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Lots of interesting views on this thread, it does show how different drivers have different priorities and opinions. I looked at the new CH-R, Yaris Cross, and LBX yesterday and back to back (to back!). There was also a UX in the Lexus showroom. For me, the LBX feels like a higher quality car than the UX. That’s mostly about perception, and it is a newer model, but for me the interior is ‘proper Lexus’ whereas the UX has never been quite there in my opinion. Seeing them both side by side yesterday reinforced that for me. The Yaris Cross felt good. I like the higher seating position, and it’s a practical thing for the size. The downside was it felt a bit ‘tinny’ and there were harder plastics in areas such as the door tops where the others are softer. The LBX was at the other end of the spectrum and I was impressed. The boot was larger than I’d have imagined, and the rear space, although tight, allows feet to go under the front seats quite easily. Rear space isn’t important for me tbh, but it was interesting that it felt quite spacious, albeit not as much as the Yaris where the greater glass area made it feel brighter inside. The CH-R felt like a high quality product, and is bigger than both. I wasn’t a massive fan of the dashboard layout - it seemed to be form over function when compared with the other two - but as with all things you get used to things you use every day. Next step is to drive all three and see if, actually how readily, I can live with the downsize from an RX. Price is also a consideration. Broadly, based on discussions with the dealers and for comparable (top ish) specs and with indicated discounts factored in, it would be about £29k for the Yaris (AWD), £34k for the CH-R (FWD) and almost £40k for the LBX. I still feel like the LBX is overpriced in comparison despite clearly being a lovely thing. The question will be whether I think it’s worth it vs other priorities. I’m also looking at and driving a Mazda CX-30 on Tuesday for a further option.

I have just taken delivery of a brand new UX250H Sport Design. After reading several positive reviews about the new Lexus LBX I was interested in purchasing this vehicle subject to a test drive. Three weeks ago I was informed by my local Lexus dealership that a LBX Takumi was available for a test drive. I had narrowed my choice down to two cars, the LBX and the UX250H sport design. I was currently driving a RX450H which is a fantastic quiet refined vehicle, but rather large for just my wife and I. We arrived at the local Lexus dealership in order to test drive the LBX and UX vehicles back to back. Firstly we drove the UX 250h sport, we were both pleasantly surprised how comfortable and easy to drive the vehicle was, manoeuvrability excellent, road noise not to intrusive, and a big bonus - (no horrible beeping noises if you are travelling above the speed limit). We then drove the LBX Takumi, and I must say that we were both a little disappointed with the drive, the suspension seemed to be on the firm side, and the power delivery was not as smooth as the UX250H, also we found the seats to be uncomfortable. My wife and I both agreed that that UX 250H was the car for us. We managed to negotiate a very good price for the UX250H Sport Design, Lexus are trying to sell-off the old stock of the UX before the newer model arrives (UX300H). Having driven the UX over the past few days I am absolutely delighted with the car, on short journeys the car is averaging nearly 50mpg. Please see attached pictures.

I just dumped my 8 month old ES in favour for a top of range CX30, 4wd, skyactive x . Tried to order an LBX but it was A too expensive and B the trade in value on my almost new ES was so ridiculous, I walked away and sold it on Motorway for an extra £6k The Mazda is a firmer and sportier setup comfy and fun and a good size, and has every extra needed. The only thing I am missing is the slightly better fuel (missing the hybrid)

You would get a little more boot and interior space 😉 On paper it is a little difficult to justify the price difference between the two these days. Yes the RX is a nicer place to be with a slightly higher spec and improved sound insulation but the main difference used to be the drivetrain and they are the same now (with the NX improved and the RX worse without it's V6).

Since then I had to reboot a number of times. The last few, before reboots, I did the following distances. 400km, 300km, 56km, now I'm 2500km since last reboot and she's behaving beautifully. I didn't do anything else, so I have no idea what changed. Great mileage, clean exhaust pipes, beautifully smooth gear changes. I was about to have the ECU computer checked over by an expert here in New Zealand, but it was holidays so it couldn't be done at the time, but that's when it came right! I wait in trepidation to see what happens!

It is important to use the same type of battery that the car was originally fitted with. AGM batteries require a higher charging voltage than standard lead-acid batteries. Putting an AGM battery into a car that has a charging system calibrated for a lead-acid battery means that the AGM battery will never be fully charged, reducing its capacity and shortening its life. So yeah, using a modern solid state charger that can detect the battery type is definitely a good move Cheers...

