Parthiban

Due to a hectic couple of weeks this is a little delayed but just thought I'd offer my thoughts, did anyone else go to one of these? This was my first time at one and was quite impressed with the way the whole thing works, great marketing opportunity and nice to be able to take the cars out unaccompanied and go for a decent drive in them - also a nice chance to have a go in cars I'd probably never normally try anyway. First up was the GS450h, and I was surprised to find myself incredibly disappointed with it. It was too noisy, harsh and unrefined, and the ride was quite unsettled. The engine didn't sound good, and you could hear too much of it, plus combined with the CVT it just revved up to peak power and sat there which was a really horrible noise. Not sure if this was just a bad car, but it was an 11 plate with only a few k on the clock. Next up was the CT200h. Interestingly this was a car that I found quite unimpressive until I drove it - yes it doesn't have any power. Strange coming from an IS200 auto driver, but it is seriously slow. However as a round-about town car perfectly adequate. The surprising part was that it's handling was actually quite impressive - it felt really sharp and tight, and my original expectations of it being FWD and therefore rubbish were simply wrong. I'd have to agree with reviews that state the ride is a bit firm, but I didn't think it would put me off completely. It really isn't my kind of car, but as a second car for town use, or if I needed to drive into the city everyday and needed the congestion charge exemption, I'd seriously consider one. After this was the IS-F - I've already driven one of these in the past but seeing as they almost forced me into one it was hard to refuse! Was just as much fun as the first time, in fact a little bit more so as I had a bit more confidence with it. Also took it at reasonable pace through some twisties and it coped very well. Didn't really notice much difference between the 2010 model I last drove and this updated 2011 model, except the revised central rev counter which does look great (although perhaps not as practical) Then came the car I'd been most looking forward to, the LS600h, and this was by far the most surprising car of the day. To begin with the negatives, I think the interior is a real let down, a £100k car should not have such a lacklustre interior. It has all the toys but just doesn't feel like a car that's so expensive. The other negative (and an irritation of mine in all Lexus cars, and Japanese cars in general) is lights on the dash. I have always believed that there should be no lights on unless they are warning you of something wrong. Lexus seem to disagree with this, and in the LS it goes crazy with all the different settings it can have. Switch things on and it ends up looking like a xmas tree, in a normal Lexus it's annoying, in a top of the range LS costing £100k it's a real frustration. Can't remember how many things I had up, but there was cruise, LKA, suspension setting and a number of others - totally ridiculous. Putting all that aside though, I was seriously impressed! I've not driven or been a passenger in any of the very latest luxury cars, but nevertheless I've not been in anything quite as quiet and serene as the LS. You really can't hear anything, and the hybrid/CVT drivetrain really suits this car as it removes any hint of jerks from the gearchange (however slight) and the engine just gently purrs along. Add in how awesome a place to be the back is and it's altogether a great package as a second hand buy as they seem to be depreciating quite aggressively. I imagine you could really eat up miles in one of these and not even notice, quite eager to try a Merc S Class now to compare. Last car of the day was the RX450h - and not sure whether this was because of the cars I drove before it, but was by far the most underwhelming car I drove. It just wasn't in any way interesting, seemed more a car to just do a job, rather than something you desired, plus the average mpg gauge was showing 23mpg - however hard it had been driven that seemed quite poor. Also found the interior horrible, thought it looked nice in pics but sitting there looking at it in the flesh to me it looked awful. One thing I found interesting jumping from one car to the next is how bad the general ergonomics are in the current range of Lexus cars. I think I'm reasonably good at jumping into a new car and finding where most switches are quite quickly, but in these it was often a struggle to find things! Plus it was more annoying that things are in different places in different models. A surprise was how good the remote touch system is though, I thought it would be awful based on the concept of it, but using it was a different story, I really like it. Only thing being again it needs to be slightly better thought out, with a touch screen it's ok if your sometimes pressing the screen and sometimes a physical button as your hand is always moving - once you move to a mouse like controller you should be able to do everything from that, so I found it annoying in some cases where you'd need to move from the controller to a physical button (probably being over critical but that was my opinion) Finally some pics of the LFA they had there (sorry about the quality, they're off my phone) - unfortunately despite being promised we weren't able to hear it, but was still nice to get up real close to it :)

This is an interesting thread that I've often wondered about as well, if they charge you different premiums according to the value of car you put in, then surely it should be valued to that amount and not market value. If it is purely based on market value, then you should not be asked what the value of the car is, or the premium should not change based on the value as that should automatically be decided based on the actual car.

I drove one of these for the first time at the Open Road event a few weeks ago and I really didn't like it. It was far too noisy, and far too harsh - best to take one out for a drive if you haven't already and see how it suits you.

I had an almost identical experience, had a bearing fitted (non lexus), it failed quite soon after and then had it replaced at Lexus. They wouldn't cover the labour but as it was a genuine Lexus part I didn't have to pay for the replacement part. However they didn't think it was due to poor installation, most likely just a defective part.

