tonyricha

I think transmission in Park and parking brake on and wheels not turning to prevent American style court cases!

If you buy a SE L it will also play DVDs but the parking brake must be applied to prevent you from watching films on the move! I would not put any other disc in my autochanger for fear of it jamming. No to full postcode entry, only the 1st 5 characters then you have to enter the street name, bit of a pain I know and I think only discs dated 2008? onwards allow imput when moving. Map DVD is in the front passenger side glove box with on screen eject button.

I used the Spoprtcross as my work car for about 18 months (70,000 miles) and fount it to be excellent but not as near silent as the previous GS300 with the same engine but never thought of it as irritating or tiring unlike almost every other car I have used over the years.I have to wonder why you would consider a diesel after your Ls !!!

Hi Jonathan, I do run a Sportcross for exactly the dog reason, a young crackers Airedale who never stopped growing, when seated she measures 960MM to the top her big daft head and she has no problems in this car. The boot floor is adjustable for height so on its low setting she has plenty room and head clearance, I have a Saunders dog guard which fits really well and secures to the rear head restraints so causes no damage to the vehicle but of course you can fold the rear seat backs down (and the front passenger seat)so the car is able to carry large loads. No diesel Sportcross was ever offered, mine is a 300 with the superb e shift auto box which always returns 370 - 400 miles per fill up which is plenty good enough for me when you consider the available performance!think that works out about 30MPG I really like the car and always take it out in preference to my GS450h. I will try to attach a photo of Mavis in the car to give you a better idea of size but it is difficult to get her to sit still !but she does ride happily in the back all day. Please shout if I can be of any more help Regards Tony

if you are buying the warranty price it for 24 months and pay by interest free direct debit, 24 months will result in a lower monthly premium than 12 and they then can not increase in in 12 months !You can always cancel the debit if you sell, mine went up from £800 last year to £1000 this ! :winky:

Hi, I have a Pure Highway DAD radio in my GS450h as an add on tuner to which I connected a glass mounted external mast of 300MM (had to fit it to the front screen as I have a powered sunblind on the rear )This gives me WAY better reception than the standard aerial in the rear screen and I find works really well all over the south of England, about £45 from DAB on wheels, never use the FM set now. Tony

Oh and check out Lexus Bracknell/Reading I found them very helpful, salesman Colin Curry in particular. Worth traveling for the right deal, I drove 150 miles through a foot of snow to collect mine!

Another thought : my 450h is now over the 100,000 mile mark and the batteries are performing way better now than when she had only done 20,000 in terms of gaining and delivering the power, they show full charge much more often but that said I will not run it without the warranty in place. Regards Tony

Hi, go get one! amazing car, I have driven 80,000 miles in mine over the last two years with no problems but I do extent the Lexus warranty because there is a lot to go wrong if it does, average MPG over all those miles by the computer is a very acceptable 34MPG which given the performance and I don't drive like a Vicar is fine by me!Do try for a SE L if you can the adaptive cruise control is wizzard! it makes me feel so much safer on a long day on the motorways. All round I can't fault mine and at £2,000 per year for all my service and warranty needs plus good fuel consumption makes it a very reasonable car for my business needs, the only slight down side I have is when the front tires are old it does tramline badly but hardly anyone else seems to notice this problem. Recalls to check for are steering rack, rear brake calipers and valve springs on some but not all cars, but Lexus seem good about doing these if it has slipped thru. Good luck with your decision. Tony

Yes, buy a Pure Highway DAD radio (about £80 ) put in in the centre armrest running off the power supply there,this has a jack input as an aux and then it sends a FM signal to the car audio, I know it sounds unlikley but it works fantastically and with no wires showing and you get great DAB radio.I use mine all day over the south of England with far better reception than the standard set up. Tony

I always extend my warranty with Lexus, just offset the price against the massive depreciation the previous owner suffered and suddenly it does not seem so expensive or painful to have no worries. Ask for a 24 month quote and pay it monthly, this plan reduces the interest free monthly DD and means they can not increase the price this time next year, mine went up by 20% from last year, wish I realized this dodge 12 months ago!Mine will stay under the warranty for the full 7 years by which time it will have covered 250,000 miles with all this scary technology to go wrong, I saw a LS460 needed a new steering rack for huge money.

