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Not sure what you mean by GS300/3.5. In UK we only got GS300 which is 3L. We did not get GS350, which would be better choice of the two. Do you mean GS450h (which is 3.5L)? I have extensive knowledge of both GS300 and IS250, actually own both at the moment. GS300 is more comfortable and larger of two cars, but it does feel much older inside and drives more like old car, although extra 50hp does make it feel much better in terms of performance. My main issue with IS250 was that it always felt to me like it is little bit low on power, it is okey, but it is borderline slow. That is not an issue with GS300 - it has plenty of torque and plenty of power, but it is more of a "boat". That said GS300 comfortably seats 4 adults for long journey. That said 3L v6 in GS300 sort of caps out at 36-38MPG and you can expect maybe 24MPG average. IS250 feels much more modern car, it is sportier, handles better, is sharper, but it is slightly lower to the ground, harder, less comfortable and rear seats are a bit of compromise. They are decent, I have been on long trips with 4 adults in IS250 as well and it was okey, but if in GS300 nobody cars if they sit in front or in the back, then I am quite sure people would prefer to sit in front in IS250 and I also had to sometimes move my seat as a driver little bit forward. IS250 in this case is much more economical, the best I have seen was 44MPG, average over thousands of miles was ~28MPG. Now the key for this choice is the price, GS300 is just much better value for money... I had 2x GS300 I paid £750 for one (turned out to be for scrap really, but I really bought it for parts and it is still on the road to my surprise) and I paid £1000 for second car which was 80k miles, had few small issues, but generally solid car. So GS300 is unique in this way that you can find real bargains if you spend some time looking, no other Lexus model is so undervalued. So £2000-3000 should easily buy you decent GS300. IS250 automatic - you looking at £1000-£1500 more, so £3000-4500 I would say. Considering they are equally as reliable and good cars GS being more comfortable boaty and slightly less economical and IS being more sportier, more economical and less comfortable... I would say GS is better VALUE. That said I am looking at fixing my IS250 and maybe engine swapping it for 3L or 3.5L as I personally prefer driving IS... but I just can deny amazing value that can be found in GS. £8000 budget is way too much for these cars in my opinion. For £8000 I would really be looking at GS450h from 2012 (I know they are more like £11,000-£12,000 at the moment, but I would be monitoring if any come in for cheaper). Also you could probably get GS250 for £8000, which would be better car than both GS300/IS250 even if it is little bit underpowered. Basically what I am saying - value in Lexus is getting higher mile, cheaper ones with service history. Buying lower miles later year models is really diminishing returns, cheaper cars will be 99% as good, as long they were maintained. I definitely would not pay £5,700 for GS300, £3500 tops.

Just been into my dealer and had the locking wheel bolts fitted and asked about the 2nd key fob, the lady checked on the computer and said that they can now order the key, booked in for 3 weeks.

I was poking around getting an idea for what I wanted to swap out my '15 Suzuki Swift Sport for and once again came round to the idea of a CT. Plenty of looked after cars around at reasonable prices and then accidentally came across a very nice dealer car. High end of the prices but well worth it. One 550mile round trip later and I got myself a very tidy 1 owner car. 2020 F-Sport in Deep Blue with black leather and 12k on the clocks Tech, Convenience, and Leather packs Premium Nav and 10 speaker Fresh full service and MOT Catloc fitted by the dealer when they took it in. Full tank of fuel (they accidentally filled it) I hadn't driven one of these since my days valet parking some 7 years ago and the salesman was quite surprised I still knew where every switch and fiddly bit was and more so that I was quite happy just to get in it and go without any sort of test drive. Feels built like an absolute tank and incredibly comfortable for the ride home. I got around 56mpg on the way home with the aircon on and doing 70mph. That used to be diesel territory on a good day. And 10mpg more than my previous car on the trip up. Will be interesting to see how it stacks up with my normal commute driving.

Agreed - the way I see it is if you change your car regularly and aren’t fussed about owning it, then a lease might be right for you. If you want the option of owning the car, but want a low monthly repayment, then a PCP might appeal. If you intend to keep the car longer term, then a personal loan will likely give you lower total interest costs, but a higher monthly repayment. If you’re wealthy or a criminal, then cash is probably the way to go! So it’s dependent on various factors and what matters most to the individual at any given point in time. Finally, if you’re a Baller, then “never buy a depreciating asset. If it flies, floats, f***s or drives, lease it”.

