The Swede

My friend is the Lexus brand manager for Europe. If you tell me what you're after, I can ask him. I am in Brussels end of next week anyway.

The simple reason why I have this one in my top 5

(put the sound on: LOUD !) ;)

My top 5:

- Mercedes S63 AMG

- Mitsubishi Evo IX (properly tuned)

- Range V8 td

- Porsche 911 S (simple, manual version without gizmos and toys)

- Audi Sportquattro (white one)

So far, we number 1 and 2 are ticket off. Back to work now to get 3, 4 and 5 :D

Kia's are meant to be good cars.....

Yeah like Findus beef lasagne's are meant to be made from beef

Interesting statement since horse steak is tastier than beef steak...

Also put this question here http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=80956

Just got an "offer" from a company with website www.offer-autotrader.com . They offered 2645,-GBP.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Always wary for a scam. Most companies just buying cars, like "webuyanycar", normally offer stupid money for your car.

Logged on to their website and they seem genuine though. I cannot find any complaints or bad stories on the web and they do not seem to ask for any details such as credit cards, etc.

Not sure the LS460SEL is in de same price league as the LS430 of the topic here

If it's something they forgot to take out when manufacturing, why do you have to pay for it ???

You can reuse them... but after a while they do wear out.

I'd recommend to replace them if you did not do so for a while.

Can you show how it should look like?

Does it have any of these inflatable bolsters? They tend to squeak.

Anything to look out for? You seem to have a 2002 LS430 :)

Looking around for an LS430 to upgrade the girlfriend's car (a GS430).

First question:

Is it worthwhile to go for a post facelift vs a pre facelift?

My thinking currently is that a pre-facelift generally is much cheaper (3.5k vs 6k for a post facelift ?) and that the few toys might not be worth it while a 2002 car will be as reliable as a 2005.

Then again, is there a point in swapping from a MKII GS430 to an LS430? Is it really an improvement?

Thoughts?

Second question:

When getting an LS430, any model, what are the weak points to look for when buying the car?

For info: the Lexus is the 3rd / 4th car in the household and only used as a runabout covering 3000 miles per year.

Spend what you want to spend! For me I always wanted a facelift so I got one but don't pay over the odds! A 53 plate facelift is worth no more than about 5500 - 6000 tops no matter what any dealer tells you! You may have to be patient but you'll get one eventually. Be careful if you want one with the adaptive cruise - buy after March 2006 and you'll be paying £430 a year in tax!

Why should one be careful if he wants one with ACC ?

Thanks. And happy my amplifier is still working then :D

Can I ask two stupid questions?

1. Does the big satnav always come with ML stereo ?

2. Why on your picture of the display does it not show a setting for Automatic Sound Levelling?

OK, apologies, Mister Ken. The IS300 engine is torquey, but in comparison to other cars, with larger engines, it might not be as torquey and this might result in me feeling as if it does not respond as well as it should.

Can't compare anything with the good old 5-speed auto from Merc though. Even the current 7-speed does not come anywhere close.

Had torque converter just packing up on my S63: 65000 miles. ***** of MB UK call it "normal wear in tear"...

That's it, a strainer not a seive!

What year and mileage is your car on? Was that work done at the main agents? Why did you need to change your gbox oil?

Were there any symptoms prior to the oil change?

Thanks.

Slow changing of gears, not dropping down gears as quick as you'd want, "clonking" as you engage a gear, ... All the classics.

Why you need to change it? Simples, an automatic works with an oil filled torque converter and the power from the flywheel is actually transferred via a this rather than via a dry clutch. As this oil "wears out", it loses its qualities to support the transfer of power. Also, as it gets dirty, little particles start to get in between all moving parts making the running rougher.

The lady had an IS300 for 3 years and I can somehow recognise the issue.

1. Yes, change the oil. It makes the gearbox smoother.

2. This engine is not a really torquey engine low in revs. The gearbox hence might feel a tad slow / unresponsive in normal position. I drove this car virtually always in PWR-mode. It just gave the car much more of the immediate response I wanted. The current GS430 for instance never needs to be in this position, simply because the much larger engine delivers a lot of torque low down in any gear.

I had the same problem with my 3.2V6 Mercedes S class. Again, an engine with not an abundance of torque for the car. Accelerating slowly would mean the gerabox would hang on to 1st or 2nd a bit longer than you'd want sometimes.

If you drive the car as a daily, it will adapt to your driving indeed. Problem is when it's the wife driving it indeed and then you get into it...

Very true...until you run into a grumpy gendarme on a motorbike. They can be right gits on occasions!!

Never had grumpy Gendarmes. Been pulled quite a few times over (doing Monaco - Brussels every few weeks with an S63 is a bit a nightmare), but they're always polite and friendly.

They always reviewed the speed so it would not exceed 170km/h hence avoiding to withdraw my licence :)

I would not say it is appalling straight away.

An RX300 and RX400h should not be very different on longer journey's / motorways as here the hybrid system does not come into play.

Where the hybrid really should cut fuelconsumption is on short distances / town driving.

Two questions that pop to mind:

1. How often do you notice the car drives purely electrical (if at all) ? If it never drives in electrical mode, then something is either wrong with the car... or with your driving style.

2. Did you adapt your driving style to driving with a hybrid? If you hit the accelerator always with your "clumsy boots", then the car will straight away go "Shoot, I need the petrol engine, he/she wants to accelerate fast". ...

It has nothing to do with how fast you drive afterwards. And I hereby just draw on the experience of seeing my girlfriend driving. She just cannot move a car on a hint of revs, let it crawl when parking or smoothly get of the line. The accelerator is more an on/off button with her. If she'd drive a hybrid, the electrical engine would never ever engage

You don't even need to bother too much with GB stickers. You should see how many UK cars drive around here, being kept as "holiday cars" at the villas of wealthy Brits... Many of them are old prestige cars they used first as daily in the UK and now retire to the Med'. None with GB plate

Een Mk I 1998 of een Mk II ?

The wood is actually really nice in the Mk II. Feels really warm, unlike the fake stuff in many german cars or in the Mk III GS.

Not much wood on the central console though. Only the surround of the gear selector and the buttons of the seatheating.

There are much less 430's out there than 300's. But it's worth looking. The engine just adds so much value.

Even my girlfriend, who is not interested in cars at all, really loves its power and ease of driving.

Also, the 430's tend to be better spec'ed. Not sure all 300's for instance had Xenons standard, and many 430's have satnav.

Fuel-wise, they're not much apart, especially as the 430 engine does not need to do so much effort.

We replaced my girlfriend's IS300 by a GS.

Was originally thinking of a GS300, but as the GS430 was not really more expensive second hand, I went for that and must say, really pleased.

Super car, super engine, not expensive to run (parts can be had cheaply online), very comfortable, much better finished than the plastic-USA-typed recent ones,... I can only recommend.

Count on 2500 for a nice GS430.