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Ordered a pair of gas struts from SGS Engineering for the boot - I fitted them today, they work lovely - no more heavy boot lid. They're a bit different to the ones I took off - they have round fittings at both ends (not flat at one end) they fit perfectly anyway. Put in a new boot carpet from ebay - lovely fit too 🙂

Still chugging round in the GSF, having made no effort to sell it yet...... My wife used it to take one of the dogs to a show in Stafford at the weekend. Came back with a fuel consumption of 36.8MPG!!! Didn't use cruise, stuck to 70, unbelievable.

My IS300h, zero rattles in almost 10 years with 219,000 miles.

It's exactly the same thing with the UX! As the B-pillar is mostly plastic, if the seatbelt buckle isn't lying parallel/flat to the pillar/passenger seat, it can cause rattling if you find it slightly 'out of position'. I discovered that reasonably quickly as I drove to work one Monday morning wondering for the entire nine mile drive where the rattle was coming from - then I discovered the belt buckle (I had a passenger in the car the previous day) was twisted and was vibrating against the B-pillar on anything other than the smoothest of surfaces. A quick re-adjustment and all was silent again! Agreed. I think it's only reasonable to expect no squeaks or rattles for at least a year. Possibly two. It all depends on mileage covered and how the car is treated, regardless of brand in my opinion. I don't think I've ever had a car which has remained completely rattle or buzz free after the two/three year mark. There's always been some sort of very minor 'foible' to be heard somewhere after that time. As someone who doesn't often listen to the radio in the car (barring long journeys), I pick up on pretty much anything. For instance, I've detected a very minor 'buzz' located behind the passenger side of my dashboard when the engine is at a certain rev-range. I can actually manipulate it by dropping the revs or rising them below that 'fixed point' and the buzz disappears. It's been doing this for at least the last six months but it's so minor that few fellow passengers have picked up on it even when I've pointed it out! I've never bothered taking it back to the dealer because I suspect it would involve a 'dashboard out' job, so I've lived with it.

Hi Ross - as it's been a week and no-one has come back with a precise answer, the rule of thumb used by hyper-milers (for obvious reasons they like to compare the total drag of cars) was to multiply the width without mirrors by the height, by 0.85. This takes into account that cars are not square, but cant inwards top and bottom, plus have air (albeit turbulent air) underneath. So, width of an LS460 without mirrors is 1.875m, height is 1.465m. Therefore frontal area would be ~2.33 square metres, and CdA is ~0.61 square metres. Obviously not precise numbers, but close enough for most things. What's the plan then; working out how much power you would need to crack 200mph? 😀

Update: I fitted a Blue Music adapter today (thanks @BigBoomer for the steer!). I went for SKU 2720, which is the version without telephony as the LS460 already has handsfree built-in. I also needed the Y-cable (see screenshot for the items I used.) Fitting was surprisingly straightforward - I didn't take pictures as there are already quite a few YouTube videos showing how to remove the LS460 head unit however, the basic process is: unclip then slide the trim pieces either side of the trans tunnel out of the way unclip the piece of trim between the gear selector panel and the armrest unscrew the gear selector use a socket to undo two 10mm hex screws on the driver's side of the trans tunnel (recessed) unclip and lift the gear selector panel, then carefully lay it down (I didn't bother disconnecting the wiring) unclip and lift out the ashtray (again, I didn't bother disconnecting the wiring) undo a 10mm hex screw on each side of the head unit (these are hidden and must be accessed from underneath... and removing/replacing these was the fiddliest part of the job) use a trim tool to lever out the head unit use the Y-cable to connect the bluetooth adapter check it works try 3-4, maybe 5 times to get the cables into a position where you can slide the head-unit back in, then reassemble the trim around it. Total time: 30 minutes. Seriously, I'm impressed at how the interior goes together. Not a single broken clip either. Total cost: €47.23 delivered ( £41.51 at today's exchange rate). Sound quality... the Blue Music adapter, like Grom and VAIS, doesn't do APT-X of any flavour, nor LDAC. So, you get "standard" bluetooth audio. Whilst I would have preferred a higher-quality codec, it's perfectly fine once you are on the move - even in an LS460 there's enough wind and road noise to mean that you probably wouldn't hear any benefit of such a codec. Functionality: it shows up as CD Changer 2 automatically (no configuration required). The track forward and back buttons work on both dash and wheel. The track names don't show up on the screen however that may be a limitation of the audio player on my phone (I use Plex to stream from my home server and didn't think to try anything else). Any foibles: none identified as yet. The volume of the adapter seems to be the same as that of the radio and CD player, so you shouldn't find that one input is exceptionally loud or quiet (this is a detail that is missed by quite a few aux adapter makers!)