The newer current-gen NX (like the new RX) have an encrypted canbus, that isn’t vulnerable to the current injection theft. It’s not just about the location of wiring but how messages on the canbus are treated.

Well the added Ethanol (E5 or E10) mixes/absorbs the water condensation you have in a fueltank ( thus the old winter trickto keep it full to minimize the build up of water) and then its combusted with the fuel so the water evaporates and no risk of frozen fuel lines/injectors etc etc. With a tank full of pure petrol you get water in the bottom and the gasoline on top so...not a good idea at all. I'd say the risk of condensation would be BIGGER in a UK climate with temp around 0 and very humid rather then a -20C dry inland climate in northern Sweden, since the fuel tank is ventilated to the open air humidity find its way in and then add the hot/cold changes driving/ parking ( then maybe the freezing situation i less common in UKs climate). In fact there are in Scandinavian summer and winter Petrol; the variable being how "easily" it evaporates for starting up your engine, and as you point out; Plug-In drivers need to make sure they fuel up at least once a months to be sure they have the proper season petrol. Diesel is a different story; it comes in summer/winter/artic mixes ( a phenomen often discovered by cheap mid-european lorrydrivers in northern Scandinavia as the their Romain diesel turns into parafine..) With Diesel you have CFPP (Cloud Filter Plugging Point); Typical -20C with Summer diesel, -26C in soutern Scandinavia and -32C in the sub-artic area

PCP is about keeping monthly payments lower than a loan / HP and getting a new car with a very small deposit, which for many is the main priority especially if you like to change a new car every three years. On PCP you are financing the depreciation rather than the whole cost of the car. If you intend to keep the car long term or have a decent deposit to put down then a loan over say 5 or 6 years will probably get close to the monthly PCP payments and you then have some decent equity left in the car to use against the next one when you are ready. I've bought cars on PCP in the past and on a couple of them I paid the final "balloon" to keep the car rather than trade it in. However those were on zero/very low PCP deals. I've also used personal loans and bought for cash. For me it all depends what works at that point in time and what makes the money work best for me.

Just curious as to why people take out car loans / pcp isn't just getting a personal loan cheaper? When I bought mine before the crazy interest rate hikes i got a personal loan at 3.3% where as the cheapest car finance was 7.5% + the car is recorded as having finance on it. A personal loan sounded like a no brainier to me. So I always wondered other than people who don't get personal loans for whatever reason why would anyone take car finance? Are there any benefits I am missing?

For the record, it was a good meet but it soon became very clear that it was all about self promotion of the individual and less about the SC430 and I understand that was also the reason for the exclusion from the fb group and nothing to do with Juan not winning prizes.

Nothing but great things to say about the car, can see myself in a Takumi LBX in a few years time

Hello Our new FSport Design Love it. Only had is a couple of weeks. Pre registered 10 miles only

"1989 was the year, when Japanese cars suddenly changed and became world class, on another level. I would almost argue that it marked an era when Japanese cars caught up to German and American innovations, and took the lead perhaps for a time. It was the period of couple of years when the Nissan R32 GT-R redefined racing AWD platform, so that the AWD was not only just a traction enhancement idea, but that of sports handling tuning device. A feature to harness more power to the contact patch in extreme torque applications at high speed on asphalt, but more importantly, to retain certain sets of the more classical handing parameters that was unprecedented, and allowed drivers to really engage without most of the handling quirks of AWD systems to date. It was also the time when Lexus LS400 first debuted and reinvented the price structure of a luxury sedan, and broke the ceiling on minimal vibration, noise, reliability, and efficient delivery of power for this class of cars. If the Nissan RB26 and the Toyota 2JZ-GTE defined the upper tiers of classic engines in the stratospheric levels of durability in performance cars during this time, the LS400's 1UZ-FE was certainly a new generation of V8 engines that silently baffled the best engineers of the time, with the sheer lack of noise, and physics-defying efficiency, then unknown to buyers of 3 ton class luxury sedans. It was also the year when NSX debuted as Japan's first true modern supercar, and it also redefined the nature of these cars from something only intrinsically cool, and delicate, to something reliable, easy, very light and agile, and enhancing the role to more regular use and dependability. A couple of years later in 1992, the NSX Type R, introduced a whole new generation of performance engine choice of unprecedented racing influence in mundane cars from Honda, and trickled to Integra and Civics that re-wrote the capability ceiling for front drive car performance in true naturally aspirated driver-engagement and not just in numbers. Mazda also came in with the MX5 Roadster, commonly referred to as the Miata in this period too, and the old European classics that were disappearing had another life to live, vicariously through this single car that became the most popular sports car of all time." I don't think we'll ever see the birth of iconic cars like this again.