Hi Mitch and welcome to LOC having converted a GS300 to LPG my advise is please please please please dont do do it, it killed mine. I was a confirmed high milage LPG user until the day I converted the Lexus, complete disaster!

This car set up is perfect, tyre wear is uniform across the entire surface and would last over 50,000 if I could hang on to it, always serviced by Lexus, always under a warranty and sail through MOT tests, it aint the car, it just destroys tyre walls.

Brilliant thank you, by pressing the Info button twice it only mutes the phone for about 1 second rather than about 6 seconds by pressing the Map button twice as I used to.

What pressures are you running mate? I know what you mean about the loose front end, my misses reports it and then I always check the pressures. Currently I'm .1 PSI above the comfort (below 100mph) settings, this seems to help. Tyre wise, I have Yoko's A10 front and back! IMO they are ok but not great, I run Goodyear F1 Assymetrics on my Scooby and find them outstanding, so will be giving them a go on the big bus next time around. matty Thanks for your reply Matty, pressure same as yours, interestingly (or not ! ) I contacted the tech department at Pirelli to ask their advise as to what was going wrong, they replied saying their tyres are not tested on this vehicle and so not recommended for use and yet these tyres were brand new when the car was supplied to me by Lexus direct. Fresh rubber on the front is the only cure. Regards Tony

Hi Dave and a warm welcome to LOC, I think you will be surprised by the consumption of your GS, they are not juicy if driven well. The only issue I know of for this year is the ECU seems to fail with horror stories of £2K to replace, please check for re calls on steering rack and rear brakes having been completed but if not I think Lexus will still do them but the ECU was not a re call so beware. Enjoy your new motor and forget those hard seats, peaky motor frequent problems and smelly re fueling stops.

I give up !

Hi, mine also does this, drives me mad but the other way round in that if the phone rings I loose navigation screen and voice guidance, it seems to like telling me I'm on the phone ! ( allways at the worst possible moment !) the only way to get the screen back is press the map button twice which mutes the phone both ways till it sorts itself out or select reverse ( not ideal on a M.Way!)Has anyone found other ways of overcoming this ? Is it me ???

I SO wish you guys could have tried driving my 450h before I changed the front tyres, I cover about 50,000 miles per year mostly on motorways where tread wear is less than stop/start driving, something happens within the tyre causing steering issues making the car un predictable and frankly un safe but the treads are still good, offering good traction and braking on the rear. It can never be said best to fit new tyres to the rear when old tyres work fine there and yet so much more is demanded of the fronts! Also why would anybody throw away 4 tyres when they will run safely and legally for many more miles on the rear? We can all read these general statements but I suspect the weight of the hybrid is having an effect on the tyre construction.

I do not consider it safe if the car goes where it wants and not where I aim it, new tyres on the front every time for me!

you got it ! my GS does exactly the same when she freezes.

Have you heard the story re insurance cover and winter tyres ? some insurance companies consider them a modification and either want extra premium or even refute claims, don't wish to alarm you but you know how insurance companies always win.I know it sounds crackers but best be sure!

I think the problem is the weight of the car, when the tyres are young there are no problems but when the fronts have done a few miles it is a job to hang on to the steering wheel when it finds imperfections in the surface, my wife won't drive it or even ride as passenger when the fronts are suffering, it really is quite alarming.

Just wondering how other 450h owners manage their tyres, I swop my P Zeros front to rear at 20,000 and so after 40,000 the car is tramlining really badly, just binned two fronts with 5mm of tread left simply because handling so badly, seems a shame but safety is most important. trying Dunlops this time, just £140 plus VAT each ( after 10 percent discount for Gold membership ) from Lexus M.Keynes who we know will manage the fragile valves.

With the wheel removed look near the stud holes and you will see 2 more threaded holes which do not have aligning holes in the hub, I think it is a 6MM thread, find a spare bolt with a matching thread and just wind it into this hole, the bolt will meet the hub and press the disc off with a very satisfying clunk, no hammer required.