wendle

If overall you are happy and you got a good deal on the car, then I would keep it, however did you ask if the car has had any repair work done before you brought it ?. If your not happy with the repair work I would ask them to re do it, all repeatable body shops will give you a 6 year warranty on re spray work , if your not happy within that time you can take it back. A friend of mine does smart repairs, around 50% of his work is on brand new unregistered cars. Ok not full panels, but all the same you can buy what you think is a brand new, un touched car , with a smart repair.

Hi Colin My car is 11 months old and has just clocked up 3100 miles, so as you can see my trips are very short, around 5/6 miles per trip, I am up to 37 mpg at the moment but it seems to drop to around 32 mpg in the depth of winter, this is probably due to the fact that the heater is on and it takes longer for the car to reach running temperature and the hybrid system to kick in. I do drive quite carefully and spend most of my time in Eco mode and use EV mode when the system will allow. Last week I took my sister to Heathrow Airport, about a 130 mile round trip, I reset everything before leaving and achieved 44 mpg, this was a steady 70mph dropping down to 30mph during the 9 miles of roadwork’s on the M25, and a few miles of local driving.

As Steve says it depends on how much damage you have, dents can be removed for around £70 per panel although you may get a better deal if you have more dents in more than one panel. If you need paint work done then your looking at around £90 per panel, but again a deal may be done, depending were you live in London I no a repairer guy who is very good and goes around most of the Lexus dealerships in the southeast, he is very busy and you may need to wait a few weeks, However he wont recommend a smart repair in a middle of a panel, or a stone chip , say in the middle of a bonnet, he knows how fussy us Lexus owners can be and even the best repairer cant work miracles, but he may not cover your area, put up some photo’s and we can see what type of repairs you need.

Plus any small issues that have come up with the batteries have been very quickly put right by Lexus with no expense to the owner. The last thing Lexus want is problems with the batteries, this will put people like your self off buying a hybrid car, even more so now as the new IS300h and GS300h are in production.

Thats a 450h not a 300

I use dodo juice, it’s a bit expensive but is good stuff, then 3 coats off wolfs hard body sealant, this gives a hard shell, then 1 coat of Sonax Polymer Net Shield, this repels water like you have never seen.

Get a professional to get the dents out, as long as it hasn’t cracked the paint work and the dents car be reached from behind when they have finished you wouldn’t even known they were there. I would think around the £70 mark

I can get to Bluewater without to much trouble, plenty of parking, that’s if you don’t mind a GS owner gate crashing a IS meet..

the new GS 300h is comming out soon, may be something to concider

As the new GS has only been out since June 2012, I very much doubt that you will find any private sellers., so at the moment a Lexus dealership is probably the only place your find one.

Hi I have not owned a GS 430, so I can’t comment on the difference in ride quality. I did have a MK 3 450h and I would think you would notice very little difference in performance, however there would be more engine noise from the 450h because of the transmission difference. If you buy one with ML audio I don’t think you will be disappointed with the 14 speaker system. As you are upgrading from a MK2 to a MK3 I would think you would find a improvement in the ride and handling, but as I mentioned I haven’t owned a MK1 or a MK2, GS. I would take one out for a spin and make up your own mind. I wouldn’t worry to much about the Hybrid system or batteries, I havent herd of any major problems from this system from here or from the US, and the few minor problems that have come up, Lexus have been quick to put then right, the last thing they want is problems with the hybrid and batteries, this system in now in all the Lexus range. There is also a member on this site with a GS450h that has covered over 150k miles, without any problems. Be very careful about taking out any warranty, make 100% sure it covers the hybrid and batteries, I don’t think they do. As for your choice of car, is you are happy with Lexus then I would stick with them, don’t let the 450h put you off.

If you cant get it sorted through Lexus then a good detailer should be able to sort it out, sounds like the top coat has gone in places, this can be stripped back and redone, although a good job would cost around the £800 mark.

Hi The engine on the new MK4 Lexus GS is a new and improved engine. It has a much higher compression ratio and uses in direct and direct fuel injectors, when the car is ticking over you will hear what seems like a ticking noise, this can be quite loud initially, so could be construed as a rattle, but to be on the safe side I would have a word with the dealer. The earlier models did have a valve spring re call, but that’s the only engine problem I have herd of.

Yes the new GS is a great car I’ve had 3 GS 300’s, a MK 2 and two MK three’s, and they all drove about the same, I then moved on to a MK 3, 450h and the only real difference was the amount of power and slightly better fuel economy, but the MK 4 is completely different. I liked the f sport purely because of the aggressive looking front, Smokey grey wheels, plus I really wanted the red interior, my only concern was the ride quality with 19” wheels. I would say that in eco / normal mode it has the same comfort as the MK 3, but in sport / sport+ it is defiantly harder, although harder may not be the right word, the whole chasses set up is a lot stiffer, but the ride is remarkably smooth, the car also drives as though it is much lighter than it is. As for compeering it to a LS, the problem is that Lexus have, in my view changed tact, they are after the BMW, Audi market and both of those manufactures produce sporty cars, witch you would not expect from Lexus, Lexus make cursing, comfortable, quality cars, so by changing, I believe they have lost some of that, so the old LS, will drive a lot different, however the NEW 2013 one may be completely different, when I get a spare 100k ill let you no.. :-) Only one niggle I have at the moment, is the rear offside light cluster creaks, you cant here it inside the car but when you open the boot or clean around that area it a bit annoying and in my view shouldn’t happen on a 50k + car, its been in once, it stopped for a week or so then started again, so will have to get then to have another look at it. Other that that, a well built, well put together car.

