Robin Banks

i think you've been very fortunate with your costs, I expect to pay at least £450+ for my 60K service this year, tyres were £145 a piece on the rears & that was from an independent, £180 a piece from lexus, i doubt when it comes to camblet, water pump, cv joints, suspension bushes, steering arms, that these will all be in vectra price range even with 33% increase. If you going to pick up one for less than 10K, then i'd assume its got pretty highish mileage & will be 2005'ish, so it will need in the not too distant future some of the items mentioned being looked at. Just my opinion.

I bought a 55 SEL, which at some point this year i'll be thinking of moving on to make way for a rx400h, there are better 4x4, but the level of dealer service is miles ahead of the likes of BMW & Mercedes, and i wouldnt consider going back to those german brands. I lurked on here for awhile before buying my car & read about the issues of ECU, and TBH if it hasnt gone bang by now its unlikely too, and people make it sound like its a sure fire thing, the truth is every manufacture has something wrong with there cars at some point & the German brands havent been short of issues. I would say dont forget these cars were 40K+ when new so although they can been picked up for 15Kish, they still cost 40K car money to maintain. B)

my budget is 22K, i'm in two minds over the 450h and predictably a 530d, which offers similar performance with better mpg. However the 450h are much better specced & the dealer service is exceptional.

thanks All, very favorable comments for the 450h, was there any significant changes in the year , they moved the indicators from the arches to the wing mirrors, and with the new GS out later this year, do you think its wise to hang on for a bit to see what happens to the prices? thanks Again

Thanks for the reply , can I ask why you went for a 450h over a 300, if mpg isn't that favourable , I'm wondering what the benefit of owning such a model is ?

i'm looking at moving from a my 300 to 450h in the next couple of months, purely down to the cost of petrol these days, i get real world figure of mid 20's around town & mid 30's on a long motorway stint, what are you guys getting in your 450h? and do you miss the reduction in boot space? Also i'm sure i read somewhere the held battery charge diminishes rapidly after 5 years, whats the oldest 450h i could go for , before i lose the benefit of having this model. Cheers RB

i'm looking at moving to a 450h from my 300 in a month or two, i'll need to rememeber to check out that this recall has been carried out.

Just had my recall work done , full tank of fuel , bubbly and car washed . Had a tpms replaced £110 quid , which is less the I expected . Alround great service.

same thing happened to a friends mk5 golf this morning (they are in scotland)hadnt started it up for a couple of weeks started it up this morning, all emergenecy lights on etc, said return to dealer. These modern day cars must be built for much harsher winters than the UK, or do you think for UK spec they skimp on a few bit of insulation here and there, slight lower quality pcb's etc..................

well just got two tyres fitted at the rear, dunlop sp2030 £276 245/40 18............but one of the TPS disintegrated, i've got the bits and it looks like mastic inside the black plastic casing all over the electrics , is that how they are supposed to be? also weirdly the tyre pressure warning light is not on.................. i would of thought it would come one with sensor no now longer in the wheel?

I've just fitted Dunlop SP01s to my car, nice and quiet. Can i ask how much you payed for them , as i'm in need of two new rears, and the fronts i bought Michelin PS3 were £210 a corner!!!

Is there a fuse i can pull to disrupt the power to the satnav unit, i know i could pull one of the leads off the battery, but i've heard that can cause other electrical gremlins to appear, i've looked at the fuse box under teh dash and the one in the engine bay, but they are labelled up pretty poorly. Thanks RB

B) cheers

my oil light has come on 4 months after getting the car serviced, i cant make it to a nearby Stealer, could someone tell which oil to pick up from my local motor factors, its it 5w-30? thanks RB

Hi all, can anyone point me to were the fuse is for the Satnav system, my grom unit seems to be playing up , and i need to interrupt the power, I couldn't tell from the list of fuses under the dash or in the engine bay , which one i should pull. thanks RB

i had the exact same problem in mine, but not as extreme, at the 50K service it resolved it self and never returned, so a service may fix it i however do still have a issue that sometimes on startup i get a rattle from the gearbox, anyone come across that?

I just bought some Pagid pads from local euro car parts , 30 quid incl VAT, i understand it should be quite a simple fit, 40 mins a side?

after a bit of googling found it here http://www.clublexus.com/forums/suspension-and-brakes/276736-diy-is350-front-brakes-w-o-removing-caliper.html

Hi Guys, anyone got a guide as to how to change the front brake pads on the current shape GS? or verbally give me some pointers, i've got my MOT due at the end of the month, and they are grumbling abit so i think they need a change for some new ones. Also what brand of pads are fitted by Lexus? cheers

anyone else experiencing a rattle just for the 1st couple of seconds during startup, it sounds like its coming from the gearstick area? cheers

Hi All, I have a GS300 MK3 , the brakes have always seemed lacking in initial bite, what brakes pads to you guy recommend? many thanks

sound quality is good, its not cd quality , but for 100 quid cant expect audiophile quality.

I guess its reading off the ID3 tag, so under disc it shows the Artist and under track is the track name. as it emulates a cd changer, i guess its limited to 99 tracks per folder and thus 594 tracks. I'm just preparing a stick full of music, so will see how it copes over the next couple of days.

well i fitted it, bit of an arse getting the unit out, but otherwise quite an easy install. pulled out what was already plugged into the 12 pin slot and plugged in the grom, sat nav function stopped working, pluged the now loose plug into the piggy back and all works well. Peeps had said that the unit carries on charging the USB after the car is turned off, but i think this has been fixed with a recent firmware upgrade as my usb light turns off as soon as you open the drivers door after turning the engine off. I'll report back in 7 days if all is well, for now it doesnt seem a bad unit.

well the unit turned up yesterday , from what i've read the mk3 GS stereo has a 2nd dedicated CD changer output , the cable that i've been sent with the unit is a Y-cable , whihc i thought you needed if you were piggy backing off an already used connection. Do i need to get back in touch with the retailer, or is this how these units are supplied. thanks