Yep you've got to leave it a few minutes, it's all about the difference in actual temp and that set on the system. If it's 28 in the car and you've got it set on 20 it wants to cool the car asap so switches to recirc as that cools already cooled air and therefore cools faster. Once it brings the cabin temp closer to 20 it will automatically switch back to outside air (usually after a few minutes depending on how hot it is)

Wow that is pretty cheap :)

Worth having a go in one, the GS is probably a slightly sharper drive, but the LS is on a whole other level in terms of comfort - it's so serene and peaceful inside......

Had a go in a 2011 IS-F at the open road event last week and I can't say I noticed a huge difference in the ride and handling but probably wasn't enough of a test drive to really figure that out. Agree, the engine sound is so addictive!

The US still has all the petrol models as well - it's just Lexus UK that's stopped importing them, the cars still exist in other parts of the world.

I'm guessing you have bought a limited edition model - is the car a light grey colour? If so it has factory HIDs, and I think you can change them - believe the bulbs are D2R though not D2S.

I found it bizarre that they were so careful with the IS-F yet let me out in the £100k LS600h without even the slightest hesitation!

Lexus in the UK are quite weird about spec, I believe once they made it an option on the IS barely anyone selected it and presume that was the reason it's been left off the CT completely to bring costs down. However given how much they charge for the CT I think it's a bit ridiculous.

Has this problem only occurred now once it's got quite warm outside? If so that's normal, when it's quite hot in the car, the system automatically switches to recirculate to cool the car faster, it will switch back to fresh air after a few minutes when it's brought the temp down a bit. Sorry if you were already aware of this and have a different problem.

Sorry been a tad busy so haven't been on here in a few days - yep the only thing I removed was the stuff in the centre console, everything else was just feeding cables around.

As above it happened a while ago, I believe it was around the time the RX450h was launched Lexus UK decided to go hybrid only (other than the IS of course) and scrapped all the other petrol only models.

Did later cars have 2 holes then? I didn't know that, thought it was one across the board (after the realised the problem and had a recall I believe) Unless you've had the car from new, it sounds like someone has changed the mats :) I've had my 02 from new (almost), has OEM mats, no logo (and I did ask when I had the 03 courtesy car and was told they just started putting the logos on)

It's quite simple actually, you'll see when you get the stereo out that it's pretty easy to get it out, then behind the steering wheel, up the side of the dash and up the a-pillar. Can't remember how much I took but I'll try and dig out my pics from when I installed.

You don't need to remove the A-pillar trim, I ran mine along the edge of the dash and then along the front edge of A-pillar (adjacent to the windscreen) - it's really easy to tuck it in using some form of blunt object. Another option is that you will probably end up taking the door rubber off, and when you pull this away you have direct access to behind the trim, so again it doesn't need to come off. Just bear in mind if you have a car with curtain airbags that you never cross the airbag with the cable.

I know the later mats from around 03 on had Lexus on the mats whereas the earlier ones were plain. Only issue I'd wonder is do the early mats have the hole to hook the mat to the floor as weren't there problems with the early cars and mats riding up over the pedals?

Yep sounds like it's probably some kind of antenna, can you trace where the wires are going?

I think they're called the aero or styling kit alloys, you find them pop up on ebay now and then - how badly damaged is yours as it might be repairable? Two of mine got bent by a pothole a few years ago, had them repaired and they're still fine and on the car today :)

Does this connect to the amp or the stereo? Assuming it's the same as the first it's probably the stereo - in which case how does it cut in when you get a call (or does it not and you have to switch to CD1 to hear the phone audio)?

You'll enjoy that, it's a strange experience as in normal driving it's very docile, to me felt no different to an IS250. Then get it over about 3.5k revs and it goes insane, the engine sounds incredible! I believe there's only 1 LFA around so can obviously only be in one place at one time, but assuming there's only 1 open road per day they must be moving it from one location to the next. My invite says refreshments will be provided all day so there will be something available, have booked in for drives of the CT, GS and LS but not too fussed about those to be honest, more interested in hearing the LFAs glorious V10 so hoping I'll have the time to pop in for at least a short while :)

I've signed up to go to my local one tomorrow, but only if I get time. I've also been told that I will be able to see (and more importantly hear!) the LFA so that's the main reason I want to go down! Annoyingly you have to be 30 to test an IS-F so they won't let me drive one (despite the fact I've already tried one at my dealer )

I think the end result we can take from this is that it isn't recommended but isn't necessarily going to cause any extra damage. I'd be interested to know from those who never use the parking brake what's the longest they owned one of those automatics though, because I wouldn't expect an autobox to fail after just a few years (high mileage is not an indicator) In fact I don't think anyone could argue that it doesn't cause extra wear, it is only whether the wear is relevant or not.