tonyricha

Hi, yes mine has what I describe as a raw idle, quite noisy with quite a violent shake when it starts/stops when warm but have never heard a knock from underneath. Might pay to have it checked out.

Hi Lee, I thought of you this morning when I received a letter from my dealer saying because of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami new cars are in short supply but they are prepared to reward loyal customers like myself ( I never have and never will buy a brand new car ) by reserving new vehicle stock for us to be registered in time for September plate change! What a relief !!!! I can sleep easy tonite knowing my next overpriced vehicle awaits me. I am amazed they can turn a national disaster with many thousands of lives lost into a marketing opportunity. Regards Tony

Hi Tommy My GS450h is over 110k now without fault and will need to cover 200 K+ before I consider its job is done but I do extend the warranty with Lexus because of the cost of parts but I will say it runs better than ever now and is achieving better consumption figures.I buy a combined service and warranty package at just over £2 K per year for 40 K miles which I feel is good value and stops any worries, a lot less than the depreciation on a fresh motor. Regards Tony Regards Tony

Hi,just don't fit LPG, nothing but trouble, you will spend far more repairing the valves etc and get caught between the LPG installer and your Lexus dealer who will be un helpfull because they always advise you not to convert. Believe me I have been there and had a complete nightmare ! If LPG really worked why do no manufactures offer it as a option with these crazy fuel prices? A vehicle to run reliably on half price fuel, they would sell thousands yet a bloke in a shed can outsmart all the design experts who are striving to improve vehicle economy and so sell more. I don't wish to sound sour, just hope nobody repeats my mistake ! Regards Tony

I agree with the advise to avoid it, my Lexus with LPG, regular servicing and Flashlube was completely un reliable and twice burned the valve seats out. If as you say you are a low mileage user you will never save more than the cost of engine repairs, this car is for sale for a reason Beware! Also you must use 1 tank of petrol for every 3 LPG fill ups so the savings are nothing like you imagine, ask any Lexus dealer they will advise against LPG, if it worked why wouldn't manufactures offer cars to run on it ? Old low tech iron engines were OK but modern VVTI engines do not like it. Save yourself a load of agg an stick to a standard engine. Regards Tony

I do think long distance journeys help the consumption figures, when working I cover anything between 200 and 800 miles a day, with only 2 or 3 startups so the motor is always at optimum temperature,use cruise control everywhere and concentrate on the road ahead. I liken each pedal to a trap door on the bottom of my bank account ie the more I press either the more each journey costs me! I like to see how many yellow max (40 MPG +) bars I can achieve on the trip graph- 11 in a row yesterday. Main trip computer has not been reset for 60,000 miles and is now showing average of 36.4 MPG. never switch the air con off, also running a phone charger, DAB radio and a 12V fridge so I suffer no discomfort to achieve these figures. All this said though I seldom use the car locally for short trips (who wouldn't be fed up driving it?)The Alfa Spider feel like a breath of fresh air at the weekend. The GS does impress me as a very comfortable and inexpensive car to run, still on the original discs and pads at 107,000 miles and about 40,000 per set of tyres. Regards to all Tony

Hi, at the moment I have front Dunlops and old Pirelli Zeros on the rear, to be honest I never check the pressure as it has a service about every 10 weeks and I rely on the TPS to tell me if there is a problem.

Makes me glad to be a country boy living out in the Fens of Cambridgeshire, £460 PA for business use 40,000 miles per year with just £200 excess thro Institute OF Advanced Motorists but did involve small matter of another driving test but thats no bad thing, better awareness and way better fuel consumption by driving to the IAM method.

I've driven mine for 85,000 miles and so am very used to it, it now averages 40MPG mixed driving an every fill up, using cruise control set at 75 works for me and I no longer have that wave of dread when I see a camera van. Not an expensive car to run!