Brilliant, thanks @Steve Oliver I was getting worried something had broken.

Hi, yes I had to reset the boot lid too. Also the parking assist had to recalibrate, which it does when you drive over 40mph-ish in a straight line. I've done this twice now and both times have worked. Apparently it's expected when changing the battery. Otherwise the only things I had to reset were the climate set temperatures and the HUD settings (height and what is displayed). Oh, and possibly the steering wheel height and reach. HTH

Currently the central display reports between 2.1 m/kWh and 2.2 m/kWh but when I first got the car it was reporting 2.5 m/kWh. Total average combined milage is 48 mpg over the 2300 miles it's been driven. On a 102 mile trip last weekend I got an average fuel economy of 62.5 mpg starting with a fully charged battery and getting 44.7 miles in EV mode.

I did the update for the RX on Wednesday and my trip history is being recorded correctly in LL+. My update was purely for the Navigation software, whereas I’ve seen some others have had updates to vehicle systems.

Hi Ken, According to the in car system I’m getting 2.6 m/kWh and a combined mpg of approximately 68. I’ve tried to strip out the EV equivalent miles and calculate a pure ICE mpg that came to approximately 38. This is averaged over 4300 miles starting last July. I’ll be interested to hear from others of their experience.

@Steve Oliver after your battery change did you have reset anything? I had to manually close the boot lid and now my parking assist is unavailable. Therefore wondering if you faced anything similar.

Agreed - PCP when the interest rates are high can prove expensive - I've generally done PCP at zero or very low rates only.

You get dealer/manufacturer finance contribution offers that offset higher interest rates, and at the moment some new car offers have interest rates much lower than banks offer. For PCP you are locking in a final valuation which protects you against higher than predicted depreciation. Always worth comparing all the options available and selecting the one most appropriate for you at the time. Many times paying cash isn't the best option.

I used to have judder at the pedal when braking at low speeds. The castellations on the rear reluctor rings were badly worn. New driveshafts complete with reluctor rings solved it.

That was the best decade not even from Japanese car perspective, but arguably overall in terms of quality of live. Sadly, I have not really lived in the time to benefit from it.... 😞

My first experience of a Jap car was the 4th Gen Datsun Cherry in 1983 (only had it for a week while my Ford Escort was being repaired), I hated it. My next experience of a Jap car was 1994 in an LS400. Blown away (though took me until 2008 to actually own an LS). Totally agree with the sentiments of this post, and even though I now own a Merc I still advise most people who ask that if you want a car that is relaible it has to be a Jap car. Not sure when the other Far East manufacturers will catch up. I would add (though) I used to have Honda as a client and visiting their (now gone) Swindon site felt a bit like being in a movie where no one could step out of line, a little creepy if you ask me. On the supercar front been in quite a few, always a thrill whethe and Evo or NSX or even a Chimera, but never wanted to own one.

You're welcome. Glad it worked out.

A recent reassessment of Shrodinger’s thought experiment suggests it may have been based on a typo. It wasn’t a cat at all!

You may also look at martyn lewia and current chat about car interest payments being bigger than PPI!

The person asking the question was interested because the self-parking somehow facilitated the use of music player to be installed as feature not on that particular model. You're absolutely right that the self-parking is useless: I just read about it and forgot about it: it did seem to me that just setting it up,assuming that it is really accurate, would take so long I couldn't be bothered and if I was to try it in town I'd probably be run out of town!😁

one frosty winter my wife got up to take the car out early only to return to tell me the can of deicer was rubbish. i went to see and found that she had sprayed plenty of WD40 on every window and especially on the 2 wiper blades. took more than 10 minutes to clear up!!!!!!!

Lovely contrast, very rare combination!

I'm pretty sure it isn't AGM - the fact that the OEM Panasonic battery has min/max fluid level markings implies it is a flooded battery of some kind. The OEM battery is 60 Ah (20 hours) so your Bosch has a very slight capacity advantage - which can only be a good thing 🙂

Thanks for the advice. Sanded the protectant off and used plastx but it was still hazy (although much better than it was). Ended up redoing the restoration with Meguiars & it worked out great.

Sad you were forced into this Tony but seems like it has worked out okay for you.