Disagree with this. I'm with you when it comes to trying to get rid of unwanted noises....they drive me up the wall too! but certainly not from a brand new or newish vehicle. Should go back to the dealer. Once a vehicle gets to around 6-8 years old then some minor rattles are to be expected. However for what you pay for a Lexus of that age, these should be (and usually are) at a minimum.

Before my ES I had an E220D (W213), and before that a 520D (F10). The BMW worked well, had an excellent gearbox, and basically did everything I expected, but it had a firm ride, probably because of the run flats. It was well-engineered, but didn't feel luxurious inside. The Merc had a better ride than the BMW, and a more luxurious interior, but also felt a lot more wallowy and barge-like. Dealer service was a big negative for the Merc. Both cars averaged around 40 mpg during the several years I had them - higher on long journeys, lower around town. I'm very happy with my ES (Premium Edition) - I've had it since December 22. The ride is better than the Germans, and noise levels are considerably lower. I would say the quality of the interior is midway between the BMW and the Merc. I haven't noticed any significant differences in power between the ES and the Germans, and I certainly haven't noticed the engine revving noisily while the CVT gearbox tries to work out what to do - clearly I'm not discerning enough to be a motoring journalist, because they all complain about that! The OP asks about the driving dynamics; to me, the ES does what I expect it to do very well - although my driving is a lot more relaxed than when I was younger and driving company cars. I'm getting between 40 and 45 mpg, and that doesn't seem to vary much between town and long distance. My main criticism of the ES would be in respect of the connectivity and the navigation; I'm afraid the Germans are a long way ahead on that. My car's MY23 which is supposed to have the latest version of the navigation and links to the app: my BMW was better 10 years ago.

Body kit is an acquired taste 👍🏻

I have always believed that tyres are the most important safety feature in a car. Luckily for me, every time I’ve had an emergency, my car’s tyres have saved the day. Based on my own experience, I paid an extra £150 over three sets of tyres, which has saved me from at least three accidents where it probably would have been my fault regardless of someone cutting me off. Investing £150 for a potential saving of £10,000 is not bad at all. It seems the video below conclusively proves that there are no good budget tyres! Even the best budget tyre stopped 6.5 metres further in the wet than a premium tyre. Even in dry conditions, one would still be travelling at 20 MPH on a budget tyre by the time a premium tyre has already stopped. Just imagine stopping 6.5 metres beyond where the car in front of you stops or hitting it at 20 MPH! And then remember that crash tests are done at 15, 18 and 35 MPH, so you probably won’t die, but it will still be a huge crash… all to save £15 per tyre! I can look past handling tests because it’s possible to argue that people on budget tyres can drive more carefully and not throw the car into corners. However, this doesn’t work when it comes to braking. It doesn’t matter how careful one is... they can’t control what other drivers do, and it’s always possible that somebody will cut in front of you and there will be nothing that careful driving can do in that moment. That said, I think one part that’s still missing from the video is tread-life. I think this is what really makes “budget” tyres a false economy. The truth is that most premium tyres can last 20-30k miles (some lasted even longer in my experience, and that’s on a heavy RWD car with staggered set-up, meaning rotation was not possible and I was definitely not driving carefully). Most budget tyres only last about 10k miles, so taking an average of 8k miles per year, one only needs a set of premium tyres once in three years, but would likely need three sets of budget tyres in the same period. Many people do not realize this, but budget tyres are not only less safe but also not even cheaper!" Finally, note that despite testing dozens of tyres, these were only the “most popular” budget tyres, and he didn’t test real gems of horror that can be found when browsing budget tyres. Note: as mentioned in the video, the second best premium tyre was 1.5% behind 1st place and then 8 of them fit in 0.5% spread. So 9 Premium tyres fits in 2% spread in performance... the best budget tyre was 8% behind and worst was 16% behind, so the difference is not minor! My conclusion, which will not surprise anyone, would be - why are they even legal? If it were up to me, I would honestly them!

Yes my throttle controller arrived from the US of A ordered Monday arrived Friday no import duty pleased with that! Quite easy to fit although you to be a contortionist or a gynecologist, or not over 70 like me 😀anyway it works and I have approx 30 settings to play with, I also got free an obd scanner not worked that out yet as my 0bd port is currently occupied, i believe you can buy a splitter plug for obd socket so might try that👍Stew

Well Marshals are not giving anything away! I'm sure they are not "bad" but others having the recall at other dealer groups are getting freebies, but Marshalls give nothing and are suggesting they will start charging for courtesy cars. Really don't understand why Lexus operate fixed price servicing but allow dealers to vary their offering - the experience should be the same regardless of which name is over the door

