeper. 😁

Yeah, I have a feeling all that will change and be back in the office now again soon. Least I still will be working from home for three days a week.

Anyone see the latest Fifth gear recharged programme. They had a run off test on the track between an Audi Q4 etron and the 300e. When the 300e was run they seemed to like the quietness and handling but when put under accelaration it lost power. So they put it in the so called pits took it out again and it failed again loss of power when asking for more accelaration. Wouldnt reccomend they said. Wonder if any of you saw this. I watched it again tonight think it was on Dmax channel earlier in week i thought it was on quest.

That looks fantastic! I hate the black-plastic cladding that cars are picking up these days. It's one of the reasons I bought my last UX in grey - it minimises the effect (photo attached). To a certain type of buyer it makes the vehicles look more 'rugged', but I think it makes them look cheap. Those of you old enough to remember when black plastic bumpers were the default and body-coloured bumpers an expensive upgrade will know what I mean... Fashion is cyclical, as they say! Nick

Hi John, In my experience, once a battery has been drained sufficiently that it won't start the car then, unless it gets fully charged, it's prone to draining quickly again. By fully charged, I mean a day or two on a charger, as opposed to 30 minute runs. 30 minutes of driving or running the engine may keep a good battery sufficiently topped up, but will struggle to fully recharge one that's been run down. It's not so much how hybrid cars work, my previous non hybrid car would suffer the same if left for multiple extended periods and not fully recharged. It's more that hybrid cars are often fitted with smaller batteries to save money/space/weight, as they're not used for direct engine cranking. I solved the previous car problem with an obd2 port connected solar charger left on the dash, which kept it sufficiently topped up. Not sure if that would work in your circumstances for periods of extended lack of use.

Hi Mike, I am compelled to respond to your pain. My car is a 2020 F Sport 450h with less than 3k miles. When new I left it for 3 weeks while traveling overseas and on return it would not start. At the time I thought I left a light on that drained the battery. I jump-started and drove it for an hour and since then drove at least every day for half hour and did not have issues. I left it for a week and it could not start, jumpstarted and drove it for 30 miles to a mall. It could not start when I returned to the car. Jumpstarted and headed home and called Lexus for service. When I went in today, they told me that it must be driven at least twice a week or start the engine twice a week and run it for 30 minutes to keep the hybrid battery which starts the car charged. Essentially saying, you can't leave the car at the airport and travel for 3 days because you won't start on return. Is this how hybrid cars work? Is this how Lexus expected consumers to operate it? If so why did Lexus not disclose at the time customers purchased these type of cars? I am looking for anyone else who has similar issues because it is exhausting. On the brighter side, once the car starts it is a great car. John

I have a 21 year old E39 petrol BMW which has quite a heavy draw on the battery so I fitted the larger size diesel battery but only use car very occasionally. I therefore use a 'Disconnect'* interposed between the battery negative terminal and negative lead. It only requires a couple of turns on the 'Disconnect' to reconnect and only means resetting the clock which I don't bother to do. It does mean the benefit of the alarm is lost while the battery is disconnected but any thief would have to break the door lock, the ignition and boot lock plus fit a charged battery. I then only have to very occasionally to bring the battery up to full charge using a trickle charger. Unfortunately, disconnecting the battery on my Lexus in this way would cause more problems so is probably not practical on more modern cars. * This sort of thing, https://www.amazon.co.uk/CZC-AUTO-Disconnect-Isolator-Vehicles/dp/B08C2WK32N/ref=sr_1_8?_encoding=UTF8&c=ts&keywords=Car%2BBattery%2BSwitches&qid=1642461951&s=automotive&sr=1-8&ts_id=4919955031&th=1

At that age you'lll be going between pre- and post-update cars - from memory they changed a few things in 2012. I don't anything too significant was revised, so gor whichever is in better condition. Try to avoid air suspension as noted above, make sure the power tailgate works OK (cold/damp weather seems to bring on a spate of failures each year), otherwise I suppose just look out for the normal things on a used car. Good history, sensibe number of owners who've each kept it for a while, etc. Watch out for the 12v battery if it'll go for periods of time without being used. Will a Lexus approved car be within budget? That'll get you a decent year's warranty, but I believe the Relax warranty will cover you if you have it serviced by a main dealer up to 10 years old, and there's an additional product available at 10+ years old and under 150k miles. I don't believe mileage should be an issue on a well-maintained example. My 2014 Luxury is admittedly relatively low mileage for its age at around 52k, but I'm planning on keeping it for some years to come and I have no najor concerns about that.

Have both heated seats and windscreen, not needed here, but seat heater does function. Turned it on to try it and really not needed here. MPG on the old VW golf 2.0tdi DSG were not much worse than on the CT. We drive short tours. But the diesel engine when never really get the exhaust cleaned in daily driving, so I needed 20 minutes full power to clean the exhaust before passing MOT. Diesel engines are not for shorter tours. Pure EV is for those having charging station home and not for those who should charge outside. I believe that price for electricity will go so much up that it could be expensive to fill the batteries if not having solar powered supply home. Plug-in hybrids are carrying both a heavy battery and an engine so on longer tours MPG will suffer. I am waiting for hydrogen filling network as batteries are no good in cold climate and efficiency go downhill with years passing.

Received notification today that build is complete and my 450h+ has left the factory! Dealers indication of a mid March delivery looks possible! 😁

I’ve got GSF manifolds on my ISF, S/S cat back sports exhaust system, I’ve got (not on yet) full 2011 suspension and RR lower arms to hopefully stop inner tyre wear…… manifolds go straight on, oil tube needs to be reformed to miss larger manifolds and exhaust lip on underside flange connection has to be cut off and a gasket installed……. The difference is very noticeable.

