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Good news, folks. I've finally received my letter confirming my second key is now ready to be programmed. So - my own wait for the second key is just short of five and a half months (collected the car 1st September 2023). There's no news on the locking wheel bolts. I'm just trying to arrange to get the car to them and back to me (I don't really want to return to the dealer to be honest after my experiences), so hopefully I should have my spare key shortly...

Indeed. I remember when I ordered my UX, the Takumi was fractionally above the £40k mark - which ruled it out for me. So I went for an F-Sport with option packs which took it to an 'almost Takumi' spec - to bring the price just short of £40k. Mechanically identical, yet hundreds of pounds of difference to tax a year. It makes no sense at all. Before I settled on the UX and was shopping around the brands, I noticed almost everything I considered was literally just over the £40k mark by a few hundred pounds. I often wondered at the time how many sales it would have cost them. I'd also like to know who decided on the price of these cars - given this £40k 'envy tax' band was already well known by that point.

Hi, I’m driving the same engine set up in my RX and experience similar misleading range figures. I believe that the overall range is being calculated based upon the in-car calculation of mpg (mine is currently showing approximately 66mpg). This is obviously being distorted by all the occasions where I’m driving purely on EV. Therefore I have seen an overall range in excess of 700 miles, only to see it falling rapidly as we travel on a long journey. The EV range versus real travelled miles I use as a very broad estimate as there’s so many factors that impact the actual outcome. So in summary I tend to ignore the EV range indicator but always refill the petrol when I see 2-3 bars remaining on the graphic. I would like a more accurate range assessment to be displayed, and coming from a background of finance and IT, wouldn’t have thought it was too difficult for Lexus to provide given the car has a mass of data being collected. My ICE also runs during times when I’ve selected EV and still have available range, but having looked through the manual I can see that there are a number of different scenarios that would cause this to happen. Hope you enjoy your car..

After 14 year's with BMW I'm back with Lexus. Found this at a main dealership, never seen a red car on the road.

I've not found a copy of the document to understand why - possibly it will react with the plastic, or owners get grease on the clothes, or maybe it attracts dirt and causes wear. To actively issue a statement to dealers not to do it must mean there is a reason. You would still apply it on the hinges.

Ray hi …… the Dust Cover is comparatively tiny cost and saves all that road crap from entering the unit it protects ……. potentially causing premature wear and unnecessary bigger cost going forward Its always your choice how you spend your ££££ Malc

If Wikipedia is to be believed basic VED is well below that to be expected if keeping in line with inflation? "Following the 1888 budget, two new vehicle duties were introduced – the locomotive duty and the trade cart duty (a general wheel-tax also announced in the same budget was abandoned). The locomotive duty was levied at £5 (equivalent to £592.55 as of 2021)" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_Excise_Duty

Obviously when I put the radio on the antenna refused to retract after happily deploying! Some pics after a bit of a wash.

Indeed - no mistake unfortunately. This is something I'm bracing myself for when my tax will be up at the end of August. I simply refer to it as the 'envy tax', of which more and more cars are now falling into. Even reasonably modest cars are now upwards of £30k. It's ridiculous. I just about escaped it with my old UX (literally - by a few hundred pounds). There was no way of escaping it with the NX sadly, regardless of model - which was one of the reasons why I plumped for the Takumi in the end.

Go test drive an LS430, LS460/600h. I found them to be just as comfy as the LS400 but with a more planted feel. I preferred the LS430 because it has better steering feel than the 460/600 but any of them can be thrown at the twisties with gusto and just eat it up. The LS460 engine is the most powerful, but for me the LS430 was the best overall package. The computerised air-suspension and Vehicle Stability Control in all of them is very good indeed. Of course, your passengers will be puking/screaming if you do throw it at the twisties as these are still 2-ton behemoths. On one of my test drives (LS460) the owner spent the latter part of the drive with a death grip on the passenger grab handle. 😱 I did ask him if it was OK before I flipped my head into "BANZAI" mode. 🤣

I fixed it this weekend. The top of that piece of plastic has two small clips which fit into a metal piece in the door. It looks like someone has been into the door before and they just pushed the trim piece in, which bent one of the clips. I was able to straighten it and it seems to work fine now. You do have to remove a lot of other door trim to get there though: Unclip the plastic behind the inside door release lever to reveal a screw prise out the window switch / ashtray to reveal another screw (unplug the switch) remove those two screws and one under the inside door handle pop out the door card - lots of plastic clips around the edge. Hope you have some spares! unscrew the screw in the round bumper on the plastic section on the side of the door and then remove that plastic (more clips) pop out two plastic clips and remove the plastic trim that goes all around the window frame Pull out the plastic piece near the b pillar - two clips into the door, double sided tape, and the two tiny clips on the top edge clean everything and remove the remains of the double sided tape from that part, and (for me) straighten the plastic clip on the top edge replace the double sided tape put the trim piece back, top edge first put everything else back in reverse order

