mcleish

Hi, I may be going to view a manufactured approved Car at a Lexus dealer next week. It's a 2009 Lexus RX400h 3.3 Executive Ltd Edition with 55k on the clock. I know all should be OK buying from a Lexus Dealer, but is there anything I should be checking before buying? Thanks Bobby

If you had a dash cam fitted, you would have it all recorded, ready to hand over to the police!!

I had the footwell lights and the light under the door handles turned up by Lexus, I think its something that can only be done by them. It made a noticeable difference, especially the footwells.

I knew the service team very well at Lexus Bracknell when it existed. They gave me a full data printout sheet that had absolutely everything about my car from day one. Not sure they where meant to do this, but was very useful. Both Toyota and Lexus can issue a replacement service record book and will enter details in the book and provide service data information, they may charge depending on the dealer. I use My Toyota on line log in for our Rav4 and that holds all data on the car, services, Mot's, parts fitted etc, so this is very useful and handy.

Bonnets are rubbish (I know of a good few people who had them replaced under warranty, Lexus know about it, but continue to use the same bonnet materials, even in the newer cars of today), if you are lucky, you should not have stone chips and rust spots all along the front directly under the bonnet grill. Wheels rust, loads of stories about them as well. Just ensure that the Cambelt is done if the car has done 100k miles, this is a must or you could have major issues later on. That being said, they are lovely cars, from the 1st Generation right up to todays RX450, so try and enjoy it.

This issue was a real expensive pain for me and to be honest, Lexus main dealer were totally lost and just advised replacing certain expensive parts to erradicate the issue, but they could not guarantee that it would work !!! They even suggested replacing the ECU (which in the end, had nothing to do with it). I thought the whole point of being able to plug your car into a diagnostic system, it would pinpoint the issue...no chance, it gives them a "idea" WTF !!! In the end I took my 2003 RX to a Independant Lexus garage in Maidenhead, pinpointed the issue straight away, ordered the part from Lexus, fitted it, the lights never came on again !!! Still cost me a bit but was about a quarter of the price of what Lexus was suggesting. Just be wary of the Lexus mechanics (sorry, Technicians), because if it's not totally obvious whats wrong, they are not very good. Good luck with this, I hope you get a cheaper solution to this issue !!!

Over the years, with owning newish Jeeps, RX's and Rav4's, I have found that "official" Manufacturers extended warranties are only worth your hard earned cash when it's a relatively new model and parts are really only available via main dealers. The RX 300>350 and 400 fall out of this bracket in my opinion, as parts are readily available from 3rd party means, but there will nearly always be occasions when the only choice will be a main dealer. Not owning a 450h, I do not really know if there are parts readily available outside of main dealers (yet). If you buy any of the above models from a Lexus approved dealer, it will automatically come with a full years Lexus warranty and they are well worth it, but I would never pay for a non Lexus warranty, just not worth it (money wise and hassle wise) when it comes to a claim and they start with all the small print rubbish on how something is not covered. PS: I am going to contradict myself here, but I am sure I am in the minority. When I bought my RX300 and it came to the end of its Manufacturers warranty, I did opt for the Lexus extended warranty, paid for it for 3 years and nothing happened....until there was a very unusual issue with the transmission and engine, cant really remember exactly what, but it cost almost £5k to fix and it was covered under warranty. The warranty at the time over a 3 year period cost me approx £3k, so in my case, it was worth it. As always, its down to the individual to decide and take the gamble !!!

I sent it at 22.14pm to jetskidia@aol.com and I did not get a rejection email bounce back !!! I have resent it again just now.

I have sent you a email.

Well, in that case, Chris can Google fog light conversions, because I have seen a few and it will mean not drilling holes in his car. Must admit, I VERY rarely use my front fogs, the manufacturers should ditch them in the UK and use the holes for DRL's or whatever.