The rear brakes on a GS are exactly the same as what you already have on a 2010 IS250, so that wouldn't be an upgrade. As for needing new discs and pads. You might get away with cleaning the disc up, but new pads will probably be needed. Usually, when a caliper has been sticking, one of the pads gets heavily worn down compared to the other.

Decided to give the car a long overdue thorough spring clean. I always clean inside of the rear wheel arches, which are easily accessible as the arch liner sits about an inch up from the edge. However the front liner is clipped right up against the edge of the arch rim. Curiosity got the best of me so I prised the middle of the clips out, which releases the claws of the lower section (see image). There are 4 to remove for each arch. Pulling the liner away as shown, I ran my fingers along the inside of the arch rim. See the results! Appreciate modern cars have good corrosion resistance, but over a long period this muck holding moisture could eventually lead to the dreaded arch bubbling you see on older vehicles. Wasn't a tough job to clean it out, probably a once a year or two job.

Update after a solid 12 months searching for a 450 I've finally bought a 2014 low milage of 26.000 miles full Lexus s/h one lady owner with grey interior grey exterior advance model. Absolutely love it comfort and power on tap .

Touch it in, leave for a week, then T cut.

That's awesome - wish I had installed one of those!

No... ML was optional extra for all trims, same as sunroof or DCC. Yes often the cars with sat-nav have ML, but not always. Also I thought all RC-Fs pre-face lift had ML (despite theoretically it being optional), because it is hard to find one without it, but I have now seen 1 single example without ML. My point - sometimes even some optional things are always fitted, but it is definitely not the case for ML in IS with sat-nav, I would say only ~60% of cars with sat-nav also have ML.

Yes, have to agree 😥😥

Wow!....do you live in central London?

I think Einstein would have called it spooky action at a distance. Something to do with quantum entanglement. Much like Schrodinger's cat, the window possesses both possibilties of it either squeaking, or not, and only adopts a singular state when you use it. The broader question would be whether it makes a sound if no-one's there to hear it.

Millers petrol Power Ecomax

Well just to update this chat picked the car up and drove it home 100 miles, I can say it's not a great car...it's an AMAZING car. Literally could not tell I had been sat in it for over an hour , in fact I could have kept driving a few more the leather seats are that comfortable. Also gave me time to get familiar with the touchscreen/controls. The mpg is really good for a car this size , average around 38 on motorway and that was the occasional opening up to the 90 mph mark ,and round my town 33-34 of course running on the battery really helps. Filled up with £45 of fuel which gave me three quarters of a tank by the time I got home it was just above half , really impressed which will improve with my daily drive. Garage replaced part on boot which had an issue closing , two front tyres and and a 12v battery. Unfortunately just as I was driving around home the famous TPMS light has popped on , did a reset but not ran it many miles since and TBH I have not actually checked the tyre pressure I suspect this is due to the two front tyres being replaced. The AFS light also popped on but after a reset this has gone off. The warranty is three months back to garage but I am going to see if they will pay for my local indie to take a look, failing that I have found a recall is still outstanding on this model so need to contact my local Lexus for apparent non chargeable work , may also be worth paying for a battery health check as the last one was 2017 and I would like the documentation for the book pack

We have the same car (edition and model year) and I can confirm that the Android Auto for me it is not displayed at HUD, exactly like Apple Car play. I found a very helpful workaround I use the “Navigation system-linked display” which can be found at pages 121 and 124 of OM76462E_(EE) manual, see attached photo. When I choose it and have a running root at my Android Auto I get the very helpful turn by turn optical navigation guidance.

I've been in contact with the P.O. of my GS450h, and the inverter died while he was requesting maximum power leaving a round-about. So I suspect the freeze frame data was reset when it last visited the garage.

Anyone had to renew insurance lately, mine due next week and it's gone up by a factor of 2.7. Had heard about massive increases due but still a shock. Bill D.

That will sit in the dealers lot with a £3000 sticker.

It seems the upgrade was a downgrade. All downhill.

Since update car will not allow me to log in. Consequently no trips being recorded and sent to lexus + app.

Not sure what happened. I followed the package instructions to the tee. I think the protectant did not dry properly? It was sticky after a few hours. I didn't drive the car until the next day. Kept it in shade and covered from rain. The headlights felt dry the next day. However after a few hours in the sun they felt blotchy. 24hrs later this is the result. They feel grainy and gross now. What can I do? Do I sand off the protectant and start again? PXL_20240213_215417892.mp4