Scribe

Like Phil ('The Acre') I've avoided contributing to some discussions on here because of the way some other members express their opinions. He's a very nice guy who's contributed a lot to this forum, and I'm sad that he's left with a negative impression of it.

I often read Honest John's agony column, and am amazed (well, I used to be) by how many owners of 'prestige' cars face huge repair bills after only a few years. DPFs, dual mass flywheels, electronic gearboxes... all that super-sophisticated technology to go wrong, and it costs more to fix than I bought my Lexus for. On Autotrader there's a 53 reg Audi A4 estate Multitronic (photographed on the back of a recovery truck) that needs a new gearbox at 52,000 miles. My Lexus is nearly six years older and has done three times the mileage, and still purrs along beautifully.

I understand that RHD Mercs are built in South Africa. So even if you pay for German design you don't necessarily get German build quality.

It hasn't got a sunroof. Was that usual for US-spec models?

I only do 2-3,000 a year, too, which is probably the battery isn't keeping a good charge? Fortunately everything resets itself, even when the battery has been disconnected for charging and reconnected.

It's an expensive Bosch battery and is only about 18 months old. Perhaps it needs a few long runs. The red alarm light on the dashboard flashes gently even when the car's sitting unlocked in the garage; does key locking disable this?

As I hadn't used the car for at least a fortnight I started it up yesterday evening. The battery had gone pretty flat because it struggled to turn the starter over, but it suddenly fired up - then all the needles on the display (including the rev counter) shot right over to the right and back to the left again. Everything seemed okay except that the VSC warning light stayed on - I've never seen this before. After a 20-minute drive I switched off, waited a few seconds and switched on again. It started up fine and must have reset everything because the VSC warning no longer displayed. Moral: use the car more often!

Sounds good - I can take a gander at your car at the same time!

Any recommendations of where I can get mine re-gassed? I know there was a thread on here a while ago but I think it was about an out-of-season special offer. I should have got it done then...

Yes. Wouldn't take it anywhere else.

... and another pass yesterday, with no work needed and no advisories. That's five years in a row. Amazing. Had a service done, including transmission fluid (some gear changes were getting a bit lumpy), and I'm happy. Just coming up to 152,000 miles, but what does that matter?

Rob, you could try RH Insurance, who I'm with (01277 206912). Don't know if they do agreed value cover but they seem reasonable.

I find it disturbing that hundreds of thousands of people are willing to sign a petition to have him reinstated when they don't know what happened - because we don't, yet, do we? To me, that says everything about his 'constituency' - unthinking, uncritical, mob-mentality. Apologies if this includes people on here who signed the petition - no offence meant - but is there something about physical assault that's not serious any more? I wonder what kind of offence he would have to be accused of for people NOT to rush to his defence? He's clever and when I've seen him on things other than Top Gear he has been funny, but he's basically a bully who hobnobs with Cameron at weekends and thinks he's untouchable. And bullies need to be stood up to - whether or not they're physically violent. Sorry to sound a grump, but I'd feel more positive if I knew that the same 676,000 people were also signing petitions to stop cuts to the local health and social care services I work for. In comparison to those, Clarkson doing wheelies in a Ferrari and burning off thousands of pounds worth of rubber doesn't seem very important, no matter how much money the programme brings to the BBC.

The DS is my all-time favourite car. But I remember being hurt by one when quite small by walking into the overrider on the front bumper - they're sharp and pointy.

I hope the Lexus's modesty will be concealed by a cover of some sort while on the back of the recovery lorry? We don't want to give the wrong impression... Meanwhile, Graham, remember that the instruction 'Contact a dealer' means something different to a lot of hoody-wearers LOL,

I've always found Swinton efficient and helpful when I've called them, but the problem is that they keep ringing me - about any and all sorts of insurance, all year round. If it was a matter of a few pounds more I'd go with someone else just to avoid the calls on my mobile (usually when I'm at work or driving).

I've seen hardly any non-Premium cars for sale. You're lucky to have one.

Thanks for that. I remember a thread about bonnet struts and did try to search the Forum for it but couldn't work out how to do it (senior moment).

Part of me is thinking, 'If the rest of the car is so good (it looks great in the photos) and it could be a simple fix, why is he selling it so cheaply?'

Maybe you could try to find a specialist indie mechanic in the area to have a look? Or even ring one for advice first? Mine offered very helpful advice before I went to look at my car (on the basis that he'd get the work of servicing it if I bought it). I've since trusted him with all my car maintenance.

Re bonnet struts: it's time for me to invest in some new ones. There are some on e-Bay for £54.74 including carriage, sold by mattt7777777. Anyone had experience of these?

Vicar's wife? You and me both - mostly gentle pootling but with the occasional foot down just to see the bonnet lift slightly and feel that push forwards. Good luck with the alloys!

I've just tried to get a quotation from Footman James but they'll only give classic car cover on a Lexus that's twenty years old or more. So I'll try again in three years' time! At the moment I've got a classic car policy with RH Insurance, which was a lot cheaper than a 'normal' one.

Less importantly, I sometimes can't lock or unlock my smart car where I work, though the key works fine inside it. I have to move around the site until the remote will work. I assume it's something to do with interference from a nearby radio mast. (When the car won't unlock I have to use the key to open the boot and then scramble inside and over the seats - in a very undignified way - to reach the internal door handle. I couldn't do this in the Lexus, of course.)

Scary. I'd be nervous turning it on again. Fingers crossed it'll be okay. And I doubt it has damaged the engine.