Nitmoi

The seal just squashes flatter with age and does not seal. I went through all this on a post a few years back.. Everyone tries to get round it but the new seal is the only answer in the end. A one piece with no join has to be the answer unless you are going to do a damned good job of gluing it together!

Hello SteveLS400, Can I ask you what, in your opinion, is the cheapest car to insure in general terms?

There is a Classifieds section and all the rules are on it. Drill back though to the Home page then go to Sales and wanted sections.

Search and you'll find recent posts on most of these topics within the last few months. Welcome. Brake pipes are no big deal to fix. Its better to be able to stop the oil tanker than to beach it!

Saga offers a price beat guarantee but at over £400 more than my renewal quote they said that they could not go as low as £400 less. I sent them the quote because they could not believe they were so far out. She said if there have been say two claims with their co. in your post code it goes up but another co. may not have any claims in the post code so it is impossible to make a sensible model on a computer, so all quotes are nonsense! Still the best is NFU so far and the cover is better too. Its still way over £430.00 though.

Right enough about the increases. 31-50% according to one operator. Reasons given for increases were non-insured drivers, flood damaged cars last year, car smashing insurance scams, reassessment of post codes re. crime. Endsleigh came out lowest on the comparison sites but NFU came out best on the like for like. Its easy to come in low when the excess is £400 plus. The Lexus is expensive because of the perceived cost of repairs vs. value. Cost of Lexus workshops and body parts. Top speed and engine size every time. The post 2004 Ford Fiesta is supposed to be the best all round value used car at the mo, around £4000, cheap parts, easy to work on, any garage can service and repair, but even its ins. is in the C band for a 1.25 petrol!

Age Concern (you have to be joking) £1248:00 what concern is that except to get hold of our scarce cash!!

Can you get the cassette out? Is there a hole for a paper clip to be pushed in to activate the eject mechanism? Maybe 2 CDs went through at once?

KPnuts you could go for the classic policy with some of the brokers. It may have to be a second vehicle though.

Malc I agree NFU best all round so far but still v.High at £440. Their windscreen excess is £50 on w/s btw.

Thanks NMac, For info all round: Frank Pickles will only cover over 15 years old and don't mention Lexus on their list it may be considered a Toyota though Carole Nash not classic with v.good extras come in at £453. Apparently all premiums have increased by 31% minimum due to flood claims in the last year. Also there has been a complete re-appraisal of post codes and mine has leapt up compared with last year having been one of the lowest previously! Swift cover refused to quote!

£787 with home and roadside without protected NCB £150 excess on value of £1000. For that I could just about buy another! That's Directline with their new customer 15% discount presumably.

Well Jellybean, I'm no spring chicken and I got nowhere near that I'm being rushed at around £350.....If I can't do much better the barge will have to go! Sad but true!!

Sky tried but were not able to do too much and the 3rd party came out even higher than other's comps. I'll have a go at SAGA again after a few years off.

Hello again Scribe. If you look at my post there is a green square under the Gold Member badge. Click and see my "gallery" It shows the scrape. I have replaced the door panel and the rear front wing panel. The bumper remais as is. All the wheels have been re-coated and there is a mint one on the spare. I left the scraped one on the front. Its got a new 2nd hand alternator. I have a VW van which is going to be my daily soon enough. Taxed November and MOT December. I love this car but have to go for practicality in straightened circumstances. You are welcome to come and check it out. PM me if you are interested.

Everything you suggest makes sense. Look around other threads asking the same things. Displays and suspension, glands on exhaust are most likely problems. Check cam belt expiry of around 60,000 miles. I could sell you a cheap 96/7 in slightly scraped condition in Silver. Cam belt done new disks and pads front new flexi hoses. Clear displays and needles. Needs tracking and tyres sorting.

Good luck with the MOT. Only ever failed once on bulging flexible hoses at front which had just been passed in Lexus dealers check list at big service! Had notifications on bushes but it still passed in the same Mot place a year later. Latest notification is on ball joint ends I'll check it out nearer the mot and see whether it is worth carrying on.

To be fair a £900 spend on a car worth £1,000 does not make any financial sense. My LPG converter who looks after my gassed van told me not to bother with the LS as it was just not worth it unless you do more than 10,000 miles a year and mean to keep the car for many years. Views expressed here are not necessarily my own. :)

There is an iPod connector that broadcasts a radio frequency to the FM, it runs from the ciggie lighter and charges the iPod at the same time. Mostly it is good, as long as the frequencies do not clash with local stations. This can easily be popped into the arm rest box when left. There is another attachment that plugs into a cassette if you have a Lexus cassette player fitted. This is a bit messy. I expect you know all this but others may not.

Can you prove it doesn't migrate or collect muck? It sounds like a great idea if it is sound. Do you mean the tent proofing stuff?

I shut the trunk and it caught some tree branches. As I drove off they bent the aerial in half! Does anyone know a good honest price alternative inner that actually fits?

Silicone spray will look great on the missus' best coat! It will also attract shed loads of dust and muck to leave somewhere else like on her coat. I may be wrong.......

You are welcome - we all gain confidence from the experience of others. It works well here.

CR2016 in mine took it out put new one in - no problem at all. Didn't leave it lying around though.

Someone posted the complete primary and secondary colour tables for all LS about a year back.