braindead

I was in Lexus Derby today getting my first MOT and a couple of rattles sorted before the warranty is up next month. While I was there a salesman offered me a 59 pre-registered GS450h (effectively new) for an upgrade price of £15k. Mine's coming up to 3 years with 50k on the clock so my guess would be that you could get one of these pre-reg cars for £30k or even less. He said they were trying to shift three of them Only downside I can see is that they don't have the MM pack so no SatNav nor upgraded sound system. This is probably why they are having trouble shifting them because you'd expect a car of that standard to have these. Bottom line is you could get a fast,classy car that does over 30mpg but also does 0-62 in 5.9 for less than £30k if my guess is right Malc PS. Did I mention the service staff at Derby are great?

Had mine done some time back. It's not a recall it's an "upgrade" or "modification" that way you don't have to put it on the VOSA site....seems a little cynical but what the heck. Mine's a 56 plate also. I think this subject has been well covered in another thread.

Went to ETS in Derby where I get my tyres. They fitted Blueprint pads on the front for £88 all in. Only time will tell if they're any good. Malc

At my 50k service the dealer stated the front pads on my GS450h are 80% worn. I've not asked for a quote to replace them yet but my questions are... If I buy 3rd party pads and get them fitted by a non-Lexus dealer is that likely to be a better deal than going to my dealer? Also, can I get better brake performance by using 3rd party products rather than OEM? Lastly, what make and supplier would folks recommend based on real life experience? Thanks in advance, Malc

Anyone know where I can get a set of Peugeot style rear light clusters for my Lexus? Mwahahahahahaha Now that would be classy......NOT!

I have some Goodyear GSD3s on the back that went on about 6k miles back....we shall see

I'm with you - it's the fastest thing I've ever driven. It's my mid-life crisis car - I figure it's easy to get in and out of lol Sounds like my battery theory is off target then! If it's under warranty they should fix whatever the problem is. If you want to check the 0-60 time you could set up a camera pointing at the dash then work out the timing when you get home. Got to better than messing with a stopwatch. It's on my to do list when I get time and a clear bit of road. The limit on the Prius was based on the limitations of the transmission/motors. I wonder if this is the same? Not that the limit is ever going to be an issue with me. Just another thought - there's nothing jamming under the throttle pedal is there? Like carpet? Malc

Just been out and tried it on your behalf lol 240Kw before I headed home for clean pants. All I can think of in your case was that the traction battery was at zero bars so you were getting power from the ICE alone. Try it a few more times under different circumstances and see. I looked at mine and it was showing over half full before I tried flooring it. Doesn't 100 come up quick when you have your foot on the carpet? PS, that's 100km/hr btw :winky: Malc

Excuse me! lol My GS450h doesn't whine!!!!! Hope you get it sorted Malc

Emperors new clothes time........just what is WIM or the meaning of the verb "to be WIMed"? Seriously, I seem to be the only bloke on the LOC site that doesn't know!!! Maybe that means I don't need a good WIMing??? :winky: Malc

Got mine from ebay. They sell the dvds in sets of four covering the whole of Europe. You need Europe West in the UK. So you keep an eye out for someone who needed one of the other three dvds and is selling the rest off including Europe West. Got my 2009 disk from someone in Greece for £30 then sold my 2008 dvd for about £25 as I remember. Upgrade cost is therefore less than £10! I have done this twice now. Is simples, yes? Malc

I had that kind of reaction when I was looking. Salesmen at Lexus Derby didn't want to deal it seemed. They are Inchcape as is Nottingham. Got mine from Coventry (Listers) - much more open to deals. I take it to Derby for servicing and warranty work because the service side of things is excellent. Malc

Got the GS back from UKI Assistance at Donnington yesterday. The lady on the phone said a driver would drive it to my work address then they delivered it on a lorry to my home address! Seems to be a reasonable job. If I were picky, which I am, I'd make the following observations. They took it on Tuesday and didn't return it til the following Friday. Long time for the size of repair. I had to ring them a few times. They're not good at giving progress or dates They are inflexible. I could have done with the 2 inch square tow hook cover spraying. They wouldn't The new number plate has UKI Assistance emblazoned on it. Might as well have "it's been crashed" on it. The dash etc had been wiped with a wet rag or something so had wipe marks all over it. The tail pipes scraped as it came off the lorry. All in all I'm satisfied, not really happy, just satisfied. Malc