I just went to the same fuss like you in October last year. Managed to pick a facelift 30k miles '14 Luxury for 11.5k from the IoM. Done a huge lot of research beforehand and I could give you some advise: - heated windscreen is not present at all in any UK specced cars - if you are fairly confident, you can buy an obd reader and run Dr.Prius to check the life of your ct battery before you buy it -make sure you the car didnt stay parked at all for longer than 1 month, this will affect the overall lifespan of the batteries -service your lexus yourself, do a hybrid check with dr prius yourself once in a while and the money you saved are way over compared to what you get in comparison with the car's loss of value due to not servicing at dealer -on 100k+ CTs, the possible danger of a blown head gasket is steadly increasing but I am yet to see any CT (although I seen gen 3 Priuses) with this issue -clean your egr valve/pipe and intake manifold every 50k miles or 5y to postpone the head gasket issue

Clever workaround Sergio

Things wear out over time and gradually become loose, rubber parts deteriorate

Why restrict it to errant ones?

My previous RX had its service book all stamped by Lexus Carlisle but it was not until I checked the details with them that I discovered the ones close to the 60,000 miles ones had not been the big important one with the sparkplug change.

We never found anywhere in the UK but we got one from here. Delivery was very quick and it's a very good quality product.

Thanks Pete, the nylon wheel cover I used to cover the space saver when I carried it around in the boot is actually a small motor cycle wheel cover off EBay (again) and the Lexus logo was also sourced on EBay under a Lexus vinyl graphics/badge search. Very cheap and you get around 5 in a pack for a few pounds. Type in LEXUS CAR SEAT / HEADREST DECALS - Vinyl Stickers - Graphics Logo badge X5. The first seller comes up as cheeky_chappie_decals who I have used many times. Click on his visit shop link and you will be amazed at what you will see incl choice of colours.

I don't have manual, but I have driven one and the points related to manual are as well quite well documented and common knowledge on forum. First of all is the road tax - automatic was £325 and manual was £585 last time I have checked, probably more now. At least for me it makes no sense to pay same road tax for IS-F as it costs to run IS250 manual. Second point is reliability and cost of maintenance, manual gearbox just costs more - fluid in manual gearbox needs to be replaced every 40k miles and is expensive job, whereas in theory automatic does no need it at all (but I would say at least once in 100k miles would be good idea) - so in short you will need to spend £400-£600 to replace fluid 2.5 times more often on manual. Same for clutch and DMF - neither exists on automatic, so you don't need to worry about them, on manual it is £1200 just in parts. Third point - how fun it is to drive... I would argue manual is more fun if you know what you doing, but particular one fitted in IS250 just doesn't suit the car as well as automatic, doesn't suit UK speeds either. So automatic in this case suits the car more and feels smoother and more luxurious overall, gear ratios are better for UK and I would argue it is even more economical where it matters. Manual is "more fun" - but IS250 isn't a sports car and doesn't really benefit from additional "control" you get from manual, but suffers from worse economy and other manual gearbox related issues. I mean sure - if you plan to use IS250 as cheap drift car platform, fit it with rock hard coilovers, change suspension geometry, fit LSD, strip the interior and trash it on the track... then sure manual is the way to go. But for daily driving, comfortable, reliable, entry-luxury car the automatic just makes more sense.

Location: Yorkshire YES ......... I think it's the Wallace and Grommit syndrome effect ... all SC430s will be subject to this but only in Yorkshire I'm afraid Malc

The tray was £278 incl vat. The space saver wheel was £45 (used) on ebay (Lexus GS450h) and the securing fitting that holds the wheel still in the wheel well was £8 (used) on ebay which is a standard item on all Toyota and Lexus cars.

I’m sure lots of us have seen the viral picture of a ‘Beware of cyclists’ road sign where somebody has added some *ahem* rather rude graffiti describing what he or she thinks of them… …obviously I won’t be adding the picture here as I’d end up moaning (to nobody in particular) that I’d been banned from this place! In all seriousness, 90% of cyclists are like 90% of motorists, being entirely sensible and not wanting to cause anybody any trouble or inconvenience. As usual with life, it’s the other 10% who are the problem.

The tool tray graphics show the two types of tool trays that exist and a full size spare would need the two piece tray on the left compared to the tool tray on the right which I fitted for a space saver wheel. A chassis number would drive the choice if ordering a Takumi tool tray in the US from a dealer. You can see how the "bucket" which the actual tools would fit in would pass through the middle of the flat tray allowing the bucket to end up in the space of the upside down full sized alloy wheel sitting in the wheel well.

Dude you are one crazy guy 😁 looking very good, I assume the air bag will deploy correctly if ever required?

I had the same problem. The phone would connect to the car but the phone's navigation voice did not come over the car's loudspeakers and also no longer came through the phone's loudspeaker. I turned off the phone's bluetooth before starting the car and then I could hear the directions from the phone. Turning off bluetooth after starting the car didn't work. I've never managed to get the phone directions to play over the loudspeakers. And I didn't want to always have my phone disconnected from the car on long journeys. So I managed to find a setting in Waze to play the sound through the phone rather than whatever the default setting was. That allowed me to turn the bluetooth back on so I could receive phone calls. And the navigation voice came over the phone's loudspeaker, which being just next to the steering wheel was fine for me to hear even while the car's audio was playing. I don't know if there's a similar setting in Google maps. But as a first step you could try turning off bluetooth and see if you get voice directions from the phone. If Google maps doesn't have the necessary setting you could try Waze instead.