No, EVs are the opposite - they are efficient at low speed but are worse at high speed due to wind resistance.

Having moved from a RX 4th gen to a NX450 I would agree with every one of your observations Ken, particularly looking and feeling much larger over the NX that the dimensions suggest. As for the seats I found the them to be a little larger and longer in under thigh area than the NX

You beat me to it Dom 😀

Black as it looks mean and menacing 😈

Firstly on a like for like model basis the differential in mrrp between the NX and the RX is nearer £12k. I have just taken delivery of a RX450h+ after 6 years with initially a NX300H followed by a NX450h+. I wasn't really contemplating changing my car as I was well satisfied with the NX450h+ which was 2 years old with c19000 miles on the click but was invited by the dealership to a sales event in February. If an attractive deal was available on a NX450h+ f-sport I would be interested but only with the correct colour/trim and accessory options. Unfortunately nothing was available from UK stock but as I was about to exit the showroom I sat in a RX and was suitably impressed. With an attractive finance package, manufacturers and dealership discounts and incentives the cost difference against an equivalent NX was less than £20 per month! So that aside, in answer to your question you get a bigger car (strangely looks and feels much, much bigger than the fairly minimal extra dimensions in comparison to the NX), a quieter, more refined cabin, more comfortable seats (possibly the same very comfortable seats of the NX but with extra padding), superior ride thanks to the longer wheelbase more presence on the road and styling that sets it apart. It also gives a panoramic roof option which wasnt available on the NX450h+. The NX is a fantastic car and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend however the RX is a Lexus that truly wafts along the road and if the 5th generation of this range can replicate the longevity and quality of the previous incarnations then this 5th generation Lexus RX is worth every penny.

They have to remove the front bumper so there is the possibility of damage, same as when any work is undertaken. But I would expect the dealer to be liable for any damage.

Or buy a new one! Makes sense to get it in as good a state as possible before its big adventure.

I remember ( just) having very similar symptoms on my old 1994 Celsior which went away after replacing the LBJs which had play in the ball joints. It may be worth checking these with a pry bar for excessive play.

Before Easter Existing battery seems good for one fire up. Starting it up just to take it in out of garage and messing with aerial motor appears too much for a third fire up.

Managed to get one £94 delivered. Yuasa YBX5096 Halfords have HSB5096....the previous iteration.

AWD ……. my 2006 Honda Legend simple saloon car has this feature as standard I find the AWD kicks in automatically when the weather prevails and is a boon in bad winter driving My ordinary other cars, the Ls400s are totally useless in snow, ice whatever …… they stay at home The AWD Honda hugs the ground and goes anywhere needed in all wintry conditions Just my experiences Malc

Whilst doing the rear brake calipers with genuine Lexus discs and JapanParts (so near enough original in my opinion) pads I sheared the bolt. Basically 3x bolts cane out nicely without needing much breaker bar, but this one was seized solid and probably double threaded. Was coming out very slowly with the breaker bar, a quart turn at a time so I decided to be an idiot, went and got a 19mm impact socket for my impact wrench/driver and give it a bash. Bash it I did and at first thoughts it seemed to have just absorbed the 200nm of whacking. But got the breaker bar on again and it sheared. 5 days of having it on the tripods and various techniques attempted. A random mobile welder - with zero reviews on google and a url that lead to a broken URL link - wanted £150 which I was unwilling to pay. Instead I paid well over half of that in various drill bits; a new grinding stone for my dremel and eventually a 14mm tap and handle from Tracy Engineering Services down in Torquay somewhere. New hole tapped and 1 door down nieghbour tells me I could borrow his tools if I ever needed. Turns out he had a tap handle 😆 so I could have saved £25 at least. Anyway, all is well that ends well and thanks to the folks at Bearbones Bikepacking for helping with some pointers. News pads and discs on with a bleed on all four ends and the little 'love' is back on the road. Couldn't be bothered leaving it on the tripods up front to do the engine oil which is due - I try to change every 5000 miles but might leave it until 6000 this time due to the cold weather coming in - maybe in a week or few. The brakes were good on the off side but worn through to the metal on the near side. Not sure how that happened as they must've been ok in Feb 2023 when I gave em a bleed. Will have to keep an eye as the drivers side still had 30% of pads left. This is the spare bolt that the salvage place allowed me to scrounge off the yard floor. Chooped it and shaved it to help with alignment (as I'd tapped the new hole ever so slightly wonky and this was too long anyway).