Just a name of the tyre - Dunlop used to make SportMaxx RT and later RT2, both are obsolete now, but at the time (~2014-2016) they were my favourite UHP tyres. RT2 itself was basically identical to Goodyear Asymmetric 3, but Goodyear later replaced them with Asymmetric 4, 5 and now there are 6. So by that regard RT2 would be good UHP tyre, but 3 generations old. Goodyear owns - Dunlop, Sava, Debica, Cooper and few more brands... Specifically Sava UHP 2, Debica Presto UHP 2, Goodyear F1 Asymmetric 2-3 and Dunlop SP Sportmaxx RT-RT2 seems to be nearly identical tyres, with just different names stamped on them and maybe some purely cosmetically differences to the thread pattern. I know for a fact - Sava and Debica makes Dunlop and Goodyear tyres in the same factories, just maybe on different lines. It would be fair to assume that Debica and Sava maybe do not get very best of the best compounds, so despite being launched around the time of say RT2, they maybe lack in performance slightly and are more comparable to RT, but then there was little difference between RT and RT2 anyway. But at the same time they still benefit from latest technology and know how, so maybe they won't beat best premium tyres like Continentals and Michelins, but they are strong mid-range by performance and definitely miles better than budget tyres in terms of safety. Same can be said about Uniroyal - it is owned by Michelin and will be similar with last gen Michelin Products. So let's say Rainsport 5 I would expect to perform like Pilot Sport 3, and Rainsport 3, like Pilot Sport 2 (there was no Rainsport 4). Same for Gislaved - owned by Continental. I guess you get the point by now... Oh... and if it wasn't confusing enough, then Goodyear and Sumitomo has a deal which allows them to use each other brands... so some of Dunlops in Asia are made by Sumitomo, whereas Sumitomo and Falken could be made by Goodyear in US... and Europe from time to time can get tyres from both!

I had a rattle last week. Trying to find where it was coming from was annoying. However I eventually traced and cured it. It was my glasses I had in the in the overhead glasses box. Sometimes its the smallest things.

Just sent you a PM that may help you Andrew.

Ask someone who has fitted aftermarket flaps as I'm pretty sure that a plug has to be removed to put one of the screws for the flaps in. If they're like me, they'll have kept the plug 🙂 There are some owners in the ES300 Forum who have put aftermarket flaps on.

.....and that dear friends is the one of the secrets of a long and happy marriage.

Is your LS fixing itself again Malc?

Thanks for your response. No plans, just curious :D

Probably damp and corrosion got into the camera PCB. Check the connections first and clean them if they look iffy but if that doesn't work then you need to remove the camera and look how clean/dirty the printed circuit board is. It may need a good squirt of Isopropyl Alcohol or contact cleaner and a good brushing with an old toothbrush. If all else fails then you can get a replacement generic camera from Amazon or eBay for about £10 to £30 Linky

Yes, I was surprised at how little trans fluid comes out when the engine is off - it only pumps it round when the engine is spinning the transmission. The amount lost is not enough to warrant an ATF change as it's within the "margin of error" for trans fluid capacity. What I DID do after disconnecting each pipe was to immediately cover each pipe with a rubber glove held on with a rubber band to ensure no grit or grot got into the system.

I would add, quiet a bit more sun 🙂

You say Ultra Luxury, we don't have Ultra Luxury trim in the UK, we have Takumi instead. Ultra Luxury sounds like a North American spec ? I used to have an Audi A6 S-Line 2.0 TDI from brand new... started getting rattly by 3000 miles. When I took to the dealership they couldn't locate the original issue but I noticed when they gave it back, they has inserted felt tape in the door cards, AC vents and elsewhere in other interior trims ! Vorsprung der Tapenik I would say.. which anyways didn't fix the rattles I took the car in for 😞 It was horribly uncomfortable for me. Audi A6 (and other MLB) platform cars have a longitudinal engine placement but they still drive the front wheels. Which means the drive shaft connects to the front wheels and the shaft housing is naturally on the right side... which means for UK drivers, that eats into the driver side space and somehow that arrangement didn't sit well with me. This was sadly not discovered in the short test drive which Audi dealers give (if they let us have the cars for the four hour test drive which Lexus gave me, I would have discovered the issue) It was a diesel so there was that additional hassle of keeping AdBlue topped up (not that major of an issue... but one of those "one more thing to do" kind of thing). Being a diesel the best fuel economy I could eek out of it was 65mpg... but overall the term of ownership it was not more than 50mpg. The seats were hard. It was a handsome looking car though... but that is something which I wouldn't enjoy while sitting inside it. I didn't quite fall in love with it and was waiting for the voluntary termination period on the finance contract to come up. I have the Premium Pack ES which is closer to the Luxury trim from North America ie I don't get the Marky McLevinson stereo, heated and reclining rear seats, top grade semi-aniline leather and memory seat for the passenger (and I think there are a few other things which are missing between Permium Pack and top end Takumi) What I do get in the Premium Pack is the fully adjustable driver seat ie it has the extending under-knee support and 4-way lumbar in addition to other adjustments with seat/steering memory. That for me the is the best feature. For me it is a couch on wheels (in the UK it sometimes feels like I am driving my entire living room sitting on my couch) It is not the fastest car around but it isn't horribly slow either (unless I turn on the Eco mode) It is smooth... way smoother than I remember the A6. It is relaxing... there is way more NVH isolation than the A6. The A6 had horrible tire noise coming into the cabin. On the ES there is a active noise cancellation even on the base Pioneer audio system ! The long term fuel economy I think overall is hovering around 49mpg on Petrol... which is for me good enough compared to what I was getting from the Diesel unit on the A6 and I don't have to think about AdBlue. Overall, for me personally going from A6 to ES is a very satisfying upgrade.

