flotsam

It handled like my IS, you could throw it around and have fun

You need your IS looked at then :P

Agreed.

The IS handling is far better. You just can't drive 2 tonnes of LS like the IS. I've tried (MkIV) and noticed the tyres took a beating. For the class of car its great. Earlier LS's had an even softer suspension and no feedback at all.

The BMW 7 is too much of a driver's car for the luxury sector.

Hi,

I am looking at buying a '96 LS400SE, but the only thing that is stopping me is the possible fuel consumption. Obviously 4 litres is a big engine, but what sort of fuel consumption are people genuinely getting out of theirs?

Thanks in advance.

Didn't know there was such a thing as an LS400SE.

I get about 20mpg out of my MkIV.

NSX gets my vote - NO hesitation ... B)

Ditto!

Lexus are superb for quality and reliability as well as technology and gadgets but Honda are unsurpassed for engines.

I would say the LS is also a supercar (used to be anything topping 150mph) but it's just too big.

The buyer of my last Mercedes was quite happy to have a Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet that showed the car had been serviced with TLC and had only MB and Mobil 1 parts and fluids in it.

One of the reasons I'm thinking about Lexus is that Mercedes have pushed the envelope way too far. Brake by wire is over the edge despite the theoretical advantages.

BTW, it probably won't be long before Toyota picks up more of Mercedes technology and gets leading edge windburn too.

The buyer of you last Mercedes didn't give a damn. Those of us who buy with our heads know to walk away.

Brake by wire isn't a problem besides, I trust Lexus to get it right. I don't believe they steal the technology wholesale. They usually add it to compete and being Lexus that has to be better quality for a lower price. So the brake-by-wire will be Lexus's own version with improvements over the Mercedes design.

The obvious (can't give better advice without seeing it) is to see if the alternator is charging the Battery. There should be about 14V.

Alternatively!! If it's always flat at home it could be that there's something draining the Battery when the car's left standing. You need someone with a circuit diagram to check.

"I do my own maintenance"

Don't you need one of those multi-million pound diagnostics machines to test all those computers?

Don't you want "Full Lexus Service History" when you come to sell? It is supposed to be fixed cost + labour!

At a wild guess, the standard suspension is designed for the US market so big and bouncy, whereas the Euro suspension will be better handling. Just a guess mind!

I would suggest a test drive but I had problems when I had a test drive of an SC430. The tyre noise was louder than my 2000 LS400. The dealer said there was an alternative suspension option but couldn't provide a test drive in anything other than the standard spec.

There was a documentary on one of those crime type programmes on the telly.

These days the cars are too secure and they have to have the keys hence car-jacking has become popular.

The documentary demonstrated how some put a hook on the end of a pole and push it through letter boxes and lift keys up off the hall table where a lot of people leave them.

just a guees, try swopping the wheels round, move the front to back n vice versa, see if this helps, it could be a slight buckled alloy..

Wouldn't they notice a buckled alloy when balancing and wouldn't the balancing in theory compensate anyway? I would have thought swapping them would mean you still get a shake but not from the steering wheel.

This is not the sort of car they do a Haynes manual for.

Stripping an exclusive brand new £50K car where the owners usually leave it to someone else to do the servicing and then selling all of three copies is a non-starter. You probably wouldn't be able to service computer controlled cars these days anyhow.

The Lexus manual does exist but, as I understand it, would cost more than your pup.

Don't Lexus computers have a trip record of average speed, time, distance etc. I always take a note of the mileage before I hand over the keys and reset the trip record.

I think I have found the problem, a large white square 120 amp fuse in the main fusebox had been broken & the wires were just touching. I can't get it out of the holder, should it just pull up or do all four come out as a unit.

Thanks

Alan :D

There should be a fuse extractor amongst the fuses. Mine's in the engine bay fuse box. They just pull out.

Before replacing the fuse, find out why it blew in the first place.

The IS has a six cylinder therefore more torque than the equivalent four cylinder. The idea is you don't have to mess about changing gears all the time. The Honda SC2000 or Mazda RX-8 have little torque but lots of BHP so they have quicker 0-60 times but you have to work the gear box more (which is how it should be for racing).