Personally I wouldn’t pay an extra for AWD on the UX250h but I wouldn’t avoid it either. It will improve traction in slippery conditions but in snow your money is better put towards all season or winter tyres.

Having had a QV a couple of years ago, it's certainly more of an engaging car when driven hard, but unfortunately when driven hard, you will find yourself doing license losing speeds far too easily. When driven at legal speeds, I didn't find it that much of a thrill. The LC is more of an event, and sounds nicer; it just wouldn't see which way a QV went in most situations, so if that would bother you, then go with the QV. The other factor to consider is reliability; I had no issues with my QV, but many owners have had issues (mainly electrical), and the customer care is poor. The Lexus warranty and service will be far, far superior, giving peace of mind.

Honestly, Lexus would do absolutelly no preparation, I am not assuming I know. They would assume your car paint is "perfect", because the product is designed for new cars (even thought new car paint is usually nowhere near perfect) and their prep will involve washing the car (the part which I always ask them to skip during the service as they are just not good at it), then panel wipe (basically 70% isopropyl) and then application. They certainly are not hiring detailer to come over and polish the car, there is no way anyone would bother for £450. And when I said - they going to give it to their showroom cleaner... I was not joking either. This is literally what my local Lexus does - they have cleaning agency hired to clean the showroom, same guys wash cars, same guys would be applying the ceramic coating. No disrespect for cleaners, everyone have to do what they have to do, but car detailers they are not, even just washing the car they scratch it way more than even worse hand wash in my area. £1000 is a bit much to be honest, unless it is based on car inspection and your car is really rough. It used to be around £500 for "restoration detail", that is if your car was never detailed before. It would include few stages of polishing, the ceramic coating then costs £100-£200. Depending on area +/- £100. So we are talking ~£500-£800. If your paint is particularly bad, deep scratches all around, you are asking for stone chip removal etc. Yes they can price that on top, but usual price as I said should be around £650, then they wash your car and they may call you back and say "look here is the deal, now that we could see the car clean there are way more scratches etc. We can proceed with standard detail, but we may not able to take all the scratches in 2 stages, if you want to wet sand, and polish them out, then it will be extra X amount, else we do bet we could, but there may be some scratches left". My other guess - they may say "up-to £1000" as sort of the limit of how much it could cost without seeing the car, so ideally you should bring the car over to them for wash and then ask for estimate, because £1000 seems little bit arbitrary to me. P.S. - I have looked at few detailing places around me and it seems the price had climbed up a little bit since, so my estimates may be little bit 2019-ish. But even then I have found few places that would do 2-stages + ceramic coating for £600 on "Large" car. But seems generally prices have climbed ~£100, so you could say up-to £900 is realistic.

The LC is a relaxing cruiser with enough grip and grunt to have a bit of fun, all the while looking and sounding stunning. If you want engaging, get something lighter with a better power to weight ratio.

As it appeared for me - the problem returned back so I googled what else I can do. There was a suggestion to clean the motors inside - especially the commutator and brushes. But the motors were different from what I have, so needed to figure out how to get inside. The pieces are connected mechanically, creating a lock to keep them together: It appeared to be easy to pop up the upper part with a small screwdriver put into a hole between the plastic part and the main body: Im my case there wasn't any rust, just oil mixed with graphite from the brushes, making the commutator non-working: I used WD40 contact cleaner with paper and Fiberglass Scratch Brush Pencil to clean the commutator and brushes: Be careful and don't lose the white plastic ring - it keeps the lamels together and the motor cannot be used without it: Then I assembled all parts using some superglue on one of the motorts (the one where I damaged the locking parts on a metal body, while tried to figure out how to disassemble it). The second motor where I used a screwdriver from the beginning to pop it up - the parts are attached securely. In the end I cleaned all the plastic gears and applied a silicone grease for plastics rubber seals: It's been a few days already and all work smooth and fast. The only issue I had from my very first attempt - I have auto dimming mirrors, so after the reinstalling them into the mirror body I have non-working spots where I pushed the mirrors to fasten them.