Hi Dan i did call AF and your colleague quoted me £1145.00 quote ref 124/1500347/A024/CL and the guaranteed value portion was £52 I explained that I had a quote off LV for £450 so he was over twice the price of the competition. He said he would get a second opinion and call me back, he never did.

I've used this before on cars. etc. Works wonders. Not sure about Lexus stopping using grease on the door straps as have seen it recently on new and used cars at a number of dealerships... WD40 White Lithium Grease

You'll make me CLAM up.

Less is best - the grease is only performing a function on the moving surfaces. Spraying it all over the hinge body just creates a mess. I tend to apply, open/close the door a few times and then wipe off the excess.

Or just go to source The Lancashire Oracle

Hi, all. Had an IS 200, loved it but at 110 000 it started loosing water and I couldn't find why, assumed it was a cracked head but no tell tale signs. Always loved the 3 series coupe and at the time IS 250 sports were hard to find. Very pretty car but the heater had broken and after numerous attempts to repair it was a potential money pit. It Always had a slight missfire but i enjoyed it. Once I'd had a drive in the 300, it was a no brainer. I couldn't risk putting anymore money into the 3 series and I had every warning light illuminated on the dash, faulty sensors. The warranty is really good from Lexus with the yearly service.

Jeweller’s rouge, probably applied with a rotary polisher as it would take a long time by hand if it’s anything bigger than a single small scratch.

£528 with Aviva - pretty happy with that.

Mine was a rather shocking £945 for social only, no points and grey hair! I tried shopping around but this was the best deal that allowed European holidays.

Update: I refueled and added 15L of petrol to completely fill it so the 74% tank figure before refueling was correct because there were 40L of petrol left. In the end, it's the predicted range that is not to be trusted.

Its just another way the government bleaches you of all your hard earned wedge, Ironically i could have got the same car in Silver for exactly the same price 36k, but the tax would have still been over £500 as it goes by the manufacturers book price and not the price you actually pay. Rob

Use your usual Indy service and MOT mechanic maybe ? the dust cover is probably about £40/50 fitted and he should be able to get the suspension bush from his usual Motor Factor supplier ( if it really needs doing even ! ) Hope this helps Malc

Thank you for your reply. I almost never use pure EV mode, however I noticed that it doesn't matter if I achieve 5L/100 km or 8L/100 km fuel consumption, the range only goes down and more than the kilometers I have driven, that's why it's so irritating and misleading. I've never experienced something like this on any other manufacturer cars, it has to be said. I would definitely enjoy my car more if there wasn't this source of pointless stress. I'll soon refuel because I have a 340 km trip tomorrow and currenty my range is 480 km with 74% of the tank...let's see how many liters I'll have to pump in until the tank is full.

Indeed. As the saying goes: "If you don't read the news you're uninformed, and if you do read the news, you're misinformed"

I went with LV because the specialist brokers (suggested by members) were closed over the weekend and I needed to have insurance today. So I didn’t get the guaranteed value option. Fingers crossed I won’t need it!

No... it's a quintuple scam...for 5 years!

Hi Gary, My car's only done 1100 miles, I took it easy for the first miles so it's barely run in, the passenger and the back seats have no issues they look brand new, I'm just waiting to hear back from the Dealer

Mine is the same age as yours @S Dhuper and my driver's seat (hazel) is still pretty much perfect - so this is certainly something I would also be perusing. Obviously I can't comment on yours in terms of milage to compare, but I'm up to 3400. From your pictures, this is something I'd expect to see on an example that's a couple of years old. My previous UX was starting to get like this when I traded it in - but that was just shy of three and a half. At around this time, I deemed that to be reasonable wear and tear. With regards to my NX's driver's seat, all I have is a few very minor creases starting to develop on the right hand bolsters - which you'd rub up against getting in and out the car. By minor - I mean you have to literally put your face to within about six inches of them to see...