If you give me a email address, I will send you some photos. Or go back to the avrmobile website, click on Installation Photos near the top left of the screen, scroll down to the 11th Photo and that's our white Toyota Rav4. Yes, they do drill holes in your bumper, so be sure that you really want them. I was very hesitant, but after speaking to them about it, I went ahead and dont regret it. They look almost like parking sensors but are high quality with a LED light in each light. In regards to the fog lights, I know that some people have done some conversions on the fog lights of the Toyota Rav4, but not sure about the law, MOT etc, as you do need to have front fog lights in the UK by law.

Rubbish photo, it looks good until I attach it !!!

Yes, that's the ones. Photo of our Rav4 with them fitted.

I had some of these fitted to my wife's 2011 Toyota Rav4, colour coded of course and blends in nicely. For some reason I cannot copy and paste the links !!! www.avrmobiles.co.uk and look at LED set called RX650B LED Running Lights. Very bright, reliable and they will come and install them anywhere in the UK and fitting is included in the price, but if you have them colour coded add another £29.99.

I have not fitted them, but I have to ask, why are you looking at a product at £14.95 for a Lexus RX450h ? In regards to LED's, you get what you pay for. If they are not high quality, then they will just look like crap dull bolt on aftermarket LED's and it will spoil your RX. Just my thoughts of course !!

Yes, a few times in previous posts, but I should have mentioned it again or just search Google, there are a few, but two main ones stick out and are Nationwide (see below). www.longlife.co.uk www.powerflowexhausts.co.uk www.topgear.co.uk I think topgear and longlife are the same company. Longlife made me a full exhaust system for my RX300 many years ago and it was well worth it.

I would NEVER have a dealer fitted exhaust (whole or part). For the price they charge, you can get a full custom hand made stainless steel system with a LIFETIME guarantee for £100s cheaper.

The answer to BOTH is no I'm afraid. The lack of post codes being included in the RX300 range really pee'd me off, they where trying to get smart and use a stupid phone number search, which may have been good in the dark ages, but most business's at least now have a central call centre with one number, so this search option was useless.

Hi Steve, In regards to the dodgy batteries I mentioned, it's probably the invertor recall that you mention, which I meant !!! I suppose I really have to go and test drive both cars to help make my mind up, but if I do that, I think I may be swayed towards the 450h !!! Thanks

Hi, Seriously toying over the idea of getting a 2009/2010 low mileage 400h or a 2010 high mileage 450h (over 100k). I know about the 400h having dodgy batteries and ensuring the cam belt is change if over 100k miles (if I go for the 450h)......and of course a full Lexus Service History. Any snip its of useful information to help me sway either way or not at all ? Cheers Bobby

I had my wife's Toyota's HDD Sat Nav updated to the new 2014/2015 version a couple of weeks ago and it had to be done at the dealer, took about 45 minutes and cost £180. So I expect it may be a little bit dearer at Lexus !! Bobby

Yes, I want to fit it and forget about it. It will turn on and off with the ignition. I reckon if its fitted behind the rear view mirror, as high up as possible, it should be almost invisible from the outside. If it worries you, you can just unclip the main unit from the housing which will be stuck to the windscreen with strong 3m tape. Just remember that it will be a wee bit harder to take out if you sell your car, but it should not be that hard.

The DVR 0801 is the one I am going to buy. It's worth paying another £20 for the hard wire option, this way it is totally hidden and does not take up the lighter socket and look crap. It's for sale from the same source, just look at his other items for sale and you will find it.

Hello, I was wondering if the person who bought the sat nav discs off me for his RX can give me the code numbers off the actual UK CD ? Believe it or not, I want to revert back to this disc, as the one I got from Lexus Map Updates EU is genuine, but is just crap in my surrounding areas and for the areas I frequent !!. The code for the updated one I have is PZ445-X01EU-11 and replaced PZ485-X01EU-10 Ver 1, which is what I want back. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this and will come in original packaging and the usual other European discs and I will be happy to just do a swap with someone. Cheers Bobby

It was the Basingstoke branch which designed and fitted a double rear box system to my RX300, great job apart from the way they cut a small piece of the rear plastic trim which runs along the bottom of the bumper. I would have thought they would have a special tool, but it looked like it was just hacked out !!!