A few better photos -

New car day today! Usual exemplary handover by Lexus Edinburgh. Fully charged, full tank of fuel and TWO KEYS! 🔑 😁. Second key issued in a presentation case! Rubber floor mats no longer part of the optional protection pack but Lexus Edinburgh added these. Mud flaps still unavailable so these will be fitted once they are back in stock along with locking wheel bolts.

Had a free-ish weekend so spent a few hours fitting some new rear discs/pads and wheels to the Lexus. I picked up some Tesla Model 3 wheels with 4 almost new Michelin Pilot sport 5's on for a steal, I quite like the design of them without the standard wheel covers, fitted the style I was after on this car. The tyres are 235/45/18's slightly bigger than I'd have wanted, but couldn't pass up on the deal. The ET on the wheels are slightly better than standard, the rear may benefit from 20mm spacer to get them perfectly in the arch, but for now I feel they look far better! Reason for doing the rear discs was after a trip up to my brothers I noticed the rear left was very hot, thought it must be the slider pins. Turns out the slider pin that usually causes issues was perfectly fine, fortunately someone has definitely looked after the car in the past. I left the bottom pin in place, cleaned and applied plenty of new grease, the top slider on both sides I replaced with a new pin and boot. The left caliper piston had been pretty tough to push back in, I attempted to free it up as much as possible without actually taking it out, after a short trip with the new set up I noticed the disc still get very hot, so the piston's definitely sticking. New rear caliper is on its way, gives me a reason to change out to rear lines for a braided set I got with the car and to get some new fluid in the lines, hoping to have that sorted this weekend. Fair to say the old discs had served their time 😄 The next issue to sort with be a CEL I've sporadically had since owning the car. Of recent its been a P0420, but has also been a P0137 both for Bank 1, sensor 2. After doing a bit of research it could well be a leak prior to or around the downstream sensor and my mid pipe to cat exhaust flange isn't looking great at all, for how well preserved the underside of the car is, the exhaust flanges have taken a beating haha. Thinking it may need to go to an exhaust shop to get them to cut and weld on 2 new flanges and the cheaper option, or I get a custom mid pipe made at the same time. That being said the cars driving well with the new alloys/tyres on, it's already eliminated a pulling to the right I had with the old alloys. Still going strong at 157,000 miles!

If they’ve forked out for a pair of driveshafts and some axle bushes and paid the dealer to fit them before realising it was a known problem anyway I’d hope they’ll see sense and come up with a better solution than greasing and nipping some bolts up. Who knows, they could even fix the canbus vulnerability while they’re in there…

Update on this; it's taken nearly 5 weeks to resolve but seems to be fixed now. Diagnosed as driveshafts - replaced (took 3 weeks to arrive from Japan, fair enough). Noise better but still audible. Replaced axle bushes. Noise better, again, but still audible. Finally, whilst recording for submission to Lexus UK for advice, the source of the remaining noise was found to be - the strut brace, as originally posted. Tightened and - for now - no noises.

The reason I am getting a UX is because my beloved BMW is a diesel and 6months to old to be exempt from ULEZ. I would keep it forever otherwise. I am not actively seeking an AWD but if the right UX250h comes up I would probably get it with or without AWD. ULEZ has really created a problem for me as I am literally 200 yards inside the zone.

Just noticed that not only were some of the settings changed on my RX they've also cleared all my Satnav favourite destinations. That's a real pain! I only went in for the locking wheel nuts and the 2nd Key. Likely to be looking for a new dealer the way things are going. 😠 😡 👿 😤 🤬 😾

Good point. I do however have an Ohme charger and it's been giving me lots of trouble when using Agile Octopus (but the type of trouble like related to battery level would impact if I used Intelligent Octopus). I had trouble for the last 6 months. I wish I had waited for the wallbox. Today for example, (after a lot of trial and fail.. ), I set my Ohme app to accept up to 12p pricing (Zeus is blowing the windmills at full power 😉, variable pricing paradise). I looked at the app and it said nothing available, wait for tomorrow´s pricing (available in 7 hours). This is even when all the pricing periods this morning were below 4p - according to the same Ohme app! I tried restarting the charge session in the car, restart their app, reboot from the RCD, nothing fixed it, not immediately. I also read comments about their support desk being very poor. But with what I am seeing, a weaker link are their testers, or maybe they are missing altogether. The Ohme app says no price below max available. Just after one tap, you can see several.. 😡