I had this when i ordered my IS300H F Sport in 2019. Narrowed my colour choice down to grey or silver then fortunately the dealer told me that the grey one would be £120 to tax and the silver one would be over £500. Totally bonkers as it would have physically been the same car, just silver paint was £300 dearer. Guess what colour i picked Rob

My dealer took my car in for investigation of the intermittent wiper issue, they did end up replacing the wiper linkage which apparently has the wiper motor as an integral component. Had a 2 hour drive to Bristol this weekend in continual rain and the intermittent wipers worked faultlessly all the way without needing to reset them, even the wipe rate control now seems to be a lot better in terms of range and usefulness. I guess there must be a bad batch of wiper motors out there in the new models!

The LC is 1920mm wide or 2168 over the mirrors. I have a double garage and park mine in the centre so that I can get out when I open the doors. 😀

Well I am just updating this chat after picking up the car on the 28th Jan , had great enjoyment driving this car , all family and friends say how quiet and comfortable it is. Unfortunately last night had an array of lights pop up on dash to include , TPMS,ABS off , AFS off , VSC , and check system messages check VSC and ECB. Getting transported back to the supplying garage tomorrow for investigation (glad they provided a three month warranty) , will update this space once I find out what the issue or issues are. I did mention to them that there was a small noise when in reverse which sounded like the rear pads were low although considering they have checked it over before I picked it up and the last MOT had no advisories I will be surprised if it is discs or pads unless they lied...we will see

About a year ago my 2004 RX300 failed on rear subframe (amongst other things). I found this place that imports cars from Japan to break for parts. I got a subframe for £360. It was corrosion-free. NIPPON AUTO SPARES LTD ★ 4.6/5 £360.00 Inc Delivery - Estimated 2-3 Working Days HOW TO ORDER BUY NOW ONLINE OR CALL QUOTING REF: ☎ 01332 293399 Purchase securely online by Debit/Credit Card or PayPal. Never pay by bank transfer or cash. View Full Quote Info Message Supplier Quote Details LEXUS RX 300 SE | KO53EUE 2004 | 2995CC | 5 SP AUTO | PETROL | 5 DR ESTATE SUBFRAME (REAR) 3 Months Gte | Used £250.00 Delivery - Estimated 2-3 Working Days £50.00 VAT @ 20% £60.00 Grand Total £360.00 About Supplier New and used parts suppliers for most Japanese cars importers for parts from Japan Engine and gearbox fitting service. Suppliers Details Abingdon Business Centre 346 - 356 Osmaston Road Derby DE24 8AG

I don't wanna be that guy, but you really need to buy an IS250 instead. Engine swap with all the work etc we're talking 1000-2000 quid.. You can buy a 250 for 2k. There's currently a silver one on marketplace for £995 with a slipping clutch (£600 fix and you're good to go). 130k miles manual 250 on a '55 plate so lower tax bracket. Like @Linas.P already said, it's definitely possible to swap it, but the amount of hours needed to undergo this project is what's making it expensive... unless you can do all the work yourself 🙂 Also, there is a reconditioned 220d engine on eBay - £1600 supply & fit. Finding the newer, FTV engine is a bit tricky too because there wasn't that many diesels after 2010 and those are generally okay. It's the early cars that have been affected the worst and therefore lots available.

Use a mechanics stethoscope to isolate where the sound is coming from. Could be so many different things.

A Double Scammy Andy Unfortunately..!!!

Many thanks folks…..I thought I might have been scammed….I have…by the Government. 😡😡 You’ve put my mind at test though and thanks for responding so promptly. 😂 Andy

Or they might just be hiding the plate to stop scammers cloning his car details.

Yes, as said there is a massive penalty for being "rich and being able to afford a luxury car at over £40k". Really annoys me. Lots of "normal cars" are over that price nowadays.

My experience is similar, living near the Irish Sea coast, however I believe that road salt is a bigger cause of corrosion than wind borne sea salt. My last two MOT passes in January ‘23 and ‘24 both had advisories for rear subframe corrosion. When the weather is more amenable I plan to pressure wash the subframe and then spray it thoroughly with Lanoguard. I hope I won’t get chased by any sheepdogs!!. If you have smelled Lanoguard you will know what I mean. Lanoguard is obviously derived from the greasy by product of the wool scouring process.

Just to rectify the view that all the NX’s are the same, the reason I went for the F-Sport was for the AVS, which isn’t available on any other NX. After experiencing AVS on the RX for 5 years I decided that it was something that I wanted to retain if downsizing to the NX. Additionally I deduced that the Takumi only provided me with one option which I would have liked which is “Front cross alert assist,” but I wasn’t willing to shell out a further £4k and give up the AVS just to have front cross alert assist. I decided I could make do with the side view from the front cameras. The seats in the F-Sport I find to be very comfortable and hugging, not quite as deep in the cushion as the RX F-Sport seats, but seats I can and have spent the biggest part of a day in.