Never heard of cell replacement on these, warranty is 5 years or 60,000 miles but Lexus seem very good if a problem occurs after but that said I do extent my Lexus warranty coz there is a lot to go wrong if it does! About a grand a year but that is small beer compared to the depreciation suffered by the previous owner/ tax man as you can bet it was a company car. Mine gets better with age, now over 100,000 miles, seems to hold battery charge better and returns better MPG, last tank averaged over 40 ! I worried about the batteries when I bought it over 2 years ago but decided to trust the clever Japs and have never looked back since, just ignore all the displays now and enjoy the car.

Hi and a warm welcome to LOC I find mine varies on the power output, think it depends on available charge in the battery pack, mine sometimes goes right around on the clock but next time about where yours shows, take no notice, way too much info available ! enjoy the car and smile at the economy for a large fast car. I find mine a little too sharp with the PWR button pressed so I run with suspension set to sport which sharpens the throttle but not by so much (preserves the rear tyres !) Tony Tony

At last have managed to average over 40 MPG on a tankfull which impresses me, not many diesel owners can achieve this and they pay more for the fuel. I find my hybrid gets more frugal with age, now over 100,000 and runs better than ever.I have noticed when full "Cruising range" is up to 440 miles, was 390 when I started to use it. Thank you Lexus for a superb product

Milton Keynes are the 4th Lexus dealer I have tried and I must say the best by a huge margin, nice people to deal with and clearly on the customer's side in a dispute.

How do you select random play?

be very careful with the Vaistech, I tried 2 for my 06 450h SE L and lost all audio output as soon as connected so gave up and had Lexus fit approved i pod socket which works well if you organize songs into 6 playlists but yes you loose display when car is moving and I have never managed voice control, no i pod controls work when it is connected, it just shows Lexus logo.

Was the car purchased from a dealer of any sort, even non franchise, or privately? When my 450h had the valve job done on the re call I was told they do not remove the cylinder heads, compressed air is pumped into the cylinders to prevent the valves dropping when the collets are removed to allow the springs to be changed so that should not be the cause of gasket failure, good luck and please keep us informed.

Thanks Mr Rudus,I am now talking to Lexus as if they get the wrong one it is their problem! about £130 plus fitting

1 Lexus garage, who I was passing said my bulb had failed but they had no stock so I ordered replacement through ususal dealer who found it not to be the bulb, have you thought of swopping bulbs from left to right?

Hi, google this bulb and you will find it a lot less money but are you sure it is the bulb? last time mine did this it turned out to be the headlamp control unit not the bulb, thankfully was changed under the warranty, time before that the bulb stayed out for about a week and has worked perfectly for about a year since!

Is this the dealer who closed the showroom on the road into Southend? and now have some tie in with Hatfield.

Hi all, 2002 300 Sportcross with the engine management light on, connected a code reader to it which tells me " bank 2 sensor 1 " anybody able to translate this as I now think it has 4 sensors and I am not sure which 1 needs changing (at about £90 each do not wish to buy too many ! ) Thanks in advance Tony

Hi again, these tyre pressure sensors are inside the tyre and send a signal when the pressure drops but care is required by the tyre fitter,I now find Lexus dealers are bang on with tyre prices (10% discount for LOC gold members)and they know how to go on. One snag with these sensors is if you have the metal dust caps they can corrode the thread on the valve stem which means the whole thing needs replacing so either use plastic dust caps or put a smear of grease on the thread to stop the two metals reacting with each other. I grease mine then nip them up with a 10MM spanner to stop the scallys pinching them. I think the ECU issue on early cars related to GS300s only Tony

Hi Peter and a warm welcome to LOC, perfect choice of car ! nothing to watch out for but please check recalls have been completed, I think yours is too young for valve spring hassles, steering rack and rear brake calipers may have needed doing. Re servicing Lexus offer a service package which you can pay monthly interest free D Debit which suits me fine, cost of course depends on your predicted annual mileage but dont worry now just enjoy it for the next 12 months and forget those hard seats in a Merc.My 450h is well over the 100,000 miles now, runs better than ever and is free of any faults but I do extend the warranty for peace of mind Regards Tony

Mine does ! built 2005, registered early 2006