I no you have been looking for a while , but don’t rush into buying one, have a look at a few to gage what sort of condition you can expect for your money, in my opinion the condition and mileage would take preference over the year of the car, as mentioned perversely you can pick up a private plate. As for caring cash around with you, most people will except a bank transfer, normally takes between 5 mins and 2 hours to go through. I sold my 450h (2008) 16,000 miles last year, it was nearly 4 years old, in mint condition inside and out, and was in better condition than 2 other newer cars they had on the lot, mine sold within 3 days. I had it up for 15k and they had it up for 18,500k, it was brought by someone who lives no more than 5 miles from me, I had it advertised in most car mags and even on e-bay, so you can pick up a good car privately and then get your own warranty, the person who brought mine from Lexus could have saved themselves at least 2k. Just looking through auto trader , have you seen this one, looks nice with lower mileage than the 2 you are considering. http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201242488940599/sort/default/usedcars/price-from/8000/price-to/11000/fuel-type/hybrid/model/gs/make/lexus/onesearchad/used/onesearchad/nearlynew/page/2/postcode/da68jw/radius/1500?logcode=p good luck in your search, the wait will be worht it.

Thank you! In that case then I don't need an SE-L. All I need now for complete happiness is to know what the "no-letters" is lacking from the SE :) As far as I no they only make a SE and SE-L 450h model. untii you get to 2012 Yeah, so I read :) Thank you, I am only hoping I won't end up with a duff one on my budget. I don’t think there is such a thing as a duff one

The antenna could be why you are having problems with the radio but that doesn’t explain why the CD player doesn’t seem to be working. I do believe that the heated rear window elements double up as the radio antenna, but how the radio is connected to them I don’t know, I think the radio amp is in the boot, so that may be a good place to start.

Hi, sorry to here about your problem, I wouldn’t think it was a fuse other wise nothing would work. Have you tried searching for radio frequencies manually? To load a CD you have to press the” load “button and wait for the green light to flash before putting in the CD, does the green light flash? Sorry I cant be of any more help.

I am the same as you around the 4500 miles a year The services are 10k miles or 1 year, so if you do less mileage in the year they still do the matching service. So for example after 3 years I would have done less than 15k but they will still do a 30k service, after 6 years the will do the major service, change plugs etc, even though my car would have only done less than 30k ( half the amount ) I think it depends on how long you are going to keep the car and if you consider a fully stamped service book a necessity. I cant remember what it is called but I believe Lexus do a small service, I think they still stamp the book but it’s a different stamp, ( I think its £130 ) this may be a option if your going to keep the car a few years were a fully stamped service book is not so important.

yes service every 10, 000 miles if you buy a 2013 year car you may be interested in a number plate i can ge hold of. GS 13XUS

Your not alone in being concerned about the Hybrid system, I think everyone who is thinking about buying one of these cars has this concern, but as said above, so far the Hybrid system has been very reliable, and there are a few owners on here with car’s with 100k miles + My mileage on the MK3 was around the 28 mpg around town and up to 35mpg on a run, my new MK 4 is up to 35mpg around town, haven’t been on a long run yet. Make sure you cheque out the boot space as this could be a concern depending on your circumstances. The only major recall I can think of is the valve springs on 2007/8 models (I believe) This is warranty work and I would have thought that all cars needing this work have had it done. The 450h is a lovely car, very underrated in my opinion, but also a bit different, you don’t see many around.

I have the GS hybrid and although they have much improved the hybrid system on this new model it will still only travel about 2 miles purely on electric power alone, that doesn’t seem far but as soon as you come of the accelerator or brake, you are recharging the batteries. Also as soon as you exceed 30 mph or accelerate firmly the engine will take over, so unless you are travelling in very slow moving traffic for more that 2 miles the batteries shouldn’t go flat. However if is possible that the engine may cut in prematurely if you are using a lot of electrical equipment,( heater, wipers, lights, heated seats, heated rear screen, ) ect, to recharge the main battery, especially if you only do short trips, 5/6 miles like me.

I would have thought any genuine replacement part fitted by a Lexus dealership would come with a 12 month warranty. My brother in law has a 4 year old IS with only 18k mile, one of his oxygen sensors went and although his car was out of warranty he argued the fact that it should not have failed and got it replaced free.

You should try there meatballs,,,there the dogs bollo**s