Hi Jim, I'm a journalist for MailOnline. I have written stories about how Range Rovers are becoming uninsurable due to things like high theft. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13040943/uninsurable-Range-Rover-owner-quote-14000-insurance-stolen-one-day-later.html I've been digging into some stats and I think that Lexus cars, specifically RXs, may be facing the same problem. I saw your post from last year and you have had this problem. I was wondering if you would be free for a chat? My email is oliver.price@mailonline.co.uk, can you pop me over an email if you'd want to talk? Best, Oliver Price

Do they? Established in 2012. https://autotechvehiclesecurity.co.uk/ Besides I thought you left the forum last July???

Managed to dodge the rain this weekend to get my Transmission Service done. The oil that came out was rather black, so hoping some fresh fluid will do it some good. Now at 155569 I’m not sure if it’s ever been done, possible just a flush through previously. Overall it wasn’t such a bad job, hardest part was cutting and grinding off an exhaust bolt so I could release the crossbrace bracket for the exhaust as it was covering some of the bolts I needed to get at to remove the pan. I don’t have Techstream so did the trans temp sequence with pins 4 & 13 connected, which worked well. Fitted new bolts and gaskets for all the drain/fill plugs.

Oh, because I enjoy the challenge 😀. In reality I am doing very short 1-2 mile journeys where the heater doesn’t warm the car, therefore I use the heated steering wheel and seats for such trips.

Charging my 450h+ on Intelligent Octopus Go at 7.5p/kW-hr it only costs 3p/mile in EV mode. 😄

I've had a couple of days by the seaside in Weston-Super-Mare while Chris at Summit Detailing corrected and applied a Gtechniq C1 Crystal ceramic coating to my new RX. He also applied Gtechniq Leather & Vinyl Protection to the interior. I chose to travel to Chris as I've used him three times before and he is fantastic at what he does. If anybody is in the South-West and is considering a coating, I can highly recommend his work - he's a really nice guy as well. https://summit-detailing.co.uk The Sonic White paintwork looks amazing, especially under the lights in his showroom. It's got far more 'pop' than you could see before the treatment, most of which will be down to the correction rather than the coating, albeit Chris said the paint was in really good order as you'd hope. Lexus Swindon hadn't tried to machine polish it or anything that could have inflicted (well intentioned) damage. The car also hadn't been standing around - it went from docking at Portbury to being in my possession in just ten days. As with my previous NX, the coating will mean far easier maintenance with a quick spritz of Gtechniq c2v3 or perhaps CarPro Re-Load which are my two products of choice (having used 'a few' over the years!!). Glad to have it protected before Winter really sets in. I'm VERY happy...😁 *Note, as with some other members I can't upload photographs from my iMac 🖥 for some reason? Never had this issue before, can the Admins have a look please as something has changed! iPad seems to be fine.

Ah London. I've heard of it but vowed never to g to such a place.

Thanks all, it solved now. My plan was to lock everything before connecting negative terminal, then just shut the bonnet and try using key fob to lock and unlock car until it calms down. That didn't work. Eventually, I got inside of the car and with everything closed started the engine and alarm stopped.... that is - until I opened the door to get out and it started again... but then simply locking and unlocking it with fob whilst sitting inside with everything closed turned off the alarm for good. In the end of the day, I cannot confirm that any particular sequence works, so be prepared to listen to alarm for a while. What seems to help in general - having everything closed and trying to turn on the engine as soon as possible for immobiliser to get recognised. After that it seems that fob starts working properly and not only locking/unlocking the doors, but as well turns alarm on and off. The morale of the story - if you planning to keep the car of the road for a while, then make sure you don't have alarm on, disconnect negative terminal and then just lock the car with the key. As well don't leave too much petrol in the tank. Mine had ~1/4th of the tank and petrol was already off, good that I was expecting it and brought 5L canister of 98 Octane + Redex Petrol system cleaner and octane booster. On old petrol car would start for few second, splatter a bit and stall, but after adding fresh petrol it ran perfectly fine. I would as well advise burning all old petrol before attempting MOT as surely it won't burn very cleanly. Besides - how to know if you thread is till above legal limit ? Well... if such worms live in the main channel then they are good to go 😅