Impossible to say for sure without having a look but if it was all ok whilst the engine was running and then immediately stopped working when the engine stopped, that probably means you were running off the alternator alone and the Battery was flat and not being charged by the alternator.

Nope!

Only you!

Mmm, I guess the biggest risk with the Nissan is potential poor residual values. I must be the only person on the planet that doesn't like the RX-8. I think it's yet another Mazda rip-off design - looks too much like a Honda S2000 at the front and back for my liking.

You cannot be serious!

The Nissan replaces a classic!

Are you sure you have the right car? The S2000 looks nothing like the Mazda. In fact nothing looks like the Mazda!

Top Gear didn't compare the RX-8 with Nissan but Fifth Gear did. VBH said "I really like this car" and was 4s ahead of the new 250bhp Audi TT

Needell said: "... whilst the reliability of the engine may have been proven,...notably those emissions, ..poor fuel consumption...and a lack of torque for low down acceleration..yet I could forgive it all of that because of this: 9500 revs. Two models are available 190bhp which no-one will want and ... much more useful 230bhp...Yet ...less than 2/3 torque of ...350Z and does 6mpg less than Audi ...Bizarrely, the high power model has less torque than it's baby brother so it really does need the extra 2000 revs and the extra six speed in the gear box...Good seats. Good driving position. Nice steering wheel...interior sharp styling...Rear wheel drive with a traction control an option, the handling is very good, if somewhat on the soft side...more audi than nissan but the steering feels much better than the German opposition and the gear box one of the best..but no MX-5 in the handling department... genuine 4 seater £22000... £5K cheaper than the audi and £2k less than the nissan.

They do need replacing as the pads have worn down to nothing and damaged them. :o

WHAT! No sensors.

There's GrandAlf who seems to have had the same problem on his LS430. The sensors should detect a fault before the pads start chewing up your discs. Failing that the service guys should warn you if your pads are getting close to being nothing but metal.

I was in a Shell station the other day when the tanker had unloaded and they were doing the paperwork I spotted that Shell UK charge the local petrol station 71.3p per litre for Optimax when charge it out at 87.9 - nice mark up

NEVER fill up when there's a tanker there.

It stirs up all the gunk from the bottom of the tank and clogs up the fuel filter.

I once had to have my car's whole fuel system flushed.

I’ve sorted out this problem on my own ’90 LS400. To be more precise, Colin at Powerhouse Garage sorted it out for me. He replaced the pads with a softer compound. The squealing disappeared instantly and the braking performance is better too. The noise has not returned after 3,000 miles.

Doesn't sound as though he's fixed it at all. Sounds like he's just by-passed the problem.

I'd read this before swapping the pad compounds. You could be boiling your brake fluid:

http://www.jkwebdesign.co.uk/lexusclub/sea...notfadeaway.htm

Replacing discs on a 4 year old car!?!?!? I should co-co!

You're being ripped. I'd check whether the discs need replacing at all. Remember Haynes don't do a Lexus manual and the garages know this!

The pads should be loose enough to move (obviously) but there shouldn't be so much play that they rattle about too much.

Typically, disc brakes should look as though the pads are touching the disc all the time when in fact there's a very small gap ONLY.

Sounds like a fault rather than a setting problem. I presume you have an electronic throttle and you don't get this problem when not using the cruise control.

but typically they had to slag the lexus 

Yeah! but you know they only do it because it's THAT good!

Needell had a dig at Top Gear on today's 5th Gear:-

"There are no great runways to excuse any errors. This is a real racing track for real racing drivers."

Whereas Clarkson thought the Mazda RX-8's handling was the bees knees, Needell thinks it's too soft. Considering even Simon Cowell (or whatever his name is) can out drive Clarkson and Needell is ex-F1, I'd put my money on Needell's assessment.

Of course there's also Vicki Butler-Henderson who squeals and chuckles when she's racing too.

Not completely sure what you mean by a "dimmer light" most lights make things brighter not dimmer.

There is a setting for brightness. You have to go through the main menu.

You don't say where the whistling noise is coming from.

At 25mph I wouldn't have thought it was wind noise which is the only thing I can hear in my car when cruising on motorways at 70mph.

Can't believe tyres whistle!