I've recently looked into service plans and found that all the one's I looked at required you to have saved enough money through the plan to pay for the service at the time you need it. Most don't give you free credit. They are, in effect, 0% interest saving plans not 0% credit as they would have you believe. If you haven't save enough by the time your service is due you are likely to be charged the difference by the dealer. This could happen because you did more miles than you said you would. Some plans may be different but the ones I looked at were not good value IMO. You would be better setting up a monthly savings account - at least you would get a small amount of interest and not be tied to specific dealers. Malc

My GS450h is in for repairs having had a tangle with a Transit van. It's only a replacement of the front bumper, grill etc. I'm with Virgin Insurance who use UKI Assistance repair centre at Castle Donnington as do a lot of other UKI insurers like Churchill. They picked the car up Tues lunchtime on the basis it would be assessed in 24-48 hours and I'd get a call. Got no call by Friday so rang them. They'd only just assesed it that morning which I make 68 hours not 48 At that point they had not ordered parts nor could give me a completion date. Anyone had any experience of this outfit, their timescales and, more importantly, the quality of their work? BTW, they left me with some kind of brand new Chevrolet mini car that we've christened the Chevy Horride (pronounced Hor-eed ) because it's so good.....NOT!

Why would you want to borrow a 220D? I had one today whilst my 450h was in for a 50k service. The longest (and slowest) 6 hrs of my life lol Malc

I'm not a detailing geek just a bloke who likes a shiny car and doesn't want to do it every couple of weeks I spent a lot of time looking round the internet and everybody has an opinion but nobody can back it up with fact....except this bloke. Brilliant 6 month test of waxes/polishes. Then there is the slightly dodgy test done by AutoExpress You can get Autoglym High Definition from these people on ebay for £26 delivered next day by FedEx. It was hard work to apply and buff compared to the usual liquids but the result is almost wet-look. If it lasts for months and months as per the 6 month test above I'll be very happy indeed. Didn't use any other product, just the AG-HD and a bit of elbow grease. Malc

Sorry to be a stick in the mud but doesn't the sharks fin just shout "I wish I had a Beemer" at you? Malc

Many thanks but please don't go to any trouble. I'm only going to use it show the nice chap in the parts department that he was wrong. It's the second time he's rubbed me up the wrong way. First time he took the order for the tow hook plug but then "forgot" so I had to re-order. If I wanted that kind of service I'd have bought a French car Grrrrrrr. Malc

Like I said, they said it wasn't available in spray form. How many times............. :tsktsk: i checked today and yes it is available in spray form!!!!!!i work for them!!!!!!!!! if the garage you try'd didnt have it they can put in a stock order for it and it would have been in two days later! B******DS! I feel a rant coming on. Could you give me a part number or stock number please? Thanks Malc

Like I said, they said it wasn't available in spray form. How many times............. :tsktsk: Sorry if this seems pedantic, but you did say you tried at Lexus, and Ormi suggested that you can get it from Toyota (not the same thing). In this case it is the same thing! Lexus Derby spares and servicing are in the Toyota dealership.

Tried the Halfords option. Not terribly impressed with the result but that could be me. The colour seems slightly darker but that seemed to happen when I got a bit of a thick coat on by accident. Also, the lacquer I'm using seems to darken the colour slightly as well. Might rub it down and try again at the weekend. Remember, this is amateur hour lol Malc

Like I said, they said it wasn't available in spray form. How many times............. :tsktsk:

Thanks for the tip. Just been down there and ordered some at £10.99 a can (ouch!) Machine was OK but they had no cans....DOH! Paint code was 1F2 Malc

Please....give me a little credit I ordered the plastic cap from Lexus Derby and they said the touchup only comes in chip pen form not spray can.