The kit needs a bit of work to finish it. It's designed for the later version SC430 so needs work around the headlamps. No headlamp washers either.....because they are a pain to fit.🙂

I had this; two things I did to fix it. Bleed the brakes using Techstream, and perform a brake reset... just can't remember the name of the function, but it presses and depresses the brakes several times until the car knows where the pads should be... if that makes sense. Came across it just by chance whilst i was playing in the software.

Got to say I quite like the look. Difficult to tell how well it has been done, but I wouldn't say no.

Non.S.Khan.Zone better known as NSKZ.

Hi Ken Yes, I probably fit into your bracket too but I enjoy the opportunity to do anything that is within my capabilities. That why Haynes Manuel's have always been spot on for me! Anthony

Talking of which (kind of), I was doing a site wireless survey the other day. The chap from the wireless company was telling me about the installations he'd done recently for a large motor group. He said that the activity in the JLR service centres was frenetic, whereas (and he wasn't prompted) he said the Lexus service departments were almost dead.

Thank you!

Hello Norma, I am so sorry to hear of your husband’s death and offer my condolences. It is also very kind of you to post on the LOC particularly at this difficult time, I’m pretty sure as a Lexus owner himself Stephen would have appreciated that the car be sold to another member. Should you wish to sell the car on the forum please feel free to do so. If you need any help in doing so please do not hesitate to ask me personally as I would consider it an honour. Best regards, Steve.

Thanks Andy ! I guess I can start counting days rather than months now ! I can hardly wait to drive my long awaited NX on the nice country roads of my beloved Normandy (which looks pretty much like South England but with a little bit more sun).

Hi all, Phil here. Just picked up my RX450h on a 2009 plate today. Looked at a good few rough ones before finding a good (hopefully) one. Been lurking on the forum for a few weeks and looking forward to the tips and advice i might need in the coming months. Recently got rid of my Jaguar XF 3.0l and enjoyed the forum for that. 1st impressions of the car are great so far.

Hi Stewart your car is so clean and shiny, you must have put a lot of hard work into it. I have never seen a luggage rack on an SC before so that is a first for me. I really enjoy my throttle controller it stays on 3.9 all the time as you get used to using a light foot for leisurely driving and when not you fly.

I can recommend the SprintBooster. I have it on the SC and the GS460. It has lots of settings that change the degree of delay but essentially, on the highest setting, it virtually eliminates the throttle lag. Various throttle controllers claim to do all sorts of amazing stuff, take all that with a big pinch of salt but the difference they can make to the driving experience just by removing the accelerator signal delay is well worth it....or you could be brave and have the ecu remapped and then lots of other changes are possible.

I'd be interested to see what you think of it after you've used it a while. I used to have a Mercedes E500 and the American owners saw the "Sprint Booster" (same type of device) as a must-have mod, I presumed they had sloppier throttle mapping for their market as the UK ones were pretty nippy. Given the LS460 seems to communicate throttle inputs via telegram I can imagine the SC430 may have similarly "relaxed" response out of the box (i.e. quite quick once the engine wakes up, but you have to wait for it to read the "full power if you would be so kind" message, put down its tea and then open the throttle.) Does it have any modes besides altering the throttle pedal response? E.g. a speed limiter

There is no touch up paint or colour code for the wheels Some places can match it reasonably well but youd need a full refurbishment on all four for them to be all the same

I had similar to this. Tiny little rattle on my NX pahse-1. If the radio is turned up you can't hear it, but I know it's there. after 2 years of ownership I found my rattle! When the third (centre) seatbelt is retraced into the roof lining the clasp (plastic part) gently "bashes" against the hard plastic housing / holder thingy. A couple for felt pads to separate the two hard plastic surfaces, and vualá rattle be gone! I think Japanese road must be much smoother and not as pothole riddled compared to the UK.

Well, I must be a complete dinosaur. I just haven't a clue what everyone's on about. Perhaps that's the best way.

If ??? It’s the number plate try blue tack if you have any first

Given the archaic performance of the satnav, it is obvious that the names mean 13th century and 15th century.